Titles with misleading connotations

[panache45]

Let's discuss books, movies, songs, etc., whose titles give the impression of something totally different than what the work is really about.

My nomination: On the Beach, which is not about a nice day at the seashore, but about . . .
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The end of the world.

[Robot Arm]

If you heard of a movie called Sorceror, would you think it's about......four desperate outcasts in Central America hired to drive truckloads of unstable dynamite through the jungle to put out a forest fire?

[foolsguinea]

Fried Green Tomatoes

Worse yet, the tagline, "The secret's in the sauce."One main character barbecues her lover's husband & secretly feeds him to the town. Yep, that secret.

[Earl Snake-Hips Tucker]

If you saw the classic "Curse of Bigfoot" in the late 1970s, would you think it was really about an American Indian mummy awakes--with quite an attitude-- from its millennial slumber by some hapless college students

Or that the planets Abbott and Costello land on visit in "Abbott and Costello Go to Mars" are actually Venus and. . . New Orleans during Mardi Gras?

[Student Driver]

Ooh, an "art film" from Europe playing in "art theaters" called The Nasty Girl? The pretty and young lead girl is so nasty that she

pisses off her little German town by investigating and digging up the truth regarding the town's collaboration with the Third Reich, rather than the resistance that town elders claim occurred.

My then-wife thought I was buying softcore porn when I came home from the laserdisc shop with that one.

[Ellis Aponte Jr.]

The song "Wichita Lineman" is not about a college football player.

[Son of a Rich]

The Nutcracker had zero physical comedy. And, and, with a name like the Nutcracker, I thought, oh, this would be worth a few yucks. But no…that title wrote a check those queers on stage refused to cash.

[hlanelee]

Bare Naked Ladies are not....

[BigT]

Fried Green Tomatoes

Worse yet, the tagline, "The secret's in the sauce."One main character barbecues her lover's husband & secretly feeds him to the town. Yep, that secret.

I thought it was about some monsters that were giant green tomatoes when I was a kid, and that sounded lame even then. I'm glad I never thought as an adult to watch it for the lulz.

[The Other Waldo Pepper]

My then-wife thought I was buying softcore porn when I came home from the laserdisc shop with that one.

My wife thought I'd picked up hardcore porn when I brought home a film marked XXX; instead, of course, Vin Diesel plays a wisecracking snowboarder turned secret agent, who, uh, drinks cranberry juice, and, er, is good at parachuting.

[John DiFool]

Fiddler on the Roof doesn't actually have a character called The Fiddler (aside from a few visions of him by the protagonist).

[whitetho]

In the immortal words of The Simpson's Nelson Muntz about the movie Naked Lunch: "I can think of at least two things wrong with that title!"

[robert_columbia]

I remember a guy I knew in college said that he had gotting a Talking To by his father over a receipt for "Dirty Pair" and "Dirty Pair Flash", both SF animes.

[CalMeacham]

The Last King of Scotland



Who'd a thunk it was a movie about Idi Amin with a title like that?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Last_King_of_Scotland_%28film%29

The title comes from a reporter in a press conference who wishes to verify whether Amin declared himself the King of Scotland. Amin was known to invent fancy imperial-sounding titles for himself, a practice he learned during British colonial rule.

[Duke]

Bare Naked Ladies are not....

There was an rap group in the 90's called Young Black Teenagers (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Young_Black_Teenagers) comprised entirely of white kids. It's incredible they weren't completely laughed off the stage at every show.

[Elendil's Heir]

In other news, the Presidents of the United States of America never actually lived in the White House.

[jackdavinci]

"Serenity" is not about someone meditating with Buddhist monks.

[Nobody]

I don't know about their attitudes, but the Violent Femmes are (or were) all guys.

[Ura-Maru]

Blade Runner was a great title for a book about black-market medical supplies being run past the Nazis. It’s kind of arbitrary for a movie about hunting down androids in the rain.

It’s non-union Japanese equivalent, Bubble Gum Crisis, had NOTHING to do with the crippling candy and snack food shortages of the early 1930’s. In fact, it was about girls of ambiguously sexuality hunting down androids. In powered armor. And the androids have ORBITAL PARTICLE BEAMS. It’s cool.

