The Voiceless: Difference between revisions

* Kirby himself in ''[[Kirby: Right Back at Ya!]]'', which is odd, as the other characters have lots of dialogue.

* Yuya's classmate in the ''[[Risky☆Safety]]'' anime, to the point where no seiyuu was ever cast for her character. When she finally gets [[A Day in the Limelight]], the episode is presented as a [[Silent Movie]] complete with intertitles.

 

== [[Comic Books]] ==

* The Thin Man, played by Crispin Glover, in the ''[[Charlie's Angels]]'' films.

* ''[[The View Askewniverse]]''/''New Jersey Trilogy'' movies by Kevin Smith

*** In ''[[Chasing Amy]]'' he starts gearing up for his speech when Jay gripes that, oh look, Bob's opening his mouth, motherfucker thinks that just because he never says anything that one time he motherfucking says something he thinks it's so motherfucking profound. Bob points out that he at least has a leg up on Jay, who talks all the time and yet has never said anything remotely meaningful.

** God, in ''Dogma'', since living humans would die instantly if they ever heard her speak out loud; the Metatron has to speak for her.

* Harpo of the [[Marx Brothers]] built his professional persona around pantomime. As a youth, his Uncle Al wrote him a vaudeville part that was silent, but Harpo insisted on ad-libbing some lines. Afterwards, he read a review that said his excellent pantomime was spoiled once he started talking. Thereafter, he never spoke in a performance again, and very rarely allowed his voice to be recorded. However, he does audibly sneeze in ''At the Circus'' and might be harmonizing "Sweet Adeline" with his brothers in ''Monkey Business''.

** According to Joe Adamson in ''Groucho, Harpo, Chico and Sometimes Zeppo: A Celebration of the Marx Brothers'', the producers of their next-to-last feature, ''A Night in Casablanca'', wanted to give Harpo a single spoken line—a scream of "Murder!"—so they could promote the film with "Harpo Speaks!" Harpo listened to the proposal, thought it through, and shook his head. (However, he did like the proposed tagline enough to use it as the title of his autobiography.)

* Stanley, the title character in [[Jerry Lewis]]' ''The Bell Boy'', doesn't say a word until the very end of the film (although Lewis, in a dual role, also appears as himself and speaks while doing so).

* Lane's super-genius kid brother Badger in ''[[Better Off Dead]]'' never says a word on-screen, which doesn't seem to keep him from picking up trashy women. There's also a young Asian immigrant who never speaks because he doesn't know any English - although his brother does, and talks like Howard Cosell, thanks to repeated viewings of ''[[Wide World of Sports]]''.

* [[Repo! The Genetic Opera|Repo the Genetica Opera]] has two identical characters who speak one line in the entire film. Justified as they're the silent, [[Lovely Angels|badass]] bodyguards of Rotti Largo.

* ''[[The Artist]]'', the almost-but-not-quite "silent film", features an interesting twist on this trope. It is mostly a silent film where we can't hear characters speak except in inter-titles. However, in a dream sequence, we find that suddenly the world has sound (which we can hear), except that our hero finds he cannot speak, despite trying to. At the very end of the film he speaks, audibly, for the first time - indicating that {{spoiler|he has now accepted the inevitability of people talking in movies}}. We are also surprised by {{spoiler|the fact he has a strong French accent}}, which may explain earlier reluctance to appear in talkies.

 

== [[Literature]] ==

* ''[[Bittersweet Candy Bowl]]'' has Amaya.

* Erma, from ''[[Erma]]'' - in over 250 strips, she's had one speech bubble - and it didn't have any words in it.

 

== [[Web Original]] ==

** The Joker has Punch and Judy, two hulking musclemen dressed like clowns. In fact, when Clayface disguises himself as them and ''does'' speak, the Joker quickly smells a rat.

** The Penguin has the Kabuki Twins, two female assassins. Given their blind loyalty to him and how no bare flesh is ever seen on either of them, some have speculated that they may be robots, or even mutated birds that he created using his mastery of orinthology.

 

== [[Other Media]] ==

* One author who presents himself this way is [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hxBoCiB5qHI ItsJustSomeRandomGuy], who does the ''[[I'm a Marvel... and I'm a DC]]'' shorts on [[YouTube]].

* Some autistic individuals themselves have what's known as nonverbal autism. Some have mental impairments that prevent speech but others have all the capabilities for speech, it's imply that other facets of the autism make it difficult to verbalize. It is essentially a form of selective mutism, but autistim-related rather than the above disorder. This can sometimes lead to others believing them mentally impared or incapable, but when they are given assistive devices, usually computer equipment, they can learn to communicate quite well. Others simply use pen and paper writing to communicate.

* Mana from Malice Mizer and more recently Moi Dix Mois does this on purpose. During televised interviews he does not speak or emote, keeping a perfectly deadpan expression and opting to whisper his answers into a bandmate's ear so that they can answer for him, although he has been known to use mime and yes/no cards. According to him, this is because his music is his voice. So far he has kept it going for about 15 years with only two mistakes, not counting the time he sung through a distorter at a Malice Mizer live performance.

* Lucius Sergius Catilina (or "Catiline"), the guy who almost destroyed the Roman republic in 64 BC doesn't have dialogue in ANY historical writings. His speeches are mentioned and he is occasionally quoted, but nobody has any idea what his own voice sounds like. All we've got are people talking about him, such as Sallust and Cicero.

** Can also be used as an example of the "Voiceless Chatterbox", since Sallust describes a moment in the senate where he tries to defend himself against Cicero's verbal onslaught, but he's drowned out by the shouts of everyone else present.

* Indian mystic and spiritual leader Meher Baba stopped speaking in 1925, at the age of 31, and until his death in 1969, he only communicated by an alphabet board and hand gestures.

* Teller, of [[Penn & Teller]], in their various shows and specials, and even their appearance on ''[[Babylon 5]]'', with the sole exception being the end of ''[[Penn and Teller Get Killed]]''. Teller also spoke on camera for a television series on magic, though he kept his [[The Faceless|his face completely obscured]]. Teller talks openly off camera, such as while meeting fans after live performances, and in non-performance contexts such as radio interviews, lectures, and panel discussions like at The Amazing Meeting.

* Dane Cook mentioned this trope (and the "speaking for one dramatic moment") in one of his jokes about action movies. He says that every team in an action movie has the one guy who "never says anything, he just stands there. And he never talks, ever, except for like, ''one'' scene near the end where he says 'Let's go kill those bitches.'"

* Moonie, in one version of his performance, (usually) will not speak, and instead use gestures, sounds, and the like to convey ideas. Then, towards the end of his act, after having found an audience member who can follow directions; then conveyed the idea that he will be juggling torches on a tightrope, and, if he catches fire, the volunteer should use a bucket of water on him, utters his first line: {{spoiler|Don't. Screw. Up.}}

 

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