What's In a Name? Why Character Names Matter

this video was made possible by nebula use the link in the description to support my channel directly and get early access to my video on how the TV show succession films its car scenes Tom WS kids my name is Walter Hartwell White I must know your name my name when you meet someone new your name is the first thing you tell them it's on your birth certificate your Tombstone and on every email in between to forget your name is to lose your sense of self a dilemma that completely breaks SpongeBob's brain we thre out inside so it's no surprise that character names in movie and TV names not just given but chosen by screenwriters play a vital role in storytelling it's not always easy analyzing something like names but as the saying goes you can't make a tolet without breaking some Gregs looking at naming choices can reveal hidden meanings like how Neo in The Matrix comes from the Greek root meaning new and is also an anagram of the word one hinting at Mr Anderson's future role as a prophet but names are more than just clever word play or foreshadowing the weight of names including the way they're used how they sound and even how they change defines some of the most iconic stories in film and television to really know a character you have to know what they're called my character and the clue to who my character is contained within his name as well the importance of naming and storytelling goes as far back as the 1996 movie Romeo and Juliet in the movie's most famous scene Juliet professes what's in a name that which we call a rose by any other word would smell a sweet Juliet made this claim to protest the violent feud between her family the capulets and her lover Romeo's family the monu to her the Family Feud is senseless based solely on the arbitrary distinction of a last name and she's definitely on to something the opening line of the movie describes the families as aike in digity so right from the start the families are similar regardless of the name difference and Romeo takes no issue with ditching his name for her Romeo and a mon neither F made defeated the dislike but these starcross lovers are ignorant to the reality of their situation they may claim that their names don't matter but if you know how the movie ends they clearly do so this scene gets at the core contradiction of naming on one hand names seem arbitrary a rose smells sweet no matter what you call it and anyone gets to change their name as an adult if they so choose but the story of Romeo and Juliet is at odds with this idea because their different names have tangible real world consequences this contradiction in names in Romeo and Juliet shows why names are so hard to talk about at what point do they go for meaningful to arbitrary the TV show succession follows the Roy a wealthy family that owns a large media conglomerate and the title succession points at the show's main drama the patriarch Logan Roy deciding who to name as his successor of the company the show is full of unique and deliberate name choices which has led to lots of online discussion on what they mean a recent viral Tik Tok theorizes that Tom Wan's character is named after Bill wamsgans the only baseball player to complete an unassisted triple play at a World Series the theory goes that writers named Tom after Bill W scans because Tom also performs an unassisted triple play by knocking out three opponents during a pivotal board vote succession executive producer Frank Rich calls this Theory a happy coincidence and while I do think it's a fun way to look at Tom's character there's another better way to analyze Tom's last name and names in general that not only tells us more but is also hidden in plain sight there's many theories on where Darth Vader's name comes from Vader in German means father his name is literally Darth father and these theories may be correct but they Overlook a simpler much more important fact about the name it sounds scary a young Jedi named Darth Vader R is among the most menacing of sounds that's why they call it murder and not muckduck when we analyze names it's easy to forget that like lighting camera work or editing a technical explanation doesn't fully capture the visceral feeling of the creative Choice when we hear a name we don't necessarily know some Easter egg translation of the name or its association with some other person yet we do feel how that name sounds the B sounds in the name b blow baggin indicates a bubbly gentle character which makes it all the more startling when we see the corrupting effect of the ring so with this framing how does the name WS Gans sound Mr woms Gans I hope I'm saying that correctly it's just weird hard to say hard to sit in the mouth sort of name it's sort of strange and not quite right he's a sort of interloper in that family and a family called Roy maybe some people watching succession did know about the baseball player Bill wamsgans and maybe a writer did sneak that reference into the name but the sound of his last name matters more because listeners feel and internalize the difference between the dynastic and simple Roy and the chunky hardto pronounce and forgettable wom scans Tom last name uh weird I don't think I ever got his last but Tom's last name isn't just a subtle nod the character himself demonstrates a clear understanding of the importance or the lack of importance of his name in one brief moment Tom asks shiv how they should combine or change their last

