# Stock characters in film



## Orang Utan (Jul 26, 2012)

Dubversion was tweeting about Manic Pixie Dream Girls just now and it led me to think a lot the use of stock characters in film. Is it sheer laziness in script writing or is it more complicated than that?
List me some stock characters too.
I'll start the ball rolling:
Angry Black Police Chief.


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## stuff_it (Jul 26, 2012)

Underweight geek lesbian

'Amusing' sidekick

RADA trained bad guy


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## Orang Utan (Jul 26, 2012)

I've never seen movie with a RADA-trained bad guy in it!


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## Jon-of-arc (Jul 26, 2012)

Kevin Bacon


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## Jon-of-arc (Jul 26, 2012)

Orang Utan said:


> I've never seen movie with a RADA-trained bad guy in it!


 
Die Hard?


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## Orang Utan (Jul 26, 2012)

Jon-of-arc said:


> Kevin Bacon


He is an actor, not a character.


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## Orang Utan (Jul 26, 2012)

Jon-of-arc said:


> Die Hard?


Hans Gruber is a German thief


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## Jon-of-arc (Jul 26, 2012)

lesbian police chief

Rada trained angry black german kevin bacon

Amusing underweight lesbian theif


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## 8115 (Jul 26, 2012)

MATT DAMON :-D


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## Dusty Bint (Jul 26, 2012)

From the portly SEAL chef in Under Siege through to Remy the rat in Ratatouille, I've never seen a movie character make a decent bouillon. Stock characters are underrepresented.


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## stuff_it (Jul 26, 2012)

Elderly German with a dark past

Creepy child under 10

Scientist who is so smart they can break the laws of physics


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## Jon-of-arc (Jul 26, 2012)

Dusty Bint said:


> From the portly SEAL chef in Under Siege through to Remy the rat in Ratatouille, I've never seen a movie character make a decent bouillon. Stock characters are underrepresented.


 
to be fair, the bouillon in under seige was spat in by gary bussey.


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## Orang Utan (Jul 26, 2012)

8115 said:


> MATT DAMON :-D


He is only a character in one film.


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## Mrs Magpie (Jul 26, 2012)

bitter and twisted with disability.
Blind as a metaphor for lack of insight.
Tragic and brave yadayadayada


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## 8115 (Jul 26, 2012)

Orang Utan said:


> He is only a character in one film.



He's been in loads of films.  And only has one character. Hence the joke.


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## stuff_it (Jul 26, 2012)

Orang Utan said:


> He is only a character in one film.


He's one character in many films, do keep up.

E2A: Damn


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## 8115 (Jul 26, 2012)

"maverick" cop


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## IC3D (Jul 26, 2012)

Stupid Blonde gets in trouble with gangsters who bumbles along with hero but in the end kicks arse.


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## Dusty Bint (Jul 26, 2012)

"iceman" cop


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## IC3D (Jul 26, 2012)

Backstabbing English guy
Cold German
Crazy Dutch Stoner
Arrogant Frenchman
Lothario Italian/Greek/Latino/Turk/Arab


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## Orang Utan (Jul 26, 2012)

8115 said:


> He's been in loads of films.  And only has one character. Hence the joke.


I thought you were referring to Team America
What nonsense that he only plays one character though. He's no Keanu.


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## AverageJoe (Jul 26, 2012)

The one that always says "I aint that guy no more" when they are recruiting a gang or somesuch

Who then turns up at the end of the film to save the day


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## Reno (Jul 26, 2012)

Orang Utan said:


> Dubversion was tweeting about Manic Pixie Dream Girls just now and it led me to think a lot the use of stock characters in film. Is it sheer laziness in script writing or is it more complicated than that?
> List me some stock characters too.
> I'll start the ball rolling:
> Angry Black Police Chief.


 

The Manic Pixie Dream Girls is nothing new and a trendy media term for a type of character that has been around for eons. She is the latest incarnation of the screwball comedy heroine of the 30s. 

