I love fictional books. I love movies. I like movies based on fictional books (I don’t love them because the book is almost always better, but that’s a post for another time). There is, however, one major flaw in many fictional books and most every movie. That flaw is simply this: nobody goes to the bathroom.
It doesn’t make any sense! I understand leaving some things out of books and movies– like taxes or laundry – but not having the characters go to the bathroom? C’mon now, everybody and their dog knows that Mr. and Mrs. Protagonist can’t not do their business during the course of a day, let alone a week, month, or whatever time span the book or movie covers.
Now I know that there are many books and movies where the characters go to the restroom (though a good portion simply do this as an entryway into a fight scene), but I think it’s safe to say that most works don’t incorporate this daily act. I know that it’s not necessarily fun to write about, doesn’t always propel the plot, and is easy to forget (trust me, I catch myself doing it all the time), but it’s often good, and sometimes necessary, to do. In the same way writer’s seek to alleviate any excess pressure on their audience, they need to alleviate the pent up pressure their characters are striving to hold.
I love fictional books, movies, and I like movies based on fictional books. But I’d love (and like) them all a bit more if the characters actually went to the stalls. After all, it’s more realistic. Everybody goes to the bathroom.
– JP
Subscribe to The Random
