Who is it? in the Arts

November 3, 2008 1:29 PM

I'm looking for fictional stories (books, movies, short stories, plays, comic books, TV shows, etc) which involve a search for the identity of a mysterious person.

For example, in the movie The Usual Suspects, everyone wants to know who Keyser Soze is.

As a NON-example, in the movie The Wizard of Oz, Dorothy meets and finds out who the Wizard of Oz is, but that's not part of her quest--she needed his help, but didn't really care who he was, and his actual identity isn't really important.

As another NON-example, any mystery where people are trying to find out "whodunit" would not qualify.

Star Wars does not count because no one is trying to find out who Darth Vader is.

As another good example, in The Fugitive, Kimble is trying to find the one-armed man, and his real identity, so that would qualify.

The Lone Ranger- "Who was that masked man?" - would not qualify because we know who the Lone Ranger is. Same for Superman, Batman and most other comic book heroes with secret identities.

The Scarlet Pimpernel would qualify because we do not know his identity at the beginning of the book.

So my starter list is:

The Usual Suspects
The Fugitive
The Scarlet Pimpernel
Who is Harry Kellerman and Why is he etc etc.

No spoilers please, because that would be spoiling.

posted by lockedroomguy to media & arts (41 comments total)

"Who is John Galt?" --- Atlas Shrugged
posted by wabashbdw at 1:38 PM on November 3, 2008

If you're into Anime...
"Who is the Sunflower Samurai?" - Samurai Champloo
posted by juicedigital at 1:48 PM on November 3, 2008

"Who's the rat" in Reservoir Dogs?
posted by brandman at 1:48 PM on November 3, 2008

Perhaps Roxanne, The Truth About Cats and Dogs, and the many various retellings of Cyrano_de_Bergerac.
posted by K.P. at 1:52 PM on November 3, 2008

I really like Miyuki Miyabe's All She Was Worth - it's essentially a tale of identity theft and a search for the identity thief.
posted by pombe at 1:54 PM on November 3, 2008

The man with the missing pinkie in Hitchcock's The 39 Steps.
George Kaplan in Hitchcock's North by Northwest
Various Jack The Ripper stories.
posted by Gungho at 1:55 PM on November 3, 2008

The 6-fingered man in The Princess Bride?
posted by leesh at 2:03 PM on November 3, 2008

In George Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire series, one of the main characters Jon Snow knows who his father is, but doesn't know who his mother is. The series is not about his search for his mother...

...yet.
posted by infinitewindow at 2:07 PM on November 3, 2008

Kind of an oblique angle, but Citizen Kane frames its story as the search for the meaning of a man's final words -- "Rosebud" -- that turns into a search for the hidden meaning of the man's life.
posted by Cool Papa Bell at 2:07 PM on November 3, 2008

"Who is the third man?" in Carol Reed's masterpiece, "The Third Man".
posted by dbgrady at 2:07 PM on November 3, 2008

I'm a little confused on the question. I would like to answer and think I have some examples, but I'm confused about the phrasing.

In The Usual Suspects I would say that no one is asking WHO is Keyser Soze. They think he's a criminal mastermind and simply working to stay out of his grasp and to stay alive, but no one suspects he is someone OTHER THAN Keyser Soze which is what makes the end such a shock.

Likewise, I don't know why whodunnits don't count as that is truly a case of identity searching. You have a person but you don't know who they are. You mention The Fugitive where Kimball is looking for the one-armed man...well the one-armed man is the one who dunnit. So isn't that to a degree a whodunnit?

Would Nightmare on Elm Street (the original) count, as Nancy is trying to determine the identity of Fred Krueger, who her parents know but she does not?

Would the Star Wars prequels, specifically Episodes 2 and 3 count, as the Jedi are trying to determine the identity of the Sith Lord Darth Sideous, only to find out it is Chancellor Palpatine?

Would Citizen Kane count as the movie is all about the search for the meaning in a man's life that is epitomized in Rosebud?
posted by arniec at 2:09 PM on November 3, 2008

The Prisoner is all about the search for the rumoured Nº1. Or is it?
posted by scruss at 2:13 PM on November 3, 2008

Great answers so far!

