When Cinematic Characters Talk to Themselves

I occasionally will say stuff to myself, to punctuate my own thoughts, but I agree that it's not always a technique used realistically in cinema. I never was terribly bothered by the Trinity thing,  I feel it straddles the border of believability. Sometimes in tense situations I'll admonish myself aloud, and I can buy her doing it

Hit-Girl talking to herself when executing an attack strategy, running through the lessons taught to her by her Dad, is both emotionally effective & serves as a cathartic "becoming" within the character's arc.

Yeah, plenty of people do it. The Trinity thing in particular is no worse than Beatrix Kiddo telling herself to wiggle her big toe.

I'll go out on this limb, though: Wings of Desire and City of Angels are twin examples of how to do it wrong and right, respectively. Wings of Desire operates on the assumption that the innermost thoughts of every human being are poetry. Drives me up the goddamned wall. Waking Life is somewhat guilty of the same thing, but that film's at least has abstraction and variety within those thoughts. Sometimes, that poetry is clumsy, or clinical, or monstrous, or childish. 

City of Angels isn't a perfect film, but the inner dialogue of the people the angels pass--be it just panic about your daughter's temperature and driving to a hospital, or a doctor who secretly has the Stuck On Band-Aid jingle in her head during surgery--feels 100% right.

John McClane mutters to himself consistently.  It is also an important aspect of his self-loathing and smart-alecky character that feels completely organic in Die Hard.

Tom Hanks also spent an entire movie talking alone in Cast Away in a natural way, but does it count when he had an inanimate object to project on?

I just recently watched Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia, and Warren Oates' character definitely does something similar.

Trinity telling herself to get up felt completely right once you understood the context that she was willing her digital self to move.  It's not too different from the way we play video games.  "C'mon c'mon c'mon... jump dammit!!!"

Unless you play video games like Tim Bisley in Spaced and treat Lara Croft like an actual person:

"You stupid cow!  You can't shoot straight, you big-titted bitch!"

Dune is certainly an example of bold use of self-narration. Those spoken inner monologues are basically "comic book thought bubbles brought to life".

Willard's self-narration in Apocalypse Now is brilliantly utilized as the audience's "in". "Never get out of boat. Goddamn motherfucking right".

I think Bartleby is talking specifically about characters who speak to themselves out loud.  I think inner monologue/narration is a similar but separate ballpark.

I see. Nevermind, then.

Of course, I could be wrong.  I should really let Bartleby specify that.

"Ropes?  Vines... vines?

LET HIM FINISH!!!"

"Why'd it have to be snakes?"

It seems like repair men in movies, or working class people in general, are always complaining about their jobs. If a thief is sneaking past a security guard, for instance, you know the guard will be delivering a monologue to himself about how the people who asked him to check out the distrubance have their head up their ass, and nothing is going on

That always takes me out of a movie

The line that comes to mind most vividly from this topic is one that I can't ascribe to any particular character.  But I think anyone would recognize it.

"Great. (sigh)  Juuuuuuust great..." 

But that's really not too far removed from muttering

shit...

fuck...

goddammit...

motherfucker...

to ourselves as opposed to actually TALKING to ourselves.

Drawing a direct line between characters spouting bits of exposition solely for the audience's benefit and Shakespearian soliloquies seems... a *bit* much.

Were Shakespearian soliloquies NOT partly intended as exposition for the audience's benefit?

Yeah but they're not really the same. One's a deliberate stylistic choice that isn't even pretending to be realistic, the other is just one of a ton of mildly implausible things fictional characters do to keep the story ticking along.

If you wanted to make a connection between soliloquies and something like Woody Allen breaking the fourth wall and talking to the audience in Annie Hall, maybe I could go along with that. Arnie saying "stick around" to himself after pinning a dude to a wall, not so much.

Breaking the 4th wall is definitely closer to such soliloquies, no doubt.

I guess it's just semantics, but the original post only mentions that this trope 'stemmed' from an older trope. 

Either way, I think it's a good idea for a thread to point out instances in which this is well done in a movie.  Yeah, it's usually a shortcut to clarify story beats, but it can be done well.

This is of the most hilarious examples of it being done very very badly. 

http://www.hark.com/clips/sskplzvmyl-not-on-my-watch

It's just John Turturro explaining the plot to himself. 

"you've gotta be fucking kidding me".

Although there's a whole "why did Palmer Thing blow the whistle on spider head thing" debate that is one great line that is an external vocalisation of an inner thought.

