Author: KA Byrnes

BRAX, THREE?

In flashbacks of The Accountant we know that protagonist Wolff has a younger brother but we don’t know what became of him. For quite a while we only see Wolff. Eventually we realize that the man set against Wolff is his brother, who’s given the non-descript name of Brax. It’s an intriguing Eight moment when they recognize each other. And now we know that the sequel will feature the brothers together prominently, as almost a buddy comedy, or so it sounds. Therefore it’s important to look at him in the first movie.

Brax is an assassin. How he ended up in this job is not explained. He’s also slightly too enthusiastic about the chase. I would not say that Brax is psychotic. However, he’s not breaking his own moral code to do the work.

So, does assassin line up with a particular Enneagram?

I immediately gravitate toward a Body Type. All we see of him, from child to adult, is physical aggression.

But I want to say he’s a Heart Type. He’s become an accomplished fighter in order to defend his brother. In the flashbacks we see how much the father depends on Brax to protect Christian. His dad can send him into a fight like he would a dog. As a child, Brax acts from loyalty; as an adult, no one holds his leash.

I’m not sure that this movie gives us enough on Brax to identify which of the Heart Types he would be. We’ll need to wait for more information. Two, Three, or Four? I’m going to lean toward Three, just because he’s so competent. He’s always had a confidence. Let’s put a question mark on it, though, and revisit his character after watching the sequel.

UPDATE: Brax is a Four.

In The Accountant 2, a film I cannot recommend, Brax shows the emotional volatility of the other Heart Type number.

Galaxy Quest (1999)

Happy Ship Weekend! As I’ve mentioned elsewhere, our personal family holiday originated when the Pirates of the Caribbean movies released annually on Memorial Day weekend. Before each new installment, we would watch the previous film to build enthusiasm. Eventually we branched out to other tall ship stories. When we included Disney’s Treasure Planet, it seemed appropriate to diversify into a wider definition of ships. Now Ship Weekend includes air ships, space ships, and fishing boats. If we’re in the mood we’ll stretch the definition all the way down to the tiniest ship possible, the surfboard. The best movies combine our ship holiday with the official memorial for the fallen. Battleship and submarine stories are wonderful. However, the grandaddy is Master and Commander. It’s a near-perfect film. Maybe next year I’ll take a look at it. Until then, I have a holiday-appropriate Story Enneagram review that’s been sitting in my completed folder for a while.

ONE

Heroic music and a television’s aspect ratio introduce a show called “Galaxy Quest.” A clip from an episode plays, showing us the crew and tone. Catch phrases are spoken. “Activate the Omega-13”, with dramatic music, transitions into a “to be continued” screen. 

We’re at a fan convention. Cosplayers applaud. An enthusiastic host (Guy) prepares to announce the actors from the show.

Cut to the green room where, in costume, they all wait. Everyone except the Commander. As they complain, we meet their characters. These actors have had this very conversation innumerable times. When Jason finally enters, everyone’s dislike of him is evident.

Continue reading “Galaxy Quest (1999)”

CHRISTIAN WOLFF, NINE

With The Accountant 2 releasing to theaters, I took the chance to watch the first movie and enjoyed it. Wolff, the protagonist, is a high-functioning autist with a talent for math and numbers. However, as we learn in flashbacks, Wolff’s father, an Army officer, has trained him (or abused him) to be a martial artist and gun expert. Wolff’s accounting office in a backwater strip mall is a cover for his business with mafia-type clients.

I’m interested to look at Wolff’s character. He will have certain traits common to autists: sensitivity to bright light, loud noise, and touch. He is compelled to complete tasks. These behaviors will be the first thing we notice about him; finding his Enneagram becomes more difficult because we need to look beyond his autism. The showrunners — writer, director, and actor, Ben Affleck — must give us a complete person and not rely solely on his neurodiversity. Did they?

He’s physically competent. I don’t know if that makes him a Body Type, though. His father basically forced him to learn. What we do see is a determination of will in him. He won’t quit when he’s a child, and he won’t abandon his mission when he’s an adult. This is possibly a Nine’s sense of justice.

Although he longs to connect socially with other people, Wolff doesn’t seem like a Heart Type. We briefly meet a girl, Justine, at the medical facility who has a very difficult time with stimuli. Yet we can feel how strongly she wants to connect with others. This character feels like a Heart Type to me. Although she and Wolff are both autists, they handle the world differently.

I also wonder if people immediately assume that an autist with a mathematics gift is going to be a Head Type? Nothing about Wolff leans into that. Partly, the casting of Affleck, a large man, stops that. Typically a Head Type would be a smaller, slighter man. Also, Wolff processes the world physically rather than mentally. 

