Who's Chauncey Gardiner?

Question

A few people have been talking about this person...

Answer 1

Chauncey Gardiner is a fictional character from the movie "Being There" made in 1979. Chance a simple gardener who has spent his entire life isolated from the world. He has no understanding of politics or society, but is in an almost Messiah-like way. Each character sees Chance as they want to see themselves: successful and all-knowing. Chance's calm and seemingly highly intelligent demeanor is essentially a blank canvas on which each of the film's characters paint their wants and needs, making Chance out to be much more than he really is.

Plot Summary:

Chance is a middle-aged man who lives in the townhouse of a wealthy man in Washington, D.C.. Chance has lived in the house his whole life, tending the garden, with virtually no contact with the outside world. His cultural and social education is derived entirely from what he watches on the television sets provided by the "Old Man", who raised him. The only other person in his life is Louise, the maid who cooks his meals and looks upon him as nothing more than a child who has failed to grow up. When his benefactor dies, Chance is forced to leave his sheltered existence and discover the outside world for the first time.

Answer 2

He was a character from the move Being There (1979), starring the great English comic Peter Sellers, adapted from the book by Jerzy Kosinski.

You may have heard mention of him because this was a really influential movie in a way. It was really smart. The Peter Sellers character ("Chance, the Gardner") only every watches television. He is very simpleminded. But, perhaps because he is so much a product of the television culture, people immediately accept him, and assume he is very wise. (He's not; although he is quite likable.) Because of this, he becomes very successful.

It is very much an exploration of the way television (and you could say, the whole mass media culture) has shaped our lives.

Forrest Gump had he same general concept, but I don't think it was nearly as smart.