External Lives of Fictional Characters

One of the major complaints lobbed at The Office as it's aged is that more and more it appears that no one appears to have a social circle outside of Dunder Mifflin, despite none of them really enjoying each other's company. 

Conversely, The Wire is a show that focuses even more exclusively on the character's professional roles, but is quite effective at using brief glimpses to suggest that the characters do have personal lives (except where the lack of one was part of the character's point, like McNulty or Marlo), without finding it necessary to mine them for melodrama.

I always liked how they handled this with Dana in Ghostbusters. Even though ostensibly she's this accomplished, successful woman who's clearly out of goofy ol' Venkman's league, there are lots of little hints in there that she's actually quite lonely. The fridge full of junk food for one, and her phone conversation with her mother just before the Terror Dog nabs her slips in a couple of indications that her love life has hardly been smooth ("I will... I won't - Mom...") I mean, even Louis has a more bangin' social life than she does, even if he fills his parties with clients.

The one moment in SWAT that isn't mind-numbingly generic is when Michelle Rodriguez and Colin Farrell go out drinking together. Nothing happens between them, but you totally get a vibe that they are being professional with each other, while silently acknowledging that, if they weren't on the same "team" together, she'd take him to bed, and it would be "just another day." And, knowing Rodriguez, she would probably DEVOUR him. And I think this was mostly the actors, as they both play the scene a little more flirty than what's on the page. But it was a nice, brief acknowledgement that says "We are not just action figures," even if it was brief.

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Originally Posted by Bartleby_Scriven 

Compare that to, say, Mission: Impossible III when the movie opens with a party. Ethan Hunt is throwing this party with his fiancee, and the party is attended by dozens of people. These people are never given names or identities, but serve as placeholders for "Ethan's friends". This was a choice on the part of the writers and director, to convey to the audience that Ethan has a full external life off-camera.

Nothing to add to this thread really - other than to say I found it a bit creepy the Ethan works for a top-secret government agency yet has tons of friends that don't actually know that - so ergo they don't actually know him - he's just playing them all. If anything, Ethan's party should have had about 3 people who were close to him and no-one else.

Just made me feel the character was a creepy fucker who could either:

• a: lie to his friends his whole life
• b: once he shacked up with his girlfriend, go out and make a shit-load of friends in the space of a few months

I never noticed when I was younger because the movie seemed so cool, but Marty McFly never really rises above a social outcast, "loser" role in the world.  When the film opens, his best friend is an old guy in his 60s, his band is unsuccessful and he spends all but two minutes with them, and his family is a bunch of poor losers too.  Then he goes back in time, is cool for two minutes on a skateboard and two minutes on stage, he travels back to the future where he's the black sheep in a family full of yuppies.  And then in the second film, he passes on his loserness to his son and gets fired form whatever crappy middle-management position he's in because he has some sort of Napoleon complex and won't be called "chicken."

The audience of the films are the only people who give a crap about Marty McFly and don't think he's a complete idiot.

It's been observed that Andy the Toy Story series appears to have no friends or social life beyond toys.

He did have a lot of friends during his birthday party in the first movie. 

It's really the home video montage in the 3rd film that made him look like some psycho sad kid.  And college-bound?  He's a total weirdo!

But this was already discussed a lot in the Toy Story 3 thread.  Hehehe

Tarantino's kind of a master at giving us just enough information to let the audience come up with a complete picture, but I always thought it was interesting how much the life The Bride builds for herself after leaving Bill resembles her life with him. She surrounds herself with old music, with desert terrain, owning a business, she even gets herself EXACTLY four female friends to boot. Fact is: She loved her life with him. But she made a choice for that kid.

Charlie Bucket has no friends, lives in an overcrowded dump that should have been condemned (where upon he's barely fed outside of cabbage soup) and a paper-route job he does in the afternoon instead of, you know, in the morning like most newspaper boys and apparently does a shitty job at it, i.e. throwing into that ladies' basket full of vegetables. You know, customers complained frequently but the owner felt bad for the kid and ignored them. Meanwhile, Grandpa Joe spends his days sitting in bed, watching television next to his equally-lazy wife and in-laws and wastes what little money Charlie and his mother (younger than she looks, just aged from tough living) earned on his tobacco. And why doesn't he get up out of that bed and help? The floor is too cold. Clearly, old Joe was the biggest bastard in his prime and everyone still lives in terror of him.

Billy Peltzer probably had to get a job during his adolescence too. Quit high school early on (He just got his GED) and did miscellaneous work leading up to his bank-teller job at the beginning of Gremlins. He had to give up his childhood to be the only person putting food on the table for his family. While his mom sits her ass at home and his dad (the worst offender) spends his days creating useless inventions and tries hocking them off to suckers for some quick bucks. Bucks that never come and inventions his dad put money into creating...from the money Billy earned from his bank job. As a means to break away from his awful reality, what does he do? He regresses back to the age he first became an adult, around 14/15 years old, draws comic-books and hangs out with his best friend...a 10 year old kid.

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Originally Posted by Schwartz 

One of the major complaints lobbed at The Office as it's aged is that more and more it appears that no one appears to have a social circle outside of Dunder Mifflin, despite none of them really enjoying each other's company. 

 

Conversely, The Wire is a show that focuses even more exclusively on the character's professional roles, but is quite effective at using brief glimpses to suggest that the characters do have personal lives (except where the lack of one was part of the character's point, like McNulty or Marlo), without finding it necessary to mine them for melodrama.

This trend can be seen on HOMICIDE as well. Shortly after Ballard's introduction, apropos of nothing, she has to be hospitalized for a sheelfish allergy. Nothing to do with police work, just a slice of life. I liked that. Then again, I'm one of the weirdos who likes the Gharty/Ballard period anyway.
 

For Bruce Wayne, his external leisure life is the facade. His mask. And yet, just about every girl he gets into a relationship with causes him to want to hang up his obsession, the one thing he does enjoy, nocturnal vigilantism. Punching dirtbags in the face.

If he did give up the crime-fighting, what he heck would Bruce do? He hates to party. Travel? He's already done plenty of that. People close to him get killed or crippled, so I imagine (after the girl inevitably walks out on him) a loner life, watching tv on his Batcave monitors. Getting fat.

I think about these things.

Tarantino actually is really good with hinting at his character's outer lives: Jules has a vegetarian girlfriend, Vincent just got back from Amsterdam and digs getting high, Shoshana has a serious relationship going strong with Marcel, the active sex lives of the girls in Death Proof, Bill's numerous former colleagues and enemies, Budd works in a strip club, etc.

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Originally Posted by Z.Vasquez 

 Jules has a vegetarian girlfriend

I've always wondered if he was just talking some good game in that moment.  I can see it working either way, but if he actually does have a vegetarian girlfriend... WOULD SHE WALK THE EARTH WITH HIM???
 

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Originally Posted by Paul C 

It's been observed that Andy the Toy Story series appears to have no friends or social life beyond toys.

Then who are all those kids at his birthday party in the first film?

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Originally Posted by Richard Dickson 

Then who are all those kids at his birthday party in the first film?

Easy. His classmates whose Moms made them attend.

Okay.  Then why does he seem excited going to and coming from cowboy camp?  If he's this moody loner with no friends, he should be absolutely miserable there.

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Originally Posted by Richard Dickson 

Okay.  Then why does he seem excited going to and coming from cowboy camp?  If he's this moody loner with no friends, he should be absolutely miserable there.

He might hate other kids...but he loves Cowboys. Because they remind him of Woody.

Besides, he says, "Thanks guys" to his toys while driving away to college as an 18-19 year old. There is no continuity to his fucked-up behavior.