# 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:** 2
**Author:** ![Don\_Draper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b2d939/32.png) [@Don\_Draper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_Draper)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2007, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-movies-featuring-xxxxx-as-a-character/412863/21 "2007-07-23T19:13:29Z")
Magazine copy editor. Not reporter, or publisher, or photographer – copy editor. ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2007, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-movies-featuring-xxxxx-as-a-character/412863/22 "2007-07-23T19:15:59Z")
Dentist: “Eversmile, New Jersey” (Daniel Day-Lewis) Insurance underwriter: “Double Indemnity” maybe? Did he do any underwriting? Waiter: “Waiting” (Ryan Reynolds comedy) Printing press operator: not a film, but there’s [Gutenberg! The Musical!](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gutenberg%21_The_Musical%21) I’d be surprised if there weren’t a film out there about Gutenberg, though. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Hildo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/bbce88/32.png) [@Johnny\_Hildo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Hildo)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2007, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-movies-featuring-xxxxx-as-a-character/412863/23 "2007-07-23T19:18:27Z")
[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] [Young Warriors.](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0086625/) Featured some pretty trippy animation, too. ---
**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2007, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-movies-featuring-xxxxx-as-a-character/412863/24 "2007-07-23T19:21:48Z")
[QUOTE=Yllaria] 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.) [/QUOTE] Close to this would be [Kenny](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0822389/), in which the central character’s profession is renting out and installing portable toilets. It’s a very funny movie, but I don’t think it’s known much outside Australia. ---
**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, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-movies-featuring-xxxxx-as-a-character/412863/25 "2007-07-23T19:21:58Z")
Optometrist. Very common profession, yet somehow not very well represented in movies, at least among lead roles. ---
**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, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-movies-featuring-xxxxx-as-a-character/412863/26 "2007-07-23T19:22:46Z")
I daresay there are very few films about [musical orchestration](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orchestration). Not composers, conductors or musicians, but orchestrators. ---
**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, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-movies-featuring-xxxxx-as-a-character/412863/27 "2007-07-23T19:22:48Z")
[QUOTE=Trunk] 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. [/QUOTE] One Hour Photo. He wasn’t a pharmacist. His character worked in the photo lab, developing the pictures. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2007, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-movies-featuring-xxxxx-as-a-character/412863/28 "2007-07-23T19:26:21Z")
[QUOTE=Bayard] Maybe auto mechanics? They turn up to move the plot along, but I don’t know of any movies that featured one prominently. [/QUOTE] Trees Lounge. Except Steve Buscemi’s character was out of work most of the time. ---
**Author:** ![NDP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ndp/32/55_2.png) [@NDP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NDP)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2007, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-movies-featuring-xxxxx-as-a-character/412863/29 "2007-07-23T19:26:38Z")
[QUOTE=Beadalin] 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. [/QUOTE] **Double Indemnity** featured an insurance agent and an insurance investigator (played respectively by Fred MacMurray and Edward G. Robinson) as pivotal characters. Also, Guy Pearce’s character (Leonard Shelby) in **Memento** was an insurance investigator who quit due to short-term memory problems. I don’t know if those examples are close enough for you. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2007, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-movies-featuring-xxxxx-as-a-character/412863/30 "2007-07-23T19:27:50Z")
[QUOTE=Beadalin] 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. [/QUOTE] Double Indemnity. Edit: NDP beat me to it. Forgot about Memento. ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2007, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-movies-featuring-xxxxx-as-a-character/412863/31 "2007-07-23T19:34:59Z")
Insurance adjustors are represent the female leads in both versions of _The Thomas Crown Affair_. ---
**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, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-movies-featuring-xxxxx-as-a-character/412863/32 "2007-07-23T19:44:01Z")
[QUOTE=Siam Sam] …Forgot about Memento. [/QUOTE] Ha! ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2007, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-movies-featuring-xxxxx-as-a-character/412863/33 "2007-07-23T19:46:01Z")
[QUOTE=The New and Improved Superman] Magazine copy editor. Not reporter, or publisher, or photographer – copy editor. [/QUOTE] [Kissing Jessica Stein](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kissing_Jessica_Stein) ---
**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2007, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-movies-featuring-xxxxx-as-a-character/412863/34 "2007-07-23T19:48:40Z")
[QUOTE=ArchiveGuy] Insurance adjustors are represent the female leads in both versions of _The Thomas Crown Affair_. [/QUOTE] And in the anime [Trigun](http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0251439/) the female leads Meryl Stryfe and Milly Thompson are employees of the Bernardelli Insurance Society. ---
**Author:** ![Swallowed\_My\_Cellphone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9d8465/32.png) [@Swallowed\_My\_Cellphone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Swallowed_My_Cellphone)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2007, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-movies-featuring-xxxxx-as-a-character/412863/35 "2007-07-23T19:50:57Z")
[QUOTE=Beadalin] 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. [/QUOTE] Not an underwriter, but there is a movie by Atom Egoyan called _The Adjuster_. Is that close enough? ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2007, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-movies-featuring-xxxxx-as-a-character/412863/36 "2007-07-23T19:52:05Z")
[QUOTE=The New and Improved Superman] Magazine copy editor. Not reporter, or publisher, or photographer – copy editor. [/QUOTE] Drew Barrymore’s character in Never Been Kissed is a copy editor, although, I think, for a newspaper. ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2007, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-movies-featuring-xxxxx-as-a-character/412863/37 "2007-07-23T20:00:03Z")
[QUOTE=Siam Sam] Double Indemnity. Edit: NDP beat me to it. [/QUOTE] _Who_ beat you to it? \ ---
**Author:** ![Aholibah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Aholibah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aholibah)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2007, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-movies-featuring-xxxxx-as-a-character/412863/38 "2007-07-23T20:14:47Z")
[QUOTE=Bayard] Maybe auto mechanics? They turn up to move the plot along, but I don’t know of any movies that featured one prominently. [/QUOTE] In Benny and Joon, Benny (Aidan Quinn) and his best friend are auto mechanics. How about a historian? ---
**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, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-movies-featuring-xxxxx-as-a-character/412863/39 "2007-07-23T20:19:40Z")
[QUOTE=Aholibah] How about a historian? [/QUOTE] If that includes _archaeologists_, there’s practically an entire subgenre of fedora-ed, whip toting historians in the “Action” section of your local movie store. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Lunar\_Saltlick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/977dab/32.png) [@Lunar\_Saltlick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lunar_Saltlick)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2007, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-movies-featuring-xxxxx-as-a-character/412863/40 "2007-07-23T20:20:51Z")
I think there’s only been one movie that starred a technical writer. If memory serves, the movie was called _The Technical Writer_. That’s a title that’ll bring them in. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-movies-featuring-xxxxx-as-a-character/412863.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-movies-featuring-xxxxx-as-a-character/412863.md?page=3)