Inner Monologue: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

{{quote|'''[[X-Men|Wolverine]]''': ''"[[Catch Phrase|I'm the best there is at what I do]], including inner monologues."''

 

The character's thoughts are dubbed into the soundtrack, often with a slight reverb.

One frequently used subversion is when other characters hear what is said and respond in their own thoughts. It's mostly used when two characters use this device in the same scene. This can be milked for comedy if the character [[Did I Just Say That Out Loud?|switches from inner to outer monologue accidentally]]. Also known as a Stream of Consciousness. In literature, of course, including an inner monologue is essentially the default state in a way that isn't the case in TV, movies, or other media. When a monologue is being emphasised in printed media for whatever reason, you'll often find the use of [[Think in Text]] to make it distinctive.

 

 

Compare with [[Narrator]], [[Captain's Log]], and [[Sounding It Out]]. A specific example is the [[Private Eye Monologue]]. Contrast [[Surrogate Soliloquy]], when the thoughts are forced out at an inanimate or nonsentient target to avoid voiceover. A closely related [[Video Game]] trope is [[Adventure Narrator Syndrome]].

 

{{examples}}

== [[Anime]] and [[Manga]] ==

* Both Light and L in ''[[Death Note]]''.

* Kyon of ''[[Suzumiya Haruhi]]'', is this trope in human form. He acts as the narrator, has moments of [[Did I Just Say That Out Loud?]] and comments on everything with a mix of [[Unreliable Narrator]] and [[Lemony Narrator]]. The problem is that the main character, Haruhi is extremely [[Genre Savvy]], and a God, according to some of Itsuki's superiors. The others just see her as a ridiculously powerful [[Reality Warper]].

* Yuuichi of ''[[Kanon]]'', who, like Kyon, was the narrator of his respective work (putting aside [[Kyo Ani]]'s adaption which lead to the characters' similar appearance and same voice actor).

* Sora, the protagonist from ''[[Sketchbook]]'', is extremely shy and doesn't say much, but the viewer gets deep insights into her mind through her extensive inner monologue?and what a special and observant mind it is.

* This is used often in ''[[Princess Tutu]]''. Ahiru (which means "Duck", as she's called in the dub), the emotional lead character, has a tendency to cut off her inner monologues by shouting her next thought out loud, much to the confusion of those around her. It's also used for comedic effect in one scene, when she's having an inner monologue about how she's "only a duck" while her teacher is calling out her name. It ends up with her looking up and shouting at him "Yeah, yeah, I know, I'm a duck!" only to be berated by her teacher for her outburst.

* Kanako from ''[[Maria Holic]]'' has a very chatty Inner Monologue. Unusually, Mariya can enter into her monologues and correct her.

* Most of the finale to ''[[Neon Genesis Evangelion]]''.

* ''[[Kaze to Ki no Uta]]'' has a lot of these.

* Comically played with in ''[[Zettai Karen Children]]'' where in some scenes the author makes the readers believe that Minamoto is having an internal monologue, and then suddenly he gets angry at the nearby standing Fujiko who, as we suddenly discover, was actually the one who voiced a ''fake'' Minamoto's internal monologue that she invented on spot.

** Cerebus also has regular inner monologues, getting more frequent as the series progresses - reflecting either Sim's storytelling getting more experimental, or Cerebus himself growing more introspective. Earlier, the Cockroach had a tendency to narrate his situation, either aloud or in his head.

* [[Deadpool]]: Who can forget his yellow boxes? He loves his yellow boxes!

** Subverted at one point, where someone tells him he is actually talking out loud.

* Comics as a genre used cloud-like text boxes (compared with smoother speech bubbles) to show characters' thoughts. Their use has declined in the last decade and a half, as characters narrating in coloured boxes has become more common (this sort of character narration has also almost entirely replaced the older convention of third-person narrative captions).