I talk to myself ALL the time.  Especially in the car, and sometimes shit that should stay inside my head gets vocalised in company (which can be very embarrasing).  So, given my own tendency to do it, as long as the dialogue feels natural I have no issue with a character vocalising internal thoughts.

from Raiders:

"hahahaha ... sonofabitch" which you could argue is for Belloq to hear but I think is just Indy having moan to himself.

When I think about it, my personal favorite is the stilted "Who am I?" by Charlie Sheen in Wall Street. My favorite extra bit about this is that even in the commentary track Oliver Stone defends this scene and gives an explanation basically saying that most people do this at their most stressed or something. I constantly find myself trying to imitate Sheen's delivery of that line.

Would Gollum count in this?  Or do we draw the line at split-personalities?

Boogie Nights

Well if you go down that route everything that Tyler Durden says that other characters overhear would fit :)

Nice one, Art.  I thought I was going to have trouble thinking up more, but your 'mirror example' immediately made me think of this:

Yup, that really opens up the floodgates.  A character talking to himself in the mirror really is how the 'soliloquy' manages to survive within the conventions of popular movies.   That led me to... Pulp Fiction!

What about characters that break the fourth wall like Rob Gordon or Ferris Bueller?

"OPEN, you Goddamn cunting piece of Deceptifuck!"

[for mcnooj]

Tim Roth's false monologue in Reservoir Dogs is a great use of "a character talking to themselves" because the fact that he is talking to himself thickens the plot with stylish & intriguing flair.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Art Decade 

"OPEN, you Goddamn cunting piece of Deceptifuck!"

 

[for mcnooj]

Vetoed!  He's not talking to himself!  He's talking to the Matrix!

... though, that may just be Magnus' way of rationalizing a personal verbal beatdown he so rightfully deserves. 

I'LL ALLOW IT... with extreme prejudice!

I was considering the verbal beatdown that Rainn Wilson gives himself in Super, but then I realized that it was delivered in the form of a prayer.  Whooo, if we were to include prayer...  FLOODGATES.

Instead, I remembered the verbal beatdown and slapface that Annette Bening gives herself in American Beauty. 

(halfway through the clip)

Quote:

Originally Posted by The Rain Dog 

What about characters that break the fourth wall like Rob Gordon or Ferris Bueller?

I think we've sorta come to the conclusion that characters who break the 4th wall are talking to the audience.  Not to themselves.

"Wait 'til they get a load of me!"

..and to lesser extent, Joker's conversation with a corpse:

Indy, being the distracted academic he is, does this a lot. He does it throughout the traps climax of Last Crusade ("Jehovah is spelled with an I"). This might be more accurately termed "thinking aloud," though.

If we're gonna cite the mirror scenes in Boogie Nights and 25th Hour (and we should), let's give due respect to their father:

And then this:

A couple other ones spring to mind:

"An incredible 'Cinderella' story..."

"You talkin' to me?"

MANHUNTER:

Will Graham (William Peterson) talking to himself, getting into the mindset of the Tooth Fairy.  Sometimes, he's doing it into a recorder...sometimes not.

TRON:

Flynn (Jeff Bridges) talks to himself quite a few times.

Oh man it isn't happening he only thinks it's happening...

Losing...Flynn...

Manhunter! I'd been trying to place that "cop who works out a crime scene aloud" movie since this thread was created.

Does BLADE RUNNER count?  He's certainly got an internal monolog in the theatrical cut.

A SHOCK TO THE SYSTEM

Michael Caine has an internal monolog running throughout the entire film, but he also has many instances where he talks to himself, particularly whenever he's self-satisfied over a piece of 'magic' that he's about to commit.

Bippity...Boppity...BOO!

Great, nasty little movie.  Highly recommended if you've never seen it.

Please, let us not neglect the undisputed King of Cinematic Self-Conversation, Mr. Danny Glover:

From Lethal Weapon:

“No way you live, no way…”

“I’m too old for this shit…”

“General McAllister – Time for you to die…”

“I’m too old for this shit…”

“Goddamn heartbreaker…”

“No, not… Not off the ledge…”

“I’m too old for this shit…”

From Lethal Weapon 2:

“Nailed you both!”

“Yeah, another day, another hobby. What’s new?”

“I’m too old for this shit…”

From Predator 2:

“Shit! Why can't this guy stay on the ground?”

And these are just the bits where we’re MEANT to notice him saying something: Basically, Glover self-narrates his way through all three movies. And that’s why we love him.