What's it called - name for character under suspicion

[pansy]

There is a name for a character that is there only to make the audinece THINK they are the bad guy/gal. Anybody know what this character is called?

During a crime drama, for example, the audience is pretty sure they know who the killer is, but in fact it is someone else that comes as a surprise (hopefully).

P


www.alexwhitmer.wordpress.com (http://www.alexwhitmer.wordpress.com)

[scarletpeaches]

Red herring.

[pansy]

That's the quickest response in the history of AW.

I'd heard the term a million years ago, and could never find it in film glossaries. Thanks.

[dpaterso]

I'd have called him the prime suspect, but that's just me.

A red herring is usually a false/misleading clue. Can this label be applied to a character?

-Derek

[cynicallad]

I'd have called him the prime suspect, but that's just me.

A red herring is usually a false/misleading clue. Can this label be applied to a character?

-Derek

The red herring can be a character and frequently is. Professor Snape is frequently called on to fill this role.

A Pup Named Scooby-Doo mocked characters of this type with a character who was actually named Red Herring.

[NikeeGoddess]

a red herring can also be an incident. some to fool the audience and some to fool the bad guys like in the ocean's 11,12,13 trilogy.

and then there's the red shirt - always present in each episode of star trek - the bloke who was slated to die that ep. methinks it started as a prop/costume designer collaboration so they wouldn't have to produce blood.

[scarletpeaches]

That's what I thought too, Derek, but it's the closest I could get to finding an appropriate phrase for a person. Cypher, maybe?

[dpaterso]

A Pup Named Scooby-Doo mocked characters of this type with a character who was actually named Red Herring.
Can't argue with that. A definitive answer!

-Derek

[zahra]

Isn't he called a McGuffin? I don't know why, but somewhere in the mists of my mind, I think it's a McGuffin. Hitchcock?

[clockwork]

MacGuffin is usually the "thing" that a story revolves around. The irony being that this amazingly important object/person/idea/treasure/location/whatever is largely unimportant because it can be so easily interchanged with something else.

Like that God-awful "All Spark" in Transformers. That could have easily been a book, a jewel, a person, a virus, a chemical or another robot.

Roger Ebert's always banging on about MacGuffins.



ETA - And yes, its roots lie with Hitchcock.

[Hobbledehoy]

A Pup Named Scooby-Doo mocked characters of this type with a character who was actually named Red Herring.

Ha Ha! I never new that! I just thought Fred was stupid. But he actually had a reason for blaming Red all the time? LoL. And it was never him. APNSD was gold.

[zahra]

MacGuffin is usually the "thing" that a story revolves around. The irony being that this amazingly important object/person/idea/treasure/location/whatever is largely unimportant because it can be so easily interchanged with something else.

Like that God-awful "All Spark" in Transformers. That could have easily been a book, a jewel, a person, a virus, a chemical or another robot.

Roger Ebert's always banging on about MacGuffins.



ETA - And yes, its roots lie with Hitchcock.
Ah. Thanks! You learn summat every day. Unless you're careful.