 

 

* ''[[Turnabout Storm]]'' has [[Ace Attorney|Phoenix Wright]] retain his internal monologue, and this time voiced. Like in the games, he uses it a lot for [[First-Person Smartass|snarking to himself]], and now has a ''lot'' of reasons to do so (he got [[Trapped in Another World|unwittingly summoned]] to [[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic|Equestria]], go figure).

 

 

== [[Film]] ==

* Parodied again in ''[[Airplane!]] 2: The Sequel'':

** A young boy ponders his father's behavior.

** When someone asks "What do your people (the flight controllers) think?"

* A variation: child actor Peter Billingsly spends most of ''[[A Christmas Story]]'' creating/reacting to Jean Shepard's reminiscing.

* Another variation/parody occurs in ''[[Finding Nemo]]'': When they're plunged into darkness, Dory assumes Marlin to be her conscience having an Inner Monologue with her.

** Wouldn't that be an inner dialogue?

*** It's ''her'' conscience, so...possibly? Not really? [[Mind Screw|Gah!]]

* Raoul Duke from ''[[Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas]]'' has some truly epic inner moments:

{{quote|'''Duke''': How long could we maintain? I wondered. How long until one of us starts raving and jabbering at this boy? What will he think then? This same lonely desert was the last known home of the Manson family; will he make that grim connection when my attorney starts screaming about bats and huge manta rays coming down on the car? If so, well, we'll just have to cut his head off and bury him somewhere, 'cause it goes without saying that we can't turn him loose. He'd report us at once to some kind of outback Nazi law enforcement agency and they'll run us down like dogs. Jesus, did I say that? Or just think it? Was I talking? Did they hear me? }}

* Abused horribly in the Miramax cut of ''[[The Thief and the Cobbler]]''. The film was originally meant to have little-to-no dialogue at all from the titular characters and their stories were meant to be told through the animation. In the Miramax version the two characters have inner monologue throughout the whole film, and combined with the animation it leads to many [[Captain Obvious]] statements.

 

 

* ''Constantly'' used on ''[[Scrubs]]'', specifically the inner monologue of the main character JD, and occasionally other characters.

{{quote|'''JD:'''...and no matter how much I try, I can't stop constantly narrating my own life. ''(thinking) At that very moment, I feared I had divulged too much.''}}

* In the [[Sitcom]] ''[[Peep Show]]'', we see everything from the point of view of one of the characters. Mark and Jeremy's points of view are often accompanied by their Inner Monologues.

* In an episode of ''[[The Prisoner]]'' filmed when Patrick McGoohan was busy on a movie, Number 6's mind is put into another man's body. This leads to the somewhat odd sight of another actor walking around trying to look like he's having the thoughts we hear in McGoohan's voice.

* ''[[Burn Notice]]'' has Michael often explaining how spys operate in certain situations, and explaining [[Deadpan Snarker|deadpan-manner]] the stupidities of [[Hollywood Science]].

** Not entirely played straight in that the character's thoughts are not being played out. It's more like a subtle shift to an instructional video rather than demonstrating the character's thought process. Most notably, Michael will always do the narration even if the events in question are miles away from his character.

* [[Dexter]] uses this a lot. It helps highlight the difference between the socially acceptable role he plays and his true (sociopathic) thoughts and responses.

* Used frequently in ''[[The War at Home]]'', along with a special white background and (sometimes) imaginary objects.

* ''[[The Tenth Kingdom]]'' briefly depicts some of Wolf's thoughts this way while he's in the casino.

 

 

== Radio ==

 

 

== [[Theater]] ==

* This is a staple of film portrayals of [[Shakespeare]] soliloquies; probably the most famous example is Olivier's version of the "[[Hamlet|To be or not to be]]" monologue.

* Unlike traditional musicals, every song in ''[[Spring Awakening]]'' has been described as functioning like inner monologue for the characters. Lyrics reflect the feelings they don't or can't express to the outside world at that moment, and often at the end of the song characters will return to exactly how they were when the song began, as in the "real world" nothing happened.

 

== [[Video Games]] ==

''See also [[Adventure Narrator Syndrome]].''

