The Three Stooges
Whether it's 'The Three Musketeers'
or 'The Three Amigos,' any movie or book that features three main
characters in the title most likely has those three characters as mind, body, and
spirit. One day, while trying to decide on a new mind, body, and spirit
project, I realized this axiom applies to 'The Three Stooges,' as well.
I did not use the recent remake for this analysis. I wanted to stay true to the original characters. I recently found 'Swing Parade,' an old film featuring the Three Stooges, available in the local public library, so I'll be using that for this post.
Here's a good assignment for anyone who wishes to get a deeper understanding of mind, body, and spirit characters: Use this post as a starting point and see how it applies to other Three Stooges films and TV, including the most recent remake.
Normally, I divide the mind, body, and spirit characters when I present them, but the action and interaction is far too crisp and fast to do so in this case. Instead, I will provide scenes or dialogue snippets that illustrate each character's mind, body, or spirit characteristics: Moe as the mind, Larry as the spirit, and Curly as the body.
Character introduction, night club, working in kitchen:
Moe: "This club is going to be a great financial success" (Logical conclusion from supposed facts)
Curly: "We'll make some money, too" (focus on personal gain)
Larry: "Yeah, then we can retire." (focus on the future, dreamer)
When characters are introduced, there should be some indication as to their character type.
Reaction to various insults:
Curly is the first to respond to insults from antagonistic characters, and his responses are almost always physical. Larry and Moe usually prevent Curly from following through.
Discovering the female lead (Carol) has a legal notice for the club's manager:
Moe rightly concludes that she is a process-server and confronts her about it. He also listens to her explanation and derives a new conclusion based on the new facts, especially when she tears up the legal notice she was supposed to deliver.
Curly, when he hears Carol has an 'attachment' (legal notice) for the club manager incorrectly concludes they've entered into a relationship. When Moe provides a knock to the head, Curly's response is to return the sentiment with a growl.
As waiters in the club:
Curly's first act in this scene is to wander off and hit the dance floor with a lady who wanders off from her date. It ends when she discovers he is not who she thinks he is. Later, an irate customer, who's been waiting a long time, says something like, "Waiter, let's get something to eat." Curly takes this as an invitation to sit down and join them.
Moe's first appearance includes multiple attempts to convince a customer to order roast beef when the customer wants roast turkey. He tries several different logical arguments to convince the customer, who ultimately calls for the head waiter.
Larry's contributions in this segment were mostly physical, as one should expect from slapstick, but it illustrates how a character acts - physical reactions, facial expressions, gestures, etc. - is just as important to defining a mind, body, or spirit character as what they say and how they say it.
Larry's dialogue:
Throughout the film, Larry's dialogue was limited, but effective in defining him as the spirit character. In the discovery scene described above, Larry provides a bridge from Moe and Curly by asking the simple question, "What gives?" Later, when they are attempting to fix a plumbing problem, Larry provides a transition again, moving across the basement from Curly to Moe to ask, "How's it going?" Unlike the mind character, who would ask something like, 'What are you doing?' the spirit character is more concerned with the person than the task.
I did not use the recent remake for this analysis. I wanted to stay true to the original characters. I recently found 'Swing Parade,' an old film featuring the Three Stooges, available in the local public library, so I'll be using that for this post.
Here's a good assignment for anyone who wishes to get a deeper understanding of mind, body, and spirit characters: Use this post as a starting point and see how it applies to other Three Stooges films and TV, including the most recent remake.
Normally, I divide the mind, body, and spirit characters when I present them, but the action and interaction is far too crisp and fast to do so in this case. Instead, I will provide scenes or dialogue snippets that illustrate each character's mind, body, or spirit characteristics: Moe as the mind, Larry as the spirit, and Curly as the body.
Character introduction, night club, working in kitchen:
Moe: "This club is going to be a great financial success" (Logical conclusion from supposed facts)
Curly: "We'll make some money, too" (focus on personal gain)
Larry: "Yeah, then we can retire." (focus on the future, dreamer)
When characters are introduced, there should be some indication as to their character type.
Reaction to various insults:
Curly is the first to respond to insults from antagonistic characters, and his responses are almost always physical. Larry and Moe usually prevent Curly from following through.
Discovering the female lead (Carol) has a legal notice for the club's manager:
Moe rightly concludes that she is a process-server and confronts her about it. He also listens to her explanation and derives a new conclusion based on the new facts, especially when she tears up the legal notice she was supposed to deliver.
Curly, when he hears Carol has an 'attachment' (legal notice) for the club manager incorrectly concludes they've entered into a relationship. When Moe provides a knock to the head, Curly's response is to return the sentiment with a growl.
As waiters in the club:
Curly's first act in this scene is to wander off and hit the dance floor with a lady who wanders off from her date. It ends when she discovers he is not who she thinks he is. Later, an irate customer, who's been waiting a long time, says something like, "Waiter, let's get something to eat." Curly takes this as an invitation to sit down and join them.
Moe's first appearance includes multiple attempts to convince a customer to order roast beef when the customer wants roast turkey. He tries several different logical arguments to convince the customer, who ultimately calls for the head waiter.
Larry's contributions in this segment were mostly physical, as one should expect from slapstick, but it illustrates how a character acts - physical reactions, facial expressions, gestures, etc. - is just as important to defining a mind, body, or spirit character as what they say and how they say it.
Larry's dialogue:
Throughout the film, Larry's dialogue was limited, but effective in defining him as the spirit character. In the discovery scene described above, Larry provides a bridge from Moe and Curly by asking the simple question, "What gives?" Later, when they are attempting to fix a plumbing problem, Larry provides a transition again, moving across the basement from Curly to Moe to ask, "How's it going?" Unlike the mind character, who would ask something like, 'What are you doing?' the spirit character is more concerned with the person than the task.
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