10 and 9

10: Napoleon Dynamite

The film Napoleon Dynamite represents a range of opinions that is varied at best. Many hail it as the essential independent film of this generation; a masterful blend of style, oddity and uniqueness that remains a staple for the indie genre. Others simply label it as “a funny movie”, nothing more.
Napoleon Dynamite on the other hand stands as an essential film character for our generation. Whereas half of the characters expressed on this list will be taken from films that are much older then I, Napoleon stands as a character that was birthed under the cultural views and influence of our time. He’s a mixture of two ideals that have been revisited over the past few years. One being that kitsch is good, the other being “you guys are retarded”. Regarding kitsch - style and dress from the 80’s and 70’s has become fair game, and often preferable. With television like that 70’s show and Freaks and Geeks, Napoleon is the end product of a catalyst developed throughout the thread of the past few years. Bold ties, Afros, decidedly dorky glasses, he is the reestablishment of an old time fashioned after the needs of our current era.

His character on the other hand is unique and confused. The tagline to the film, “He's out to prove he's got nothing to prove”, seems to sum up the general feelings shared by many today. His spun tales of wolverines and unicorns are so unbelievable that he couldn’t possibly stand a chance of misleading us. His character is unique in the sense that he rivals in the unique. Ironically, he may also be a slandering of the unique, simply because of how he dresses and how he acts. Napoleon’s hit and miss, unassuming verbiage smacks of dialect expressed by younger kids throughout the mid 90’s. Such outlandish expressions as “You guys are retarded!” still manage to pop up every now and then.

But what earns him iconic status has been his assimilation into modern quotation. I hear people quoting Napoleon Dynamite all of the time. Sure, it gets a little old, but at least it’s taken some of the heat off Monty Python and the Holy Grail. Napoleon may have cemented himself in our minds through visual appearance and character, but his dialect earns him the label of “cinematic icon”.

9: HAL

Voiced by Douglas Rain, HAL represents the first time a cinematic character has stood for the “all seeing eye” in a film. Beforehand, most characters were probably stationed in the physical realm, but his character is unique in the sense that he has no physical body to speak of. He’s iconic however, due to his glowing red eye.
An interesting thing could be drawn from the bright orange (and later on blazing red) glow of that eye. One of the deepest held convictions behind humanity is that the further along we progress with technology, the more emotionless we become. The film’s astronauts are a true representation of this fear. Kubrick decided to shoot them in cold blues and dull grays for most of the film, and their personalities leave little for the viewer to take interest in. Ironically, the humans seemed to throw their emotions upon their technology when they progress beyond needing them. HAL is thus jealous, possessive, begging and aggressive. He is the raw and unadulterated emotion that humanity has come to forget. It is only later on in the film when Dave is threatened with death that his instincts for survival decide to kick in. Wisely, Kubrick begins to shoot Dave in bright oranges and yellows to heighten the emotional intensity of rediscovering humanity’s core.
HAL stands as the catalyst for this event, and his iconic status has elevated him into numerous pop culture references and jokes. Today he is the first image that comes to our mind when we think of Artificial Intelligence, and he is probably one of the more memorable characters taken out of a Kubrick film. Interestingly, David, the boy robot from Kubrick’s final work, A.I. was originally planned to be HAL in the early stages of life. Although the idea was tantalizing, it’s good that Kubrick left HAL alone in the confines of 2001. HAL was an iconic creation from the get go, and he remains one to this day.