History Main / TableSpace

* ''RebuildOfEvangelion''. Gendo Ikari having dinner with Rei; it's not surprising she comes out of her shell enough to ask him to come along to Shinji's dinner party instead.

** Magrat and King Verence are seen doing this in ''Discworld/LordsAndLadies''. It's made awkward on several levels, not just because they're trying to have a conversation during dinner, but because they're ''engaged to be married''. Magrat eventually gets fed up with Verence having to shout so she can hear him, and gets the butler to move her chair to the other end. It gets justified, a bit; obviously Verence has to sit at the head of the table, because he's the king. But Magrat sitting at an angle to him makes conversation almost as awkward as sitting at the other end.

%% * ''Film/ForbiddenZone'': The king and the queen, and a human chandelier over them.

* In ForbiddenZone, the king and the queen are at such a table, with a human chandelier dangling over them.

* In ForbiddenZone, The king and the queen are at such a table, with a human chandelier dangling over them.

* There is one at Meghan Trainor's ''All Abut That Bass''' video.

* Done several times in the BBC ''Series/{{Merlin}}'', most often between Morgana and Uther to highlight the increasing emotional distance between the two.

Two people, surrounded by wealth and opulence, sit down to dinner at a table that is long enough to seat entire football teams. Rather than doing the sensible thing and sitting close together, they sit at the far ends of the table.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheIncredibles'' has Bob and Mirage dine at opposite ends of a table after Bob neutralizes the Omnidroid. It does a good job at setting up the opulent but ultimately empty life that Bob is about to enter with his new job. Also, judging from what Mirage says, the great size of the table, coupled with its placement right next to a ''wall of lava'', stem from her boss's obsession with power.

* The first ''Film/{{Batman}}'' movie. He makes a nice joke about it. The table's huge, the mansion's huge, has he even been in this room before? [[spoiler:They decide to move into the kitchen with its much smaller table.]]

* In ''Film/RichieRich'', the live action movie of 1994, telephones are involved so they can communicate. In this case, Richie sat at the other end on purpose seeing as he didn't like their dinner guest, [[BigBad Lawrence Van Dough]].
* Parodied in ''Film/ComingToAmerica'': the king and queen sit so far away from their son, the prince, that he must talk to them through an intercom. He eventually gets frustrated and just walks to the other end of the table, much to the dismay of the others.

* The Burnhams in ''Film/AmericanBeauty'' have a fairly large dinner table in their living room. The increased space conveys the estrangement between the family members when they dine together.

* Stromberg has Bond sit down at one of these in ''Film/TheSpyWhoLovedMe.'' Of course there's a lethal surprise underneath in store for 007 that he narrowly avoids.

* Used for a gag in Swedish film ''Film/FannyAndAlexander''. As the very rich extended Ekhdahl clan is having dinner, Helena beckons to a maid and says "Tell the children they may leave the table. The maid then walks down the long, long table to a second maid, and delivers the message. That maid then walks down to a ''third maid'', who goes to the other end of the table (which may be in Finland) and tells Fanny and Alexander they may leave.

* In ''Series/NewsRadio'', when Lisa goes over to Jimmy James' mansion, he had just bought a very long table that he insists she sit at the end of. They had to yell at each other to talk.

** Used for the Small Council table in Season 3 "Walk of Punishment". While the other councilors scramble to sit as close to Lord Tywin as possible, his son Tyrion deliberately positions himself ([[OverlyLongGag with much hilarious chair-scraping]]) at the far end, yet directly opposite his father, showing their adversarial relationship.

* In ''VideoGame/DonkeyKongCountry'', DK and Candy do this in an attempt of DK's to treat Candy to a formal lunch. Naturally, they're so far apart that they have trouble speaking to each other. DK soon gets annoyed with this and moves closer to Candy so they can talk.

[[quoteright:350:[[Film/{{Batman}} http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/batman_6065.jpg]]]]

Often [[PlayedForLaughs just a visual gag]], but in more serious uses the distance between the two is used to illustrate the ''emotional'' distance between them, especially if this is a result of their opulent but hollow lifestyle. Also often overlaps FormalFullArrayOfCutlery.

Often [[PlayedForLaughs just a visual gag]], but in more serious uses the distance between the two is used to illustrate the ''emotional'' distance between them, especially if this is a result of their opulent but hollow lifestyle.

