Jimmy Hopkins (character)

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James "Jimmy" Hopkins is a 15 year old boy and the main protagonist of Bully. Jimmy comes from a troubled background, having been evicted from several schools previously for a wide variety of offenses, including but not limited to, vandalism, violent conduct, and disrespecting faculty. His mother hasn't exactly been helpful. An often-remarried woman, she recently married a man who is twice her age, whom Jimmy described as a "rich old phony". Jimmy's mother and new stepfather leave for a year long honeymoon cruise, dumping him at Bullworth. Bullworth is Jimmy's last chance to avoid juvenile detention, and familiar with its nasty reputation, Jimmy prepares himself for the worst - which happens almost immediately, as three of the Bullies accost him before he even makes it to the school building. From then on, Jimmy has to fight his way up the pecking order at Bullworth

Jimmy was designed to be an 'everykid'. Lead Producer of Bully, Jeronimo Barerra, claimed that what he wanted to do with Bully was to recreate the state of being a kid, and to make it fun. ^[1]. Parallels were also made between Jimmy and Holden Caulfield, the main character of Catcher in the Rye. Jimmy and Holden share a background of being a difficult homelife and being thrown out of multiple private schools. Jimmy even uses Holden's favorite derogatory term, 'phony', to describe his new stepfather.^{[citation needed]}

To a large extent, Jimmy's personality within the game depends on the player controlling him. While his actions in the cutscenes are predetermined, Jimmy can deal with situations in different ways. For example, he can order other bullies to leave their victims alone, or he can bully the other kids himself. He can also pay off bullies to leave him alone, or start fights for no reason. Jimmy can also opt to kiss certain students, both boys and girls, although the only character he shows more than just a passing love interest in is Zoe Taylor. He is voiced by Gerry Rosenthal.

[edit] References

1. ^ EGM Staff (12/11/06). Rockstar's Bully Afterthoughts from 1up. Retrieved on 2008-03-04.