Wilson the Volleyball

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Wilson is the name given to a volleyball ball in the 2000 film, Cast Away. In the film, the volleyball is the anthropomorphized volleyball friend of Chuck Noland (portrayed by Tom Hanks), and serves as his only companion during the four years that the character spends alone on a deserted island after a plane crash. Wilson is named after the Wilson Sporting Goods company that made the volleyball, and may also be an allusion to Hanks' wife Rita Wilson.

[edit] Biography

In the film, a volleyball is found in one of the FedEx boxes that Chuck Noland (Hanks) salvages from the plane crash. When Chuck tries to make a fire, he cuts his hand and angrily palms the volleyball and throws it. This leaves a hand-shaped blood mark on the ball. He then bandages his hands and wipes away some of the blood, making the volleyball's "face". He names it Wilson after the company that made it. Wilson plays the role of a mute, infinitely patient, non-living listener in the movie, providing Chuck with a companion for the 1,500 days he spends on the island. Wilson is also slightly modified by Noland sometime during the four-year gap; a section of the volleyball above the face has been removed and a coif of leaves has been inserted, serving as hair. (Wilson may have also lost air during the four years and Chuck did not have a pump to refill him.)

From a theatrical standpoint, Wilson also serves to realistically imply dialogue in a one-person only situation. Chuck is frequently seen talking to Wilson in the movie, and responds as though Wilson is talking back. At first, Chuck only jokingly talked to Wilson, with questions like "You wouldn't happen to have a match, would you?" but after years of isolation Chuck begins to see Wilson as an actual being, and not an inanimate object. For example, in one scene Chuck blames Wilson for waking him up and yells at Wilson to shut up. He also reveals that it was Wilson who "suggested" Chuck test his rope before attempting suicide, an act which later proved to save him from severe injury, as the log which held the rope couldn't support the weight of a dummy.

Tragically, Chuck loses Wilson after the volleyball washes off his escape raft and drifts too far out to sea for Chuck to be able to retrieve it. Chuck cries after failing to save Wilson and throws away his oars, seemingly losing the will to live after losing his only "friend". Chuck is still eventually rescued, but Wilson is lost forever. However toward the film's end, Noland is seen driving with a brand new volleyball sitting in the passenger seat.

[edit] Culture

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Wilson the Volleyball has been the subject of humour in pop culture, having been parodied in Scary Movie 2, Family Guy, Saturday Night Live and Mad. In addition, Wilson actually manufactured a volleyball with a parody of the handprint face on one side, it was sold for a limited time during the movie's initial release.

  • At legendary jam band Phish's comeback show on New Years Eve, 2002, they opened their decade-older track "Wilson" with footage played over the jumbotron of Hanks yelling at Wilson. (The song typically begins with double-notes dividing the audience chanting the song's name, which occurred here regardless.) "Tom Hanks" also appeared to sing part of the song's ending, although it was simply keyboardist Page McConnell's brother in disguise.
  • In the Family Guy episode "A Fish Out of Water", a flashback shows Peter stranded on a raft, talking to a volleyball. Peter yells at the ball saying, "Wilson! Wilson! What are we gonna' do now!?", to which the volleyball shouts back, "My name is Voit, dumbass!". This is a reference to the corporation.
  • In the film Madagascar, Alex yells "Shut up, Spalding!" to a basketball similar to Wilson. This is presumably named for the Spalding make of basketball. Incidentally, this film was made by DreamWorks Animation, which was spun-off from DreamWorks in late 2004.
  • In the film Behind Enemy Lines, Owen Wilson's character can be heard screaming "Wilson!" when his football is catapulted off an aircraft carrier.
  • The Stargate Atlantis episode "Epiphany" makes a reference to Wilson when Lt. Colonel John Sheppard, stranded in a cave, says into his radio, "This is Sheppard. I'm pretty sure you can't hear me, but I don't have a volleyball to talk to, so what the hell."
  • After the movie's release, NASCAR stock car driver Dale Earnhardt, Jr. drove several races with a volleyball in his car, whom he called "Wilson".
  • In the MMORPG Kingdom of Loathing, a player can create a blood-faced volleyball using the bloody hand effect. To promote a bit of creativity, it is not allowed to be named "Wilson".
  • In 2001, the World Wrestling Federation parodied the Wilson Volleyball character in "Moppy", Perry Saturn's inanimate mop whom he falls in love with after receiving (kayfabe, or non-reality wrestling storyline) head trauma in a match. Moppy even had a somewhat similar face as the Wilson Volleyball.
  • Wilson was also spoofed in an episode of Lilo and Stitch: The Series when Pleakly made friends with a coconut he named Coco.
  • In the film Monster House, which was produced by "Cast Away" director Robert Zemeckis, the haunted house, after having "eaten" one character's Wilson basketball, spits it out but this time the ball has a drawing of a demonic face on it.
  • The Uzi Union used a Wilson the Volleyball voice clip from the movie "Cast Away", where Chuck screams for Wilson.
  • In the MMORPG Dark Age of Camelot, a player who runs away in 8v8 combat once he realizes his group has lost is considered to be Wilsoning.
  • In the Norwegian comic M, by Mads Eriksen, Mads is left alone in his apartment during Christmas when the madam is away. During this time he makes an exact copy of Wilson whom he talks to and even pretend is making a snowman.
  • On the Canadian animated series Total Drama Island, Owen, before meeting up with the rest of the cast during the castaway challenge, made himself an imaginary friend out of a coconut he found on the island, naming him "Mr. Coconut".
  • In the second series of British comedy show The Mighty Boosh, the episode 'The Nightmare of Milky Joe' parodies Cast Away. Howard and Vince, the main characters on the show, get stuck on a desert island, and create several companions in the style of "Wilson", out of coconuts. In addition, Howard's appearance in this episode is modelled after Tom Hanks' dishevelled appearance in the film.
  • Alton Brown made a spoof of Wilson on an episode of Good Eats when he befriends a coconut named Coco who he says 'didn't like him very much.' However, he ends up ditching him in the oven for complaining about the food.

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