10 characters in film and TV who are perfect examples of THAT GUY
James Bond
The fictional British spy is notorious for his interest in women and has a real problem when it comes to understanding consent. In older Bond movies like Thunderball and Goldfinger, 007 is basically a sex-pest and commits sexual assault on numerous occasions, using restraint and forcing himself on female characters.
In Thunderball, Bond forcibly kisses a nurse before blackmailing her into a sauna with him, and in Goldfinger, Bond pins Pussy Galore (Honor Blackman) to a barn floor and again kisses her against her wishes.
Even outgoing 007 Daniel Craig has described James Bond as a “very lonely, sexist misogynist”.
Danny Zuko – Grease
Played by John Travolta, Danny Zuko is leader of the T-Birds and the leading man in family favourite Grease. At the start of the film, we hear Danny bragging to his friends about a girl he met at the beach and what he’s done to her. Danny’s idiot pals unbelievably ask him “Did she put up a fight?”!
We quickly find out Danny’s boasts of summer lovin’ are all lies when we hear the point-of-view of Sandy, the girl from the beach who now goes to the same school.
Trying to look cool in front of the T-Birds, Danny humiliates Sandy several times before asking her to a drive-in movie, where he gives her a cheap ring and then tries to force himself on her.
Sick Boy – Trainspotting
As Ewan McGregor’s character Renton points out, Sick Boy has “always been lacking in moral fibre”.
The worst kind of mate, Sick Boy (Johnny Lee Miller) is always on the lookout for himself and will screw his pals over given half a chance, all the while banging on about his role model Sean Connery, as James Bond.
His love for big Sean’s masculinity as 007 is hardly surprising. He sees himself as superior to his peers and a charming ladies’ man, when in reality his attitude towards women is dreadful, totally confirmed when he decides to become a pimp and in the film’s sequel has the ambition of opening a brothel.
Tony Soprano – The Sopranos
The late James Gandolfini starred as New Jersey mob boss Tony Soprano in the critically acclaimed series, a gangster who spent almost as much time in therapy as taking part in organised crime.
Tony’s debilitating anxiety attacks see him being referred to psychiatrist Dr Jennifer Melfi. During their sessions, Tony is often inappropriate and sexually suggestive, and on several occasions when confronted with uncomfortable truths about his life, threatens Dr Melfi with physical violence.
Tony’s terrible treatment of women throughout The Sopranos results in him having many regrets and a trail of broken relationships with women and men.
Biff Tannen – Back to the Future
Marty McFly’s nemesis, Biff Tannen is an all-round high-school bully and a great example of male sexual entitlement and toxic masculinity.
Usually backed up by his gang, Biff harasses and cheats his way through life in Hill Valley, making life a nightmare for most people he encounters, including the McFlys.
In the first film in the trilogy, he frequently intimidates Marty’s mum-to-be Lorraine, attempting to lift up her skirt in the street, grabbing her and telling her she’ll be his wife, and then forcing himself on her in a car at the school dance.
The ultimate Butthead.
Peter Venkman – Ghostbusters
Dr Peter Venkman is a bit of a sleaze-ball academic who takes advantage of his position.
Early on in the film, we see Dr Venkman conduct an Extrasensory Perception (ESP) experiment where a young male student is zapped with electricity despite correct answers and a young female student avoids punishment, whilst Venkman lies about her performance.
It looks like Bill Murray’s character is trying to get her on her own by shocking the young man senseless, which eventually works. Thankfully he’s interrupted by fellow Ghostbuster, Ray.
Venkman can later be found hitting on the Ghostbusters’ first customer Dana, even when she’s clearly possessed by a demon.
Translucent – The Boys
In Amazon’s series The Boys, most of the superhero characters abuse their powers in one way or another, and the perviest of the bunch is probably Translucent.
A member of superhero team The Seven, he uses his power of invisibility to spy on people, and that includes hanging around naked in the toilets of the fighting force’s headquarters.
Whilst he’s committing indecent exposure, he listens in to conversations and uses information he hears for his own gain. A super creep.
Moe – The Simpsons
Bartender Moe has many worrying behaviours, a fact that’s well known to the women of Springfield.
He can often be found lurking around the Simpsons home, hoping to get the attention of Marge (or Midge as he calls her) whilst she’s alone and Homer is working at the nuclear plant.
Moe sums up his long history of inappropriate behaviour when he introduces himself at a comedy night – “I’m Moe. Or as the ladies like to call me, ‘Hey, you behind the bushes’”.
Most of the men – Game of Thrones
Where to start? The men of Game of Thrones are nearly all terrible and the female characters are subjected to all manner of abuse and violence, so much so that a number of actors have spoken about scenes they filmed and how difficult they found them.
Iwan Rheon, who played the despicable Ramsay Bolton said filming a rape scene was the worst day of his career.
The Welsh actor told Metro: “This is something that we shouldn’t even have to worry about, because it’s something that shouldn’t exist in this world but unfortunately it does.”
With Game of Thrones prequel House of the Dragon in production, let’s hope any bad behaviour by male characters is challenged.
Glenn Quagmire – Family Guy
Family Guy is never far from controversy and with a character like sexual predator Glenn Quagmire, that’s easy to see why. Even the show’s creator Seth MacFarlane describes him as “an appalling human being”.
The animated character is like a manual for everything not to do when it comes to how to behave around women. He has no concept of consent at all and takes advantage whenever he sees an opportunity.
If Quagmire was a real guy, he would be behind bars.
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