The 101 Most Influential People Who Never Lived

Did you hear about this list? The 101 Most Influential People Who Never Lived…Never Lived because they are fictional characters, pop icons, cartoons, symbols, signifiers, and personas.

The list comes from this book.

Here are the top five, counting down:

5. Hamlet

4. Santa Claus (Saint Nick)

3. King Arthur

2. Big Brother

1. The Marlboro Man

The rest of the Top 10 are: (6) Dr. Frankenstein’s Monster [which, by the way, should technically be “Creature”–you heard it straight from an English major’s mouth]; (7) Siegfried; (8) Sherlock Holmes; (9) Romeo and Juliet; (10) Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.

Some other random notables: The Little Engine That Could is #31; Barbie is #43; Nancy Drew is #62; Norman Bates is #75; John Doe is #100; and some of the more notable absences who “almost” made the cut…Holden Caulfield, Tom Joad, Uncle Remus, and Winnie-the-Pooh.

Hmmmmm. I’m glad to see Hamlet up there (sorry–sad, but true), but I’m indifferent to the #1 pick. Here’s the editors’ reasoning, in part, for choosing The Marlboro Man: “By the end of the twenty-first century, the Marlboro Man will have triggered thousands of American deaths. Why not millions? Be patient. Lung cancer takes years to develop–forty years, fifty, sixty. So the kids who started smoking in 1957 are just starting to wheeze into the cancer wards” (277). Thus, it’s the huge literal impact that warrants a #1, I guess. Depressing. It’d be nice to think the human imagination could leave something to the world besides burgeoning cancer wards…like Bambi (#41), ya know?

By the way, despite the fact that The Marlboro Man is a cowboy, “The American Cowboy” also made the list. #19.

So, what do you all think?