Actually a lot of 80’s anime had really random titles . . . I’m not sure what you would expect a show titled Genesis Climber Mospeda to be about, but unless you guessed a gurilla war against aliens across the exotic USA, you’re wrong.

--
No, Blade Runner doesn’t get a spoiler. If you haven’t seen it, I’m going to have to ask you to leave the internet. Now.

[Regallag_The_Axe]

I'll never forget that day I listened to an album with a lightning bolt skull (http://www.orbitcast.com/archives/grateful-dead.gif) on it, and 'dead' in the band's name. I was disappointed.

[Nobody]

Ohh, Anime. OK, I have a couple of my own.

Appleseed (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Appleseed_%28film%29) is not about John Chapman.

Now and Then, Here and There (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Now_and_Then,_Here_and_There) - With a title like that you'd never think that it's a brutal, depressing, and uncomfortable anime that doesn't seem to have any bright spots until you start getting to the end.

[multimediac17]

The Longest Most Meaningless Movie In The World is only the fourth longest movie in the world (although it must be pointed out that it once was the very longest).

[CalMeacham]

Blade Runner was a great title for a book about black-market medical supplies being run past the Nazis. It’s kind of arbitrary for a movie about hunting down androids in the rain.


"Bladerunner" was the title of a completely different science fiction novel by physician Alan E. Nourse. It's very good, and I highly recommend it, but it has nothing to do with dangerous killer androids or the people who "retire" them. William S. Burroughs did a treatment for it as a film, which Ridley Scott apparently looked through. He wasn't interested in Nourse's book (about black-market doctors in the future, and the men who provide medical supplies for them, including scalpels -- hence, "Bladerunners"), but he liked the title a lot more than "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?", so he purchased the rights. If you pay close attention to the closing credits, Scott thanks Nourse and Burroughs for the use of the title.

[Nobody]

I thought the Fringe episode "Do Shapeshifters Dream of Electric Sheep?" sounded familiar. :smack:

[Green Bean]

Ooh, an "art film" from Europe playing in "art theaters" called The Nasty Girl? The pretty and young lead girl is so nasty that she

pisses off her little German town by investigating and digging up the truth regarding the town's collaboration with the Third Reich, rather than the resistance that town elders claim occurred.

My then-wife thought I was buying softcore porn when I came home from the laserdisc shop with that one.The problem with that one is a bad translation. The German title didn't carry those connotations. It was more like The Horrible Young Lady. Which is still a weird title for the film, but not as weird as the English title.

[sco3tt]

Prick Up Your Ears.

At least, on first hearing it, not after seeing it spelled out.

[Cicero]

I always thought "The Happy Hooker" was about a fisherman.

[njtt]

In the immortal words of The Simpson's Nelson Muntz about the movie Naked Lunch: "I can think of at least two things wrong with that title!"

Yeah! And that TV show The Naked Archeologist! He never appears other than fully clothed. (Thankfully.)

[njtt]

Prick Up Your Ears.

At least, on first hearing it, not after seeing it spelled out.

:confused: Isn't the double entendre intended with that one? (Or did you think it was about Mr Spock, or elves or something?)

[Ludovic]

Rush
Music by Eric Clapton

[Annie-Xmas]

Silence of the Lambs is not about lambs (or Hal Briston!)

[Sam A. Robrin]

Harlan Ellison's "A Boy and His Dog" is hardly what it sounds like it would be. I wonder how many parents took their kids to a matinee of the movie made from it, and got quite the surprise....

I also knew some people who were disappointed that Ghost World wasn't a horror story. For that matter, The Ring is neither about boxing nor an engagement.

[RealityChuck]

"They Shoot Horses, Don't They?" has no horses or other animals, so the ASPCA and PETA have no need to picket.

[BrainGlutton]

The Color Purple.

WTF?! All these people are brown, man!

[CalMeacham]

The Color Purple.