In the end I don't quite understand the complaint though. Stock characters get used in different ways for different reasons. Genre films rely on them to quickly sketch in characters you can remember because they are more plot based. A good genre film will give a stock character more shadings. A character based film will rely less on them. 

Also in real life people can often be grouped into different types, some more so than others, so it's not that there isn't some truth to them.


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## Johnny Canuck3 (Jul 26, 2012)

Sexually precocious niece.


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## Orang Utan (Jul 26, 2012)

I don't think I was complaining, just curious about stock characters.
They say Katherine Hepburn was the first MPDG in Bringing Up Baby.


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## King Biscuit Time (Jul 26, 2012)

Bill Nighy, doing his 'Bill Nighy' character.


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## Santino (Jul 26, 2012)

Sassy black female whose entire role is to observe things and then comment on them.


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## Dusty Bint (Jul 26, 2012)

That's your job, isn't it?


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## Santino (Jul 26, 2012)

Dusty Bint said:


> That's your job, isn't it?


New member, is it?


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## smmudge (Jul 26, 2012)

Orang Utan said:


> Dubversion was tweeting about Manic Pixie Dream Girls just now and it led me to think a lot the use of stock characters in film. Is it sheer laziness in script writing or is it more complicated than that?


 
It's a risk mitigation strategy.


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## Yetman (Jul 26, 2012)

Stoned flatmate eating pizza
Uninterested monotone waitress in diner
Receptionist with curly hair, glasses and quite often, a brooklyn accent


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## King Biscuit Time (Jul 26, 2012)

Yetman said:


> Receptionist with curly hair, glasses and quite often, a brooklyn accent


 





Ghostbusters, Whadda ya want?


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## youngian (Jul 26, 2012)

A shit hot Jewish lawyer
Smart talking bar tender or barber to reflect on the case. Can be black or New York Italian.



Orang Utan said:


> I'll start the ball rolling: Angry Black Police Chief.


 
I'll give you 48 hours to come with some more stock characters Orang Utan- or you're off the case!


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## Johnny Canuck3 (Jul 26, 2012)

Spunky farmboy who steps up when Pa is killed, in Western films.


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## Yuwipi Woman (Jul 26, 2012)

WOBL:  Wise old Black Lady. 

Red shirt:  expendable character that gets killed in the first scene.


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## Wilf (Jul 26, 2012)

Alcoholic detective with authority issues, lacks political correctness, bends the rules but ultimately gets his man/pixie dream girl/WOBL


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## Wilf (Jul 26, 2012)

South American Druglord with interest in fine art.


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## SpookyFrank (Jul 26, 2012)

Geeky hero's even geekier sidekick mates.

Ice queen bitch whose good side must be gradually teased out by the hero before he's allowed to shag her.

Idiot macho boyfriend of love interest.

Sadistic yet softly spoken bad guy, often accompanied by junior bad guy who does all the fighting for him. 

Completely unflappable middle-aged black guy who talks really slowly and is always right.


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## King Biscuit Time (Jul 26, 2012)

Mentally ill outsider figure that speaks truth unto power.


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## joustmaster (Jul 27, 2012)

Johnny Canuck3 said:


> Spunky farmboy who steps up when Pa is killed, in Western films.


That made me laugh. I'm such a child


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## fogbat (Jul 27, 2012)

Bald, gruff general who will turn out to have a sentimental attachment to the protagonist that makes him act against regulations.


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## Johnny Canuck3 (Jul 27, 2012)

Hooker with a heart of gold.


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## AverageJoe (Jul 27, 2012)

Desperate man with Nothing To Lose

Cop with his licence revoked


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## DaveCinzano (Jul 27, 2012)

Swift-footed Achilleus.


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## DaveCinzano (Jul 27, 2012)

AverageJoe said:


> Cop with his licence revoked


 
I think you are confusing police officers with secret agents (much as Simon Harwood did).


