# Aspects of pop culture people seem to misunderstand **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 16, 2013, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aspects-of-pop-culture-people-seem-to-misunderstand/647417 "2013-01-16T20:56:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2013, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aspects-of-pop-culture-people-seem-to-misunderstand/647417/41 "2013-01-18T14:20:54Z")
> [@Push\_You\_Down](#): > > A couple of episodes have plot points–sometimes major–that hinge on the idea that this is Sam’s body disguised as the original person. > Thewar veteran amputee episode is the first one that springs to mind. He stands up from his wheelchair and you see what the other person sees and it’s like Phantom Limb from the Venture Brothers. He’s just “floating” on invisible lower legs. There was one where he was a blind pianist (and gets caught reading a dog food label, I don’t remember how the episode resolved). At the time I was under the common impression that he was “inhabiting” the other person but never bothered to question why his mind in a set of non-functioning eyes would suddenly make them work. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2013, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aspects-of-pop-culture-people-seem-to-misunderstand/647417/42 "2013-01-18T14:41:18Z")
> [@Jophiel](#): > > There was one where he was a blind pianist (and gets caught reading a dog food label, I don’t remember how the episode resolved). He gets temporarily blinded by an early-'60s flashbulb, and has to save the day by listening to Al’s advice (before proving his accuser false, by genuinely failing to see archetypal danger waving right in front of his very eyes). ---
**Author:** ![Frylock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@Frylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frylock)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2013, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aspects-of-pop-culture-people-seem-to-misunderstand/647417/43 "2013-01-18T14:51:42Z")
> [@Mahaloth](#): > > And it isn’t open to interpretation in any other way. I saw an interview with Kathleen Kennedy(producer) years and years ago where she said she and Spielberg were stunned that anyone thought they were aliens and that their intention had only ever been for it to be clearly robots in the future. But, they look exactly like stereotypical aliens to my recollection. (It’s been years since I saw it though.) ---
**Author:** ![Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eyebrows_0f_doom/32/3119_2.png) [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2013, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aspects-of-pop-culture-people-seem-to-misunderstand/647417/44 "2013-01-18T15:17:07Z")
> [@ralph124c](#): > > Body piercing and tattoos-reaction against “beautiful people”? > I have always been puzzled by the embrace of such extreme body modifications-like multiple piercings-many of the people who have these look grotesque. > Is it a reaction against the “supermodel” type people that are all to common in popular culture? My theory is: if you cannot be “beautiful”, then you can be very ugly-but what’s the point? I find these walking hardware stores quite repulsive. What the hell does that have to do with this thread? ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2013, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aspects-of-pop-culture-people-seem-to-misunderstand/647417/45 "2013-01-18T15:35:39Z")
In _Frankenstein_, it’s true that the monster’s name was Frankenstein. With the caveat, of course, that it’s the human scientist who’s the monster, not his hapless creation. ---
**Author:** ![StusBlues](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dc4da7/32.png) [@StusBlues](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StusBlues)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2013, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aspects-of-pop-culture-people-seem-to-misunderstand/647417/46 "2013-01-18T15:39:24Z")
> [@Lemur866](#): > > Vampires and wooden stakes. > > What’s the point of the wooden stake? It’s because when there’s a dead corpse, and you know at night it’s going to claw itself out of the grave to feast on the blood of the living, what the heck are you supposed to do? Howabout you take a giant stake and NAIL that fucker into its fucking coffin? How you like me now? > > The wooden stake is just to staple that rotting corpse to the ground so it can’t wander around any more. It doesn’t kill them–how can you kill that which has no life? It doesn’t turn them to dust. It’s just a wooden stake that literally stakes that fucker to the ground. > > Nobody anywhere can understand this simple fact. Good points by you and Cal above. It’s interesting to note that Dracula is NOT staked in the novel–he is stabbed in the throat and chest by knives. Incidentally, the only times I’ve seen an undead corpse turned to dust in folklore is when a priest gives it absolution. Forgive the hell out of the vampire–that’s the ticket! ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2013, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aspects-of-pop-culture-people-seem-to-misunderstand/647417/47 "2013-01-18T15:57:41Z")
> [@StusBlues](#): > > Good points by you and Cal above. It’s interesting to note that Dracula is NOT staked in the novel–he is stabbed in the throat and chest by knives. However, all the female vampires in the novel (Lucy and the three “sisters”, popularly known as the “Brides of Dracula”) are killed by staking. ---