This one is also a victim of the "Explanation for the Title Given in the movie isn't the whole story" syndrome. They realize that they have to give a reason for the title, so near the end they throw in Whoopi saying "I think God gets pissed off when people don't appreciate The Color Purple", whereas the symbolism of Purple runs much deeper in the book:

The Color Purple

The title of the book is a very important symbol. Celie goes through life having a hard time noticing the beautiful aspects and appreciating them. She had a difficult life and was abused as an adolescent. The color purple is continually equated with suffering and pain. Sofia's swollen, beaten face is described as the color of "eggplant". : the site of her sexual violation.[4] However, later Shug points out to her that you have to enjoy life. When they were in a field of purple flowers, Shug tells Celie to look at the flowers and embrace their beauty. "You must look at all the good and acknowledge them because God placed them all on earth". After learning this, Celie has a better respect for life and everything it has to offer.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Color_Purple






For something similar, see the movie version of Stephen King's Hearts in Atlantis (another good example for this thread), where the movie throws in some card-playing as a weak excuse for the title.

In addition, all the references to the Dark Tower were removed and the final destinies of the characters, revealed in the latter stories of the original novel, are not included. A further consequence of the changes is that the title of the film is completely impenetrable to those not familiar with the novel; a snatch of dialogue attempts to remedy this.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hearts_in_Atlantis

[Acsenray]

Fried Green Tomatoes

Worse yet, the tagline, "The secret's in the sauce."One main character barbecues her lover's husband & secretly feeds him to the town. Yep, that secret.

What? That's what it's about? I always thought it was about a group of quirky but lovable middle-aged Southern ladies who loved to cook.

[CalMeacham]

Gone with the Wind is another example of the Obscure Title that Has a Simplistic Interpretation in the Movie that Might Not Be What the Author Intended.

The title is so familiar that a lot of folks probably haven't considered how ambiguous and uninformative it is to the uninitiated. Had I not been immersed in a culture filled with references to this flick, I never would've guessed it was about the Civil War.


As for the meaning of the title, the movie opens with the explanation that it refers to the antebellum way of life, gone forever with the wind. But AFAIK, there's no evidence that Mitchell saw it that way:

The title is taken from the first line of the third stanza of the poem Non Sum Qualis eram Bonae Sub Regno Cynarae[2] by Ernest Dowson: "I have forgot much, Cynara! gone with the wind." The novel's protagonist, Scarlett O'Hara, also uses the title phrase in a line in the book: when her home area is overtaken by the Yankees, she wonders to herself if her home, a plantation called Tara, is still standing, or if it was "also gone with the wind which had swept through Georgia." More generally, the title has been interpreted as referring to the entire way of life of the antebellum South as having "Gone with the Wind." The prologue of the movie refers to the old way of life in the South as "gone with the wind…."


The title for the novel was a problem for Mitchell. She initially titled the book "Pansy," the original name for the character of Scarlett O'Hara. Although never seriously considered, the title "Pansy" was dropped once MacMillan persuaded Mitchell to rename the main character. Other proposed titles included "Tote the Weary Load" and "Tomorrow is Another Day," the latter taken from the last line in the book; however, the publisher noted that there were several books close to the same title at the time, so Mitchell was asked to find another title. She chose "Gone with the Wind."


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gone_with_the_Wind

[control-z]

"Burn Notice" and "The Wire" are misleading to me. Burn notice sounds like you're notifying someone that you will be doing a controlled burn somewhere. The Wire sounds like a show about a newswire service. Or a guy that makes stuff out of chicken wire.

[Elendil's Heir]

The NeverEnding Story isn't.

[suranyi]

"Burn Notice" and "The Wire" are misleading to me. Burn notice sounds like you're notifying someone that you will be doing a controlled burn somewhere. The Wire sounds like a show about a newswire service. Or a guy that makes stuff out of chicken wire.

I still have no idea what "Burn Notice" is about, though a lot of people seem to like it.

[Acsenray]

Imagine my disappointment when I discovered that Peep Show (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peep_Show_%28TV_series%29) is a sitcom about a guy who works at a bank and his roommate, who is an out-of-work musician.

[robby]

When I was in 7th grade English, we were required to pick a novel to read based solely on the title and author. Having recently seen "Grey Lady Down" at the movie theater, I picked a book with the intriguing title, "Watership Down," thinking it was about a ship or submarine.

