4. William Foster - Falling Down
Who Is He?: Nicknamed "D-Fens", he's a very, very angry man on a day in which nothing seems to go right; he gets stuck in traffic in blistering heat, he gets overcharged for a soda, gangsters try to rob and assault him, his fast food meal looks nothing like advertised, a neo-Nazi tries to befriend him, and this is all while the guy's just trying to bring his daughter a birthday present. Throughout the day, Bill acts out violently against the reprobates making his life Hell, attracting the attention of the police, who see him as a public menace.
How Does He Die?: Sergeant Prendergast tries to bring him in, but Bill, not wanting to see his daughter grow up behind bars, opts for the "suicide by cop" route, pulling a toy water pistol, which causes Prendergast to shoot him through the chest. Bill then falls off the pier, performing an awesomely acrobatic tumble into the water as he does so.
Why He Should Have Lived: It's such a sobering depiction of the everyday annoyances we all complain about, yet its final statement seems to be that there's not really anything you can do about them, short of getting yourself (and others) killed. Besides, wouldn't it have been amusing if Bill became a celebrity of sorts, a poster-boy for the prototypical "angry white male" within a satirical context?