Tools of Characterization

Characterization in Who Framed Roger Rabbit?

Names

It's no surprise that Judge Doom's the bad guy. His last name is Doom.

We guess we can't blame the guy for the name his parents gave him. Speaking of that, what is his first name? Toonkiller? Jerkface? Is it Judge? What kind of a name is that? (If you're a member of the Judge Reinhold fan club, we're sorry.)

Eddie Valiant's parents did things right. Not only is Valiant a valiant name, like Prince Valiant, but Eddie's a good, solid name too. Eddie Redmayne. Eddie Izzard. Eddie Bauer. You can't go wrong.

Type of Being

It comes as a surprise to Eddie when he discovers Jessica Rabbit looks more like a human—although no human actually looks like her—than a rabbit. He was expecting a goofy furball like Roger himself.

The film sometimes plays against type like this for laughs. Baby Herman, who looks like an infant, is the least innocent character in the movie. But mostly its characters are exactly as you'd expect them to be by the type of animal they are.

Bugs Bunny set the standard for zany hares in cartoons, so you assume Roger will be wacky and crazy and desperate for a laugh. And you're right. The weasels are weasels, so of course they're sketchy, shady, violent, untrustworthy, and dangerous. Our apologies to your pet weasel, if you have one. We're sure she's adorable.

Finally, Judge Doom takes the form of the most evil being of all: a real human. That's scarier than any Toon.

Family Life

If you think a noir private detective leads a happy family life, where have you been for the last seventy years years?

In case you need a reminder that being a private eye is a lonely existence—that's why the eyes are private: they have no other eyes to look into—look no further with your own private eyes than Eddie Valiant's office.

Eddie has a fold-down bed in his office, so he has no home life. His home is his work. And the two collided in an unexpected way when his brother, who was also his business partner, was killed in the line of duty. Eddie's left his desk untouched, and it's covered in a thick layer of dust.

Like Eddie's past itself, it remains stagnant. Until Eddie is able to clean up his living space, and therefore his life itself, he won't be able to move forward.