I would have to say I identify mostly with Helen. I still wear all black, sometimes blue jeans. I'm a 38 year old man who is handsome, charismatic, good sense of humor, confident, strong , muscular and have no problem attracting women and gay men. I have been told that I am striking and I also have been blessed where it counts. I do workout everyday and take pride in the way I look.
Some women automatically think I'm a player or that I'm too cocky. I don't really care what people think of me. Men have always been competitive with me in sports and tried to cheat their way to winning. I call everyone out and tell it the way it is. Especially these pretentious people who think they "have it all"
I used to be a bully in high school, making fun of those who were like Joy, Allen, Christina and Andy. As I got older I realized what an a$$hole I was and regret hurting them. Didn't get me anywhere. Now I pick on people my own size and my brutal honesty has cost me friendships and problems with my own family. But its all for the best. The less friends you have in this life, the better.
I also have two college degrees and a good worker. I understand when Helen says. " Im just so tired of being admired all the time" because I feel many people just want my c%ck . Nobody wants me for me. I feel nobodys ever honest with me. They tell me what I want to hear. Then these women get attached with me and start falling in love or want a relationships. I don't know why I am selfish and unkind and get a high off breaking hearts. Instead of stressed I lie there charmed. I feel that some of these people deserve it. I am just their Karma. I know I will get mine one day. Well perhaps not when I don't feel anything. I break up marriages because I can. Ive been called a sociopath and cruel for just being myself.
But beyond all my greatness , I do have flaws just like everyone else. I'm an alcoholic, and enjoy smoking cigarettes( something I'm trying to give up). I have this weird self esteem issue where I hate myself yet I still think I'm better than everyone else. I have been self destructive in my teen years and early 20's, by using drugs and going off with strangers to motels wasted.
I always give orders in the bedroom, tell them how I like it. But I wonder what it would be like to be tied up and slapped and called names. Although Ive seen things like this in porn but I'm not sure if I could go along. The thought of having a dominatrix makes me wonder why I have lost control. Perhaps get a man and tie him up and smack him around to practice on. Someone big enough to handle me. I wouldn't feel so bad slapping a man rather than a woman. How could I allow myself? Will it get me off? Maybe with the right amount of bourbon. That just sounds ridiculous. IM NO GOOD, A ZERO, ZERO

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I am most like Vlad. Partly because he is played by an English actor, but mainly because most times I meet Americans, or read what they write (on this board, for example), I usually mutter "Stupid American!" at the conclusion.

dude
Hope you're doing better

Also a bit like Allen (funny how I totally didn't recognize his counterpart actor in Life During Wartime as playing him) and Andy.
Though for all of Solondz' films, I'm probably mostly like Abe in Dark Horse. That's gotta be my fave Todd movie. If only because it seems to have the most empathy for its main character. And despite my love for Todd's dark movies, I'm still a mostly hopeful person at heart, an idealistic dreamer who still wants to believe his life has meaning and purpose (just check my sig). This film Happiness would be a close second for top Todd movie. The others are just ok to me.
But yeah, I can find the humanity in his characters. Some say Todd is laughing at them, but I disagree and I think, whoever's laughing at these characters, it says more about them. I think Todd has a lot of empathy for these characters. Others may call them "losers", but I hate that word, as it seems judgmental and mean. Unless maybe the character is a "loveable loser". So I'm trying to take that word back, words like that, "introvert", and "wallflower" that society puts an unfairly negative spin on.
So its great to have movies like these out there, not afraid to show these flawed but, ultimately, mostly good hearted characters just trying to do their best, to connect and make their way through this messed up world as best they know how. Helps one feel less alone. The same thing I try to do with my posts. Some of us may be awkward socially, so it may come off as a bit "creepy" sometimes, but I'd like to think most of us have good hearts, so anyone with a modicum of empathy should be understanding of our flaws. Everyone's flawed in their own ways if they're honest. One thing I can't stand is a bully, they're like the lowest of the low for me. So I like how, flawed as most of Todd's characters may be, hardly any are what I'd call bullies.
I think that whether the viewer can relate and/or "like" these characters or not depends on how much empathy they have for the misfits, "losers", underdogs, and dark horses in life. The socially awkward. These are my people, plus I'm an empath, its my "gift" (though often seems more a curseand I thought gifts were supposed to make you money lol) so I completely relate and empathize.
Sorry again for the longwinded responses. I guess someone would need to be older and feel lost to understand. To have gone through disappointments and failures, to still be currently going through a "setback period" where the end's not yet in sight. But if it were up to me I'd be King of the Misfits (maybe that's my purpose in life)if I didn't feel Todd already had claim to that throne lol And who knows, not to be arrogant, but maybe he'll even make a movie about my life one day The last few years have certainly been crazy, a roller coaster, and like the kind of thing you'd find in a movie plot (sacrificing everything for just the chance to make your dream happen, to find your place in this world and make your mark before your money runs out, etc). I understand his movies aren't for everyone. Though hopefully I've maybe helped explain their appeal better.
"That's the theme of my movies: The victory of the battered idealist in a cynical world."

