“Important” Supporting Characters

According to the almighty Wikipedia, a supporting character is a character in a narrative that is not the focus of the primary storyline, but is important to the plot/protagonist, and appears or is mentioned in the story enough to be more than just a minor character or cameo appearance.

That’s an adequate definition in my opinion. It does, though, beg a couple of questions. For starters, what is a reasonable standard or indicator for considering a character “important to the protagonist/plot”? And further, is something like ‘importance’ too subjective to even bother attempting to arrive at an indicator?

Maybe. Nevertheless, in an effort to better understand supporting characters and how they best serve their stories, I have taken a swing at it. Here’s what I came up with: having at least one scene where the supporting character outshines the protagonist.

I’ll admit that at first glance it doesn’t appear to add much, if anything. But if you’ll permit me an opportunity to illustrate my ‘importance indicator’ via examples from popular cinema, you might conclude otherwise.

First up: Goose (Top Gun)​

No, not the volleyball scene — you can rewatch that on your own time! In the above clip Goose is forced to take the lead (and we know he’s more comfortable being Maverick’s RIO) in order to call attention to his best bro’s flaw. A flaw which, at this point in the film, the two young naval aviators have recently paid the price for. The flaw, of course, is Maverick’s overly reckless behavior, a symptom of the unprocessed trauma over his father’s tarnished legacy and premature death.

This is one way for a supporting character to outshine the protagonist — to point out a serious problem facing the main character that he or she either can’t see, or has chosen not to see.

Next up: Art (The Burbs)​

It’s clear in the above clip that, despite being a supporting character, Art is much more dominant than Ray (Hanks). Art is the one chomping at the bit to tangle with the frightening, and possibly murderous, neighbors. And his goals/desires ultimately win out. Ray, the main character, is forced to agree and join forces with Art, the supporting character. Art has outshined Ray and served as a major catalyst for the plot.

Next up: Terence Mann (Field of Dreams)​

In the above clip, Ray (sorry for going with another Ray) is facing a crisis of decision — to sell his farm and one of a kind ghost ball field, or hold on to it and likely lose it to the bank. He’s at a total loss on how to proceed. But Terence isn‘t; he actually has the answer. At the last minute Terence seemingly pulls a much needed and hopeful prophecy from the heavens which instructs Ray not to sell. And he’s later proven correct. This is obviously Terence’s moment more than Ray’s.

And finally: Doc Holiday (Tombstone)​

I shrewdly saved the best for last. Val Kilmer’s Doc Holiday is probably my favorite supporting character in all of cinema; he steals every scene he’s in! The remarkable thing about this scene isn’t that he assists the protagonist (Wyatt Earp) defeat the antagonist (Johnny Ringo), it’s that he outright replaces the protagonist and single-handedly puts down the villain. I would think it would be difficult to point to another scene where a supporting character outshines the main character to a greater degree than this. And it ended up being one of the most memorable points in the movie.

Scenes where a supporting character figuratively stands taller than the main character, not only can help increase the audience‘s investment and appreciation of that supporting character, they can increase the audience’s appreciation of the story’s main character — by exposing their limitations, and further humanizing them.

Not every supporting character will merit a scene like this. And depending on the story, it might be the right choice to have a lot of these moments, or just one or two, or possibly none at all. It’s probably something to keep in mind if you’re a storyteller, though, especially whenever you find yourself underwhelmed with your supporting character(s).