Minor, or Major?

No, we’re not talking about music, but when I hear the words major and minor, my first thought is scales and chords. This week, we were asked to discuss “unsung heroes in books or movies: a character who does not get the credit that you believe he or she deserves.” In other words, a minor character who shouldn’t have been so minor.

I don’t often watch movies, and the books I read are mostly new ones written by people I know either online or in writers groups, so the characters I name might not be familiar to many of you. But I’ll give it a shot. I don’t think I can make a post about just one minor/major character, but I’ll give you a short description of three.

I recently responded to a Facebook question asking what movie I’d seen at least five times and still enjoyed watching. I could only think of one: A Charlie Brown Christmas. I wouldn’t say that I could watch it over and over, but I haven’t yet gotten to the point where I’ll leave the room to find something else to do if someone had it on. I love all the Peanuts characters, but I’ve always had a special place in my heart for Schroeder. I suppose part of it is because he’s musical, but I also love that he’s the voice of reason. I’d love to see him in his own feature film. He reminds me of the characters in two of my favorite TV shows, Big Bang Theory and Young Sheldon. Like Sheldon, Schroeder is intellectually far above the rest of the Peanuts cast. But he’s still one of the gang.

I recently watched a Netflix movie called Dumplin.’ It’s about Willowdean Dixon, a not-so-slender teen who has identity issues stemming from having a beauty queen single mother. Growing up, she had two people she could depend on – her aunt, who took care of her, and her best friend Ellen. Ellen is as gorgeous as a model, is popular, and has a boyfriend, but she always makes time for Will. Will’s story was great. I love how she found her true self and accepted herself. But I’d love to know more about Ellen. She’s remained a true friend to Will, through all the rough times. And she backs away from the friendship only when Will thoroughly insults her. I’d love to know what it is that she loves about Will, and why they remained such good friends.

As for books, I recently read an interesting story called Double Down Trouble by J. L. Salter. It was an entertaining read with the hero and heroine getting into all sorts of tight situations, but the real hero for me was Señor Viejo. What a man! Even from a wheelchair, he was the guy who made everything happen. He knew how things worked and had the answers, and he never lost his cool. Without him, the good guys would probably not have won.

I suppose I could come up with a few more examples, but since my attention wanders when reading and writing long posts, I’ll end here.

What minor characters would you consider to be more major?

Advertisement