Is this getting too old? Do you think such characters still work or are they far too predictable?
I've recently encountered several instances of such characters. Here are two of them:
-Don Jon: Jon's sister, who spends all of the film quietly typing on her smartphone and finally speaks during the family argument that ensues after Jon communicates he's broken with the Scarlett Johanson character; when Jon's parents freak out and Jon seems to be in denial about the nature of his relationship, his sister is the only one that can see through the bullsh*t and realizes Jon's ex was manipulative, didn't really love him, and he's better off without her.
-Orange Is the New Black: there's an inmate that works in the kitchen, who doesn't speak during the whole season and even uses writing to communicate at some point; in the season finale (I think), she starts singing during the Christmas celebrations and she actually has an amazing voice, which doubles the surprise.
There's plenty of characters like these in popular movies and books. Silent Bob in Chasing Amy. The shy nun that sings masterfully in Sister Act.
Do you guys think such characters still work, if executed well? Or have they become too much of a cliche? My experience when watching Don Jon was that it was so obvious that his sister was going to give some enlightening speech or comment in the 3rd act that it wasn't very surprising or effective when it happened. The same goes for Orange Is the New Black. I've seen so many scenes like those before.
Thoughts?
I've recently encountered several instances of such characters. Here are two of them:
-Don Jon: Jon's sister, who spends all of the film quietly typing on her smartphone and finally speaks during the family argument that ensues after Jon communicates he's broken with the Scarlett Johanson character; when Jon's parents freak out and Jon seems to be in denial about the nature of his relationship, his sister is the only one that can see through the bullsh*t and realizes Jon's ex was manipulative, didn't really love him, and he's better off without her.
-Orange Is the New Black: there's an inmate that works in the kitchen, who doesn't speak during the whole season and even uses writing to communicate at some point; in the season finale (I think), she starts singing during the Christmas celebrations and she actually has an amazing voice, which doubles the surprise.
There's plenty of characters like these in popular movies and books. Silent Bob in Chasing Amy. The shy nun that sings masterfully in Sister Act.
Do you guys think such characters still work, if executed well? Or have they become too much of a cliche? My experience when watching Don Jon was that it was so obvious that his sister was going to give some enlightening speech or comment in the 3rd act that it wasn't very surprising or effective when it happened. The same goes for Orange Is the New Black. I've seen so many scenes like those before.
Thoughts?
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