Still Lifes seem to have two settings: calm and emotional. And their emotional setting appears to reflect whatever their human counterpart felt most strongly about.

Take the redhead. Her defining emotion is fear, but she’s only afraid when Cap’n Clark is nearby. And she acts frantic when that happens. 

This suggests to me that Still Lifes can’t express their defining emotion unless certain conditions are met, and are otherwise in a calm state.

So what’s Cap’n Clark’s defining emotion? Anger. He attacks anything moving because Clark blames the world for his problems. And his trigger is simply anyone other than himself existing and being nearby. Which is why when alone with Clark, he was calm.

This also suggests characters like Archibald and the bearded man may not actually be as calm as they look, they just hadn’t encountered their triggers in front of Clark. For example, if the bearded man was afraid of the dark in real life, his Still Life might go bananas when the lights go out.

Mary seems to fit this pattern too. Her defining emotion is sadness, and her trigger seems to be feeling alone. Which is why her Still Life looked so unhappy down there by itself in the sub levels.

I think Wall Dad has one as well. IRL Wall Dad hated people approaching his house because he wanted to protect his kids. His Still Life in FF3 was intensely territorial, and reacted violently to Ravi entering the room with his books on the floor. (He’s another anger type, just like Cap’n Clark.)

But think of the possibilities. The next movie could feature someone with self loathing problems. They could get lost in the backrooms and be their own Still Life’s trigger! On the run from their clone, who takes self loathing to literal levels. Or we could see calm, helpful Still Life’s go off the deep end at the drop of a hat when certain conditions are met. There’s so many cool directions this can be taken!

I have a theory that Still Lifes only act out when conditions are met