I was quite surprised to learn it was actually about: ...rabbits. No ships--no sinkings. The "down" in the title was just a hill.

Anyway, I loved the book. It's one of my all-time favorites.

[Earl Snake-Hips Tucker]

"Birth of a Nation" at first would seem in imply the American Revolution as opposed to the aftermath of the Civil War. I haven't read the book, but in the movie, the title card implies that after the Civil War, the US became one nation, as opposed to a union of sovereign states.

Similarly, Dixon's follow-up novel and movie, "Fall of a Nation," have nothing to do with "Birth of a Nation." It's a futuristic look at a German-led European invasion of the US. The movie is considered lost, however.

[Dr. Rieux]

"Serenity" is not about someone meditating with Buddhist monks.

...and that's not incense!

[Elendil's Heir]

Similarly, Firefly isn't about chasing luminous bugs in your backyard on a summer evening.

[Ura-Maru]

"Bladerunner" was the title of a completely different science fiction novel by physician Alan E. Nourse.

Wait. It wasn't a historical novel from WW2? I was sure it was.

That's embarrassing. I feel like Marc Antony must have felt like after Octavian tricked Namor into destroying his navy at Actium . . .

--
Stupid memory loaf.

[Misnomer]

When I was in 7th grade English, we were required to pick a novel to read based solely on the title and author. Having recently seen "Grey Lady Down" at the movie theater, I picked a book with the intriguing title, "Watership Down," thinking it was about a ship or submarine.Similar story here: in high school we were reading Hemingway, and I had a choice between A Farewell to Arms and For Whom the Bell Tolls. I chose the latter because I didn't want to read a book about war. :smack:

[Sam A. Robrin]

What? That's what it's about? I always thought it was about a group of quirky but lovable middle-aged Southern ladies who loved to cook.
How are the two mutually exclusive...?

[Sam A. Robrin]

Similar story here: in high school we were reading Hemingway, and I had a choice between A Farewell to Arms and For Whom the Bell Tolls. I chose the latter because I didn't want to read a book about war. :smack:

I always assumed the former was about the Venus de Milo....

[Nobody]

Yeah! And that TV show The Naked Archeologist! He never appears other than fully clothed. (Thankfully.)
And for a while on Food Network Jamie Oliver had a show called "The Naked Chef". Again, he was fully clothed.

[Irishman]

What? That's what it's about? I always thought it was about a group of quirky but lovable middle-aged Southern ladies who loved to cook.

Well, the plot is about
A young woman who is abused by her husband, and her eventual escape from his tyranny by killing him, and how they cover up the murder by disposing of the evidence. All told through flashbacks.

I still have no idea what "Burn Notice" is about, though a lot of people seem to like it.

Burn Notice is about a spy who was booted for illegal activity he didn't commit. So he is trying to find out why he was fired, try to get his job back, and try to get even with the folks who got him fired. Each step of the way getting manipulated by people who want him to do their bidding. Meanwhile, to pass the time and earn a living, he solves problems for people that the authorities cannot or will not deal with in creative ways using his spy skills. You could also mention the dysfunctional family, the awkward relationships with "friends", and the excuse for explosions.

[CalMeacham]

That's embarrassing. I feel like Marc Antony must have felt like after Octavian tricked Namor into destroying his navy at Actium . . .



I wanna hear more about this ...

[jackdavinci]

I don't know about their attitudes, but the Violent Femmes are (or were) all guys.

I see you, and raise you one Bare Naked Ladies, who are neither nude, nor ladies.

...and that's not incense!

Although granted there was a Buddhist prayer...

Dear Buddha, please bring me a pony and a plastic rocket

[Dolly Madison]

In the immortal words of The Simpson's Nelson Muntz about the movie Naked Lunch: "I can think of at least two things wrong with that title!"

The Vagina Monologues certainly could qualify too! As my dad would say, "That's false advertizing!"

[Batsinma Belfry]

Fried Green Tomatoes

Worse yet, the tagline, "The secret's in the sauce."One main character barbecues her lover's husband & secretly feeds him to the town. Yep, that secret.

That was just a small part of the plot. If you'll recall, they owned a cafe' and Fried Green Tomatoes were the specialty.