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## AverageJoe (Jul 27, 2012)

DaveCinzano said:


> I think you are confusing police officers with secret agents (much as Simon Harwood did).


 
Didnt Mel Gibson lose his licence in Lethal Weapon? I know James Woods did in The Hard Way...

wotevah


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## DaveCinzano (Jul 27, 2012)

BADGE.

They lost their BADGE.


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## Johnny Canuck3 (Jul 27, 2012)

AverageJoe said:


> Didnt Mel Gibson lose his licence in Lethal Weapon? I know James Woods did in The Hard Way...
> 
> wotevah


 
I think they  lose their badge.


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## AverageJoe (Jul 27, 2012)

DaveCinzano said:


> BADGE.
> 
> They lost their BADGE.


 
GODDAMMIT! YOU'RE OFF THE CASE. NOW GET OUT OF MY OFFICE!

*slams pen on desk, looks at Cop2.

Malowski, pick up the pieces of this mess. You've got 48 hours.


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## DaveCinzano (Jul 27, 2012)

I'm gonna BUST THIS CASE WIDE OPEN, dammit


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## Reno (Jul 27, 2012)

stuff_it said:


> Creepy child under 10


 
Most of the time they are just over 10.


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## Firky (Jul 27, 2012)

"Magical negro"

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magical_Negro


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## spanglechick (Jul 27, 2012)

Orang Utan said:


> I thought you were referring to Team America
> What nonsense that he only plays one character though. He's no Keanu.


matt damon is also a character in 'Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back'


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## DaveCinzano (Jul 27, 2012)

Chalk-and-cheese cop partners, usually uptight/smart/efficient & slovenly/untidy/wise-cracking (_Red Heat_, _Busting_, _K9_, _Freebie And The Bean, Lethal Weapon, 48 Hrs_) or old/wise/world-weary/cynical & young/naïve/hotheaded/idealistic (_Colors, Training Day, The New Centurions, Fort Apache The Bronx_)
Mirror image cop-and-villain, usually highly driven, neglectful of their home life, ends-justify-the-means types (_Heat_, _To Live And Die In LA_)
Rival pair of cops in background forever making snarky remarks at failure of main police duo to BUST THE CASE WIDE OPEN throughout the first two acts (but end up with egg on their faces by the end) (_Running Scared_, _Beverly Hills Cop_, as recently parodied/inverted in _The Other Guys_)
Clean-cut, by-the-book, sympathetic secondary investigator who turns out to be (YIKES!) the bad guy (_Snake Eyes_, _Beverly Hills Cop 3_)


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## DotCommunist (Jul 27, 2012)

Nazis. You can do anything to them. Sticjk an actor in an SS uniform and then its game on to have him disebowled by wolves. Nobody likes Nazis and we won the war so its fair game to fuck them utterly in any manner you see fit. Thoughtful souls might wonder what his mum thinks when the body is sent back for a closed casket funeral but the rest of us just think 'YOU DESERVED IT M8'


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## DotCommunist (Jul 27, 2012)

DaveCinzano said:


> Chalk-and-cheese cop partners, usually uptight/smart/efficient & slovenly/untidy/wise-cracking (_Red Heat_, _Busting_, _K9_, _Freebie And The Bean, Lethal Weapon, 48 Hrs_) or old/wise/world-weary/cynical & young/naïve/hotheaded/idealistic (_Colors, Training Day, The New Centurions, Fort Apache The Bronx_)
> Mirror image cop-and-villain, usually highly driven, neglectful of their home life, ends-justify-the-means types (_Heat_, _To Live And Die In LA_)
> Rival pair of cops in background forever making snarky remarks at failure of main police duo to BUST THE CASE WIDE OPEN throughout the first two acts (but end up with egg on their faces by the end) (_Running Scared_, _Beverly Hills Cop_, as recently parodied/inverted in _The Other Guys_)
> Clean-cut, by-the-book, sympathetic secondary investigator who turns out to be (YIKES!) the bad guy (_Snake Eyes_, _Beverly Hills Cop 3_)


