This is going to be a very short post, because following the prior posts about developing the cast of characters in my short film, I feel like I should clarify why I ended up choosing to not include the straight man character I was deliberating on whether I should add or not.
It should be noted that when I refer to the "straight man" character, I'm not referring to a heterosexual male. The straight man trope, in comedy, refers to a character that is meant to represent normalcy and a realistic reaction to comedic events occurring in front of them to contrast against other, sillier characters.
As I've mentioned before, I was apprehensive on including a straight man character because of my personal opinion regarding straight man characters in film- believing them to be the mark of the lazy screenwriter most of the time, with very few straight men being written as being their own character, rather than just being the writer's mouthpiece or the voice of reason as being their sole character trait. A good example of this is Michael Bluth from Arrested Development, who I have mentioned before.
I don't know if I'd want to write a straight man character for this film because I want the spotlight to be on the other, more ridiculous characters who represent the drawbacks of a dependence on technology. Writing in a character whose sole purpose would be to call out the flaws of the other characters would not only be boring, but it'd also just feel like I'm spoon-feeding the message of the film to the audiences, which feels cheap.
Therefore, no straight man is needed for this film! I already have a big enough cast to write for, so I don't need yet another character to busy myself with. Thanks for reading!
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