📙 Part 2: Describe a film character played by an actor or actress who you admire

You should say: who this actor/actress is, when you saw the film, what the character was like in this film, and explain why you admire this actor/actress.

This episode's vocabulary

Portrayal (noun) - the way that someone or something is described or represented in a painting, film, book, or other artistic work.

Depiction (noun) - the way that something is represented or shown, or something that represents or shows something.

Captaincy (noun) - the position of captain (= leader) of a sports team.

Roguish (adj.) - behaving in a way that is slightly bad or wrong, but that is not too serious.

Charm (noun) - a quality that makes you like or feel attracted to someone or something.

Mannerism (noun) - something that a person does repeatedly with their face, hands, or voice, and that they may not realize they are doing.

To contrast (verb) - if one thing contrasts with another, it is very different from it.

Dire (adj.) - very serious or extreme.

Backstory (noun) - the things that are supposed to have happened to a character in a film, story, etc. before you first see or read about them.

Notorious (adj.) - famous for something bad.

High jinks (plural noun) - energetic and excited behaviour in which people do funny things or play tricks on someone.

Mischief (noun) - behaviour, especially a child's, that is slightly bad but is not intended to cause serious harm or damage.

Vicariously (adverb) - in a vicarious way (= experienced through the activities of other people, rather than by doing something yourself).

Work ethic (noun) - the belief that work is morally good.

Radically (adverb) - completely or extremely.

Questions and Answers

R: Well, I quite like Jack Sparrow, actually. That's one of the main characters in the Pirates of the Caribbean series of films, who's played by Johnny Depp. I think he's an American actor, and he's been in lots of different movies, but it's his portrayal of this particular character which stands out the most in my mind. I can't remember exactly, but I think I saw those movies mainly when I was a teenager, so a very long time ago now, but that particular depiction of a pirate has always stuck with me since then. The character himself, in addition to being a pirate, is also the captain of a ship called the Black Pearl, and gets himself into various situations in the course of that captaincy. This isn't a very unique status for a pirate to have, of course. So what really stands out about Jack Sparrow is the sort of roguish charm and various mannerisms that he uses, which are a bit cheeky and that often contrasts hilariously with the dire and serious situations that he finds himself in, and that adds to the general comedy of the films. I think he's got a bit of a colourful backstory as well. In addition to being a colourful character, more generally. His father was notorious pirate too, and he has had various relationships with other kinds of people that involve all manner of sort of hijinks and mischief. I think a lot of people secretly wish they had lives like that, so they get to live it out vicariously through him. I admire the character more than the actor, to be honest, which isn't to say that Johnny Depp did a particularly bad job playing the role. If anything, it means he did an excellent job, since the connection the audience establishes should probably be with the character rather than the actor, when you think about it. So I suppose I admire the work ethic there. If you hadn't played the role, it's hard to imagine what it would have looked like. I think it would have been a radically different depiction.

M: What about your friends? Do they enjoy this character?

R: Whenever we've talked about it, they've been fairly positive.

Discussion

M: Hey, thank you, Rory, for your story! Right! A nice one. Jack Sparrow, dear listener, you should choose a character that is easy for you to describe. If you can't describe the character, learn how to describe it, him, her or... Well, talk about Jack Sparrow. You can steal Rory's idea, dear listener. It's absolutely fine.

R: Well, lots of people like Jack Sparrow anyway.

M: Yeah, it's a great character. Yep. So Jack Sparrow. Pirates of the Caribbean. And Johnny Depp plays Jack Sparrow, or Jack Sparrow is played by Johnny Depp. Jack Sparrow is a film character. Johnny Depp is a super actor. And you can say that that's one of the main characters in the Pirates of the Caribbean. So we have the main character, and also we have what, other characters.

R: Well, supporting characters.

M: Supporting characters, dear listener. So not the main characters. His portrayal of this particular character stands out. So actors portray characters.

R: Yeah, they play a role.

M: They play a role and the way Johnny Depp played this particular role is amazing, because, like, he really, well, his body language and his appearance, his makeup, yeah, amazing. So his portrayal, or her portrayal of this particular character stands out. So is unique. We can notice it. And you can say like, ooh, it's like one, one film character that stands out in my mind is Shrek, or is Batman, or is Superman, Spider Man, yeah. Yeah, feel free to talk about superheroes. I saw the movie when I was a teenager. Oh my gosh. How old are Pirates of the Caribbean?

