Comments | teenybuffalo: Two syllables, sounds like--

teenybuffalo

Two syllables, sounds like--

Apr 21, 2011 19:24

I like silent characters. Not as in silent-movie characters, though they're good too. I mean people who, for one reason or another, are mute in a world of speaking characters.

The first three silent characters who spring to mind:

Lavinia from Titus Andronicus
Frankenstein's Monster, as played by Boris Karloff
Gromit from Wallace and Gromit

That's " ( Read more... )

fandom, meta, plays: titus andronicus, movies: wallace and gromit, film yak

Comments 5

(The comment has been removed)

teenybuffalo April 22 2011, 03:46:06 UTC

I can see I'm going to have to watch that movie.

That quote reminds me of The Crucible by Arthur Miller, when Betty Parris's family are saying, "She won't eat! She won't eat!" and the wise old next-door lady says, "Perhaps she be not hungry yet."

ladymondegreen April 22 2011, 14:34:44 UTC

And since, I don't see him cited here, there's always classic silent character Harpo Marx.

Oh man! Right! teenybuffalo April 23 2011, 13:01:10 UTC

Honk honk kadookah *hands you a live duck*

greenlily April 22 2011, 15:10:47 UTC

We have different cultural vocabularies in this area: the first character I thought of was Silent Bob, the character Kevin Smith plays in a number of his own movies.

His "hetero life mate", Jay, speaks to him and about him (almost constantly, and with vast amounts of profanity). However, Jay doesn't consistently speak for him. Jay talks about things he and Silent Bob do/think, but rarely about things Bob does/thinks which don't involve Jay. And a lot of the actual actions that the two of them get involved in, are initiated/masterminded by Bob.

It's an interesting kind of agency for a silent character to have, and it adds another level to it when you remember that the actor playing this character is also the writer and director. The best of these movies, IMHO, is Dogma; I don't know your thresholds for cursing, blasphemy and gross-out humor, but if you can handle those, Dogma is well worth watching.

teenybuffalo April 23 2011, 13:04:31 UTC

Is he the guy who goes, "I got nothin',"? I think I'd like him.

My threshold for gross-out humor is kinda low, but I'm trying to build up a tolerance so I wouldn't mind a movie with some. Anyhow, I've been hearing I ought to watch Dogma so I'll make the time.