* In ''IfLooksCouldKill'' Augustus Steranko forces Michael Corben to [[NoMrBondIExpectYouToDine have dinner with him]] and they both sit at opposite ends of a very long dinner table. Following an IronicEcho at Michael's expense, he tries to launch himself down the table at Steranko, but its length allows Steranko's {{Mooks}} to grab him before he can reach his target.

* ''TheIncredibles'' has Bob and Mirage dine at opposite ends of a table after Bob neutralizes the Omnidroid. It does a good job at setting up the opulent but ultimately empty life that Bob is about to enter with his new job. Also, judging from what Mirage says, the great size of the table, coupled with its placement right next to a ''wall of lava'', stem from her boss's obsession with power.

%%* ''Film/{{Legend}}''

** Magrat and King Verence are seen doing this in ''Discworld/LordsAndLadies''. It's made awkward on several levels, not just because they're trying to have a conversation during dinner, but because they're ''engaged to be married''. Magrat eventually gets fed up with Verence having to shout so she can hear him, and gets the butler to move her chair to the other end.

* 15h episode from Season 4 of ''Series/GilmoreGirls'' ended with Emily and Richard Gilmore seated at the opposite ends of their large table in thier luxurious dining room, and they struggled to keep their conversation going. There was no background sound but loud ticking. It showed emotional estragement creeping into their relationship. Prior to this, they have been a stable, HappilyMarried couple.

%%* ''Series/ABitOfFryAndLaurie'' has a sketch which parodies this trope.

* Used to nightmarish effect in the 2010 movie ''Victim'' where the MadDoctor has dinner with his "daughter". In actuality she was the man he kidnapped who beat his real teenage daughter until she was rendered brain dead, and who subjected him to various medical procedures and mind rapes to make him look and believe he was his daughter as an elaborate form of karmic revenge.

* One episode of the WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes, "From Hare to Heir", had Bugs Bunny promise Yosemite Sam (who is short on money) a million pounds provided he keep his {{Hair-Trigger Temper}} (get it) in check. What follows is Bugs deducting bit by bit with each outburst. In one scene, as Bugs and Sam are eating at different ends of a very long table, Bugs frequently asks for various things, forcing Sam walk all the way down to the far end of the table. Each time as he's walking all the way back to be seated, Bugs calls back for another item. This causes Sam to lose his temper, prompting Bugs to reduce 300 pounds (which makes Sam go into a rage-inducing fit, taking away 400 pounds more).

%%* Repeatedly parodied in ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'':
%%** {{Discussed|Trope}} in ''Discworld/MakingMoney'', but ultimately averted by Adora and Moist.
%%** Magrat and King Verence are seen doing this in ''Discworld/LordsAndLadies''.
%%** Lampshaded in ''Discworld/UnseenAcademicals'', where the otherwise-sensible Lord Vetenari and Lady Margalotta indulge in this.

* Repeatedly parodied in ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'':
** {{Discussed|Trope}} in ''Discworld/MakingMoney'', but ultimately averted by Adora and Moist.
** Magrat and King Verence are seen doing this in ''Discworld/LordsAndLadies''.
** Lampshaded in ''Discworld/UnseenAcademicals'', where the otherwise-sensible Lord Vetenari and Lady Margalotta indulge in this.

%%* ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'':
%%** Lampshaded in ''Discworld/MakingMoney''
%%** Mentioned in ''Discworld/LordsAndLadies''.
%%** Lampshaded in ''Discworld/UnseenAcademicals''.

* ''Film/CitizenKane'' puts him and his wife further and further apart as their tables got bigger.
** To make this even more effective, it's only shown at the end of a montage showing their marriage breaking down. The final clip is a RevealShot showing the now long dinner table, with the previously loving couple sitting far apart and ignoring each other.

* ''Film/ForbiddenZone'': The king and the queen, and a human chandelier over them.

* ''Series/GameOfThrones''. Used for the Small Council table in Season 3 "Walk of Punishment". While the other councilors scramble to sit as close to Lord Tywin as possible, his son Tyrion deliberately positions himself ([[OverlyLongGag with much hilarious chair-scraping]]) at the far end, yet directly opposite his father, showing their adversarial relationship.
** And at an actual dinner table in "Valar Dohaeris," the Tyrell siblings are seated next to each other, while Cersei and Joffrey are positioned at the opposite ends. (To maintain symmetry, Margaery and Loras would normally have been placed across from each other.) Guess which family gets along harmoniously and which one is dysfunctional.