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2013, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aspects-of-pop-culture-people-seem-to-misunderstand/647417/48 "2013-01-18T15:57:58Z")
> [@Lemur866](#): > > Vampires and wooden stakes. > > What’s the point of the wooden stake? It’s because when there’s a dead corpse, and you know at night it’s going to claw itself out of the grave to feast on the blood of the living, what the heck are you supposed to do? Howabout you take a giant stake and NAIL that fucker into its fucking coffin? How you like me now? > > The wooden stake is just to staple that rotting corpse to the ground so it can’t wander around any more. It doesn’t kill them–how can you kill that which has no life? It doesn’t turn them to dust. It’s just a wooden stake that literally stakes that fucker to the ground. > > Nobody anywhere can understand this simple fact. It certainly does kill the undead. Van Helsing assured the guys that Lucy Westenra was truly dead once staked. The beheading & Host/garlic sanitation of her body & the grave was to prevent Dracula from removing the stake & reviving her with his blood. ---
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2013, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aspects-of-pop-culture-people-seem-to-misunderstand/647417/49 "2013-01-18T15:59:04Z")
> [@StusBlues](#): > > Good points by you and Cal above. It’s interesting to note that Dracula is NOT staked in the novel–he is stabbed in the throat and chest by knives. > > Incidentally, the only times I’ve seen an undead corpse turned to dust in folklore is when a priest gives it absolution. Forgive the hell out of the vampire–that’s the ticket! Dracula turns to dust. ---
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2013, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aspects-of-pop-culture-people-seem-to-misunderstand/647417/50 "2013-01-18T16:01:25Z")
> [@Reeses\_Monkey](#): > > Or **Wonderful Tonight** Why? I seem to misunderstand also. ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2013, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aspects-of-pop-culture-people-seem-to-misunderstand/647417/51 "2013-01-18T16:02:37Z")
> [@FriarTed](#): > > Dracula turns to dust. I though he turned to mist. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2013, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aspects-of-pop-culture-people-seem-to-misunderstand/647417/52 "2013-01-18T16:04:13Z")
> [@Shagnasty](#): > > Rocky loses in the original Rocky. That was the whole point. No one expected him to be able to last more than a couple of rounds with the champ but he went the whole 15 rounds and lost only to a fairly close decision. As I recall it was a _split_ decision so among the three officials, one thought he _had_ won the fight. But yeah, he loses. I don’t get people who think the “KHAAAAANNN!!!” yell is anything but a genuine moment of impotent fury, but how widespread this misunderstanding is, I couldn’t say. ---
**Author:** ![StusBlues](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dc4da7/32.png) [@StusBlues](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StusBlues)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2013, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aspects-of-pop-culture-people-seem-to-misunderstand/647417/53 "2013-01-18T16:08:35Z")
> [@DrFidelius](#): > > I though he turned to mist. [QUOTE=BramStoker] But, on the instant, came the sweep and flash of Jonathan’s great knife. I shrieked as I saw it shear through the throat. Whilst at the same moment Mr. Morris’s bowie knife plunged into the heart. It was like a miracle, but before our very eyes, and almost in the drawing of a breath, the whole body crumbled into dust and passed from our sight. [/QUOTE] But that’s literature, not folklore. Along the same lines, Stoker’s Dracula isn’t terribly inconvenienced by sunlight. He makes the bed in the morning and goes to the zoo, though when he’s in the coffin he’s pretty well out of it. ---
**Author:** ![MilTan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@MilTan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MilTan)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2013, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aspects-of-pop-culture-people-seem-to-misunderstand/647417/54 "2013-01-18T16:23:44Z")
> [@Reeses\_Monkey](#): > > Or **Wonderful Tonight** This one I can give a pass to (especially compared to “Every Breath You Take.”) Sure, Clapton may have written it about another man’s wife, but that’s just surrounding context. Taken on its own, the song is perfectly appropriate for a wedding. On the other hand, “Every Breath You Take” is about a fucking stalker. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2013, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aspects-of-pop-culture-people-seem-to-misunderstand/647417/55 "2013-01-18T16:59:54Z")
> [@FriarTed](#): > > Why? I seem to misunderstand also. RE: Wonderful Tonight, I remember an interview where he said his ‘inspiration’ was Boyd taking forever to preen for an event they were already late for. When she asked him how she looked, his “you look wonderful” remark wasn’t one of affection but rather an annoyed “Yeah, great, let’s go already”. I couldn’t find the original interview but from a fan site: > [@](#): > > Eric Clapton wrote the song while waiting for his first wife, Pattie, to get dressed for a night out. They were on their way to a party hosted by Paul and Linda McCartney in honor of Buddy Holly’s birthday. They were running very late and Pattie insisted on trying on every outfit in her closet to find the perfect one. She kept coming downstairs wearing something new and Eric kept telling her, “You look wonderful. Can we go now?” Eventually, he became tired of this and picked up a guitar to keep himself occupied and wrote “Wonderful Tonight”. But I agree that the back story doesn’t make it as bad as “Every Breath You Take”. “Wonderful Tonight” isn’t overtly about being annoyed by your wife but EBYT is obviously about stalking if you pay even scant attention to the lyrics. ---
