Unseen character
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
|
Related e |
|
Wikipedia
Featured:  |
Unseen characters are never directly observed by the audience but are only described by other characters. They are a common device in drama and have been called "triumphs of theatrical invention". They are continuing characters — characters who are currently in frequent interaction with the other characters and who influence current story events. Television shows and stage plays make use of characters who are not seen, and usually not heard, though some unseen characters are portrayed as an off-camera voice. Radio shows also feature "unseen" characters who never speak, while books can feature characters who are referenced by others, but whose actions and dialogue are never directly described. The work of Voltaire, for example, included the "unseen character." The characters as a device are more commonly featured in television, since the length of a series and visual medium makes it more unusual for someone who has common interaction with a main character never to be directly involved in a scene with that character.
Rosaline in Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare is often spoken of but never has any direct presence in the play.
The play Bunbury by Tom Jacobson involves numerous unseen characters, including Rosaline from Romeo and Juliet, the boy from A Streetcar Named Desire, and Godot from Waiting for Godot, who team up to change the endings of famous pieces of literature, and, ultimately, history. The titular character, Bunbury, is not technically an unseen character, since he is only imaginary in the play The Importance of Being Earnest.
Examples in film
- The most well-known example is that of Ernst Stavro Blofeld, from the James Bond film series. Blofeld is partially seen from the neck down in From Russia With Love and Thunderball, and was finally revealed in You Only Live Twice portrayed by Donald Pleasence.
- The title character from the 1940 film Rebecca is unseen but her name carries the plot of the story.
- The hunter in Bambi.
- Lucius Best/Frozone's wife Honey in The Incredibles, voiced by Kimberly Adair Clark.
- In Kill Bill Vol. 1, Bill is partially shown; he is entirely revealed in Kill Bill Vol. 2.
- The truck driver from the Steven Spielberg television movie Duel.
- Edward in the Spencer Tracy film Edward, My Son.
- Mr. Walker in Jackie Brown.
- Angel in Requiem For a Dream.
- Billy in Black Christmas.
- Joey in The Happening.
- Ed's Auntie V (Aunt Vesta) in Fried Green Tomatoes.
- The Emperor Palpatine in Star Wars: Episode IV. (He was later revealed in the following two films).
- Stella in Swimming with Sharks.
- The Once-ler's faces were out of frame in The Lorax.
Examples in television
See
See Pascale Bonnemere, ed., Women as Unseen Characters: Male Ritual in Papua New Guinea (Social Anthropology in Oceania) (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2004).
