Why do I love Theo? Well if you don't read books, then at least go see the movie, not only is it a fantastic movie full of powerful political meaning, but Clive Owen is damn sexy. So that may be the first reason to potentially love Theo, because Clive Owen portrayed him and...damn. Though, honestly I think Clive Owen was born to play that role. His moody appearance and demeanor (along with that sexy, sexy British accent actually the British accent has nothing to do with it, never mind) make him perfect for the role. Really, I don't know who could have done a better job, I really don't. I can't fully express how perfect he is for the role. But enough about Clive Owen, I'm talking about Theo Faron. Maybe I'll reserve a different blog post for my minor Clive Owen obsession. Right now it's irrelevant and a poor topic of conversation.
Damn
Theo Faron is very real and I think that's the main reason why he's so easy to like. Both in the novel and in the film, he's a man with a realistic point of view about the future who is fed up with the deteriorating world around him. You're also able to feel sympathy for him because he's been through a lot of shit in his life and at the point in the movie and novel where we meet him, he's pretty much alone in life. It's a bit easier to sympathize with movie Theo because his relationship was destroyed due to his child dying of a sickness whereas novel Theo accidentally ran over his child that he admits he really didn't love like his wife had. Theo is each of us, in some unique way. If we were faced with this world in which humans could no longer reproduce, I think that many of us would be Theo, living each day knowing that there really was no hope and nothing we could do. "I can't really remember when I last had any hope, and I certainly can't remember when anyone else did either. Because really, since women stopped being able to have babies, what's left to hope for?"-A quote from movie Theo. You have the sharp contrast of the Five Fishes, the only people who still think anything can be done and honestly, as ideal as it seems to say, 'well I'd help them, I wouldn't give up', most of us know that isn't true. But at the same time, there is that part of Theo that still hopes and most people have that, a glimmer of hope in the face of certain doom/despair/etc. Theo's choice to aid the Five Fishes embodies something in all of us, I think. Our desire to help, to actually do what we say we will instead of sitting idly by.
Apart from these basic human traits that make Theo Faron so much like us, he really is quite a heroic man. He goes from a lonely, tired, hopeless man to a man who is willing to kill and sacrifice his own life in order to help the mother of the first child on earth in decades. In the movie, we see Theo risk his life on multiple occassions to help Kee because he realizes that the situation is bigger than him. In the novel, we see him willing to kill his cousin and others in order to ensure that Julian can safely deliver her baby the way that she chooses to. Theo's bravery makes him a hero, and that in itself makes him a very likeable character.
I think it's rare to see a character so completely real. I really do. Because usually when a character his heroic and has flaws, they succumb to the flaws and when they're heroic and they don't have flaws it's overwhelmingly cheesy. Sure you could cite Batman as a hero with flaws who overcomes them without cheesing it up but the man has a grappling hook and a sonar system that summons bats. Not quite the same as a hero with nothing but a suit and a tie and a fed-up attitude. Theo Faron is a very raw character and at his very center lies a little bit of what everybody has in them.
With that in mind, I really do think Theo Faron is the most interesting and thoughtful hero that has ever been written on paper or put into film.
Thank you, imaginary reader, and Michael, for listening (reading) my long winded rant that was partially inspired my ridiculous english class that requires me to delve into the ideas of heroism.
-Technophobe-
