# Books/movies where you totally missed the point the first time around **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 10, 2016, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-movies-where-you-totally-missed-the-point-the-first-time-around/768114 "2016-10-10T00:03:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2016, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-movies-where-you-totally-missed-the-point-the-first-time-around/768114/21 "2016-10-11T19:02:12Z")
> [@mbh](#): > > According to my 9th-grade English teacher, Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery” was supposed to shock me with its portrayal of modern Americans conducting a savage fertility ritual. > > I was a history buff, and a sci-fi fan, and occasionally a horror fan. That idea was old hat to me. I was struck by the hypocrisy of the lead character: she was quite eager to sacrifice someone else, but she started bitching when her own name was drawn. > > My teacher thought i had completely missed the point. Decades later, I guess I am still missing the point. I was more inclined to think “The Lottery” was Shirley Jackson venting about how much she hated her neighbors in small-town America. TODAY, Bennington, Vermont is synonymous with liberalism, but in her day, it seemed like a backward village populated by narrow-minded, provincial rubes. ---
**Author:** ![Channing\_Idaho\_Banks](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/channing_idaho_banks/32/250_2.png) [@Channing\_Idaho\_Banks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Channing_Idaho_Banks)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2016, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-movies-where-you-totally-missed-the-point-the-first-time-around/768114/22 "2016-10-11T19:09:05Z")
Shutter Island with Leonardo DiCaprio. That is one weird movie. ---
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2016, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-movies-where-you-totally-missed-the-point-the-first-time-around/768114/23 "2016-10-11T19:14:26Z")
I’m not sure this is missing the _whole_ point, but I have read _To Kill a Mockingbird_ dozens of times. My daughter pointed out the whole story was about how Jem broke his elbow. [QUOTE=Opening Lines] When he was nearly thirteen, my brother Jem got his arm badly broken at the elbow. When it healed, and Jem’s fears of never being able to play football were assuaged, he was seldom self-conscious about his injury. His left arm was somewhat shorter than his right; when he stood or walked, the back of his hand was at right angles to his body, his thumb parallel to his thigh. He couldn’t have cared less, so long as he could pass and punt. When enough years had gone by to enable us to look back on them, we sometimes discussed the events leading to his accident. [/QUOTE] ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2016, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-movies-where-you-totally-missed-the-point-the-first-time-around/768114/24 "2016-10-11T20:46:17Z")
> [@minor7flat5](#): > > To this day I am certain I’m missing a huge part of what **Cool Hand Luke** is about. > > It’s a good movie with memorable scenes, but it is clear that there is depth to that movie that I’m just not seeing. There are writeups out there that explain, in a Cliff’s Notes kind of way, the symbolism, and the movie certainly is highly thought of. > > Even as I enjoy watching it, I can tell that each scene was very carefully crafted and placed, for reasons that seem tantalizingly close but still evade me. I think it was made at a time (1967) when the mere act of rebellion was something to celebrate and admire. I’ve had the same feeling as you when watching it recently. The Captain and bosses on the chain gang are tyrants (and so is Dragline, in his way) and it’s nice to see someone stand up to them. But if you’re gonna fight for something, can’t you find a cause a little more noble than cutting the heads off parking meters? ---
**Author:** ![Typo\_Negative](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/typo_negative/32/484_2.png) [@Typo\_Negative](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Negative)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2016, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-movies-where-you-totally-missed-the-point-the-first-time-around/768114/25 "2016-10-11T23:49:59Z")
> [@Dale\_Sams](#): > > But Greenwald doesn’t cast Maryk as a villain at all. Just calls him stupid and his career is over. Same for Keith. And Keefer isn’t a villain but a coward as we see later. I saw it differently. Keefer was the villain as well as a coward. He constantly pressed Maryk to go behind Queeg’s back as soon as he get’s there. Maryk didn’t want to at first. Keefer only backs off on the witness stand when he realizes it might get hisself in trouble. From wiki: > [@](#): > > Despite his own disgust with Maryk’s and Willie’s actions, Greenwald decides to take the case after deducing Keefer’s role. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2016, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-movies-where-you-totally-missed-the-point-the-first-time-around/768114/26 "2016-10-12T02:51:54Z")
> [@AK84](#): > > …_The Prince_ Now that I read it, its so obviously a parody. When I took a college Machiavelli course in the late '80s, that was a trendy theory. Not sure it’s widely accepted in academia these days. > [@LVBoPeep](#): > > _Wuthering Heights_ for me. It was assigned reading in high school and I scorned it as a crappy romance. Read it again in my 30s and realized it was the observation of a train wreck and a study in selfish destruction (and self-destruction). Would you think differently if it were in semaphore?: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=91\_jymgH8QY](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=91_jymgH8QY) > [@mbh](#): > > …I have yet to read _Pinocchio_, but I have seen three different film versions… when I saw the 2022 version, with Roberto Benigni… Good to know he’ll still be getting work then. ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2016, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-movies-where-you-totally-missed-the-point-the-first-time-around/768114/27 "2016-10-12T03:17:44Z")
