Tools of Characterization

Characterization in The Terminator

Actions

Actions are the most significant form of characterization in The Terminator. And by actions, we mostly mean killing and shooting things.

Consider Reese and the Terminator. It's well into the film before we learn who these time-travelers are—and what their goals are. But before we learn this information, we can already tell a lot about their characters.

The first thing the Terminator does when he comes to L.A. is kill two street punks and one Bill Paxton for their clothes. He then kills a gun store owner for his guns, and he later kills a woman named Sarah Connor.

Compare this to Reese. Reese can dress himself and find the correct Sarah Connor without killing anyone. Arguably, things would have been easier for him had he killed that police officer, because then no one would have seen him run into the department store. Yet he doesn't do that.

Through their actions, we learn that the Terminator doesn't value human life, but Reese does.

Physical Appearance and Clothing

Physical appearances combined with clothing further clue us in to what types of characters we are dealing with.

Sarah Connor sports youthful clothes, like peach-colored shirts and hip jeans. And let's face it: that gal spends way too much time on her hair. All of this points to a young character who is innocent and not very worldly.

In contrast, consider Reese. His body is riddled with scars from a lifetime of fighting in a war, and the first article of clothing he acquires is a homeless man's pants. This outfit is in direct opposition to Sarah, and it suggests a world-weary individual who has seen his fair share of life's darker side.

Then there's the Terminator. Yes, we know that Arnold Schwarzenegger is a real person, but come on. The man looks like a murderbot. Mix that hulking slab of iron he calls a body with black leather and machine guns, and the message is clear.

Direct Characterization

Thanks to its breakneck pace, the film sometimes just tells you what its characters are like. The obvious example here is the Terminator. As Reese tells Silberman, "He'll find [Sarah]. That's what he does. That's all he does. You can't stop him. He'll reach down her throat and pull her f*cking heart out!"

Reese is pretty spot on here: the Terminator's entire character is based on his remorseless, programmed compulsion to kill Sarah Connor. In case it wasn't obvious before, Reese literally screams it in this scene.

But Reese also reveals something about himself here. He flat-out tells Sarah that his goal is to protect her, and later, he also directly reveals that he loves her. In fact, he took the one-way trip back in time to protect her because his love for her was so strong. He wears his emotions on his sleeve. Lucky for him, Sarah's totally into that.