Gromit (usually nicknamed "Lad", "Mate", or "Chuck" by Wallace) is Wallace's silent sidekick, best friend, and pet dog. Gromit is the brains of the duo, and often rolls his eyes at Wallace's mad antics and ideas, often having to save his master from many scrapes and calamities. He is the deuteragonist of the three shorts, Cracking Contraptions, and A Matter of Loaf and Death and the titular main protagonist of Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit.
Appearance
Gromit's appearance is quite basic as he's a dog. His skin, or fur, colour is a very light tan and he has floppy brown ears on his head.
Personality
Gromit is a sensitive, intelligent, resourceful dog with a genuine affection for Wallace. Being the less eccentric one of the two, he's much more aware than his master and has a better judge of character. In most cases, Gromit does the actual work while Wallace panics or gets himself into more trouble. Gromit is also shown to be very annoyed with Wallace when the latter makes friends with untrustworthy people, such as Piella Bakewell in A Matter of Loaf and Death.
Gromit is very loyal to Wallace and has a strong sense of justice. Not even at gunpoint did he waver in saving his master and upholding the law, as seen in The Wrong Trousers. However, there have been times when Gromit himself has been wrongly accused of crimes, like in A Close Shave, when he's accused of sheep slaughter, and A Matter of Loaf and Death, when accused and punished for biting Piella. Despite his faithfulness, he does occasionally ignore or simply refuse to do what Wallace says. One example was in A Close Shave, where Shaun was eating Wallace's cheese and Gromit disregards an order to sic him.
Gromit has a good nature and a kind heart, yet is very critical of Wallace's inventions. He is also easily aggravated. Gromit doesn't express himself with spoken words, but his facial expressions and body language speak volumes. Many critics believe that Gromit's silence makes him the perfect straight man with a pantomime expressiveness that drew favourable comparisons to Buster Keaton.[1] Although at times, he does make dog-like noises, such as yelps or grunts.
Gromit enjoys eating Korn Flakes and reading many books, including The Republic, by Pluto; Crime and Punishment, by Fido Dogstoyevsky; and a "how-to" guide entitled Electronics for Dogs. He also listens to Bach and can solve puzzles with ease.
In A Matter of Loaf and Death, he meets and falls in love with a poodle named Fluffles, an abused pet of Piella Bakewell.
History
Born on February 12th (possibly in mid-80's)[2], Gromit went on to graduate from Dogwarts University with a double first in Engineering for Dogs.[3] He enjoys knitting, playing cards, reading the newspaper, building things, and cooking. His prized possessions include an alarm clock, bone, brush, and a framed photo of himself with Wallace. He also cherished his giant vegetable marrow grown for the annual Giant Vegetable Competition shown in Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit. He is also very handy with electronic equipment and often helps Wallace with his many inventions. It is also shown that he is an excellent airplane pilot, with the ability to fly just about any kind of small plane. In A Close Shave, he flew a small monoplane with a porridge gun to thwart Preston, and he was able to pilot a toy biplane in The Curse of the Were-Rabbit. He also had little trouble operating the plane's bomb doors in order to get rid of Philip.
Relationships
Wallace
Trivia
- Gromit may resemble Snoopy from Peanuts.
- Gromit is recognized by most kennel clubs as a beagle.
- Gromit's age is unknown, but he's implied to be a young adult dog, somewhere around 20 human years, and 4-5 dog years.
- Gromit was originally meant to be a cat, but Nick Park changed him into a dog because it proved easier to model.
- Peter Hawkins was originally going to voice Gromit whether he was a cat or a dog, but the idea of Gromit speaking was dropped when it became clear how expressive he could be just through small movements of the eyes, ears, and brows, so the voice was never used, also for being realistic as cats and dogs can't talk. However, several times in interviews, Nick Park has mentioned having an unreleased recording of Peter Hawkins doing Gromit's voice for A Grand Day Out, and how only Nick Park himself has heard the recording to this very day.[4]
- Despite that, Gromit can be heard barking on some occasions during the three shorts:
- A Grand Day Out: While he was using a drill and flung away when it got stuck.
- The Wrong Trousers: When the trousers pulled him out for a walk and back into the house.
- A Close Shave: When he was pulled from his bungee rope by Preston and was shown stretching up and down while Wallace was talking with Wendolene.
- Despite that, Gromit can be heard barking on some occasions during the three shorts:
- Gromit's eyes aren't black but are in fact a very dark blue, seen for a brief time in A Grand Day Out.
- In A Matter of Loaf and Death, it is revealed that Gromit is left-handed, as seen when he writes in the book of surveillance for dogs during his plan to thwart Piella.
- In 2005, Aardman Animations' storage facility set fire, destroying most of Gromit's puppets from the original three shorts, with very few known to survive to this day.
- The screen-used Motorbike and Sidecar with both Wallace and Gromit themselves, present with their original attire and helmets they wore while riding the bike, are currently on display at the main entrance of Blackpool Pleasure Beach, host of Wallace & Gromit's Thrill-O-Matic.
- A head of Gromit from A Close Shave with a helmet is currently in the hands of a Aardman crew member and was first given to him in 1995.
- A puppet from A Close Shave is currently in the prison set and is on display at events while the other two are currently held at Aardman Animations HQ.
- Gromit in his plane was displayed at Aardman Features sometime between 2005 and 2007.
Gallery
References
- ↑ Review of Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit in Variety
- ↑ In an early scene of The Wrong Trousers, Gromit notes the date on a monthly calendar. The month title is unseen but the month only contains 29 days.
- ↑ Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit and Wallace & Gromit: Annual 2007.
- ↑ Wallace and Gromit: one man and his dog