 

My fave bit from Heat is where the coppers have been lured to a location where the criminal outfit can photo them and Pacino does some epic grandstanding as per 'oh they are watching us' etc. It makes no logical sense whatsover but is far better than the scene where he and de niro face off over a cup of cwoffy


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## biggus dickus (Jul 27, 2012)

Wise old Chinese man
Massive Russian thug
Sam Elliot
5 star general who doesn't understand civilians

On a similar note I'm amazed how every Japanese character in US films can use a katana, even in the last Predator movie they are all on a Predator planet surviving on their wits alone and somehow the Japanese guy manages to sacrifice himself (honoroborrory) by attacking a Predator with a katana!


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## albionism (Jul 27, 2012)

Bad tempered copper with difficult relationship with ex-wife and children/and or going through a divorce.


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## Firky (Jul 27, 2012)

Big slobbering dog that has an uncanny human like personality.

Tough, gritty, ex British special forces guy who dies doing something stupid yet heroic, but never quite as heroic as his American counterparts.

Silent native American with a knowing smile.


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## albionism (Jul 27, 2012)

American high school bully with a blonde flat top haircut.


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## Firky (Jul 27, 2012)

biggus dickus said:


> On a similar note I'm amazed how every Japanese character in US films can use a katana, even in the last Predator movie they are all on a Predator planet surviving on their wits alone and somehow the Japanese guy manages to sacrifice himself (honoroborrory) by attacking a Predator with a katana!


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## SpookyFrank (Jul 27, 2012)

Dishevelled-looking scientist who is somehow an expert in genetics, astrophysics, chemistry and computer programming. May also be able to invent and manufacture highly complex devices from scratch in the time it takes the hero to drive around a bit, get in a few fights and possibly escape from a sticky situation of some kind.


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## DaveCinzano (Jul 27, 2012)

The alcoholic bomb disposal expert/hostage negotiator/platoon leader whose nerves are shot through since he made a wrong call that got his partner/best buddy killed.


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## DaveCinzano (Jul 27, 2012)

Colourful adventurer/treasure hunter/mercenary/archaeologist/space pilot who goes it alone until he crosses paths with a feisty woman who gives as good as she gets and trades zippy one-liners with him.


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## DotCommunist (Jul 27, 2012)

have we had the wise blind man yet


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## Johnny Canuck3 (Jul 27, 2012)

Loveable sidekick


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## joustmaster (Jul 27, 2012)

17 year old, clean cut, high school kid - played by 28 year old actor


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## AverageJoe (Jul 27, 2012)

Love interest who starts out as the geeky friend


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## AverageJoe (Jul 27, 2012)

Pneumatic blonde in underwear who investigates the cellar with a torch that she drops


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## AverageJoe (Jul 27, 2012)

Martial Arts baddies who attack the hero one at a time instead of just rushing him/her


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## Knotted (Jul 27, 2012)

A laughing stock


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## Knotted (Jul 27, 2012)

Chicken stock?


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## DaveCinzano (Jul 27, 2012)

Bouillon heist


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## hammerntongues (Jul 27, 2012)

plain looking studious girl that all the hip kids ignore who miraculously turns into a stunning headturner by removing her thick rimmed glasses .


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## Knotted (Jul 27, 2012)

Middle-aged woman or old man who beats the crap out of young cocky hero in the market place in 1970's Cantonese kung fu films. Those market places in China are scary.


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## magneze (Jul 27, 2012)

Cat in horror/thriller film that makes everyone jump unnecessarily before they are brutally slain by an alien/axe murderer/etc.

Cat always gets away.


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## Reno (Jul 27, 2012)

magneze said:


> Cat in horror/thriller film that makes everyone jump unnecessarily before they are brutally slain by an alien/axe murderer/etc.
> 
> Cat always gets away.


 
Not always. Sometimes the cat gets horribly murdered to send to message to the owner, as in The Girl with the Dragon Tatoo.

