I once heard an excellent description of Bugs Bunny versus Daffy Duck. The secure, happy-go-lucky Bugs was the one you wanted to be; the vain, petty Daffy was the one you feared you were.
Once I opened my eyes to this "good cop/bad cop" duality, it becomes apparent everywhere in pop culture:
-- Bugs and Daffy, as mentioned
-- Hawkeye and Major Frank Burns on MASH
-- Jerry and George Constanza on Seinfeld
-- Jim and Dwight on The Office
and the list goes on. This isn't a list of mere rivals: they are actually psychological archetypes who represent polar opposites on a spectrum of personality "attractiveness". Jim could not be more comfortable in his skin: he is smiley, affable; one senses that he doesn't startle easily. Dwight is wound up tighter than an underwater Swiss watch, and lusts for power and status.
An interesting tie-in to the recent book review (A Mind of Its Own): not only do I identify with the laidback member of these duos, I have actually fancied that I _look_ like some of these guys. I still have a cowboy hat that is a direct knockoff from Hawkeye's; Jim's antics and status in The Office is highly reminiscent to me of my previous regime at "the library company".
And yet, when I look in the mirror and am honest about it, I don't think I especially look like them at all. The vain brain strikes again.
CC
ps. With the exception of Burns, I love, love, love the bad cop in all the duos above. Daffy is awesome. George killed me far more than Kramer ever did. And Dwight is simply divine: there is one show where he dons a volunteer deputy-sheriff outfit so that he can interrogate the staff over drug-testing, due to a half-smoked joint that was found in the parking lot. I haven't actually laughed-out-loud so much in years. He's in an conference room, towering over a petite woman and yells "Your ass is on the line, mister... My ass is on the line!"
I don't want to be like those characters but they are wonderfully ridiculous.
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