It's my best friend. Always happy. No questions.

August 20, 2010 3:57 PM

I'm looking for examples in movies and television where a character cares for a particular house plant as a symbolic plot element or to show another side to the character.

The premier example of this would be Léon: The Professional where Léon's houseplant is his most valued possession. Other examples include Hot Fuzz with Nick Angel's Japanese peace lily, or Cowboy Bebop where Jet Black fusses over his bonsai tree. I'm not looking for characters who do gardening in general, just ones taking care of a single plant or a very minimal grouping of plants, especially if it's incongruous with the rest of their lifestyle. Movie and television examples preferred, but if you have a great example from another genre feel free to add it.

posted by Zen unicorn rainbow zen journal to Media & Arts (22 answers total)

Does it have to be a houseplant? And by "care", you don't happen to mean "grind it into something that can get you high"? Otherwise, Adaptation comes to mind...

I'll be back to check on this thread. I have something on the tip of my tongue, but then I thought about Adaptation and got totally off track.
posted by ttyn at 4:17 PM on August 20, 2010

There's the family of cacti a couple owns in High Hopes. They are called names like 'knob' and 'prick' except the biggest, which is called 'Thatcher'...

Also the bonsai in Karate Kid
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 4:22 PM on August 20, 2010

Semour cares for a carnivorous space alien disguised as a plant in "Little Shop of Horrors." In the course of the narrative this allows him to show (or develop really) a vengeful / strong side to counter act his push-over weakling side exposed at the beginning of the film. Maybe not ideal example b/c the plant is so central to the plot rather than a symbolic side note...
posted by oblio_one at 4:28 PM on August 20, 2010 [1 favorite]

I was thinking earlier of Lucy, the cactus, in Natural Born Killers.
posted by ttyn at 4:34 PM on August 20, 2010

In the movie 28 Days people at a rehab centre are told that they should refrain from sexual relationships until they can take care of a houseplant. There's a scene later on where one of the characters is desperately trying to return a plant that died so doesn't fail that particular test.
posted by twirlypen at 4:34 PM on August 20, 2010

At the end of 28 Days, a guy tried to take care of a plant but couldn't - and so knew he wasn't ready for a relationship after a stint in drug/alcohol rehab.
posted by Sassyfras at 4:36 PM on August 20, 2010

E.T. has a houseplant that is connected to his health.
posted by Brodiggitty at 4:37 PM on August 20, 2010

yeah, what twirlypen said.
posted by Sassyfras at 4:37 PM on August 20, 2010

In Secretary, James Spader's character Edward E. Grey takes meticulous care of orchids. The way he cares for his orchids parallels his relationship with his secretary, Lee.
posted by mmmbacon at 5:12 PM on August 20, 2010

don't know if this counts but Hightower from Police Academy perhaps?
posted by pyro979 at 6:10 PM on August 20, 2010

I just watched "Soapdish" again last night. There's a scene right at the beginning where Sally Field's boyfriend breaks up with her via answering machine and asks in the message that she take care of his plants like she took care of him. A minute later we see her pouring bleach into the plants. What's interesting about it is that this is the first sign that she can be petty or vindictive; she's been super sweet up to this point.
posted by WorkingMyWayHome at 6:25 PM on August 20, 2010

Casey on NBC's "Chuck" (a hard-ass ex-military spy) has a bonsai tree that, it's implied, is his only sentimental possession.
posted by EarBucket at 6:33 PM on August 20, 2010

Best answer: How about a poem? Theodore Roethke:

The Geranium

When I put her out, once, by the garbage pail,
She looked so limp and bedraggled,
So foolish and trusting, like a sick poodle,
Or a wizened aster in late September,
I brought her back in again
For a new routine--
Vitamins, water, and whatever
Sustenance seemed sensible
At the time: she'd lived
So long on gin, bobbie pins, half-smoked cigars, dead beer,
Her shriveled petals falling
On the faded carpet, the stale
Steak grease stuck to her fuzzy leaves.
(Dried-out, she creaked like a tulip.)
The things she endured!--
The dumb dames shrieking half the night
Or the two of us, alone, both seedy,
Me breathing booze at her,
She leaning out of her pot toward the window.
Near the end, she seemed almost to hear me--
And that was scary--
So when that snuffling cretin of a maid
Threw her, pot and all, into the trash-can,
I said nothing.
But I sacked the presumptuous hag the next week,
I was that lonely.
posted by daisyace at 6:46 PM on August 20, 2010 [2 favorites]

In the anime series Noir there's a houseplant which turns out to be an important plot element at one point.
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 8:24 PM on August 20, 2010

In Desk Set, Katharine Hepburn's character keeps an office plant which has grown practically around the room, symbolizing her wasted (or subjugated) fecundity. For any who haven't seen the film, the contest for Ms. Hepburn's heart is herein won by the IT guy (Spencer Tracy) despite fierce competition from a Suite (Gig Young).
Naturally, this is a very great movie.
posted by spasm at 8:34 PM on August 20, 2010

In A Merry War (based on the novel Keep The Aspidistra Flying, by George Orwell), Richard E. Grant's character neglects his aspidistras but they still thrive. Aspidistras are famously hardy and are wrapped up in a lot of wartime UK class issues that I as a foreigner can only guess at.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 11:13 PM on August 20, 2010

In Jean Renoir's Grand Illusion, Erich von Stroheim (as Captain von Rauffenstein) tends to a geranium plant he keeps in the castle he is assigned to run as a prisoner of war camp. Which is symbolic of what, I don't know...the whole movie is rife with class conflict and other lofty ideas. Also, I haven't seen it in maybe 20 years; see it yourself and judge for yourself.
posted by motown missile at 11:25 PM on August 20, 2010

Doesn't Juno have a couple of cactuses from her mom in Juno?
posted by colfax at 2:39 AM on August 21, 2010

s/Suite/Suit/
posted by spasm at 5:45 AM on August 21, 2010

Maybe the palm tree that the captain has in Mr. Roberts.
posted by various at 8:00 AM on August 21, 2010

She tends a meaningful little cactus in The Unbearable Lightness of Being.
posted by Rash at 9:05 AM on August 21, 2010

Response by poster: Thank you everyone for the wonderful answers. I'm glad I asked because that poem, The Geranium, feels like exactly what I was looking for but didn't realize. I'll come back and mark some more best answers after I have a chance to watch some of these suggestions, but this has certainly given me a place to jump in and start exploring this theme.
posted by Zen unicorn rainbow zen journal at 1:12 PM on August 21, 2010