In the 1950s sitcom I Love Lucy, audiences are introduced to the doctor. This character is shown at the end of episode the “The Diet.” Lucy suffers weight gain in this episode and goes through different attempts to lose a couple of pounds so she can perform with Ricky. After her performance, Ricky tells Lucy that the doctor said she must stay in bed for three weeks because of malnutrition. Like some minor characters in films, the doctor has no lines and does not have a name. Although the doctor does look over Lucy in the bed at the end of the episode, while she talks to Ricky; he also gives a slight nod to the man carrying the bed (22:40). Though he has no verbal presence in the scene, he shows how supportive minor characters can add depth to films. The doctor could be an example of a stock character, meaning he does not have a big role and is underdeveloped in the episode. Will Straw talks mentions that “small players raise the question of social identity in its simplest form – stereotypification,” (Straw, 79). As we expect in the film, the doctor should get involved and explain to Lucy what is wrong. In this case, he does not, meaning we are easily interested as to why this character has no voice in the scene he presents himself in. Straw also explains the forms of minor characters, “attention is redistributed in the film viewing experience, away from the star face and towards the extremities of bodies or the sharp-edged personalities of the bit player, (Straw 80). We see the doctor as a supportive character in the scene, indicating his presence is there although he may have no verbal attendance. Lucy is the star of the series, or the “star face” and the doctor plays the part of a character whose narrative is archetype and conventional.
Works Cited
“The Diet.” I Love Lucy. Season one, episode three, 1951.
Straw, Will. “The Small Parts, Small Players Dossier: Introduction.” Screen, vol. 52, issue 1, 2011, pp. 78-81, https://doi.org/10.1093/screen/hjq057
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