Discussion Movies/tv/anime/books that have unmotivated characters?

[Puffinz]

I really enjoy watching and reading but I find most characters in stories very unrelatable personally because I have no motivation or interest in anything anymore. Almost every character I see in media has some sort of motivation or reason for living that drives them forward. It seems necessary to have characters like this otherwise it's hard to drive a story and most people find it unrelatable. However, I figure that there must be some characters out there that are just like us and I'd like to see if people have any recommendations. Thanks

 

[Phill]

I'd say the character played by Ricky Gervais in After Life (TV Series) fits it.

 

[VisionsOfHell]

Notes from the underground and crime and punishment from dostojewski.

 

[Kramer]

Rosklanokov from Crime and punishment is a sad man. I live like him.

 

[StringPuppet]

AJ Soprano

 

[Maka hiamoe]

The main character from the anime Welcome to the N.H.K, he's a hikikomori.

 

[blueflame]

Tanaka-kun wa itsumo kedaruge or Tanaka-kun is always listless in English, it's light-hearted and funny, not sure if you mind.

It's an anime btw. Enjoy if you decide to watch it

 

[neitherherenorthere]

Holden Caulfield from Catcher in the Rye seems like the obvious answer to this, but he's an annoying, self absorbed little prick so I hesitate to recommend the book. Even though I liked the book when I read it in high school, Holden kind of irritates me as a character now.

Wonderfalls might fit your criteria? The main character is a sarcastic, disillusioned, underachieving retail worker who lives in a trailer park probably because she knows it embarrasses her family. Weird stuff happens in the show that sort of changes her perspective, but her overall personality is pretty enjoyably sardonic.

Mushishi might also be a good option. The main character isn't really what you're looking for, but it's episodic and so has different characters almost every episode. Upon watching it a second or third time I realized that almost all of these characters are SUPER depressed and living miserable, hopeless lives. It's also a really calm and relaxing show (and really good), so if you can get into it I'd say it's worth watching regardless.

Fräulein Else by Arthur Schnitzler is basically the main character's internal monologue where she's unexpectedly forced to do something to help out her father, and basically gradually realizes over the course of the book that everything is bullshit. This is obviously a huge oversimplification of the plot. I read it in German, so I can't vouch for the quality of any English translations.