**Elendill’s Heir** it does go against the theme of the rest of the man’s writings. ---
**Author:** ![harmonicamoon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/65b543/32.png) [@harmonicamoon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/harmonicamoon)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2016, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-movies-where-you-totally-missed-the-point-the-first-time-around/768114/28 "2016-10-12T04:24:14Z")
2001, A Space Odyssey. I have seen it over a dozen times. Read the books. And it still baffles me. ---
**Author:** ![Superdude](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/superdude/32/13450_2.png) [@Superdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superdude)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2016, 5:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-movies-where-you-totally-missed-the-point-the-first-time-around/768114/29 "2016-10-12T05:09:57Z")
It wasn’t until the third viewing of “Fargo” that I understood the importance of the scene between Marge and her classmate at the restaurant. At first, it seemed kind of shoehorned in, a way to break rhythm in the movie. On the third viewing (and my then-girlfriend’s second), it really clicked in my mind. Up until then, Frances McDormand was just kinda taking everyone at face value. When she finds out that her classmate has had emotional problems, it occurred to me at the same time that it registered with her that she really needed to dig deeper into the kidnapping. ---
**Author:** ![WotNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e19b73/32.png) [@WotNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WotNot)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2016, 9:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-movies-where-you-totally-missed-the-point-the-first-time-around/768114/30 "2016-10-12T09:17:12Z")
I saw _Big Trouble In Little China_ when it first came out. It was only when I saw it again last year that I realised: Kurt Russell’s not the hero – he’s the comedy sidekick. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2016, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-movies-where-you-totally-missed-the-point-the-first-time-around/768114/31 "2016-10-12T13:25:10Z")
> [@harmonicamoon](#): > > 2001, A Space Odyssey. I have seen it over a dozen times. Read the books. > > And it still baffles me. I don’t think being confused by the ending is missing the point. 🙂 There is a short story called _The Humanist Jew_ where the title character is hidden by his assistants during WWII, who care for him and protect him for the rest of his life. They just don’t tell him that WWII is over. When I first read it, I thought it was alternate history, and a happy ending. I read it again, realized it was not alternate history - but I couldn’t be sure it _wasn’t_ a happy ending. It was the final line of the story. “It is clear that Herr (I can’t remember the title characters name) will die a happy man - holding in each hand the hand of a loyal friend. And with the satisfaction of having been proven right.” Is that a happy ending? His “loyal friends” have stolen his factory and lied to him. But he is happy, and thinks his faith in them and in humanity is justified. Which is better - truth, or happiness? Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![Barkis\_is\_Willin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a183cd/32.png) [@Barkis\_is\_Willin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Barkis_is_Willin)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2016, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-movies-where-you-totally-missed-the-point-the-first-time-around/768114/32 "2016-10-12T13:49:39Z")
The first time I read _The Catcher in the Rye_ I was in junior high school and thought it was just a funny book. As in, it was supposed to be a comedy. Since then I have read it a number of times and while there are parts that still make me laugh, it most certainly is not a comedy. ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2016, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-movies-where-you-totally-missed-the-point-the-first-time-around/768114/33 "2016-10-12T14:21:25Z")
This thread has me rethinking the whole _Caine_ issue, especially Greenwald’s speech about how Queeg is career Navy and they are civilians dressed in blue. Could it be that Queeg’s actions are based on his idea that “I’ve been here for years and you haven’t - therefore I know what I’m doing and you don’t” I know a lot of business managers like that and many act just like Queeg (minus the ball bearings). As a hijack, how did Tom Tully get an Oscar nomination from that movie? ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2016, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-movies-where-you-totally-missed-the-point-the-first-time-around/768114/34 "2016-10-12T16:23:54Z")
When I took Honors English in high school we had to read Swift’s _A Modest Proposal._ **Not a single student in the class understood the satire**. (Including me) ---
**Author:** ![ChockFullOfHeadyGoodness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chockfullofheadygoodness/32/511_2.png) [@ChockFullOfHeadyGoodness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ChockFullOfHeadyGoodness)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2016, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-movies-where-you-totally-missed-the-point-the-first-time-around/768114/35 "2016-10-12T19:47:40Z")
I first saw **The Phantom of the Paradise** when I was 11 and was expecting a straight-up horror film, and was confused by some parts being sort of goofy. It wasn’t until I saw it again in college that I realized it was a satire of the music business and a comedy, with a few horror elements thrown in to punch up the satire. ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2016, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-movies-where-you-totally-missed-the-point-the-first-time-around/768114/36 "2016-10-12T20:42:44Z")
> [@Trinopus](#): > > Get moving, Van, before Whitewald tires. All these years later (I saw the MAD parody in the mid-60s), I still think of that line every time I see or hear a \*Caine \*reference. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-movies-where-you-totally-missed-the-point-the-first-time-around/768114.md?page=1)