# Favorite Fictional Arguments
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-fictional-arguments/687274
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [April 29, 2014, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-fictional-arguments/687274 "2014-04-29T14:07:00Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)
#### Post date: [April 29, 2014, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-fictional-arguments/687274/1 "2014-04-29T14:07:00Z")
This thread was inspired by a recent one in which a number of people said they didn’t like fight scenes in movies. Okay, what about arguments that are strictly verbal, with no violence occurring between the disputants? Movies, TV, literature, whatever you want. Here are some I enjoy:
The argument between Professor Reisfeld and the head of MIT in **Have Spacesuit, Will Travel** , by Robert Heinlein. Fun, even though we only hear one side.
The argument between Lady Catherine and Elizabeth in **Pride and Prejudice**.
The shouting match between Mal and Wash while they’re being tortured on **Firefly**. (Yes, violence is involved, but it’s not between the people who are arguing.)
The lion’s share of **1776** , except of course for when Adams and Dickinson start physically fighting each other with their canes, because that counts as a fight scene.
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### Author:  [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)
#### Post date: [April 29, 2014, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-fictional-arguments/687274/2 "2014-04-29T14:42:01Z")
Any scene between Beatrice and Benedick in _Much Ado about Nothing_.
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### Author:  [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)
#### Post date: [April 29, 2014, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-fictional-arguments/687274/3 "2014-04-29T14:57:53Z")
King Arthur versus Dennis, in _Monty Python and the Holy Grail._
Edited to add:
Oops, that one ends in a fight. Sorry.
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### Author:  [@Frodo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frodo)
#### Post date: [April 29, 2014, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-fictional-arguments/687274/4 "2014-04-29T14:59:56Z")
Sax Russel vs Ann Clayborne in “Red Mars”.
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### Author:  [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)
#### Post date: [April 29, 2014, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-fictional-arguments/687274/5 "2014-04-29T15:13:35Z")
[Best fictional argument ever.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RDjCqjzbvJY)
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### Author:  [@Suburban\_Plankton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Suburban_Plankton)
#### Post date: [April 29, 2014, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-fictional-arguments/687274/6 "2014-04-29T15:18:09Z")
> [@mbh](#):
>
> King Arthur versus Dennis, in _Monty Python and the Holy Grail._
>
> Edited to add:
> Oops, that one ends in a fight. Sorry.
OK, then. Replace it with the argument at the beginning of the film between King Arthur and the inhabitants of the nameless castle, regarding coconuts, sparrows, and such…
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### Author:  [@Rhiannon8404](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhiannon8404)
#### Post date: [April 29, 2014, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-fictional-arguments/687274/7 "2014-04-29T15:30:48Z")
The argument between Mr. Waturi (Dan Hedaya) and Harry (on the other end of the phone line) in _Joe Versus the Volcano_. You only hear the one side:
"But can he do the job. I know he can get the job but can he DO the job?
I’m NOT arguing that with you. I’m not arguing that with YOU. I’m not ARGUING that with you. I’m not ARGUING that with you Harry!
Harry… Harry… Yeah Harry… but can he DO the job. I know he can GET the job but can he do the job?"
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### Author:  [@cmkeller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmkeller)
#### Post date: [April 29, 2014, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-fictional-arguments/687274/8 "2014-04-29T15:43:14Z")
Issue # 4 of James Robinson’s Starman series. A man with a gun breaks into the shop of Jack Knight (the new Starman) with the intent of stealing something, and Jack talks him down, and ends up selling him the item in question. That was one of the moments that hooked me on Starman.
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### Author:  [@Lightray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lightray)
#### Post date: [April 29, 2014, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-fictional-arguments/687274/9 "2014-04-29T16:32:30Z")
The entirety of _The Lion In Winter_. It’s all one long argument, really.
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### Author:  [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)
#### Post date: [April 29, 2014, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-fictional-arguments/687274/10 "2014-04-29T16:39:55Z")
Argument Clinic
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### Author:  [@teela\_brown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teela_brown)
#### Post date: [April 29, 2014, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-fictional-arguments/687274/11 "2014-04-29T17:10:02Z")
Just about any argument between Sherlock and John from the series _Sherlock_, but in particular one in which John’s angry that Sherlock seems to care only about the problem and not the crime victims:
(after some shouting back and forth)
S: I’ve disappointed you, haven’t I?
J: That’s a good deduction, yeah.
S: Don’t make people into heroes, John. Heroes don’t exist.
