What were your thoughts on the janitor?
Okay. Carl. I’ve got quite a few thoughts on him. Well, first of all, let’s forget about the character for a moment and focus on the actor. He was fantastic, he was attractive, and age-wise, he was versatile. That was a wonderful choice on the casting director’s part because at the beginning - and all throughout the movie, actually - you weren’t sure whether he was going to be another “dead-in-the-heart” adult, or whether he was a special case and he would connect with the kids. He ended up sort of connecting with the kids - and even if you don’t agree with that, it’s pretty obvious that John Hughes wasn’t trying to fit him into the category of adults whose hearts died. And that leads us into analysis of the character. Carl seems to mainly be in the movie to offer a much-needed truth every once in a while. First he shows up and goes off on the kids about how much power he has over them, and he really puts them in their place, which gains him respect and admiration from Bender. Then he shows up in the basement with Vernon and hints to him that what he’s doing (reading personal files) is wrong. And afterwards, when they’re sitting there and talking, he points out many things that Vernon needed to hear -
"The kids haven’t changed, you have!"
"Hey… Carl, you think I give one rat’s ass what these kids think of me?"
"Yes I do."
"When I get older, these kids are gonna take care of me."
"I wouldn’t count on it."
Basically Carl is telling Vernon that he needs to set up his game and judge himself before he assumes that the disobedience is solely the kids’ fault.
And then, at the end, the kids walk by and Brian and Bender say goodbye to Carl. Of course Carl has already forgotten the rude things Bender said to him and says a hearty goodbye to Bender. All in all, I think that Carl’s main purpose in the movie was -
offer a necessary truth every once in a while
disprove Allison’s statement, “When you grow up, your heart dies”
I really liked him as a character, and I thought that he had the perfect amount of screen time - not too little, not too much. He was one of the most minor characters, yet he was very necessary to the film.