Daily Dialogue — June 16, 2013

VANELLOPE: I’m going to that race!

He pulls her out again and holds her by the scruff. She thrashes and kicks at him.

RALPH: No, you’re not.

He hangs her by her hood on the edge of a pointy gumdrop.

VANELLOPE: Take me down from here, Ralph, right now!
RALPH: No…. I’m doing this for your own good.

He goes over to the kart and raises his fists. She struggles to get free, but can’t.

VANELLOPE: Wait. Wait. Wait. No. No. No. Please, Ralph! No! Stop!

But he doesn’t stop. He destroys the kart. She sobs. Then she glitches and lands on her butt on the ground.

The kart is in ruins. Ralph turns to her.

VANELLOPE: (heartbroken) You really are a bad guy.

— Wreck-It Ralph (2012), screenplay by Phil Johnston and, Jennifer Lee, story by Rich Moore & Phil Johnston & Jim Reardon

The Daily Dialogue theme for the week is all is lost, suggested by Turambar. Today’s suggestion by Patrick Sweeney.

Trivia: Disney first began developing an animated film about the world of video game characters in the 1980s. At that time the project was called “High Score” and in the 1990s was titled “Joe Jump.” In the 2000s, when the movie was finally pushed forward, the first two months of story development focused on Fix-It Felix Jr. as the main character.

Dialogue On Dialogue: Commentary from Patrick: “I particularly love this All Is Lost because it comes entirely from Ralph’s flaw — his confusion over what he thinks he wants (a medal proclaiming him a hero) with what he really wants (being an actual hero). So it’s really the perfect All Is Lost, to my mind, because it’s the point where the protagonist betrays his need for his desire — he gets everything he (thinks he) wants, and realizes it all means nothing.”

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