User:H-Games~Documentation/sandbox



To name a work is a delicate art: it has to capture the essence of the work (at least most of the times) and do justice to the content. With biopics and other biographical works, this is slightly trickier since a real person's life rarely follows a particular, simplistic theme that eases the process of naming.

Sometimes you can use certain phrases that you think represent the person well: "Raging Bull" for Jake LaMotta or "The Pursuit of Happyness" for Christopher Gardner. But some other times it's best to just name it after the person. Usually it's their. Sometimes the. It just has this immediate impact. Probably because being mononymous traditionally carries a certain honour (Plato, Rafael, and so forth), this has a certain effect of grandeur.

Sub-Trope of One Word Title (although some variations include the), and may even overlap with One-Letter Title (W.). Also a Sub-Trope of Character Title. Not to be confused with a variation where the trope is applied to fictional characters, common in TV series in order to highlight the title character's central role.

mononymous

 * Cleopatra (Cleopatra; an extreme case with at least five films titled as such, the most famous being the one with Elizabeth Taylor.)
 * Caligula (Caligula)
 * Alexander (Alexander the Great)
 * Attila (Attila the Hun)
 * Carlos (Carlos the Jackal)
 * Elizabeth (Queen Elizabeth I)
 * Hannibal (Hannibal of Carthage)
 * Nero (Nero)
 * Spartacus (Spartacus)

given name

 * Ali (Muhammad Ali)* Basquiat (Jean-Michel Basquiat)* Becket (Thomas Becket)
 * Capote (Truman Capote)
 * Carrington (Dora Carrington)
 * Chaplin (Charlie Chaplin)
 * Chisum (John Chisum)
 * Cromwell (Oliver Cromwell)
 * Cobb (Ty Cobb)
 * Danton (Georges Danton)
 * Dempsey (Jack Dempsey)
 * Dillinger (John Dillinger)
 * Disraeli (Benjamin Disraeli)
 * Elgar (Edward Elgar)
 * Faustina (Mary Faustina Kowalska/Saint Faustina)
 * Freud: The Secret Passion (Sigmund Freud)
 * Gainsbourg (Serge Gainsbourg)
 * Gandhi (Mohandas Gandhi)
 * Hawking (Stephen Hawking)
 * Houdini (Harry Houdini)
 * Jinnah (Muhammad Ali Jinnah)
 * Juarez (Benito Juarez)
 * Kennedy (John F. Kennedy)
 * King (Martin Luther King)
 * Kinsey (Alfred Kinsey)
 * Klimt (Gustav Klimt)
 * Luther (Martin Luther)
 * Mahler (Gustav Mahler)
 * Milk (Harvey Milk)
 * Modigliani (Amedeo Modigliani)
 * Nixon (Richard Nixon)
 * Patton (George S. Patton)
 * Prefontaine (Steve Prefontaine)
 * Piñero (Miguel Piñero)
 * Sadat (Anwar Sadat)
 * Serpico (Frank Serpico)
 * Silkwood (Karen Silkwood)
 * Sinatra (Frank Sinatra)
 * Tatsumi (Yoshihiro Tatsumi)
 * Truman (Harry S. Truman)
 * Wilde (Oscar Wilde)
 * Wilson (Woodrow Wilson)
 * Winchell (Walter Winchell)
 * Wittgenstein (Ludwig Wittgenstein)

family name

 * Amadeus (a slightly odd example, as the protagonist is Antonio Salieri; Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart is just the object of his obsession)
 * Amelia (Amelia Earhart)
 * Artemisia (Artemisia Gentileschi)
 * Aurore (Aurore Gagnon)
 * Babe (Babe Didrikson)
 * Also The Babe (This time for Babe Ruth)
 * Benito (Benito Mussolini)
 * Bugsy (Bugsy Siegel)
 * Cass (Cass Pennant)
 * Che (Che Guevara; actually a duology with a subtitle each.)
 * Che!, a different film.
 * Domino (Domino Harvey)
 * Elvis (Elvis Presley)
 * Evita (Evita Perón)
 * Fidel (Fidel Castro)
 * Frances (Frances Farmer)
 * Frida (Frida Kahlo)
 * Galileo (Galileo Galilei)
 * Gia (Gia Marie Carangi)
 * Hamill (Matt Hamill)
 * Hansie (Hansie Cronje)
 * Gie (Soe Hok Gie)
 * Iris (Iris Murdoch)
 * Isadora (Isadora Duncan)
 * Lenny (Lenny Bruce)
 * Leonie (Leonie Gilmour)
 * Margaret (Margaret Thatcher)
 * Marie (Marie Ragghianti)
 * Napoléon (Napoleon Bonaparte)
 * Ray (Ray Charles)
 * Sanju (Sanjay Dutt)
 * Selena (Selena Quintanilla-Pérez)
 * Soraya (Soraya Esfandiary-Bakhtiari)
 * Sylvia (Sylvia Plath)
 * W. (George W. Bush)


 * In a Cracked.com Photoplasty contest on biopics you would naturally see some examples.

Category:Title Tropes Category: