THE LOVABLE LOSER - Reelfilms

Later on, we were introduced to Kevin Arnold on “The Wonder
Years.” With Fred Savage‟s innocent, yet intelligent acting and Daniel
Stern‟s sweet-with-a-touch-of-irony narration, we get to watch Kevin
come of age, struggling to hold onto his innocence in a turbulent decade
(1960s), trying to win the heart of Winnie Cooper and dreaming all those
things that make kids ... kids!
KEVIN: When you're a little kid, you're a
bit of everything. Scientist,
Philosopher, Artist. Sometimes it seems
like growing up is giving these things up
one at a time.
Marcia, Marcia ... Jan
On the other side of the sitcom coin, there is the ultimate middle
child, Jan Brady (Eve Plumb) who essentially dreamed of being her older
sister Marcia (Maureen McCormick). Through Jan, we get to see how
sweetly pathetic a Lovable Loser can be (I‟ll get more into that in a bit)
and how they always look to something they don‟t have. In Jan‟s case,
popularity, beauty, boys—pretty much everything Marcia has.
It is vital to remember that The Lovable Loser dreams more than
any other character, whether they‟re children or adults. They have
dreams so big that sometimes the dreams lead to trouble and they can‟t
see why. No matter what, The Lovable Loser believes these dreams will
come true. Showing they want something so bad makes the character
vulnerable. And it is this vulnerable, eternal dreamer quality that makes
them lovable, makes them losers and makes them incredibly funny.
Desperado
Combining an “I believe” attitude with dreaming big provides the
motto of The Lovable Loser that will carry characters and actors through
scenes and storylines. It is very simple.
“I hope. I hope. I hope.”