They say everyone has a double, but not all of us are so lucky (or cursed) to encounter them. In the world of fiction, some stories use the idea of a double–also known as a doppelgänger–to explore various ideas and tell introspective stories where the protagonist comes face-to-face with (some version of) themselves. So what are doppelgängers and what are doppelgänger examples in film?
Doppelganger Meaning
Defining ‘What is a Doppelgänger’
Before we define doppelgänger, let’s break it down a bit. The word “doppelgänger” is of German origin, translating to “double-walker”, or more simply “double”. In English, the word sometimes does not include the umlaut above the “a” and is nearly always written in lowercase (whereas in German, all nouns are capitalized). In German there is also a specific female form with “Doppelgängerin”.
DOPPELGÄNGER DEFINITION
What is a doppelgänger?
A doppelgänger is a person who looks identical to another person with whom they share no biological ties with. There are different interpretations to seeing a doppelgänger in fiction, usually tied to something bad. Real life has seen cases of people encountering their doppelgänger (or something like one), with various explanations. Twins do not usually count as doppelgängers, but clones and alternate versions of a person can. This is because twins have a direct biological answer to their existence; doppelgängers do not.
Doppelgänger characteristics:
- A person that looks identical to someone else, usually the main protagonist of a story.
- Is compared to the protagonist whom they look identical to, sometimes to the detriment of the protagonist.
- Being a “bad” version of the protagonist, therefore threatening their existence in some way.
One of the most interesting things about doppelgängers is that they have been spotted in real life. While many fictional stories about doppelgängers are supernatural in nature, there are plenty of mundane tales of doppelgängers from the real world. There are even notable examples, and more recently, the term “twin stranger” has been used when someone discovers their doppelgänger online.
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What is a Doppelganger
Doppelgänger Examples
Possibly the most famous example in literature comes from Russian novelist Fyodor Dostevsky’s The Double. It tells the story of a low-level bureaucrat who meets his doppelgänger and is slowly but surely replaced by him. In this case, the doppelgänger is more charming and competent than the original; it also serves as an example of a doppelgänger aiming to ultimately replace the protagonist.
The Double has been adapted several times, including into a movie in 2013, directed by Richard Ayoade and starring Jesse Eisenberg. It follows the basic premise of the novel and is set in an ambiguous time and place, which helps make the story that much more surreal.
What are doppelgangers • doppelganger origin
A famous example in animation comes from Walt Disney via Donald Duck and the 1946 short, Donald’s Double Trouble. Donald encounters someone who looks just like him and asks him to help him get his girl(duck) back. But of course, like many other examples in fiction, this trick backfires for Donald, with Daisy Duck now preferring the much dapper doppelgänger.
What are doppelgangers • films about doppelgangers
In the realm of horror cinema, two very different fan favorites–Andrzej Żuławski’s Possession (1981) and Jordan Peele’s Us (2019)–feature doppelgängers as key elements of their plot. However, to say more would spoil way too much, but it can be said that both films seem to use doppelgängers to touch upon similar themes.
What are doppelgangers • doppelganger examples
One of the most critically acclaimed films to feature doppelgängers is Krzysztof Kieślowski's The Double Life of Véronique (1991). The film explores a variety of themes through the lives of its two protagonists, Weronika from Poland and Véronique from France (played by Irène Jacob). It serves as an example of a film that chooses a metaphysical look at doppelgängers versus one of horror or terror. In that respect, The Double Life of Véronique is a drama that uses doppelgängers to explore interpersonal themes.
What does doppelganger mean • films about doppelgangers
There are of course other examples of doppelgängers in cinema, but sometimes that spoils a film’s plot. So to close things off, we will instead mention an episode of Smallville that–spoiler alert–features a doppelgänger as a plot twist. There is nothing supernatural about it, the episode’s villain simply found someone who looked like a dead man from Lex Luthor’s past.
What are doppelgangers • doppelganger origin
Doppelgängers can be as fun as they are trippy, and the fact that people have real life accounts for seeing them just makes the whole thing more interesting. The way doppelgängers are used can always vary, though the theme of replacement and the fear of being replaced seems the most prominent. If you decide to use the theme of a double in your next work, keep in mind the different interpretations that exist for doppelgängers and how best to use them in your story.
Up Next
What is Hamartia
Now that you can answer “what are doppelgängers,” look into what makes a character with a fatal flaw, aka hamartia. Our article defines hamartia, providing plenty of examples from film and classic literature.