**Author:** ![Hampshire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hampshire/32/4887_2.png) [@Hampshire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hampshire)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2013, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aspects-of-pop-culture-people-seem-to-misunderstand/647417/56 "2013-01-18T17:14:19Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > “Frankenstein” seems obvious. Get’s even more confusing with “Bride of Frankenstein”. So it’s bride ‘of’ Frankenstein meaning the bride is his creation and he own’s it but his monster is the future groom. ---
**Author:** ![amanset](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8dc957/32.png) [@amanset](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amanset)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2013, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aspects-of-pop-culture-people-seem-to-misunderstand/647417/57 "2013-01-18T17:36:17Z")
> [@Frylock](#): > > But, they look exactly like stereotypical aliens to my recollection. (It’s been years since I saw it though.) Exactly. They were supposed to be super-advanced aliens but due to \*extremely \*bad design they were made to look like stereotypical “grey” aliens. Hence the confusion. [http://shortstormtrooper.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/robots.jpg](http://shortstormtrooper.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/robots.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2013, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aspects-of-pop-culture-people-seem-to-misunderstand/647417/58 "2013-01-18T17:54:22Z")
> [@ralph124c](#): > > Body piercing and tattoos-reaction against “beautiful people”? > I have always been puzzled by the embrace of such extreme body modifications-like multiple piercings-many of the people who have these look grotesque. > Is it a reaction against the “supermodel” type people that are all to common in popular culture? My theory is: if you cannot be “beautiful”, then you can be very ugly-but what’s the point? I find these walking hardware stores quite repulsive. > [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](#): > > What the hell does that have to do with this thread? Maybe it was supposed to be an example of someone misunderstanding an aspect of popular culture. **ralph124c** , please pay attention to the thread topic. Your post did not have anything to do with the actual subject. ---
**Author:** ![Lemur866](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lemur866/32/434_2.png) [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2013, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aspects-of-pop-culture-people-seem-to-misunderstand/647417/59 "2013-01-18T18:57:28Z")
> [@FriarTed](#): > > It certainly does kill the undead. Van Helsing assured the guys that Lucy Westenra was truly dead once staked. The beheading & Host/garlic sanitation of her body & the grave was to prevent Dracula from removing the stake & reviving her with his blood. OK, she’s truly dead due to staking. And all Dracula has to do is remove the stake and give her some blood, and she’s revived. How is that equal to “truly dead”? When you’re dealing with that which has no life, whether it’s dead or truly dead or really most sincerely dead is confusing. Anyway, Bram Stoker codified a lot of vampire lore in his novel. But as was said, there are lots of bits of modern vampire lore that aren’t present in “Dracula”, much to our surprise. It’s interesting how much of what “everyone knows” about vampires is not folklore, but literary invention created in the 20th century. For instance, Joss Whedon decided that vampires should turn to dust when staked so Buffy wouldn’t have to deal with vampire corpses every week, which would be awkward. Now, vampires crumbled to dust earlier. But they didn’t explode just because a little piece of wood hit them in the heart. ---
**Author:** ![Frylock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@Frylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frylock)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2013, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aspects-of-pop-culture-people-seem-to-misunderstand/647417/60 "2013-01-18T19:01:14Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > As I recall it was a _split_ decision so among the three officials, one thought he _had_ won the fight. But yeah, he loses. > I don’t get people who think the “KHAAAAANNN!!!” yell is anything but a genuine moment of impotent fury, but how widespread this misunderstanding is, I couldn’t say. Now I’m spacing out on the plot. What do people think it is if not that? I seem to vaguely recall that shortly afterwards it turns out he can be beamed out any time he wants. Wouldn’t that support a reading of the yell as not genuine impotent fury? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aspects-of-pop-culture-people-seem-to-misunderstand/647417.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aspects-of-pop-culture-people-seem-to-misunderstand/647417.md?page=4)