Mostly Joy for me, too. 37 year old guy lol Mostly just because I've felt lost in life for a few years now. Like someone else mentioned, the fear that how I am is how I'll always be, since people always told me I'd outgrow my shyness, anxiety, and awkwardness, but I still pretty much feel the same as I did in high school, the same personality. Still feeling emotions deeply, still very sensitive, an empath, different from the norm. Confident people still confuse me and make me uncomfortable, they still seem fake to me. Still uncomfortable with the idea of having to be smooth and manipulative like most adults have to be to succeed in this world.
Plus I was trapped in my last job, was brave enough/burned out enough/broken down enough to leave, but am having trouble figuring out how to take the next step in life, regarding what to do with the rest of it. Since I miss the structure of school, of having your steps planned out and someone telling you what to do. So I'm trying to be brave and follow my heart for the first time, trying to live my own life, but its scary and not going so well at the moment. Was going well, seemed to have someone come into my life I thought could help me, but it seems I may have blown it and I'm really depressed about that.
Its not fair that adults are under so much more pressure to have it all together or at least act like we do. People say adolescence sucks so bad, and mine was no picnic either, but I feel life was simpler as a kid. Much less responsibility and expectation. I also feel I'd have done better if I'd been a girl. Or gay lol Since it seems there'd be less pressure to be confident, to be the alpha. You could just be yourself. Just exist. So maybe some people just aren't meant to be confident, since it never seems to work when I try it, like people don't take it seriously because they know its uncomfortable for me and I suck at it lol
Seems people are more understanding of a character's flaws when they're young, like Todd's Welcome to the Dollhouse protagonist, since things happen in life to affect your personality (bullying, flawed parents/troubled home life, abuse, etc) and people seem to understand that. Nature and nurture. But once you're an adult, all that empathy goes out the window and no one tries to understand anymore, they just judge. Even if you're basically the same person, due to whatever factors caused you to remain the same. That's messed up.
But yeah, its like I know who I am, but the trick is how to take that and turn it into something that could be successful and profitable in the world. Not that I want to conform to the world, but you still have to eat. So that's been tough. Since most of the things I'm naturally good at are considered "feminine" and not exactly money making skills that the world values.
Though most "normal" people won't understand that, someone trying to do their own thing, since this world is so based on competition and achievement, ambition and climbing ladders. Money, status, and power. Using people to "get ahead". All BS to me. Very rare when someone gets me. I hardly if ever see people posting stuff like this. So I relate to the part where Joy's sister tells her something like she always seemed doomed to failure. Since apparently I'm so hard to understand, so that's a worry of mine, other people seeing me as a failure (and sometimes seeing myself as one, since I'm one of my own toughest critics and its hard trying to go your own way in life). Similar line about failure in Todd's film Dark Horse, too.
Wow, sorry for all that lol Hope that made sense. Felt good to get it out. I guess if you can't say that stuff on a board for a Solondz movie, where can you?
"That's the theme of my movies: The victory of the battered idealist in a cynical world."

Cool thread Wish more movies had a "which character are you?" post. Most people just seem to cast judgment on the characters, deeming them likeable or not, or saying "I know someone like that", but usually not saying which ones they personally relate to, so they come off as judgmental while not having much in the way of self awareness
"That's the theme of my movies: The victory of the battered idealist in a cynical world."

Sensible people would distance themselves from types like Bill Maplewood. (in so many words; his grass is too green)
I'm like Andy Kornbluth. Except not a Jew or prone to fits of crying in fine dining establishments (regardless of circumstances)

I work in IT, so I must be like Allen, but without the phone calls. Yeah seriously, he is the one most like me!
Will anyone claim to be bill Maplewood though!

Allen
16 year old male lol
I'm from Paris TEXAS

I also identified with Joy the most. I'm a 20 year old male. Although I could also see a little bit of other characters in myself as well. This movie was very interesting to me but I'm not so sure about the final scene. It seemed like shock value just for the sake of shock value.

It's a shame that this post has no threadbecause despite how shocking this film is, the darkness found in each character is one that can be interpreted by any viewer. Whether it be feelings of being targeted, hopeless, helpless, deprived, privileged, or lost, it's difficult not to relate.