All of this can also apply to dogs (as in Halloween, The Howling, Mimic)


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## Jeff Robinson (Jul 27, 2012)




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## IC3D (Jul 27, 2012)

Using psychopathic Russian or Eastern European terrorists instead of Middle Eastern ones due to cultural sensitivity.


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## Reno (Jul 27, 2012)

IC3D said:


> Using psychopathic Russian or Eastern European terrorists instead of Middle Eastern ones due to cultural sensitivity.


 
Aren't Eastern European villains more often involved in organized crime, rather than being terrorists ?


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## IC3D (Jul 27, 2012)

Reno said:


> Aren't Eastern European villains more often involved in organized crime, rather than being terrorists ?


Maybe I'm thinking of Chechnyans then


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## Reno (Jul 27, 2012)

IC3D said:


> Maybe I'm thinking of Chechnyans then


 
Name me several films with Chechnyan terrorists, if this is a stock character in Hollywood films.


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## IC3D (Jul 27, 2012)

Reno said:


> Name me several films with Chechnyan terrorists, if this is a stock character in Hollywood films.


There's loads look em up Mark Kamode.


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## Fruitloop (Jul 27, 2012)

There could be another thread of 'Brilliant films based on stock characters'. Like:

ex-gangster who 'ain't that guy no more' - A History of Violence.


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## Reno (Jul 27, 2012)

IC3D said:


> There's loads look em up Mark Kamode.


 
I can't because there isn't. The average American wouldn't even know where or what Chechnya is. 

There may well be a couple of films with Chechnyan terrorists, but not enough to make it a stock character.


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## DaveCinzano (Jul 27, 2012)

Jeff Robinson said:


>



"This scene doesn't make it into the final cut"


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## peterkro (Jul 27, 2012)

hammerntongues said:


> plain looking studious girl that all the hip kids ignore who miraculously turns into a stunning headturner by removing her thick rimmed glasses .


Plain Jane super brain.


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## youngian (Jul 27, 2012)

The Mayor or DA that puts politics before crime fighting as in "I've got the DA on my arse" or "the mayor's up for election and..."


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## ATOMIC SUPLEX (Jul 27, 2012)

Orang Utan said:


> Dubversion was tweeting about Manic Pixie Dream Girls just now and it led me to think a lot the use of stock characters in film. Is it sheer laziness in script writing or is it more complicated than that?
> List me some stock characters too.
> I'll start the ball rolling:
> Angry Black Police Chief.


 
Wasn't this all covered in last action hero?


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## youngian (Jul 27, 2012)

firky said:


> "Magical negro"
> 
> http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magical_Negro


 
Or more likley a Native American sidekick, they are in touch with lots of mystical ancestor ghosts. Middle aged European Professors have also up on a lot of spooky shit as well.


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## Nanker Phelge (Jul 27, 2012)

Cool but disposable black teen....

Get's killed about 3rd in every teen slasher flick......


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## joustmaster (Jul 27, 2012)

Paranoid survivalists.

Like that ace couple in Tremors.


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## SpookyFrank (Jul 27, 2012)

A pair of incompetent eastern European hitmen with bad teeth. One of them is usually called Sergei.


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## magneze (Jul 27, 2012)

Reno said:


> Not always. Sometimes the cat gets horribly murdered to send to message to the owner, as in The Girl with the Dragon Tatoo.
> 
> All of this can also apply to dogs (as in Halloween, The Howling, Mimic)


That's right. Cats can play different stock characters. Very versatile creatures.


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## Wilf (Jul 27, 2012)

Cop who's widowed dad was on the force and remembered by the old desk sergeant. Cop has difficult relationship with dad, hearing about what a great guy he was everywhere he goes. However one of dad's cases returns to haunt him and finds out Pa was corrupt. Everybody was doing it at the time and dad finally redeems himself. That one.


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## DaveCinzano (Jul 27, 2012)

Good call!


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