names once married did you think again about whether we want to go woms or Roy wsans or as I said I'd be willing to just drop traditional and go Tom Roy even on the way to their wedding Tom and shiv haven't come to an agreement on where Tom fits in the Roy lineage and Tom is willing to drop his name completely and switch to Roy this proposition reflects Tom's strange relationship with the family marrying shiv is not just for love but also a power grab a way to cement his place in the dynasty this moment in succession reveals another truth about naming you can learn a lot about a character by how they try and often fail to change their name say my name Heisenberg you're goddamn right everybody has a name on their birth certificate but that's rarely the full story to prove my point what is this guy's name the answer depends on who you ask his name is Walter White but he's also Walt Mr White dad ww and even Heisenberg the alter ego name he invents for himself each of these names represents a different side of the show's protagonist whether it's as father husband business partner or drug kingpin in the show Walt's everchanging name reflects his complicated and everchanging relationship with Jesse it's funny that even as they break the law and cook meth together Jesse still refers to him like he did in high school cheddar Mr White fat stacks Dead Presidents cash money but the relationship occasionally shifts in a change of tone Jesse breaks his comedic streak and changes names to show his new power over Walter White you need me more than I need you Walt in a handful of scenes Walter even pretends to be Jesse's dad confirming that the relationship isn't just personal or teacher student but also father son and as Walt adopts a more paternal role in Jesse's life he grows distant from his actual son Walter Jr most clearly shown as expected in changing his name from Walter Jr to Flynn erasing his dad from his name Flynn so a name change represents a transformation in The Matrix before becoming a prophet Neo went by Mr Anderson co-director Lily wowski has said that the story of The Matrix is a trans allegory so it's no surprise that like during a gender transition name changing plays an important role as agent Smith repeatedly dead names him Neo reaffirms his real name showing the full adoption of his true identity my name is Neo since name changing shows a character transformation the failure to change a name means the opposite when a rename attempt doesn't work it shows that the character failed to change their identity and both literally and figuratively make a name of themselves you can call me Drew no I'm not going to call you that hello Greg I'm actually going by Gregory now but uh throughout the movie ladybird the main character rejects her birth name of Christine in favor of a new one my name is ladybird uh well actually it's not and it's ridiculous call me Lady Bird like you said you would but by the end of the movie She reverts back to her birth name it's me Christine it's the name you gave me it's a good one so the initial insistance on the name ladybird instead of her birth name reflects the transition period Christina Stuck In struggling to make sense of her Sacramento upbringing ditching the name ladybird at College shows that the character has grown grateful for and even Embraces where she came from so it makes sense that in succession the two characters just outside of the Roy orbit Tom wamsgans and Gregory Hirsch repeatedly struggle with their names and with name changing in Greg's introduction Logan gets his name wrong showing just how far Greg has to go cousin Craig it's Greg no Greg hey Gregory at first glance the issues these characters have with their names may just seem like clever symbolism but names mean much more than that in fact they get you in the building good to bear in mind that you're only here because your name matches the one card on the building in many ways succession isn't the story of power or money or family it's a story about naming yeah I think Dad put my name on there it's housekeeping I think it's a name on a piece of paper ship and not just naming a successor but name changing and name calling so it's no surprise that a show obsessed with names also holds within it the core contradiction of names are just words on a piece of paper yet a name on a piece of paper means everything to the Roy children okay so can I be the name on the piece of paper bit of content and a brand name bit of content in a brand name is kind of the whole game isn't it in season 4 Kendall can't tell whether Logan meant to underline or cross out his name when naming a successor showrunner Jesse Armstrong has gone on the record saying which it was which I'll link in the description but I think analyzing this moment so literally misses the point of naming both in this scene and naming in general what Logan meant to do doesn't matter as much as the very real pain that the ambiguity of naming causes Tom and the Roy children like all of us may sometimes pretend that names don't matter but at the end of the day they yearn for their name on Logan's piece of paper despite the children in succession claiming that words are just complicated airflow they're wrong who Logan named a successor clearly matters to them Juliet and ROM and Juliet and Kendall in

succession can claim that names are pointless that they're purely symbolic but that's not how they play out in reality they lead to Juliet's death and Kendall losing all meaning in his life name changes happen at life's most transformative moments getting married going to college or realizing your true identity it's equal parts fickle and radical there's a lot in a name on a piece of paper so I hope you like your name because it sure does matter and if you didn't think so before I hope that now you see it thank you for the chicken another challenge with talking about names is that I'm stuck analyzing dialogue instead of visual elements of the scene which is why I made a companion video about how succession uses creative cinematic techniques to highlight the tension between Tom and shiv in their various car scenes and you can get early access to that video right now on nebula thanks to nebula I could make this video analyzing long segments of a scene without worrying about YouTube demonetizing it nebula is a subscription service buil by me and hundreds of your favorite creators including my favorites Abigail Thorne Patrick Willams and H bomber guy which gives you access to adree videos and exclusive nebula Originals by subscribing now you'll get access to nebula classes a brand new part of the bundle where creators reveal their secrets and teach you how to create if you follow my link in the description you'll get 40% off an annual subscription which comes out to 250 a month which I honestly believe is the best streaming deal out there today so go to the description to support my channel and to watch my nebula first video on how the TV show succession films its car scenes thanks for watching