* The two ''[[Touch Detective]]'' games make excellent use of this as the titular detective, MacKenzie, runs commentary on the chaos around her. This, like most uses of Inner Monologue, cements her as the [[Deadpan Snarker]] and the [[Only Sane Man|only sane girl]] of the cast.

** Even more interestingly, it's often done simultaneously on the top screen of the DS while the normal conversation is on the bottom screen (or vice versa, can't remember).

* [[Deadpan Snarker|Garrett]] from ''[[Thief]]'' plays this trope to a "T". Everything he does that's related to the plot of the game, is usually followed by either a snide or casual remark. Except, of course, in... ugh, The Shalebridge Cradle... then they're either disgusted or disturbed remarks. See the [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yPq-z6dyi04 mission briefing] for said level, and the below quote as an example

* Squall Leonhart in ''[[Final Fantasy VIII]]'' monologues internally [[The Stoic|much more than he actually speaks aloud]]. His Inner Monologues provide so much of his characterization that they are retained for his appearance in ''[[Dissidia Final Fantasy]]''.

** [[Final Fantasy VI|Kefka]], being the crossover's [[Meta Guy]], calls him out on this in the prequel. "You sure are talkative - in your head!"

** In the third game, {{spoiler|Edgeworth actually ''thinks'' "Thank God for inner monologues" to himself after a snarky internal comment.}}

* In ''[[City of Heroes]]'', one of your tour guides in the Architect Building has a broken inner monologue.

* ''[[Exit Fate]]'' protagonist Daniel Vinyard often has these in situations of moral conflict, though mostly just in form of a few sentences to himself after his dialogue partner has left.

 

 

== [[Web Comics]] ==

** At least Nale succeeds at inner-monologuing, [http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0395.html unlike Haley]

** Tim's is "DIS MY INSIDE VOICE!"

** In the case of Sooba, it later becomes a [[Running Gag]] as he's always seen thinking those words while looking brooding.

* Jimmy does this in ''[[Fleep]]''. Good thing, too, because [[Minimalism|he's pretty much the only character]].

 

 

* Parodied by ''[[Black Jack Justice]]'': Trixie is interrupted in the middle of a [[Private Eye Monologue]] by Jack, who points out that she's been staring at her coffee for a minute without saying anything.

* ''[[Freeman's Mind]]'' takes the normally [[Silent Protagonist]] Gordon Freeman of ''[[Half Life]]'' and gives him a hilarious inner monologue as he progresses through the game.

** In another video, Deadpool uses his as a weapon against [[Green Lantern]]

 

'''[[Neat Freak|Edd]]:''' Her hair is so clean, and not fly-away at all.

'''[[Cloudcuckoolander|Ed]]:''' Hello? Echo! My name is Ed! }}

{{quote|'''Homer:''' Aw, twenty dollars?! I wanted a peanut!

'''Homer's Brain:''' Twenty dollars can buy many peanuts!

** In one episode, Marge is driving along and appears to be hearing Homer's voice in her head, until it's revealed that Homer is in the back seat of the car speaking through a cardboard tube.

* This is used for comedic effect in ''[[Word Girl]]''. In one episode, the titular superhero was having an inner monologue about the situation, and the [[Narrator]] chimed in to comment. WordGirl asked him how he could hear what she was thinking, and the Narrator merely reminded her of his role.

* ''[[Spider-Man: The Animated Series]]'' uses this extensively.

** In one episode, Maguro uses her mind-reading powers to join him in his inner monologue, which he does not appreciate.

* The titular heroine's inner monologue is an actual ''character'' in ''[[Lizzie McGuire]]''.

* Parodied in ''[[Family Guy]]'', Stewie thinks ''"This is fantastic! Nobody suspects a thing! Ooh, listen to my voice, that sounds cool! Helloooo! Piiigs in Spaaaaace!"''

* Most people probably do this.

* One has to wonder whether this was a natural tendency before it was dramatized in media, or if it's come about as a result of being informed by media.

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Externalizing Internal Monologue]]

[[Category:Speeches and Monologues]]