Characters vs Plot

Characters are the most important part of writing if you happen to be writing either the Chinese language, or a novel.  If you are writing the Chinese language, the first sentence is really the only helpful one in this post, and you can go back to your Sobe and Orville Redenbacher now.  If you are writing a novel, you should note that while it is never disputed that characters are the most important part of writing Chinese, it is sometimes disputed that they are the most important part of writing a novel.  However, this blog does not support those people.

The characters are who the story is about.  They are the human faces that give the story a voice.  You can have a fantastic plot, a beautiful setting, or any other perfect written element within your work, but if your characters are no good, the story will fall flat.  If the reader cannot care about your character, they cannot care about your plot.  Whereas if the reader cares enough about your character, your plot becomes more forgiveable.

The Catcher and Rye is a great example of this.  The plot is completely nonexistent.  Everyone who studies that book knows that.  However, Holden Caulfield is so interesting that no one who likes the book cares. The people who hate the book are the first to derail the plot, but you'll notice that if you really talk to them, the reason they don't like the book is because they didn't like the character.

A counter example is Heroes.  Heroes had a great plot.  In Season 1.  The dialogue was always a bit generic, but overall the first season was very well written.  The characters however, were not really strong enough to carry the series past one season.  Which I think is why everything fell apart in season 2.

Does anyone else have examples/ arguments?