KNIVES OUT: a Rose by any other Name would not Clue us in
on naming conventions in Knives Out: Wake Up Dead Man
“Wake Up Dead Man” the title, the phrase, inspires multiple interpretations: Christ rising from the dead, a murder victim returning to life, a priest — or detective — asleep to those around him coming to realize their needs.
SPOILERS ABOUND
The moment I heard Glenn Close’s character called ‘Martha,’ I knew she did it.
Well, not exactly.
I suspected the moment Martha appeared; I knew in the 11th minute, when I saw young Martha.
“Martha” is introduced by name before we (or Jud) even see her. Soon after, Jud tells Blanc, “as far as the church goes, Martha does it all.”
Her name is our first clue, that description is the second.
(Arguably, her ability to appear out of nowhere is the third, but it’s also a fun joke.)
I knew Martha did it because I know the Bible all too well.
There’s a small Bible story where Martha gets mad she does all the housework, all the cooking and the prep, meanwhile her sister Mary does no work, and instead is praised for sitting at Jesus’ feet.
Martha also bluntly rebukes Jesus for being too slow to come save Lazarus, after which point Jesus raises Lazurus from the tomb; but I didn’t know at Martha’s introduction how much the literal tomb would play into the story.
We later see Martha as a child, Prentice telling her that Grace will be protected even if her actions are not ideal; directly connecting to Biblical Martha’s story.
Juxtaposing Martha and Grace, the way Martha and her sister Mary are juxtaposed in the Bible, sealed the deal.
Speaking of introductions. ‘Jud’ with one D, when spoken aloud, doesn’t remind me of Judas.
Even when Lee later sneers “Judas Jud” it’s about his actions, not his name.,
But the moment I saw it written in the script, I realized it was a Judas reference.
Actually, there are two apostles named Judas, but kinda like people stopped naming their babies ‘Hitler’ and also mostly ‘Adolf,’ by the time the scriptures were written people didn’t want to go by the name of the guy famous for betraying Jesus so they usually picked a different nickname.
Anyway, Jud clearly named for an apostle; hang onto that thought.
His name and his neck tattoo are both on the first page of the script, signposting things in his past and things to come.
Jud’s opening lines also reference a ‘wolf’ — a clue to what will be a symbol which will be a sign. LINK
Names are wildly important in Wake Up Dead Man, most of them Biblical names or references.
“Samson” who is a man strong enough to break columns of stone; he’s often called Sam, but his full name foreshadows his actions.
“Grace” is of course the most obvious reference, but it makes sense the man of faith would have a daughter named Grace (or Patience, or Charity, etc).
And Grace’s father (Wick’s grandfather) is named Prentice; especially in tandem with Jud’s mentioning of woodworking skills, this remind us Jesus was an apprentice to his farther Joseph, the carpenter.
‘Simone’ references Simon Peter, the apostle who struggled deeply with his faith, and also has a very famous instance of walking, as in on the water.
Nat (Jeremy Renner) is short for Nathan; Nathan is an Old Testament prophet, as well as also the name most modern scholars assign to the apostle Bartholomew. Nat’s is a doctor, as was the apostle Luke.
Vera (Kerry Washington) is a lawyer; the apostle Matthew had a law background, and arguably Paul when he was known as Saul of Tarsus; a story they reference with the ‘road to Damascus,’ though without name-checking Saul before his name change.
Lee (Andrew Scott) doesn’t have a disciple name but he is a prolific writer like many of the disciples, plus Andrew is itself an apostle name. Is that why he was cast? I mean he’s no Hayley Mills in Trap, but it’s a fun in-joke.
I’m vaguely aware of saints named Ni[c][k]olai in different traditions, but I’m strictly talking Old and New Testaments, where neither Nicolas nor Nicodemus felt close enough to the specific Nikolai the bar owner.
Why not just call him Nick? Sounds too close to ‘old Nick’ perhaps?
If there’s an old Nick it’s this guy, who is named Wicks.
So what is “Wicks” in reference to?
Well, he got his wick dipped all right, in fact that’s a key plot point.
There’s probably an obvious one I missed which you’re screaming at the screen, I am so sorry.
But Rian Johnson clearly had a lot of fun with naming conventions, including one which points a blinking neon sign at the murderer within the opening ten minutes.
Quite the sleight-of-hand, that.