Some of them are a bit oblique but most are exactly what I'm looking for!
posted by lockedroomguy at 2:17 PM on November 3, 2008

Arniec, thanks for the clarifying question. Regarding The Usual Suspects, I don't want to spoil, so think about the character played by Chazz Palminteri, and why the round-up of The Usual Suspects was done in the first place.

Whodunits don't count because there are 1,000's of them that are easily identifiable and I just don't need askme's help for those.

I haven't seen Nightmare, but it sounds like as though it would qualify from what you've said. Ditto the Star Wars prequels. Shame on you for the spoiler, though.

Citizen Kane does not count.
posted by lockedroomguy at 2:23 PM on November 3, 2008

The Magus by John Fowles and the search for the true identities of Maurice Conchis and Lily de Seitas.
posted by prunes at 2:25 PM on November 3, 2008

Twin Peaks - 'Who Killed Laura Palmer?'
posted by mattholomew at 2:27 PM on November 3, 2008 [1 favorite]

I guess the distinction is that a whodunnit is looking for a vague unknown person, whereas The One-Armed Man is a specific person whose identity is not known?

Ideas:
The Princess Bride -- the search for a 6-fingered man. It's a secondary plot, though.

The Bourne Identity (and others I'm sure) might qualify, because the main character has amnesia and is trying to figure out who he is.

Oh! Memento. Who is John G. This one's spot-on.

By the way I think the Star Wars prequels don't count and that's not a spoiler. Everyone in the audience knows (or should know) Darth Sideous is Palpatine.
posted by PercussivePaul at 2:32 PM on November 3, 2008

But Paul, the OP didn't ask about any dramatic irony involved; if the reader/viewer knows the identity is irrelevant to the question as asked isn't it? Therefore the prequels would apply as the end of the 2nd and a good half of the 3rd film are all about the Jedi's search for the Sith Lord.

Here's 3 Clive Barker movies for ya.

Hellraiser 5--Inferno. the search for The Engineer

Midnight Meat Train: the character's obsession with Mahogony

Lord of Illusions--Scott Bakula's search for who Nix was.

and a bonus!

Candyman--Virginia madsen trying to discover who the Candyman is.
posted by arniec at 2:40 PM on November 3, 2008

PercussivePaul, good distinction! There are a lot of whodunits that do qualify, but not all of them, and I know most of them already.

Princess Bride, yes, is a perfect example. Also submitted by leesh.

The Bourne Identity and Memento also perfect.

I haven't seen the Star Wars prequels but based on your clarification I would agree they don't qualify.
posted by lockedroomguy at 2:41 PM on November 3, 2008

Arniec, in the op gave examples where the reader/viewer already knows the identity and stated they do not qualify. Your new answers sound good, thanks!
posted by lockedroomguy at 2:43 PM on November 3, 2008

Planetary, Warren Ellis
"Gather in the Hall of the Planets", Barry Malzberg
posted by Zed_Lopez at 2:47 PM on November 3, 2008

Donnie Darko and The Others both turn on the unknown identities of certain characters although the characters who eventually discover the true identities of these people are not necessarily aware that this discovery is the key to figuring out the peculiar situation they are in. So less like the Fugitive but similar to The Usual Suspects.
posted by K.P. at 2:51 PM on November 3, 2008

Novel I loved in my youth: Have You Seen Hyacinth Macaw? The young girl protagonist sees a flier announcing a missing individual, and tries to figure out who this kidnapped Hyacinth Macaw is and what's happened to her. Click here for a spoiler..
posted by knile at 2:54 PM on November 3, 2008

Some novels:

Carol Shields' Swann (people researching a mysterious, murdered poet)

Michal Govrin's Snapshots (who is the dead ex-wife, really?)

Penelope Lively's The Photograph (again, trying to piece together just who this dead woman really is)

Arguably, George Eliot's Daniel Deronda (the title character discovers that his personal history isn't what he thought it was)

Charles Dickens' Bleak House (true i.d. of Lady Dedlock)

Charles Dickens' Great Expectations (i.d. of Pip's benefactor)

Anthony Trollope's Is He Popenjoy? (self-explanatory from title...)

