# 19 ; i've got all five senses and i slept last night, that puts me six up on the lot of you
Brick has been one of my favourite films for a couple years now, and every time I watch it I have to admire its style and uniqueness. I studied it in high school and I've been obsessed with it ever since, so I jumped at the chance to picspam it for the tropes challenge at picspammy. Brick has a lot of tropes to choose from, but I picked the ones that I think really make it what it is.
The Amateur Sleuth
Character with no formal connection to law enforcement who regularly solves crimes.
BRENDAN: I was just going to come up with some bit of information, or set up some phony deal. And I think she'd let me walk. Then I was going to go to the vice principal and spill the in the street address of the biggest dope port in the burg.
TUG: He knows zippo.
BRENDAN: 1250, Vista Blanca, the ink blotter, on the desk in the den, in the basement, of the house with the tacky mailbox.
Brendan's the amateur sleuth looking into the disappearance (and later death) of his ex-girlfriend Emily. He's out to knock a few teeth and get to bottom of whatever's going on in his high school's underground. He fits the bill of an anti hero. Common attributes are: rarely speaking, being a loner, occasional bad dreams. They won't save the villain, but they will shoot the dog. He's at odds with most of those around him and chooses to stick to himself, making him a bit of a loner.
The Femme Fatale
She's stunningly beautiful and alluring, and she knows it. Made famous by Film Noir, Femme Fatales straddle the line between good and evil and confuse the hero's moral bearings with their undeniable aura of sexiness and danger. He knows she's walking trouble and that she knows much more about the bad guys than she should, but damn it if he can't resist her feminine wiles.
BRENDAN: What's your play?
LAURA: You think nobody sees you. Eating lunch behind the portables. Loving some girl like she's all there is, anywhere, to you. I've always seen you. Or maybe I liked Emily. Maybe I see what you're trying to do for her, trying to help her, and I don't know anybody who would do that for me.
BRENDAN: Now you are dangerous.
Laura's the femme fatale of the high school crowd. She's at the top of the food chain, and she hangs out with all the right people, but she's got some shady connections. She's the exception to the popular is dumb trope, and her smarts make her dangerous.
The Ingenue
The Ingenue is a young woman with the purity of a child. She will be obedient, caring, honest, and, most importantly, virginal. The Ingenue is woefully naive, and intelligence is rarely her strong point, making her a prime target for many a villain seeking to take advantage of her. As a result, The Ingenue is one of the most common Distressed Damsels.
EMILY: Brendan, I know you're mad at all these people, because you think I went away from you and went to them. But you've got to start seeing it as my decision. You know, so stop getting angry because where I want to be at's different from where you wanna be at.
BRENDAN: Who fed you that line, Em?
Emily is Brendan's ex-girlfriend. She falls into a lot of trouble and a lot of people claim they can help her. Unfortunately for her she doesn't take the one person's help she really could have used. She's naive and easily manipulated by those around her.
The Vamp
The beauty who uses her feminine wiles to undermine a moral and upright man, for evil purposes. She's evil and sexy, a liar and a sneak, and uses the good guy's sympathy against him. Unlike the Femme Fatale, she is rotten to the core, and will never be swayed from the path of darkness by love.
BRENDAN: Still picking your teeth with freshmen?
KARA: You were a freshman once. [she slides her fingers up his arm. He growls and pushes them away]
BRENDAN: Way once, sister.
Kara is a drama vamp, knows she's hot, and keeps freshman like they're pets. She almost always has down by her feet off-screen (referred to as 'lapdogs'), that dote on her and are used to fetch her things. Brendan was involved with her when he was a freshman, and she tempts him throughout the film to get back 'into the fold'. Kara's always in some form of costume. She wears tutus and combat boots, the girl is fierce.
The Sidekick
The friends and helpers of the main hero. They can be almost any type of hero playing a secondary role, a normal character observing the action, or Plucky Comic Relief - sometimes all three. They also give the hero someone to explain the plot to. Sidekicks.
BRENDAN: Who's she been eating with?
THE BRAIN: I don't know. That's, um, that's hard to keep track.
BRENDAN: Is it?
THE BRAIN: It can be - it can be hard to keep track of those things because lunch - lunch is a lot of things, lunch is difficult.
The Brain is Brendan's friend and trusted ally. I think he's the only person in the film Brendan can completely rely on. Brain gives Brendan the chance to explain the exposition to someone, and provides key details that help in Brendan's investigation.
The Jerk with a Heart of Gold
A person you would expect to be a big Jerkass turns out to be the nicest person you've ever met, or at the very least has some redeeming qualities behind their tough demeanor. Occasionally, they'll actively try to make it a Hidden Heart Of Gold.
BRENDAN: Where's Em?
DODE: She's with me. She was tight when she called you. Came to me and freaked, told me to shake you if you came by. Said you'd only make things worse. Deal with whatever this ain't about and drop it.
