# Why no movies featuring xxxxx as a character? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 23, 2007, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-movies-featuring-xxxxx-as-a-character/412863 "2007-07-23T17:51:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Ronald\_C.Semone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/cc9497/32.png) [@Ronald\_C.Semone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ronald_C.Semone)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2007, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-movies-featuring-xxxxx-as-a-character/412863/1 "2007-07-23T17:51:11Z")
I was sitting in my dentist’s chair the other day and it occurred to me that I could think of only two films ( **The Little Shop of Horrors** , and **The In-Laws** ) which featured dentists as main characters. And then I began to wonder if there were any occupations that had never had a featured character in a movie. I couldn’t think of any. Can you? ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2007, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-movies-featuring-xxxxx-as-a-character/412863/2 "2007-07-23T17:55:24Z")
You left out **Marathon Man** ---
**Author:** ![Defensive\_Indifference](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/defensive_indifference/32/6502_2.png) [@Defensive\_Indifference](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Defensive_Indifference)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2007, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-movies-featuring-xxxxx-as-a-character/412863/3 "2007-07-23T17:57:29Z")
Maybe auto mechanics? They turn up to move the plot along, but I don’t know of any movies that featured one prominently. Wasn’t the main character in _The Whole Nine Yards_ a dentist too? ---
**Author:** ![garygnu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garygnu/32/2924_2.png) [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2007, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-movies-featuring-xxxxx-as-a-character/412863/4 "2007-07-23T18:03:51Z")
Steve Martin played a dentist again in _Novocaine_, and there’s the obvious _The Secret Lives of Dentists_. I don’t think I’ve seen a movie with an animator as a character. Hell, game testers just got a movie, where’s mine? ---
**Author:** ![Beadalin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3be4f8/32.png) [@Beadalin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beadalin)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2007, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-movies-featuring-xxxxx-as-a-character/412863/5 "2007-07-23T18:08:39Z")
Insurance underwriters. I’m sure there’s a rich vein of drama to be mined there, too, but Hollywood is too blind to see it. ---
**Author:** ![Defensive\_Indifference](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/defensive_indifference/32/6502_2.png) [@Defensive\_Indifference](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Defensive_Indifference)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2007, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-movies-featuring-xxxxx-as-a-character/412863/6 "2007-07-23T18:10:25Z")
> [@](#): > > Originally Posted by **garygnu** > I don’t think I’ve seen a movie with an animator as a character The animator in _The Holy Grail_ had a small, but pivotal role. ---
**Author:** ![Push\_You\_Down](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/push_you_down/32/9095_2.png) [@Push\_You\_Down](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Push_You_Down)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2007, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-movies-featuring-xxxxx-as-a-character/412863/7 "2007-07-23T18:12:33Z")
[QUOTE=garygnu] I don’t think I’ve seen a movie with an animator as a character. Hell, game testers just got a movie, where’s mine? [/QUOTE] “Cool World” or was he just a cartoonist? And Cusack’s character in “One Crazy Summer” is also an aspiring animator/cartoonist. ---
**Author:** ![OneCentStamp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/13edae/32.png) [@OneCentStamp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OneCentStamp)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2007, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-movies-featuring-xxxxx-as-a-character/412863/8 "2007-07-23T18:17:06Z")
[QUOTE=garygnu] I don’t think I’ve seen a movie with an animator as a character. [/QUOTE] _Son of The Mask_. Yes, it was one of the worst movies ever made, but the main character was an animator. ---
**Author:** ![garygnu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garygnu/32/2924_2.png) [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2007, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-movies-featuring-xxxxx-as-a-character/412863/9 "2007-07-23T18:19:36Z")
If anyone else wants to put forth an occupation, that would be great… (Just so I’m not the only one getting shot down.) ---
**Author:** ![E-Sabbath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e19adc/32.png) [@E-Sabbath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-Sabbath)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2007, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-movies-featuring-xxxxx-as-a-character/412863/10 "2007-07-23T18:39:12Z")
Mechanic: Second banana in the Herbie movies was the mechanic/navigator. Waiter. How about where a main character is a waiter? ---
**Author:** ![OneCentStamp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/13edae/32.png) [@OneCentStamp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OneCentStamp)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2007, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-movies-featuring-xxxxx-as-a-character/412863/11 "2007-07-23T18:40:21Z")
[QUOTE=E-Sabbath] Waiter. How about where a main character is a waiter? [/QUOTE] _Garden State_? How about an entomologist. You know, a bug doctor? ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2007, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-movies-featuring-xxxxx-as-a-character/412863/12 "2007-07-23T18:41:53Z")
