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Originally posted by ThirteenBabe

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Originally posted by Joe Blevins

Let's face it: most movies boil down to Boy meets Girl, and anyone who gets in the way of that relationship has to be dispensed, one way or another.

We know of the so-called "baxter" character, the hapless nice guy who loses his girl to the movie's real hero. There's a whole movie called The Baxter, and I believe it was inspired by the luckless would-be groom from The Graduate. That poor dope.

There's another character I called the "well-heeled third wheel heel," i.e. the rich and/or pompous jerk the heroine is engaged to before she meets the hero. I believe critic Nathan Rabin calls this "the Chad character," which is catchier than my name. Think of Titanic, Back to School, Wedding Crashers and many others. Trading Places even has a female "Chad," the woman Dan Aykroyd is supposed to marry. Notice how the "Chad" character is always the one eager to get married, while his partner is reluctant.

But there's another kind of romantic third wheel I'd like to discuss: the ones who are actually killed off by their directors because they stand in the way of the main couple. Have you ever seen Revenge of the Creature, the sequel to Creature from the Black Lagoon? The heroine has two possible suitors. One is played by John Agar, the movie's star. The other? Well, he's monster bait. Then there's Beyond the Valley of the Dolls, which kills off the movie's sweetest, most vulnerable character, Casey. Critic Danny Peary insists that Casey is killed off because she's a lesbian, making the movie homophobic. I don't think so. I think Casey's killed off because she'd briefly been pregnant with the baby of the movie's romantic hero, Harris. The movie wants a happy, romantic ending for Harris and his "real" girlfriend, Kelly. To say the least, it would be awkward with Casey still around. I think that's the real reason she dies.

I guess I've been thinking about all of this because I've been reading so much lately about Alfred Hitchcock, much of it related to The Birds, which comes up a lot in the Truffaut/Hitchcock book, a series of discussions between the two directors. If you've seen The Birds, you know that amid the bird attacks, there's also a burgeoning romance. But there's also a third-wheel, the hero's ex-girlfriend, Annie, a school teacher who still lives in that town and still pines for her man.



[SPOILER ALERT]




Annie sacrifices her life to save the hero's young sister during the movie. Alfred Hitchcock never comes out and says so to Truffaut, but I think Annie's fate is really sealed by the fact that she's a stumbling block to the main romance.

As always I'd like to hear your opinions on this matter.

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Excellent analysis, Joe. Worthy of Ebert!! I'd certainly add His Girl Friday & all films related to it.

Your comments are also v. apposite with the imminent release of Julian Jarrold's feature called The Girl with Toby Jones as Alfred Hitchcock.

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quote:

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Originally posted by Joe Blevins

Let's face it: most movies boil down to Boy meets Girl, and anyone who gets in the way of that relationship has to be dispensed, one way or another.

We know of the so-called "baxter" character, the hapless nice guy who loses his girl to the movie's real hero. There's a whole movie called The Baxter, and I believe it was inspired by the luckless would-be groom from The Graduate. That poor dope.

There's another character I called the "well-heeled third wheel heel," i.e. the rich and/or pompous jerk the heroine is engaged to before she meets the hero. I believe critic Nathan Rabin calls this "the Chad character," which is catchier than my name. Think of Titanic, Back to School, Wedding Crashers and many others. Trading Places even has a female "Chad," the woman Dan Aykroyd is supposed to marry. Notice how the "Chad" character is always the one eager to get married, while his partner is reluctant.

But there's another kind of romantic third wheel I'd like to discuss: the ones who are actually killed off by their directors because they stand in the way of the main couple. Have you ever seen Revenge of the Creature, the sequel to Creature from the Black Lagoon? The heroine has two possible suitors. One is played by John Agar, the movie's star. The other? Well, he's monster bait. Then there's Beyond the Valley of the Dolls, which kills off the movie's sweetest, most vulnerable character, Casey. Critic Danny Peary insists that Casey is killed off because she's a lesbian, making the movie homophobic. I don't think so. I think Casey's killed off because she'd briefly been pregnant with the baby of the movie's romantic hero, Harris. The movie wants a happy, romantic ending for Harris and his "real" girlfriend, Kelly. To say the least, it would be awkward with Casey still around. I think that's the real reason she dies.

I guess I've been thinking about all of this because I've been reading so much lately about Alfred Hitchcock, much of it related to The Birds, which comes up a lot in the Truffaut/Hitchcock book, a series of discussions between the two directors. If you've seen The Birds, you know that amid the bird attacks, there's also a burgeoning romance. But there's also a third-wheel, the hero's ex-girlfriend, Annie, a school teacher who still lives in that town and still pines for her man.



[SPOILER ALERT]




Annie sacrifices her life to save the hero's young sister during the movie. Alfred Hitchcock never comes out and says so to Truffaut, but I think Annie's fate is really sealed by the fact that she's a stumbling block to the main romance.

As always I'd like to hear your opinions on this matter.

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