Dode may appear like a selfish jerk and is obviously manipulated by Kara, but underneath that he cares for Emily and tries to take care of her. And in his own way, after her death he tries to get justice for her. Even if he is wrong about the facts.
The Dragon
In classic Fairy Tales the hero must often slay a dragon, or other semi-intelligent monster, before he can confront the intelligent (but weaker) master villain. The Dragon is the Big Bad's top enforcer, and is correspondingly dangerous in combat. Some Dragons are ferocious fighters who leave the heavy thinking to the boss. Defeating the Big Bad always requires the hero to overcome The Dragon first. A common theme is to have The Dragon pose a physical challenge to the hero, while the Big Bad poses a mental or moral challenge.
TUG: [chocking Brendan] Maybe you're looking to make good.
BRENDAN: I'm looking to find this big game the Pin's played, not to gum it, but just so when its tail jams in my back I'll know who to bill for the embalming.
TUG: Ask him what you wanna know.
BRENDAN: I did. He didn't tell me. [Tug loosens his grip. Brendan gasps for air] The Pin's not giving me the straight. That makes me nervous. Makes me angry.
TUG: [he immediately clams down and lets go] Yeah. That's understandable.
Tug is Brendan's main physical threat in getting close to the Pin. Tug has a hair trigger temper and is a pretty volatile character. One minute he's calm, the next he's off the handles. Any little thing can set him off, and you don't quite know what it will be.
Sympathy For The Devil
Occurs when the "good guy" (commonly, an Anti Hero) realizes that the Big Bad he is after is not so bad, after all.
PIN: You read Tolkien?
BRENDAN: What?
PIN: You know, the Hobbit books?
BRENDAN: Yeah.
PIN: His descriptions of things are really good.
BRENDAN: Oh yeah?
PIN: He makes you want to be there.
The Pin may be a club footed drug dealer (the evil cripple) with some pretty nasty hechmen, but he's also just barely out of high school, still lives with his mother in the suburbs, and runs his business out of the basement (basement dweller), while his mother serves cereal, cookies and drinks to his "business associates" (even bad men love their mamas). The Pin reveals himself to be a kind of sad loner, and opens up to Brendan in a scene on the beach.
Da Chief
The Cowboy Cop's eternally put-upon superior. Always strict and by-the-book. Can be comfortably relied upon to give a good McCloud Speech, say that You Have 48 Hours or demand that you Turn In Your Badge, usually at the top of his formidable voice. Frequently worried that the mayor or district attorney will have his ass for whatever destruction was caused.
BRENDAN: I can't have brass cutting me favors in public. I'm just letting you now so you don't come kicking in my homeroom door once trouble starts.
TRUEMAN: Okay, here's what I can do. I won't pin you for anything you aren't caught at. But if anything comes up with your prints on it, I can't help you. Also, if I get to the bottom of whatever this is and it gets too hot and you don't deliver, The Veep's gonna need someone to turn over, policewise. And I'll have you. So there better be some meat at the end of this like you say, or at least a fall guy, or you're it.
Da Cheif in Brick comes in the form of Assistant Vice Principal Trueman. He'd like to catch the bad guys, but he's so busy being worried about his own ass that he'd be just as happy to take Brendan as the fall guy.
Willing Suspension Of Disbelief
Any creative endeavor is only successful to the extent that the audience offers this willing suspension as they read, listen, or watch. An author's work, in other words, does not have to be realistic, only believable and internally consistent.
BRENDAN: Bulls would gum it. They'd flash their dusty standards at the wide-eyes and probably find some yegg to pin, probably even the right one. But they'd trample the real tracks and scare the real players back into their holes.
Why are modern teens talking like hard-boiled PIs and femme fatales? Just roll with it. The language they use might be jarring at first, but it flows with such rhythm and ease that you often don’t even notice that you haven’t picked up on exactly what they’re saying. But it doesn’t matter because the intent is clear and pretty soon you get the hang of the jargon.
Chekhov's Gun
Chekhov's Gun is the literary technique whereby an element is introduced early in the story whose significance does not become clear until later on.
BRENDAN: You got a cigarette?
TUG: I don't smoke.
BRENDAN: I've seen you smoke.
TUG: I don't smoke cigarettes.
See also smoking is cool.
Popular is Dumb
When a character is a Jerk Jock, Libby, or member of the Girl Posse they'll likely be beautiful, rich, and to some extent charismatic enough to be envied by the whole school. One thing they aren't likely to be, though, is smart. They rarely seem to suffer the ill effects of this.
BRENDAN: Alright, you got me. I'm a scout for the Gophers. I've been watching your game for a month, but that story right there just clenched it. You've got heart, kid. How soon can you be in Minneapolis?
BRAD: Yeah?
BRENDAN: Cold winters, but they've got a great public transit system.
BRAD: Yeah?
BRENDAN: Yeah.
BRAD: Oh yeah?
BRENDAN: There's a thesaurus in the library. 'Yeah's under 'Y'. Go ahead, I'll wait.