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### Author:  [@LawMonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LawMonkey)
#### Post date: [April 29, 2014, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-fictional-arguments/687274/12 "2014-04-29T17:29:56Z")
> [@TriPolar](#):
>
> [Best fictional argument ever.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RDjCqjzbvJY)
> [@johnpost](#):
>
> Argument Clinic
But that’s not an argument, it’s just contradiction!
I’ll nominate Doc Holliday’s [first meeting](http://youtu.be/GGNdnlCbfMs) with Johnny Ringo from _ **Tombstone** _, though I’m not entirely sure it counts as an argument either.
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### Author:  [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)
#### Post date: [April 29, 2014, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-fictional-arguments/687274/13 "2014-04-29T17:48:59Z")
Well…
In the manga version of **Those Who Hunt Elves** , there’s a scientist who believes that 1-meter _hyo_ (balls of hail) can and do fall from the sky, and predicts just such an occurrence coming up. No one in town believes her and they continue to argue with her that it’s stupid and can never happen.
However, one of the main characters, Junpei, hears her story and recalls a time when, as a child, he had found such a hail-ball but then ended up being teased about it, since it had melted down to a little pellet by the time he had carried it back to show to people.
So they continue to argue with the townsfolk about the possible existence/non-existence of 1-meter sized hail, when suddenly full-sized leopards (_hyo_) start to fall from the sky. Upon finding out that they’d misunderstood the scientist’s warning, the townsfolk are completely placated. And of course that makes Junpei angry since everyone seems to think this entirely reasonable while still thinking that 1 meter hail-balls are fictional, and no hope of proof forthcoming.
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### Author:  [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)
#### Post date: [April 29, 2014, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-fictional-arguments/687274/14 "2014-04-29T18:25:07Z")
> [@Dendarii\_Dame](#):
>
> …The argument between Lady Catherine and Elizabeth in **Pride and Prejudice** …
Oh, definitely. That’s my favorite part of the book. Darcy’s proposal to Elizabeth is almost an afterthought, compared to that.
Mr. Spock and what appears to be a faerie-like alien argue in a Star Trek fan-written story called “The Enchanted Pool,” by Marcia Ericson. Great romantic tension. At one point she says, pouting, “It is quite possible that I shall cry.” He calmly replies, “I trust not. It would avail you nothing.”
Haviland Tuf, antihero of George R.R. Martin’s wonderful sf/ecology novel _Tuf Voyaging_, argues with just about everyone and almost invariably comes out on top. He’s one cool customer.
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### Author:  [@QuickSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuickSilver)
#### Post date: [April 29, 2014, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-fictional-arguments/687274/15 "2014-04-29T18:43:52Z")
Glengarry Glen Ross, The Big Kahuna, The Sunset Limited had some good ones.
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### Author:  [@Sitnam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sitnam)
#### Post date: [April 29, 2014, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-fictional-arguments/687274/16 "2014-04-29T19:14:21Z")
I was a pretty obnoxious teenager, the world was black and white and I was going to sort out all the grey. Early in college I remember reading a great argument in **A Canticle for Leibowitz** between The Poet and The Abbot about the utility of faith in a world structured around advances in science and it really struck a chord with this young Atheist.
I’ll have to look it up again sometime and see if it still rings true.
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### Author:  [@Sitnam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sitnam)
#### Post date: [April 29, 2014, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-fictional-arguments/687274/17 "2014-04-29T19:22:44Z")
**Chasing Amy** , the argument in the parking lot of the hockey arena. When I was younger I agreed with Holden, older I sided with Alyssa.
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### Author:  [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)
#### Post date: [April 29, 2014, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-fictional-arguments/687274/18 "2014-04-29T21:03:37Z")
Jack Vance, in “The Last Castle,” has some elegant debate scenes. Eloquent and sophisticated, but the venom is there.
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### Author:  [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)
#### Post date: [April 29, 2014, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-fictional-arguments/687274/19 "2014-04-29T22:21:08Z")
**Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?** (Uta Hagen as Martha)
**Long Days Journey Into Night** the “I love your guts, kid” monologue is a heartbreaker.
For cinema arguments effectively made _without_ speech, there’s _The Passion of Joan of Arc_ from 1923, and all of the tit for tat fights between Laurel & Hardy and James Finlayson.
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### Author:  [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)
#### Post date: [April 30, 2014, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-fictional-arguments/687274/20 "2014-04-30T00:41:43Z")
**T[wentieth Century](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twentieth_Century_(film))** is made up of almost nothing _but_ arguments between Oscar Jaffee and Lily Garland – and very funny ones, too.
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