The 10 Most Iconic Characters in Film History (Relay)

I was invited by Andrew Ellington to participate in this relay blogathon – thanks Andrew! This list of the ten most iconic characters in history was first created by Nostra at MyFilmViews. The idea is that every participant deletes one iconic character from the list, and then adds a new one.

Here are Nostra’s rules:

A list of 10 iconic movie characters has been made. That list will be assigned to another blogger who can then change it by removing one character (describing why they think it should not be on the list) and replace it with another one (also with motivation) and hand over the baton to another blogger. Once assigned that blogger will have to put his/her post up within a week. If this is not the case the blogger who assigned it has to reassign it to another blogger. After you have posted your update leave the link in the comments here and I will make sure it gets added to the overview post.

The Current List

This is the list as Andrew left it – he replaced Ellen Ripley with Die Hard’s John McClane:

Rocky Balboa

source: United Artists

James Bond

Dr. No – source: United Artists

“Dirty” Harry Callahan

source: Warner Bros.

E.T.

source: Universal Pictures

Indiana Jones

source: Paramount Pictures

Princess Leia

source: 20th Century Fox

John McClane

source: 20th Century Fox

The Terminator

source: TriStar Pictures

The Tramp

source: General Film Company

Darth Vader

source: 20th Century Fox

And Now It’s My Turn!

Now it’s up to me to delete one character, and replace it with another. This is hard.

I think Darth Vader, The Terminator, James Bond, Indiana Jones, Dirty Harry and The Tramp are all very deserving on their spots on this list. I wouldn’t dare touch them. I’m less certain, however, about E.T.; while iconic, I wouldn’t say it should be in the top 10. The same counts, in my opinion, for Rocky Balboa and John McClane (Ellen Ripley was a better choice than that one, sorry Andrew :P).

Although it makes me sad, I’m going to have to kick off Princess Leia. When I think of Star Wars, I think of Darth Vader, and he’s already up there. When I think of Star Wars, I think of Yoda, Han Solo, even R2D2, before I think of Leia. Which is actually kind of sad, because she’s a great character. Too bad for her she’s surrounded with so many other awesome characters.

I’ve thought of many characters to add to replace her with. The Dude, Harry Potter, Gollum, Tyler Durden, The Shining’s Jack Torrance, Norman Bates, Tony Montana, even Jack Sparrow…

But since I’m kicking off a woman, I want to replace her with a woman, as in my opinion, the list is a bit heavy on the male side. I can’t put Ellen Ripley back in and it’s a bit too early to add Katniss Everdeen, and The Bride… While iconic, she’s not more iconic than Mary Poppins, who still forms a fond memory for everyone who’s seen the film in the past 50 years.  

source: Buena Vista Distribution

Mary Poppins is one of the most iconic characters in all of film history, much more iconic even than John McClane or Rocky Balboa, if you’d ask me. She stood for female independence and being yourself, she was funny, charming, sweet, and I think she’s the nanny every child would want, even today. I know when I first saw the film in the nineties, I wanted her to be my nanny, and today I wish I had the same magic as Mary to make stuff clean itself up with a snap of my fingers.

To date, it’s the Disney movie with the most Academy Awards nominations and won five, among them the Oscar for Best Actress for Julie Andrews, who played Mary Poppins so majestically. In my opinion, she definitely deserves a spot on this list (though I do hope that The Dude makes his way on there at some point or another, too, lol).

Who’s Next?

I’m passing the baton to Sati of The Cinematic Corner! Good luck Sati, I’m looking forward to see what you’re going to do to this list! In the mean time, check out her blog too, because she’ll be covering Game of Thrones extensively in the next few months, and like me, she loves criminology! ^_^

Dear readers, who would you delete and add to this list? Sound off in the comments!

P.S. if you like my rendition of the list, please share it on your social networks!