Playbooks in the Movies

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SJE

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Playbooks in the Movies
« on: June 21, 2011, 11:37:33 AM »
So, I've been reading through Apocalypse World and trying to mentally peg the different characters - you know that human thing of mentally labelling things for ease of mental shorthand. While the game doesnt have a setting beyond "post-Apocalypse" & "psychic maelstrom", its inspirations and homages are writ large in the playbooks.

My thought was "If I was playing this playbook, which movie character would I be?" This is what I've guessed so far (though nearly half the archetypes can be found in the Mad Max series)-

The Faceless: V from V for Vendetta.
The Driver- Mad Max, natch.
Battlebabe- Barb Wire? (lots of other choices - Violet perhaps from Ultraviolet or Warrior Woman from MM2)
Chopper - Clay Morrow from Sons of Anarchy
Touchstone - a mix of Eli from Book of Eli and the Postman
The Operator- Vic Mackey
Hardholder - most recent example I've seen was Carnegie from Book of Eli Earlier example would be Pappagallo from Mad Max 2
Hoarder- Noland (Lawrence Fishburne) from Predators
Angel - Doc Cochran from Deadwood
Gunlugger - I want to say Man With No Name from the Dollars trilogy
Maestro'D - Cy Tolliver or possibly Al Swearengen from Deadwood
Hocus - Brother Justin from Carnivale
Savvyhead - J.F. Sebastian from Bladerunner (Master from Beyond the Thunderdrome)

Skinners, Brainers (definately not River Tam) I've got less of a clean grip on. Thoughts?

SJE

Re: Playbooks in the Movies
« Reply #1 on: June 21, 2011, 11:51:44 AM »
Welcome SJE!

Check out our Extended Mediography (http://apocalypse-world.com/forums/index.php?topic=71.0) for some musings on this topic.

Brainer - Lady Gaga, Pino from Ergo Proxy
Skinner - Mrs. Miller from McCabe and Mrs. Miller, Jo in Walk on the Wild Side,

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SJE

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Re: Playbooks in the Movies
« Reply #2 on: June 21, 2011, 11:57:53 AM »
Not really seeing Gaga as a Brainer- Skinner maybe, but where is the psychic connection and pain amplifiers? But now I think about it, Alia (esp. Heretics of Dune era Alia) would be The Brainer?

Re: Playbooks in the Movies
« Reply #3 on: June 21, 2011, 01:00:50 PM »
Gaga = Hocus, maybe with a few Maestro'D (give the people what they what) moves.

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Arvid

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Re: Playbooks in the Movies
« Reply #4 on: June 21, 2011, 05:27:27 PM »
Battlebabe- Barb Wire? (lots of other choices - Violet perhaps from Ultraviolet or Warrior Woman from MM2)

Battlebabes needn't be "babes", really.

They're good at acting under fire, so they survive shit when hell breaks loose, and others got nothing on them. (Sex special) In combat, they're not the murder machines that Gunluggers are, but they are great at getting around the battlefield, (acting under fire) engaging in indirect combat, (ice cold) surviving (dangerous & sexy and perfect instincts) and getting what they want (visions of death)

For an archetype, imagine the devil-may-care loner that goes into town and stirs up trouble but thinks on hir feet and gets out more or less unscathed. The nameless stranger of Westerns are battlebabes. Trinity in the Matrix too, probably - While Morpheus just beats people up, she is running and jumping and flipping all over the place. Before the Touchstone, I had Eli pegged as Battlebabe.
« Last Edit: June 21, 2011, 05:41:04 PM by Arvid »

Re: Playbooks in the Movies
« Reply #5 on: June 21, 2011, 06:08:45 PM »
The Driver- Mad Max, natch.

Only in the first film. In second and third, I'd pick Battlebabe or Gunlugger for him.

Re: Playbooks in the Movies
« Reply #6 on: June 22, 2011, 04:06:18 AM »
Kenshiro from Fist of the North Star is totally a battlebabe, methinks. And leaving the movies a bit, I've seen write-ups of Freud as a Brainer and Gandhi as a Hocus around here, and it totally works.

