Tools of Characterization

Characterization in Spinal Tap

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Better Off Bread

In what is basically a completely inconsequential scene, Nigel gripes to Ian about the snacks that have been left in the band's dressing room. In particular, he's unusually put out about the size of the bread. It's too small to hold a slice of bologna.

You might wonder, why are we watching this? What purpose does it serve? Certainly that's a question Nigel might ask in reference to his crudité platter.

Plot-wise, this scene isn't doing much. But it's telling us gobs about both Nigel and Ian. We already know by this point that Nigel is a pain in the butt, but here we get to see the true depths of his pain-in-the-buttiveness. He's making a huge deal out of a really minor issue, and that's ignoring the fact that there isn't really an issue here at all, aside from a lack of understanding of even the simplest of food-folding concepts.

So either something is really eating away at Nigel and he's taking it out on his snacks—and his manager—or else he's using this situation to exert control over Ian and make himself feel powerful. After all, Ian starts out taking a contrary position but caves pretty quickly, admitting that Nigel has totally got a point. Which he doesn't. But what can Ian do? He gets paid the big bucks to keep his boys happy.

And that's where we get to learn something about Ian from this exchange as well. Sure, he's caving now, but it's clear that there's a lot bubbling below the surface. He isn't going to put up with this sort of treatment forever.

Nigel's just lucky that Ian doesn't have his cricket bat handy.

Location

Tour de Chance

Unlike just about every other film we can think of, there are no locations in Spinal Tap that get revisited. Every time we get to know this limo or that hotel room, the guys have moved on to somewhere else. And somewhere worse, usually.

That is, of course, the nature of touring. But does the band's always-on-the-road lifestyle tell us something about them?

Let's face it. David, Nigel and Derek are all just big children. They're spoiled rotten, they're mostly uneducated, and they like to run around in public with their shirts off. We know that David and Nigel, at least, have been playing together since they were quite young, so we can imagine that this life of jumping from one venue to the next is just about all they've ever known.

If you think about it, that seems to fit with their refusal to accept responsibility, or to face the real world head on. For most of their lives, they never have to deal with any problems, because as soon as something gets hairy, they're outta there. They've got nothing to hold them down.

Until, that is, their problems hit the road with them. Which is why Jeanine tagging along is the straw that finally breaks Nigel's back.

Social Status

Falling Off the Social Ladder

It's no secret that the public's perception is everything to our heroes. They define themselves by their social status: by how many people love them, and how much. So, when that love starts to fade, so do their respective feelings of self-worth.

At its core, This is Spinal Tap is all about how these developmentally arrested boys handle their declining admiration and acceptance by the masses. The answer? Not well. Not well at all. They refuse to believe it at first, and when the evidence—cancelled gigs, nobody shows up for the autograph session—becomes incontrovertible, they aren't equipped to handle it.

The more adversity they face, the more tempers flare. Ian jumps ship before it sinks completely, and later Nigel follows suit. Based on David and Derek's conversation near the rooftop pool toward the end of the movie, it seems as if the band is preparing to draw its last breath. For a bunch of guys who lived to be worshipped, anything less is just not acceptable.

But then—finally—someone grows up. Nigel realizes there's something even more important than universal adoration: sticking through the hard times along with one's friends, and continuing to make good music (although that part's questionable). He comes back to rejoin the group, and they find a way to make things work. In Japan, as it turns out, where they find plenty more ego-stroking readily available.