All The Tropes

Harvey: Difference between revisions

Page Discussion

Harvey (view source)

Revision as of 11:33, 8 August 2014

54 bytes removed ,  9 years ago
m
revise quote template spacing
VisualWikitext
m (Mass update links)
m (revise quote template spacing)
Line 3:
 
 
{{quote| ''"Years ago my mother used to say to me, she'd say, 'In this world, Elwood, you must be' - she always called me Elwood - 'In this world, Elwood, you must be oh so smart or oh so pleasant.' Well, for years I was smart. I recommend pleasant. You may quote me."''}}
 
A classic play which has been made into a film starring [[Jimmy Stewart]] and a TV Movie starring Harry Anderson.
Line 23:
* [[All Girls Want Bad Boys]]: Myrtle Mae becomes romantically attached to Wilson, a rather [[Jerkass]] caretaker at the asylum, who uses necessary force when dealing with patients, and who appalls her mother because of this.
* [[Ask a Stupid Question]]
{{quote| '''Dr. Sanderson''': "How did you come to call him Harvey?"<br />
'''Elwood''': "Well, Harvey's his name." }}
* [[Basement Dweller]]: Subverted. Early on, Myrtle Mae complains that Elwood is this, as he lives with his sister and won't move out or get a job. Veta at once reminds her that, since Elwood got the entire family fortune, ''they're'' the ones living with ''him.''
* [[Bow Ties Are Cool]]: Harvey seems to think so, if the portrait is to be believed.
* [[Catch Phrase]]: Elwood is always introducing himself:
{{quote| ''Elwood P. Dowd. Let me give you one of my cards.''}}
** He's also delighted to meet new people, even if they aren't as nice as he is (or even nice to him).
{{quote| ''I want you to know that I'm glad to have met you.''}}
* [[Character as Himself]]: Harvey.
* [[Cloudcuckoolander]]: Elwood, much to Veta and Myrtle Mae's dismay.
* [[Comically Missing the Point]]: Elwood does this several times throughout the story. Most notably:
{{quote| ''I started to walk down the street when I heard a voice saying: "Good evening, Mr. Dowd." I turned, and there was [[Not-So-Imaginary Friend|this big white rabbit]] leaning against a lamp-post. Well, I thought nothing of that, because when you've lived in a town as long as I've lived in this one, you get used to the fact that everybody knows your name.''}}
* [[Department of Redundancy Department]]: "...And Uncle Elwood is my Uncle."
* [[Drink Order]]: "Two martinis!"
Line 40:
* [[For Happiness]]: Elwood makes friends with everyone he can, and believes in being pleasant to all; he wins over a lot of people by being sweet to them, most everyone by the end of the movie is happier.
* [[Getting Crap Past the Radar]]:
{{quote| '''Attractive sales lady at a department store:''' What can I do for you, Mr. Dowd? <br />
'''Elwood P. Dowd:''' What did you have in mind? }}
* [[Hair-Raising Hare]]: Harvey, to Dr. Chumley.
* [[Humans Are Bastards]]: [[Conversational Troping|Discussed]] by the cab driver when Elwood is about to receive his injection, and how said injection "transforms" pleasant, amiable human beings into irritable things who cannot be satisfied.
{{quote| "After this he'll be a perfectly normal human being. And you know what stinkers they are!"}}
* [[The Messiah]]: Dowd.
* [[My Card]]: Anyone, ''anyone'', Elwood meets, he gives them his card, telling them which number to call him at.
Line 51:
** In fact, his sister and niece can be seen as this as well.
* [[Sanity Slippage]]: Veta progressively becomes more unbalanced as the story progressive, as if she's losing contact with reality and cannot make up her mind if Harvey is real or not. {{spoiler|She gets better at the end, in that she can accept Harvey so long as Elwood stays as nice as he always is.}}
{{quote| '''Dr. Chumley''': "I want to observe his face as he talks to the rabbit. He does talk to it, doesn't he?"<br />
'''Veta''': "Yes, they discuss all things together."<br />
'''Dr. Chumley''': "What?"<br />
'''Veta''': (''without changing her expression or tone from her last line'') "I said yes, he does talk to it." }}
* [[Shipper on Deck]]: Elwood is so ''completely'' on board the Dr. Sanderson/Ms. Kelly train that he even believes they're together when he's first meeting them when they insist they're just coworkers. Once Wilson and Myrtle Mae are seen together, he's endorsing their pairing, too.
Line 60:
** Six feet three and a half inches, now let's stick to the facts.
* [[Spooky Painting]]: [[Played for Laughs]] in this case. Somehow, the painter who did Elwood's portrait also saw Harvey and included him in the picture, too. It's used as a joke when Veta gives Dr. Chumley a lecture about paintings showing the reality of life, her being unaware Harvey's painting is standing where her mother's painting was.
{{quote| '''Veta''': (''points at painting of Harvey'') "Doctor, that is NOT my mother!"<br />
'''Dr. Chumley''': "Yes, well, I'm very glad to hear that." }}
* [[Took a Level In Kindness]]: Spelled out in the scene between Elwood and Dr. Chumley. The page quote sums it up nicely.
Line 67:
* [[White Bunny]]: Harvey. If you can see him, that is.
----
{{quote| "You don't believe that story about the doctor sitting here, talking to a big white rabbit, do ya?"<br />
"[[Comically Missing the Point|Well why not? Harvey was here.]]"
}}
Retrieved from "https://allthetropes.org/wiki/Special:MobileDiff/1108825"