Of course, the whole cast of Firefly can be translated in AW playbooks.

Re: Playbooks in the Movies
« Reply #7 on: July 03, 2011, 10:54:05 AM »
Rorschach (Watchment) is utterly a Faceless - even has the bit about the mask being his Face. And obviously The Comedian is a Gunlugger.
From Serenity, you could make a case for The Operative as a Battlebabe - the utterly calm (for the most part) elegantly vicious killer.
Han Solo is a classic Driver, including the tendency to take off to prove nobody owns him.

Re: Playbooks in the Movies
« Reply #8 on: July 09, 2011, 12:25:55 AM »
When I think of a Skinner, I think of Satine from Moulin Rouge.

For some reason, the Brainer reminds me of that evil cult leader that rips people's hears out in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom.


Re: Playbooks in the Movies
« Reply #9 on: September 14, 2011, 12:21:41 PM »
I'm kinda veering off the movies bit, cause I think other media have some better examples, but trying to stick to film

Faceless - Jason, Friday the 13th
- the Maxx, from the cartoon and original comics
- the dude from Splatterhouse
Driver - tankgirl, tho' she took a simple liberty with 'second car is a tank'
- Riding Bean, from the cartoon
- Jack Burton, Big Trouble in Little China, tho' he spends lots of time outside of his car and is still pretty awesome
- the narrator (and the antagonist) in Kool Keith's 'Gorilla Driving a Pick-up Truck' (music?  maybe I'm off topic, but its kind of apocalyptic)
- Clive Owen's no-name character in that weird BMW series of shorts
- Jason Statham, the Transporter (too easy really)
Hardholder - Bill Murray as the Mayor in City of Ember, and why didn't anyone else think that movie was spectacular?
- Sol in Doomsday, tho' he might have taken moves from Chopper and Hocus
Battlebabe - Aeon Flux, not the movie, the cartoon
- the Bride, Kill Bill
- Doc Holliday, Tombstone, he's totally not a gunlugger, there's the difference
- was it on this post or another (I should do my homework)?  I loved the take that Leto from B13 was a battlebabe, spot on
Hocus - Thulsa Doom, James Earl Jones in Conan with Snakes

Brainer - Marcello, City of Lost Children, but other characters are playing around with brainer stuff in that movie too
- the dudes from Scanners
- i want to put Donnie Darko in here, but I think he just had a really high weird
Skinner - Banksy, he's a skinner
- classical geisha, I mean classical, not an asian whore, like a classically trained sophisticated geisha, that's skinner cent pour cent

Re: Playbooks in the Movies
« Reply #10 on: September 16, 2011, 08:19:40 AM »
It's funny how wide-spread the mental images and labels for the Battlebabe are. Which makes it a really great archetype of character. I always think of NausicaƤ from NausicaƤ of the Valley of the Winds.
a friend in need is a friend indeed

Re: Playbooks in the Movies
« Reply #11 on: September 16, 2011, 12:35:27 PM »
Me, I think of The Wire's Omar.

Re: Playbooks in the Movies
« Reply #12 on: September 16, 2011, 08:56:26 PM »
Omar is totally a gunlugger.

Re: Playbooks in the Movies
« Reply #13 on: September 16, 2011, 09:20:46 PM »
i thought of nausicaa as a savvyhead, deep insights and spooky calm under pressure, she even had a controlled growing environment, and definitely had a good weird stat (in that the Ohm (sp?) were the weird, or part of it)

Re: Playbooks in the Movies
« Reply #14 on: September 17, 2011, 07:38:25 AM »
Omar is totally a gunlugger.

He gets capped when he tries to take something by force, two times, but boy does he rock at going aggro. Plus, in court, he manipulates like a bitch, by rolling +Cool no doubt. He also doesn't sport a ton of guns but sticks to his signature shotgun. I rest my case.