Let's face it, popular kids are usually pretty dumb. And it's no different in Brick. The popular kids aren't popular for their smarts, and it's a perfect opportunity for people like Brendan to mess with them.
Masquerade Ball
Want to show off just how rich, elite, and extravagant your upper class is? Have them celebrate everything with a Masquerade Ball.
BRENDAN: If you haven't got a finger in Em's troubles, then why'd her name get me into your rather exclusive party?
LAURA: Keep up with me now. I don't know, but it sounded like you did, and a body's got a right to be curious. Now I'm not so sure.
BRENDAN: Oh, put that body to bed. I don't know a damn thing about whatever troubles, and that works for me. I just want to find her.
LAURA: Coffee and pie.
BRENDAN: Coffee and Pie, Oh My?
LAURA: And you didn't hear it from me.
The Upper-Crust in Brick don't throw keggers. They have costume parties and sit around drinking wine in an orderly fashion.
The Combat Pragmatist
Some fights have rules. Most don't. But a lot of people will still fight as though there are rules. The Combat Pragmatist is the character who is defined by his willingness to do anything in a fight to win. These guys are characterized both by extensive knowledge of tactics others consider "dirty" fighting and by a willingness to use whatever tactics they need to achieve their goal. They have no compunctions against kneeing a girl in a real fight. Or shooting someone In The Back. Or throwing sand in their eyes.
BRENDAN: Throw one at me if you want, hash head. I've got all five senses and I slept last night, that puts me six up on the lot of you.
He's not the strongest guy, nor the biggest guy, so he's got to do what he can to get by. If that means he has to kick people in the shins and sucker-punch them before the fight's even started, then that's what he'll do. And he'll do it with style.
Hollywood Healing
No matter how badly he's injured - be it from gunshot, blade, burning, acid, you name it - an action-adventure hero never ends up with permanent scars anywhere that is normally visible to the audience. This gift for complete and utter regeneration of wounds no doubt contributes the hero's ability to get up and beat the villain to a paste after suffering a concussion, third degree burns, and a compound fracture of both legs in the previous scene. Either way, the damage suffered is often shrugged off as Only A Flesh Wound.
BRENDAN: Maybe I'll just sit and bleed at you.
This trope is averted hard. Brendan is shown bruised and bloody for most of the film. His injuries stick with him and don't conveniently disappear like in so many other films. He can barely stand most of the time. He has coughing fits, he trudges, falls down, and can only barley pull himself together enough to face the bad guys without falling over.
No Holds Barred Beatdown
A No Holds Barred Beatdown is the Nightmare Fuel-ish scene where a villain pummels, punches, kicks, beats, and/or batters someone into a limp, bruised, bloody pulp. Note that this is not a Fight Scene; it's too one-sided. And that My Name Is Inigo Montoya moment you're waiting for? Keep waiting. It doesn't end that way. It takes all the victim's Heroic Resolve just to keep breathing.
Brendan goes through several of these encounters, all from Tug, and most result in him passing out. But Brendan's a determinator. Nothing is going to stop him until he finishes what he started. No matter the toll it's taking on him or the danger he's putting himself in.
Heroic RROD
Heroic Red Rings of Death are when a hero has pushed himself too hard physically and abruptly starts a physical breakdown. That one of these is coming may or may not be clear in advance, but when it starts, it will hit all at once. Injuries sustained during Heroic RRODs should range between serious and fatal if left untreated. Also a common cause of You Can Barely Stand.
BRENDAN: What time is it?
LAURA: Brendan you've...
BRENDAN: What time is it?!
LAURA: Stop it. 3:40pm. You're exhausted. You've swallowed a lot of blood. Get back in the car, you need to go to hospital. You're sick-
BRENDAN: Shut up. Shut up. Shut up, please. Please!
The injuries Brendan receives throughout the film eventually start to catch up with him, and the physical and emotional stress he's under take a toll on his body. He passes out a lot and it's clear he's not doing too good.
Men Don't Cry
No matter what, "REAL MEN" don't cry - not while facing the camera at least.
LAURA: I'm sorry, Brendan.
This trope is averted. Brendan breaks down and Laura tries to comfort him. I think of this as a variation of the cooldown hug. The only way to calm him down and get him to stop crying is for her to kiss him.
Riddle For The Ages
It is the nature of mysteries that people want to find answers, and since fiction is in the business of giving people what they want, just about any mystery introduced in a story is going to be resolved. Except when there's not. Sometimes writers will create a mystery but never have any intent of actually giving us an answer.
THE BRAIN: What'd she whisper to you?
BRENDAN: She called me a dirty word.
THE BRAIN: Alright, you don't have to tell me.
In the film you can't clearly hear what Laura whispers to Brendan at the end of the film, nor do any of the characters let on what is said. A lot of people guessed or assumed what was said, and some on some regions of the dvd the word shows up on the subtitles, instead of the standard "inaudible". It can also be found in the original shooting script. If you want to know look on the Brick Tropes page. Also considered a downer ending.
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