[QUOTE=E-Sabbath] Waiter. How about where a main character is a waiter? [/QUOTE] There’s [Waiter](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waiter_(film)), a black comedy about a guy who’s a waiter. I also found a 1993 imdb film called The Waiter starring David Schwimmer. And there’s the recent Waitress. ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2007, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-movies-featuring-xxxxx-as-a-character/412863/13 "2007-07-23T18:42:55Z")
[QUOTE=OneCentStamp] _Garden State_? How about an entomologist. You know, a bug doctor? [/QUOTE] See [Suna no onna](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0058625/). Apparently he’s only an amateur entomologist, but still… ETA: Also, [Mimic.](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0119675/) ---
**Author:** ![The\_Controvert](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/dec6dc/32.png) [@The\_Controvert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Controvert)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2007, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-movies-featuring-xxxxx-as-a-character/412863/14 "2007-07-23T18:50:45Z")
Most of the occupations featured in _Dirty Jobs with Mike Rowe_. Examples: tire recycler, bus wash drain sludge emptier, mushroom farmer, scuba diving sewer obstruction remover, etc. ---
**Author:** ![Defensive\_Indifference](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/defensive_indifference/32/6502_2.png) [@Defensive\_Indifference](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Defensive_Indifference)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2007, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-movies-featuring-xxxxx-as-a-character/412863/15 "2007-07-23T18:51:30Z")
What about printing press operators? I worked at a magazine printer for a while. They all smoked at the presses, which gave me the willies. Think of what Bruckheimer could do with smokers and lots of flammable materials. ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2007, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-movies-featuring-xxxxx-as-a-character/412863/16 "2007-07-23T19:07:35Z")
Sewage treatment plant operator. Although they’re called wastewater treatment plants or wastewater reclamation facilities in these more delicate days. (And I do admit that there is often more industrial wastewater than actual sewage coming into any given plant on any given day.) You could have one character that is an amateur bird watcher (plants attract water birds). Or one that is trying to raise guppies in the final settling tank for sale to pet shops. (Hint - without breeding selection, guppies quickly devolve into tough, plain little fish that can’t be sold to pet shops. On the other hand they eat mosquito larvae and act as a first warning that they system is going sour. Sort of like canaries in mines.) My Dad was more than slightly OCD, which must have been amusing to the other guys at the plant. You can also get rabbits and possums, even at city plants. (Which can only be used as a food source if you have the background and the knack.) There’s the tension between the older guys who saw it as blue collar and the newer level of automation, lab work, and computer useage. And the tension between the fact that it’s now popular as ‘green’, while still being unrelievably ‘brown’. There’s City budgeting. Maintenance vs expansion. Grants and the potential for graft. Hey, there are possibilities, here. ---
**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2007, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-movies-featuring-xxxxx-as-a-character/412863/17 "2007-07-23T19:11:45Z")
[QUOTE=garygnu] I don’t think I’ve seen a movie with an animator as a character. [/QUOTE] There is the 1987 movie [Slam Dance](http://imdb.com/title/tt0093986/plotsummary), directed by Wayne Wang, with Virginia Madsen, Tom Hulce, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, Harry Dean Stanton - the main character’s profession (cartoonist) is woven into the plot. ---
**Author:** ![cher3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/da6949/32.png) [@cher3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cher3)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2007, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-movies-featuring-xxxxx-as-a-character/412863/18 "2007-07-23T19:12:09Z")
I don’t know what he did specifically, but Art Carney’s character Ed Norton on the _The Honeymooners_ was a sewer worker of some sort. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Controvert](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/dec6dc/32.png) [@The\_Controvert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Controvert)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2007, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-movies-featuring-xxxxx-as-a-character/412863/19 "2007-07-23T19:12:29Z")
Thought of another one: Myth buster. ---
**Author:** ![Trunk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/87869e/32.png) [@Trunk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trunk)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2007, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-movies-featuring-xxxxx-as-a-character/412863/20 "2007-07-23T19:12:56Z")
Was Robin Williams a _Pharmacist_ in that creepy movie, or just a clerk at a pharmacy that developed pictures? That would be a pretty widely-practiced profession without ever having much of a movie role. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-movies-featuring-xxxxx-as-a-character/412863.md?page=2)