And a film:

The Tichborne Claimant (based on a real case)
posted by thomas j wise at 3:03 PM on November 3, 2008

Perhaps the book/movie The Return of Martin Guerre, which is based on a true story? The movie, as I recall, doesn't reveal any information to the audience about the true identity of the main character until the climax. And apparently the movie Sommersby is based on this story, too.
posted by stefnet at 3:05 PM on November 3, 2008

The Village and The Sixth Sense are similar to TUS in that neither characters nor audience might be asking the question "who are they....really?" (or at least they think it's tangential to other mroe pressing mysteries) but that's the (unasked) question and answer that drives the plot.

Also, in the X-Files Mulder and Scully are often trying to figure out the true identity (and motivations and allegiances) of the cigarette-smoking-man (and other characters). And in The L Word Alice spends a fair bit of time trying to track down and uncover the identity of the elusive Papi.
posted by K.P. at 3:10 PM on November 3, 2008

In Amelie the main character is trying to find out the identity of a man in some photo-booth pictures.

The X-Files might offer another oblique example. A few of the characters are very mysterious. While the search for their identity isn't the main thrust of the show, some episodes do focus on this.
posted by Midnight Rambler at 3:21 PM on November 3, 2008

Twin Peaks - 'Who Killed Laura Palmer?'

I would probably argue that the real mystery is who is/was BOB, since we learn of Laura Palmers killer quite early on... but that's kind of nitpicky. The mystery is really not resolved completely until the film "Twin Peaks: Fire, Walk With Me" - but a fine example nonetheless.

Although perhaps not exactly what you were looking for, the quite remarkable film "They Might Be Giants" with George C. Scott and Joanne Woodward is ostensibly about a search for the nefarious Dr. Moriarty (who certainly qualifies as mysterious) but ends up in a quest for something completely different.
posted by elendil71 at 3:31 PM on November 3, 2008

Fight Club? Who is Tyler Durden?
Psycho?
posted by filmgeek at 3:40 PM on November 3, 2008

The ABC Murders by Agatha Christie. All about discovering the identity of the A. B. C. murderer who sends letters to Poirot.
posted by Ms. Saint at 3:58 PM on November 3, 2008

Here are some of the first films and tv shows that popped into my head featuring a quest for identity or questioning of identity as a signal event. These are more of the who is this person really type, rather than of the where is that mysterious person to be found model, so they may or may not be what you're looking for

Mr. Arkadin
Choose Me
K-PAX
No Way Out
Arlington Road
DOA and DOA
Cure
Long Kiss Goodnight
Olivier, Olivier
Veritgo
Alias
John From Cincinnatti
RahXephon
Series Experiment Lain
Paranoia Agent
and of course, Oedipus the King
posted by mr.grum at 4:12 PM on November 3, 2008

Vertigo?
posted by emd3737 at 8:14 PM on November 3, 2008

the Wind-Up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami.
posted by minicloud at 8:53 PM on November 3, 2008

Alastair Reynolds' Chasm City might meet your criteria.
posted by Baron Kriminel at 9:34 PM on November 3, 2008

Day of the Jackal by Frederick Forsyth (also a 1973 movie of the same name).
posted by majorsteel at 9:42 PM on November 3, 2008

Vertigo?

Sure, particularly if you haven't seen it before. There is the search of the identity of Carlotta in the first half and the corresponding attempt to prove another identity in the second half. Not as much of a who could it be? kind of a hunt, but still a search for identity. Whether it is what the poster is looking for I can't say, but since I couldn't entirely parse his intentions for the search I chose a broad reading of it.
posted by mr.grum at 12:27 AM on November 4, 2008

I should have said a search to unveil the mysterious nature of Carlotta's identity. If you haven't read or seen anything about the film, this question is the one that initially propels the plot.
posted by mr.grum at 12:35 AM on November 4, 2008

Don't Look Now has the protagonist searching to find the identity of a little girl in a red coat. Right until the end the reader is kept guessing as to whether it's the ghost of his dead daughter or if it's just some unrelated child and the protagonist is going mad...
posted by the latin mouse at 5:32 AM on November 4, 2008

How about Lost, the TV show? I guess currently you could say they are searching for the identity of Jacob, but throughout the show and all the seasons, the audience is slowly learning more details of everyone's true identities/connections.
posted by peep at 10:11 AM on November 4, 2008

Outstanding! Thank you all very much!
posted by lockedroomguy at 2:34 PM on November 5, 2008

In Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, the trio is trying to find out who the HBP is.
posted by soelo at 10:21 AM on November 6, 2008