The mythical story of Pygmalion and Galatea goes as follows: Pygmalion was the mythical king of Cyprus, and although he was a fine ruler, he had problems when it came to women. He often found himself accepting to see women who repulsed him or offended him and he was shocked at how nature could have given these women the faults they possessed. Thus, he resolved to never to find himself in the presence of another maiden ever again. But lonely, Pygmalion turned his attention to sculpture and one day carved so beauiful a figure out of ivory that no maiden could ever compare. Pygmalion fell in love with his creation and often found himself touching the statue to make sure it weren't alive. He named his creation Galatea and dressed her in maiden's robes and jewelry, pretending as if she were real.
One day, he attended a festival in honor of Aphrodite and when it came time for his part in the processional, he lamented his situation and prayed that he could have a wife just like the ivory maiden, for he dared not ask for the ivory maiden herself. Ahrodite, hearing his prayer to the gods, and knowing what Pygmalion had truly wished to pray for, took pity on him and caused the altar's flame to flare up three times. Upon returning home that night, Pygmalion kissed his ivory maiden and was shocked to feel the statue kiss him back. He touched her arm and felt soft flesh underneath his fingers, and he layed a hand on her neck and felt a steady pulse beneath. Aphrodite, joyous at the union, blessed the couple with a child, whom they named for the city of Paphos.
The story above brings to mind the idea of wishing one's favorite characters actually existed. A friend of mine was talking about Pygmalion in class and she explained how she interpreted the story as 'creepy' and 'wrong.' While I believe the story of Pygmalion isn't supposed to be one of disgust, this friend later went on to say that the character she would most wish to animate would be Chuck Bass and that I agree with wholeheartedly - he just needs to exist (because, come on, just look at him).
Granted, I won't deny that kissing a statue every day isn't creepy, but I believe that the story of Pygmalion and Galatea's love is supposed to be a beautiful one. In a way, it was out of Pygmalion's love for Galatea that she became a real maiden, much like how a reader often feels about the characters in a book. I find myself identifying with Pygmalion (not in the sense that I fall in love with statues) but in the sense that I cherish things dear to me. For, how is loving a character out of a book or any movie/tv show/whatever any different? None of those characters exist in real life, yet as an audience, we are drawn to them.
Now, asking me to pick one character which I wish were real is a cruel joke. So, I hope it's fine that I don't stick to that limitation. Because, quite frankly, it just isn't possible. Now that Chuck Bass is out of the way, I have many more characters which I wish were in fact real. And more often than not, they come in pairs. First, there's Jesse and Suze, from The Mediator (friends, ya feel me on this one?) because who doesn't want a kick-ass ghost busting duo in their lives? Then, I would animate Ponyboy from The Outsiders and we would be Greasers together (because girls were totally allowed to be Greasers). Let's be frank, I would also animate all of the characters from The Mortal Instruments, and then Courtney and I would totally be all over that. There's Raoul Duke from Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas and he and I would lose our minds in Vegas together, then Daisy from Gatsby and I would smoke cigarillos and chat all day in her house with the white curtains billowing around us, and Hazel and Gus from TFIOS for so many reasons, and gosh, just so many more that even though my word limit here is infinite, there still wouldn't be enough space in this post to fit them all.
Oh! And how could I forget, of course I would lastly animate Charley and Logan, and Will and Annabelle from my dear friend Annie's book. Because, even though I've only read snippets, I feel as if I already know them like my best friends. "Willabelle" with their cheesy nickname, and Charley with her cussing issues, and Logan with his unfaltering charm. I love 'em. (Seriously though Annie, could you have made Logan and Charley any less ship-able?!)
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