July 17, 2005
Allusion sought.
I'm trying to think of a play or movie where there is a character who has two identities and then comically (or dramatically) gets mixed up and says or does something in the style of Identity A while presenting himself (or herself) as Identity B. An example would be if Superman forgot he had his outfit on and acted nerdy and ineffectual like Clark Kent. It seems like something that ought to happen as a plot device all the time, but I can't think of a single example. Try to come up with something specific, not just something like one time Don Diego acted like Zorro...
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14 comments:
Take a look at Shakespeare's Twelfth Night.
doesn't Ms. Paltrow do some of that in Shakespeare in Love?
Portsider: I assume it happens in all sorts of Shakespeare plays where a character goes in disguise. But could you describe the particulars? Usually the humor is done just by our knowing who the character is when the other characters are fooled.
Slac: I haven't seen Doubtfire (and doubtless never will), but Tootsie is a good example, when Hoffman in drag is attracted to Jessica Lange. I guess there must be a lot of drag situations like this in the movies. But maybe it's not the best example, because it's not so much a question of getting mentally mixed up as it is becoming physically aroused, out of character with your presumed sexual orientation.
Wizard of Oz is good but a bit off. The other characters see the person who's doing the voice and then he has to try to cover for himself, but he can't. Not the same as him just forgetting which character he's currently presenting himself as.
The climactic scene in "The Stepfather," when Terry O'Quinn's character inadvertently refers to his previous identity. When his current wife responds incredulously, he says something like: "Wait ... who am I here?" just beore attacking her.
Sorry for the lack of specificity in my previous post. In "Twelfth Night," Viola, dressed as a man (Cesario) falls in love with Duke Orsino. Though she is taking on a man's identity, she continually says things to Orsino that give her away. Look at Act I Scene 4 for some of the more comical bits.
It's more forced out of her than accidental, but Laura Linney, fearing for her life in The Truman Show slips out of her role long enough to say "Somebody do something!" in a house supposedly occupied by only her and Truman.
SNL did the reverse of your example long, long ago. Bill Murray as Superman, Margo Kidder as Lois (Belushi as the Hulk).
transcript
Spider-Woman: Up in the sky! It's a bird!
Spider-Man: It's a plane!
[Superman, still dressed as Clark Kent, lands on the balcony and enters, carrying a bag of ice. Still shaken by Lois' revelation, he has forgotten to change back into Superman.]
The Flash: It's ... It's Clark Kent!
Spider-Woman: [pointing at Clark] Of course!
The Flash: Of course! Clark Kent is Superman!
Clark Kent: [realizes too late that he wears the wrong clothes] Awww ... [quietly cursing himself for his stupidity] Dumb sssss....
Didn't Matt Damon slip out of character a few times in "Mr Ripley"?
Joey? Working Girl!?!
Come on, people.
Try the Myrna Loy/Willam Poweell classic, "I Love You Again". It's one long exercise in identity fraud in service to screwball lromantic comedy.
Poweel plays a prohibition-era grifter and wiseguy who assumes the identity of a teetotaling small town prig in order to romance Myrna Loy. The movie is full of moments where Powell breaks character to cut some gordian knot situation or other.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0032617/
Oscar Wilde's Importance of Being Earnest has a couple of moments where this happens IIRC
I had the great pleasure, many years ago, to play "Major Magnus" in the Tom Stoppard play, "The Real Inspector Hound"....
A play-within-a-play, with several characters...including two play critics who were other than they purported to be, and oft times they let loose in the wrong character.....
Magnus proves to be Inspector Hound in the end.....and there was even a "guest body" onstage each night.....
Read it and you'll see the possibilities.
Duke
Jeff, this one's for you.
In Attack of the Killer Tomatoes: "A disguise expert infiltrates the tomato camp, but gives the game away when he asks for ketchup to eat his humans with."
My first thought was The Importance of Being Earnest as well.
There are many crime/murder mysteries where the culprit of course confuses which identity they are portraying at the time. But I'm like you on that one...I can't think of an example right now.
A specific example (non-crime genre) that comes to mind is the actor playing a butler (I believe the Ryan Phillippee character). In trying to learn the role, he slips several times in his comments and actions--doing or saying something that was definitely out of place for a butler, but perfectly in place for someone of a higher class at the time. He has to cover himself every time he does that.
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