Stock character

Have you ever watched a story and recognized a character right away?

These are called stock characters, or character archetypes. They are types of people in books, plays, or movies that audiences know well. You might see a brave Prince Charming or a princess in distress. These characters are often simple and flat. Because they are easy to recognize, they help people identify a genre. For example, a story with a witch and a knight is likely a fantasy.

Writers use these characters as a helpful shortcut. They save time and effort when building a new tale. They also help the story move along much faster. This happens because the audience already understands the character's goals.

Stock characters can also be used to create big surprises. A writer might build an expectation and then change it. This can create suspense or a sudden plot twist. Some people study these characters in school. They look at how they differ from archetypes or clichés. An archetype is a very basic idea, like a hero. A stock character is a specific type, like a wise fool. Writers use these basic types to build deeper, more interesting people. A writing professor named Dwight V. Swain said all characters start as stock characters. They are only fleshed out as much as the plot needs.

These characters appear in many different ways in movies. They can be major characters or just people in the background. Some have only one line of dialogue. In American films, these roles have changed over many years. In the 1930s and 1940s, you might see a street sweeper. You might also see a newspaper vendor or an ice vendor. By the 1990s, characters changed to include business women or plainclothes police.

Some characters are even very brief. In the 1950s, a common type was an overweight Communist leader. In the 1970s, stories featured Black Panther revolutionaries. These roles change as our culture and people change.

Television writers rely on stock characters quite a lot. This is because they must write and shoot episodes very quickly. Using well-known types helps them communicate with the audience fast. In the late 1990s, many shows began adding gay stock characters. This was a change from the 1980s era. During that earlier time, shows often used an African-American workplace pal. Sometimes, these characters are used as sidekicks who give advice. Other times, they are given roles of power, like a police chief. However, they might still only be minor characters in the story.

It is important to remember that some stock characters can be harmful. These are often called stereotypes. They can be based on bad ideas or unfair views. Some stereotypes can be very offensive to the people watching. In the past, films used many racial and ethnic stereotypes. Over time, many of these were replaced by new types. For example, in the 1990s, different depictions of Japanese people became common. Even in law, stock characters are special. In the United States, courts decided you cannot own a copyright on a stock character. This means anyone can use these common types in their own stories.