The Jeeves: Difference between revisions
m
clean up
m (update links) |
m (clean up) |
||
Line 1:
{{trope}}
[[File:
Line 6:
The canonical example is Jeeves himself, from the [[Jeeves and Wooster (novel)|Jeeves and Wooster]] short stories and novels of [[P. G. Wodehouse|PG Wodehouse]] and the ''[[Jeeves and Wooster (TV series)|Jeeves and Wooster]]'' TV series based on them. The original Jeeves, just for the record, is a valet, [[You Keep Using That Word|not a butler]].
Line 14:
may find it useful to have a brutish thug on retainer to deal with certain... inconvenient problems.
Note that
Usually a [[Hypercompetent Sidekick]]. Complete opposite of the [[Bumbling Sidekick]].
Line 61:
* [[Lord Peter Wimsey]]'s valet Bunter is not, in fact, smarter than his amateur-detective employer, but he does have a number of useful skills that his boss doesn't -- like knowing how to develop a photograph.
* The [[Meaningful Name|meaningfully-named]] Jock Strapp of the ''[[Charlie Mortdecai]]'' series is written as the subversion type, and is actually described as the anti-Jeeves. He's crude [[Dumb Muscle]] and completely loyal to his cunning employer, the titular [[Villain Protagonist]] (or anti-hero on a good day).
* Butler, the [[Battle Butler]] of the ''[[Artemis Fowl]]'' series has some resemblance to the subversion, but is well-spoken enough to resemble
* Vimes' butler Willikins in the ''[[Discworld]]'' books encompasses both this trope and its subversion: normally, he is the perfect Jeeves (minus the subtle manipulation of a wayward master), but in his childhood or when the situation demands, he was and becomes a thug.
** Indeed, in ''[[Discworld/Jingo|Jingo]]'' he switches from one to the other in mid-sentence. "''Let 'em 'ave it right up the...'' oh, is that you, Sir Samuel?"
Line 69:
** The Igors are pretty much this for the [[Mad Scientist]] type. Although they are willing to work for non-mad scientist types.
* Stevens in Kazuo Ishiguro's ''[[The Remains of the Day]]'' is a [[Deconstruction]] of this, {{spoiler|what with all the realising that his life has been meaningless and the Nazis and everything.}}
* In Robert Asprin's ''[[Phule's Company]]'' books we have Beeker, the batman of Willard J. Phule. Whilst his insanely rich employer is busy inspiring his [[Ragtag Bunch of Misfits]] troops (and he
* Sam Weller of ''[[The Pickwick Papers]]'', while somewhat less polished than most, is certainly far more level-headed than Pickwick himself.
* Lugg in the [[Albert Campion]] mysteries is a good example of the subversion.
* Because he apparently hated butlers (going so far as to say they had their own circle of hell, [[Laser-Guided Karma|where kitchen-maids and journalists could watch their torments from Heaven]]), [[Hilaire Belloc]] wrote a different kind of subversion in ''The Emerald of Catherine the Great''. The butler acts like
* [[Poul Anderson]]'s [[Technic History]] has the valet of Dominic Flandry, Chives, who is a clear [[Shout-Out]] to Jeeves. Even if he is not human.
* Miss Feng in [[Charles Stross]]'s short story "[http://www.asimovs.com/_issue_0701/Trunk.shtml Trunk And Disorderly]", which is a pastiche of the ''Jeeves'' novels relocated to an indeterminate future.
Line 90:
** He defines his role and the trope perfectly when Merlin meets him at the end saying: ''"There will always be a need for the perfect gentleman's gentleman, and I was and always will be one of the best."''
* In an episode of [[Even Stevens]] Louis hires Chives, an English butler, for a week.
* Kryten of ''[[Red Dwarf]]'' is named after the Admirable Crichton, although he's [[The Woobie]] as much as
* Hudson from [[Upstairs, Downstairs]], who often puts duty and rectitude before compassion or flexibility, or even his own selfish needs. In one story, he panics when he is seen by Sir Richard at a restaurant entertaining relatives from Australia because he thinks he is aping his betters and thus deserves to be sacked. He is quite shocked when Bellamy doesn't get rid of him, though Bellamy's brother makes him squirm quite a bit.
* Carson from ''[[Downton Abbey]]''. Only [[World War One]] can stop him from running the house perfectly
Line 96:
== Theater ==
* Speed definitely comes off this way in ''[[Two Gentlemen of Verona]]''; he's a cheerful [[Servile Snarker]] with an unbelievably quick wit, as likely to rib his master for being in love as he is to help him put his gloves on.
* Tranio in ''[[The Taming of the Shrew]]''
* ''[[Joseph and The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat]]'': In the song "Go, Go, Go, Joseph", the Pharaoh's butler is referred to as "the Jeeves of his time".
* ''The Admirable Critchton'' appeared before even Jeeves. Though he plays [[Hypercompetent Sidekick]] to an entire family of [[Upper Class Twit
== [[Video Games]] ==
* In ''[[Laura Bow]]: The Colonel's Bequest'', there is a butler named Jeeves.
* In ''[[World of Warcraft]]'', engineers can craft a device that requests the presence of Jeeves, the perfect gentleman robot butler, who will attend to your needs for 10 min. Jeeves allows players to repair their armor and weapons, sell unwanted items, buy reagents for spells and grants bank access to skilled engineers. Truly a gaming gentleman's gentleman.
** The Jeeves robot, however, has the look of a clockwork gnome and lacks the British stuffiness of a true Jeeves. A closer approximation to
* Lawrence is one of these to Dr. Nefarious in the ''[[Ratchet and Clank]]'' series.
* In [[Fallout 3]], when you get a house (either in Megaton or Tenpenny Tower), you are given a robotic butler to help explain the house's functions, give you fresh water, and tell you jokes. Both possible butlers speak with a british accent and have remarkable manners.
Line 133:
* An episode of ''[[Danny Phantom]]'' had Danny getting rich and getting a butler named Hopkins.
* An episode of ''[[Jimmy Two-Shoes]]'' had Beezy getting a butler who literally ''lived his life for him''.
* [[Archer]] has a butler named [[Spell My Name with an "S"|Woodhouse]] ([[P. G. Wodehouse|get it?]]) who is definitely more down-to-earth than his employer. Unusually, in contrast to the norm wherein
{{reflist}}
|