History Main / TableSpace

* Franchise/{{Batman}}: Subverted by Selina Kyle in ''ComicBook/DarkVictory''. She and Bruce sit down to eat Thanksgiving dinner in this fashion, but after Alfred is finished serving them, she drags her rather large chair to the other end of the table to sit next to Bruce (and eat off his plate).

* ''TheGrinch2018'': Grinch and Max frequently do this for breakfast. Going in hand with the Grinch's AdaptationalNiceGuy, this helps to highlight that Grinch's self-imposed exile is not exactly satisfying him.

* ''Cinderfella'': Creator/JerryLewis plays the titular stepson, who eats at the opposite end of a ''very'' long table from his stepmom and her two sons...and they keep ordering him to pass them things that are within their arms' reach.

* ''Literature/SeptimusHeap'': Jenna alludes that Sarah and Silas Heap often occupy the main table of the Palace at opposite ends, so that they have to communicate by hand signs, much to Jenna's annoyance.

* In ''Film/DarkCity'', when a poor couple is "turned" into a rich couple by {{Reality Warp|er}}ing aliens, their modest four-seater table extends out into one of these while their apartment expands into a lavish mansion.

* 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]].

* The Burnhams in ''Film/AmericanBeauty'' have a fairly large dinner table in their living room. The increased space is symbolizing the estrangement between the family members when they dine together.
* ''Film/MirrorMask'' has one such scene featuring an enormous dining table, with the Black Queen at one end and Helena at the other; at this stage, Helena has been brainwashed into replacing the Queen's runaway daughter, and the length of the dining table is pretty symbolic of the Queen's neglectful attitude. The only point in the meal when the two of them are remotely close is when Helena shakes off the brainwashing just long enough to remind the Queen that this charade is entirely pointless - [[JumpScare AND THEN THE QUEEN'S FACE IS RIGHT THERE YELLING AT HER]].
* Done in the Creator/AlfredHitchcock film ''Film/{{Rebecca}}''. The table isn't quite as oversized as some examples, but they do sit on opposite ends.
* In ''Film/ForbiddenZone'', the king and the queen are at such a table, with a human chandelier dangling over them.

* 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 like and believe he was his daughter as an elaborate form of karmic revenge.
* Stromberg has Bond sit down at one of these in ''Film/TheSpyWhoLovedMe.'' Of course there's a nasty surprise underneath in store for 007 that he narrowly avoids.
* ''Film/{{JFK}}'': During the interrogation scene with Clay Shaw and Jim Garrison, Clay Shaw lampshades the trope both in the dialogue and the Flashback sequence.
* In ''Film/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.
* ''Cinderfella'': Creator/JerryLewis plays the titular stepson, who eats at the opposite end of a ''very'' long table from his stepmom and her two sons...and they keep ordering him to pass them things that are within their arms' reach.

[[folder:Fanfiction]]
* In ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/12360396/7/An-oath-of-truth An oath of truth]]'' after Lucius and Narcissa have an argument, they sit at opposite ends of their 30-foot table.
[[/folder]]

* ''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 Parr 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 (Syndrome)'s obsession with power.

* ''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.

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

[[quoteright:350:[[Film/{{Batman}} https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/4e9dc35a70637e2f79154a6501a4bc56.jpg]]]]

* ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague''. In an AlternateUniverse where the Justice League has TakenOverTheWorld in an enforced utopia, Superman and Lois Lane are shown at opposite ends of an (albeit normal-sized) dinner table, to show her disapproval of his actions.

* In ''Film/DarkCity'', when a poor couple is "turned" into a rich couple, their formerly modest four-seater extends out into one of these.

* ''Cinderfella'': JerryLewis plays the titular stepson, who eats at the opposite end of a ''very'' long table from his stepmom and her two sons...and they keep ordering him to pass them things that are within their arms' reach.

%%** Done a couple of times in book ''TheLongHalloween'' in a MythologyGag referencing the 1989 movie.

* The first ''Film/{{Batman}}'' movie does it. Bruce even 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.]]

%%* Happened in the LordPeterWimsey book ''Thrones, Dominations''.

* In one of the ''GilligansIsland'' TV movies, after the castaways make it back home, Mr. and Mrs. Howell are shown to dine like this.

* The state of affairs between Consuelo Vanderbilt and her loathed husband the Duke of Marlborough (you may know these two as the parents of Winston Churchill). Because etiquette dictated that they must at least dine together, they made the best of it by eating at the opposite ends of a room-length banquet table; the table also had an 100-pound silver centerpiece placed in the middle to prevent the couple from accidentally making eye contact.

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->''The comic convention, when two people are dining at a table designed to accommodate twenty, is that they sit at either end.''

* ''Film/MirrorMask'' has scene featuring an enormous dining table, with the Black Queen at one end and Helena at the other. Helena says something, to which the Queen takes offense. Close-up of Helena's face AND THEN THE QUEEN'S FACE IS RIGHT THERE YELLING AT HER.