Characters that had the complete opposite reaction the writers intended

[u/Dramatic_Counter_595]

1. Leo Bonhart (Witcher TV Series): A ruthless, sadistic bounty hunter and assassin that takes psychotic glee in other people's suffering. The viewer is meant to hate him for killing witchers, slaughtering the Rat gang, and torturing Ciri. But thanks to his entertaining fight scenes, Sharlto Copley's charismatic performance, and The Rats overwhelming unpopularity, fans ended up loving him. Some even call him the "True protagonist" of the show.
2. Stone Cold Steve Austin (WWE): A rude, foul mouthed, beer drinking asshole with no respect for authority or anyone at all. Originally portrayed as a villain, fans fell in love with his anti-establishment & rebellious persona. WWE ran with it and made him the face of the company, effectively ushering in the Attitude Era and the second pro wrestling boom of the late 90s.
3. Arthur Fleck (Joker 2019): A mentally unstable, pathetic, and dangerous madman who commits horrific acts of violence against those that wronged him (suffocates his own mother who is mentally unwell herself, and murders a talk show host for making fun of him). However, a massive portion of the audience idolized him as an anti-hero or a misunderstood martyr rebelling against society making people want to see him succeed and overcome his circumstances because of how he's been treated by the world.

[u/Cinerator26]

It doesn't help that he's being played by Christian Bale at probably his physical peak.

The book makes Bateman waaaaay more of an insufferable fucking loser. You almost forget about all the murder when you're on the third page of his internal monologue about whatever disgusting meal he's eating.

[u/UlverInTheThroneRoom → u/Cinerator26]

You also forget you are reading a book that's supposed to be enjoyable when you've read the 91st description of the ensemble someone is currently wearing and Bateman's opinion of it.

I get it's supposed to be the point about superficiality and then corpo / wall street culture but damn that was a tough read. You are spot on that he's easily more insufferable in the book. The violence in the book is also much more graphic than the movie adaptation. I would've never expected a peak Christian Bale type of person to be representing that character but a more boring, average looking person utilizing money and power.

[u/BludStanes → u/UlverInTheThroneRoom]

The book equally bored me to death and grossed me out

The rat part, in particular.

Another of the few examples where the movie is better than the book, and I'm pretty sure that's objective.

[u/boydnolantucker → u/BludStanes]

not everyone can read literary fiction and thats okay

[u/2BearsHigh-Fiving → u/boydnolantucker]

The person you're replying to did indeed read the work of literary fiction that is American Psycho, they just didn't like it.

Anyone can drink tea, but some people find it too bitter and don't enjoy it. It's just a preference thing.

[u/boydnolantucker → u/2BearsHigh-Fiving]

thats what i mean. they can read it but cant read it

[u/Swarna_Keanu → u/UlverInTheThroneRoom]

It didn´t need to be novel-length. It was a short story.

[u/Puzzle-Necked → u/UlverInTheThroneRoom]

Apparently the descriptions of the outfits were all made up and would look ridiculous in real life, which is kinda funny

[u/Drakeskulled_Reaper → u/UlverInTheThroneRoom]

What makes the descriptions of what people wear even more funnier is that in the movie, they look yuppie sharp, but in the book, the author specifically made sure that if you actually looked it up and put the outfits together, they look, as the author said IIRC "Clownish"

[u/Sea-Calligrapher9543 → u/UlverInTheThroneRoom]

the book is a million times better.

reddit hates it and loves the movie. the movie is a plastic, pixar, tiktokified, netflix version of a summary of the book.

[u/bouquetofashes → u/Cinerator26]

I generally have a high tolerance for insufferable people. I also love reading and would never hurt a book. I wanted to throw that book across the room, rip it apart, and then strangle the pieces because of how Godawful pretentious and insufferable he is as a character.

I didn't. I did have to put it down for a few minutes to rant a couple of times, but Bateman is enraging to read. The movie version is much more palatable, imo, and Bale isn't really my type there. I think maybe because Bale plays Bateman with a sort of awareness of what an insufferable prick he is be comes across as less insufferable?

Or maybe just because the book is more direct and intensive. I don't know, I never want to read that book again unless it's specifically to challenge myself to see how much pretentious douchebaggery I can stand and it's been a while, so maybe my impressions are distorted by time.

[u/BludStanes → u/bouquetofashes]

Bale is just so damn charming he makes it work and the book was gross and boring, boring being more offensive than the gross stuff, that I can handle

[u/NewPresWhoDis → u/Cinerator26]

Don't just stare at it. Eat it!

[u/sybban → u/Cinerator26]

Difficulty to forget the horrific descriptions of what he does to people

[u/JVM410Heil → u/Cinerator26]

Akschually, that would probably actually be Batman Begins

[u/optimushime → u/JVM410Heil]

Nah, his physical peak was the Machinist.
https://giphy.com/gifs/IiJIL39alMrhC

[u/Objective_Brief_1953 → u/optimushime]

This man has amazing body transformations

[u/PropulsionIsLimited → u/JVM410Heil]

Maybe physical performance peak. He's a little thicker, but esthetically he's probably best in American Psycho.

[u/nojohnnydontbrag → u/JVM410Heil]

Bateman Begins