7 Movie Characters Everyone Hates On For The Wrong Reasons
2. Pvt. Timothy Upham - Saving Private Ryan
Why Everyone Hates Him: "Gosh, this little p*ssy just stood there whilst he friends were getting killed! Not to mention the fact that he did, like, nothing at all for the whole movie except get in the way. What's the point of this schmuck?" But Wait... People really hate Upham. Like, a lot. It's no wonder, really, given that he's responsible for what is arguably the most frustrating movie moment in cinema history - the one where Pvt. Mellish is stabbed to death by a Nazi, all whilst Upham - just a room away - lingers like a coward instead of coming to rescue his friend. Upham is also indirectly responsible for the death of Tom Hank's Captain Miller, given that he lobbies for a prisoner of war to be let go, only for said prisoner of war to return at a later point and shoot down the same man who agreed to release him. So whereas Upham is universally disliked, it's kind of goes against the entire purpose of his character to actively hate him - after all, he's there to show what war is all about; that some people just aren't cut out for it. Spielberg doesn't actively set out to render Upham as a character we're all supposed to dislike. His decision to not execute a Nazi P.O.V. was actually a GOOD THING, lest we not forget: it's honourable, and he goes against his own team's wishes to ensure that a moral decision is made (brave in its own way). Yet we still hate on him later because it leads to Miller's death. The weirdest thing about all the Upham hate is that so many people seem to think that the intention of the character is for us to dislike him, as if the writer purposely crafted a character who we were all supposed to come out of the theatre raging against. Not so: Upham is a representation of certain kinds of soldiers who ended up fighting in wars they didn't belong in. There's no "angle" - Upham doesn't save Mellish because he's petrified. It's easy to say, "I would have saved Mellish," but until you're in that situation yourself, how would it be possible to know?