R: I'm pretty sure they came out in the early 2000s. So...

M: Really?

R: It's a long time.

M: So I saw this film a long time ago, and I still remember, or I really enjoy this particular depiction of this character. And again, depiction is like, portrayal is how this particular actor or actress played this role. So the depiction of Jack Sparrow is outstanding. Or when I saw the movie, that particular depiction of a pirate has always stuck with me, so I have always remembered this particular character. Have always stuck with me. And then Rory tells us about this character. So the character himself is a pirate. He is the captain of a ship called the Black Pearl. Yeah. And he gets himself into various situations. Gets into situations? Like he finds himself in different situations. Well, you've seen the movie, right?

R: Or he becomes involved in them. I said in the course of that captaincy. Now, a captaincy is a period of time when someone is a captain of a ship, which might not be useful for talking about other kinds of character. However, this idea of in the course of or over the course of is a good way of talking about time. So it could be over the course of the movie or over the course of the series. It depends on what you want to talk about.

M: And you need some adjectives to describe the character. For example, Rory said that Jack Sparrow, this character, has roguish charm.

R: It's usually a kind of roguish charm.

M: Uh-huh, and like, he has a kind of roguish charm.

R: But that's being charming, but not because you follow the rules. It's actually because you break them and you don't follow conventional behavioural norms.

M: Rogish means behaving in a way that is slightly bad or wrong and that is not too serious. And we remember that Jack Sparrow, he's kind of, you know, he's, he's not like an angel, right? So he steals. He's kind of like... You know? He breaks the law. He's a pirate.

R: Yeah. He's still a criminal.

M: Yeah. But he doesn't kill innocent people, right? He like, he's not a terrorist something. So he's like funny, you know? Does some bad things. So he has this, like, roguish charm. What else could be rogish?

R: I don't know what else, I often hear it describing charm. I don't know what else could it describe? Or what else it could describe even.

M: We can say like he played a rather roguish character in the film. So dear listener, you can say like, oh, it's a rather roguish character, okay? Or, for example, he has a kind of roguish charm. And also like, her smile is a bit roguish. You can say he's a bit cheeky. So, you know, he's like, again, like brave, but in a kind of cheeky kind of way. Slightly rude, showing no respect, but kind of in a funny way. Like, ooh, he's so cheeky, cheeky. Don't be so cheeky. And he's funny, he's hilarious. Ha-ha, hilarious, like, very funny. And he finds himself in serious situations, but he cracks jokes, and he's very funny. He's also quite colourful, and he's got a bit of a colourful backstory. So his kind of background. He's a notorious pirate. His father was a notorious, like famous pirate. And he's quite mischievous. Mischievous? Kind of like naughty. And the noun is mischief behaviour, especially of a child's, especially a child's behaviour that is slightly bad, but again, not too serious. So he is full of mischief, or he gets into mischief. And you can say that I admire this character more than the actor. So if you don't like the actor so much but you like the character, go ahead. He did a great job playing this role. Play a role. Yay. What helped you organize this answer?

R: Um, well, let's look at the prompt. Shall we? We had to say who the actor or actress is, and I did say that, but I did, I talked about who the character was first. That seems more logical, to be honest with you, especially if you're describing a character, and that's the main point. And then I followed on just saying when I saw the film. However, it's not always possible for you to remember exactly when, so this was a good chance to say I can't remember exactly, but... And then talking about the period roughly when you saw them, and then what the character was like. Well, then I just launched straight into what he does, and talking about his backstory and how he behaves. And following that, why I admire the actor or actress. So I took a little bit of a different approach to this, because I said I admire the character more, to be honest, but that's because the actor did such a good job. So here it's like saying, Well, my preference is for the character, but there's still a reason to like the person that's portraying them.

M: Yay! Thank you very much for listening, dear listener, choose your character, okay? An easy one that you can talk about or talk about Jack Sparrow. In our next episode, we're going to be talking about acting and performers and actresses and actors in general. Okay? Bye!

R: Bye!

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