You know, I started out with a Nine and I think I’ll end up there. I’ve never delved into Affleck’s roles, but at a glance he seems to always play a Nine. Think Batman and Good Will Hunting. Some actors, even the great ones, will settle into a niche. Spencer Tracy is beloved for it. I have no problem with an actor who knows his sweet spot. This is an action movie with an interesting backstory. Casting someone who reliably plays a Nine is good business, and it works. The movie is entertaining.

But it wouldn’t work as well without Wolff’s brother. We’ll need to take a look at his character, too, on another day.

Toreadorable

You may remember my gamer elegy from over three years ago. The Elder Scrolls Online on Playstation was over for me and a new relationship with it on PC was beginning.

So much for what we think we know.

This encaustic painting is from a screenshot of my toon Toreadorable on Playstation NA. (All of my characters on that server are named after some aspect of the musical Gypsy.) It’s a PvP grab. I’m the staff-wielder with a basket of fish on my back.

Yeah, that sounds weird. All I can say is that, in gaming, your avatar can wear things you would never touch in reality, like a bunch of dead fish strapped to your shoulders.

When my gaming laptop died and I had to leave the PC community, it was as sad as it was three years ago to leave Playstation. But I’m back in a place I thought I wouldn’t see again. That first moment when I opened the game on PS and saw my girl Gazes was strangely poignant. I’d forgotten my toon people would be waiting for me like old friends.

Who is the protagonist of “Wuthering Heights”?

Hopefully you’ve read my other musings on this novel. (If not, click on the tag.)

We know that Heathcliff and Nelly Dean are the only characters who are present at the beginning, middle, and end. It’s natural to look to them as potential protagonists.

However, film versions focus also on Catherine. In movies, she and Heathcliff are the main romantic pairing, even though the book portrays them as beyond romance. In the novel they have no sexual chemistry or desire to build a married life and family — they are simply one person in two bodies. For love in the book, look to Cathi and Hareton. Every meeting they have is described in the language of a romance novel. They begin star-crossed, overcome their adversities, and become a couple. We see them being ‘shipped at every step of the way and enjoy the unfolding of their love. All of the remaining characters who strike at and torment each other are forgotten due to the winsome duo at the end. We are redeemed by their tenderness and forgiveness. I don’t know how a faithful adaptation could leave them out and focus instead on the Catherine relationship.

Film versions also downplay Nelly’s character. She’s just the narrator, they say. That attitude ignores how often she moves the story forward. The conflict between her role as an innocent storyteller and an interfering servant is essential to the plot. She wins in the end. Her two “children”, the babies she nursed, fall in love and achieve happiness. Heathcliff’s plan to tear down the households is defeated. These competing objectives, Heathcliff vs. Nelly, are the foundation of the story. We need both of these characters in complete detail. To focus on Catherine is to miss the tension. Also, adding to the complexity, Nelly is one of the only people Heathcliff doesn’t treat with malice. They are comrades and adversaries simultaneously. Their objectives are opposite; neither can let the other win. Yet, they are kind to each other. They are the only characters who consistently treat each other with charity.

Continue reading “Who is the protagonist of “Wuthering Heights”?”

Story Enneagram of “Wuthering Heights” (the novel)

Is this a compelling story? It’s been made into many film versions, so the obvious answer is yes. But why? It tells of unbelievable cruelty. Somehow showrunners have twisted this plot into a romantic drama with Heathcliff as a hero. Let’s see what the book actually says.

ONE

Introduce the players and the two house locations. We are approximately six months before the present day. 

The tenant of Thrushcross Grange (TG), Mr. Lockwood, is our entrance point. He walks over to visit his landlord Heathcliff at Wuthering Heights (WH). We meet some very unhappy people: Young Catherine (Cathi) and the rustic Hareton.

TWO

Lockwood returns the next day and becomes caught by a snowstorm and is forced to stay overnight. No one will help or take pity on him. Finally the housekeeper Zillah finds him a place to rest. This is Catherine’s room when she was a child. Lockwood sleeps in her cupboard bed and encounters her ghost. When Heathcliff finds him there he kicks him out and begs Catherine to come to him.

THREE

Lockwood, who caught a cold from his adventures in the snow, is bedridden. Nelly Dean, the housekeeper at TG and an old family servant at WH, entertains him with the story of Heathcliff, which is the majority of the book. Let the history begin . . .

Continue reading “Story Enneagram of “Wuthering Heights” (the novel)”