# Embarrassing epiphanies about movies **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 4, 2006, 5:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/embarrassing-epiphanies-about-movies/342966 "2006-02-04T05:14:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Push\_You\_Down](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/push_you_down/32/9095_2.png) [@Push\_You\_Down](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Push_You_Down)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2006, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/embarrassing-epiphanies-about-movies/342966/61 "2006-02-07T19:10:44Z")
Tony Shaloub’s character is most likely not intended to be a stoner in Galaxy Quest… He’s more likely the ANTI-Scotty. Scotty: She canna take anymore captain! Shaloub’s Character: Yeah, Captain, I uh, uh, I don’t think, the um, ship, can…uhhhh take anymore. Yeah. ---
**Author:** ![a35362](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3da27b/32.png) [@a35362](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/a35362)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2006, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/embarrassing-epiphanies-about-movies/342966/62 "2006-02-07T19:47:22Z")
My dad took me to see _La Cage aux Folles_ when I was, like, 14, and I didn’t understand that they were gay, or more precisely, I don’t think I really knew what being gay was – I think I thought it just had to do with being weirdly shrill and fussy and dressing up in women’s clothing. I can’t imagine why he took me. Maybe he thought it was some artsy French film. When I _finally_ figured out that Charlton Heston’s character in _Touch of Evil_ was supposed to be Mexican it started to make sense. Actually, any of those older movies where they have an actor playing a character of another race confuses me – Mickey Rooney, Alec Guinness, Marlon Brando – what’s the point? I think I was in college before I understood the joke with the Cowardly Lion in _The Wizard of Oz_ saying, “Trapped like mice – rats!” I thought he was just sort of stammering, “Trapped like mice [or], rats!” instead of saying, “We’re trapped like mice – darn!” ---
**Author:** ![Cliffy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/59ef9b/32.png) [@Cliffy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cliffy)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2006, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/embarrassing-epiphanies-about-movies/342966/63 "2006-02-07T19:47:24Z")
Right. But because he’s _stoned_. It took me years to realize that Kris Kringle in Miracle on 34th Street was definitively just a nice old man with whiskers. I originally thought they left it up in the air, but the real miracle is about how everyone acting in their own self-interest (except Kris and Natalie Wood) leads to a happy ending. Of course, it isn’t helped by the fact that whenever they show it on TV now they cut everything that establishes this. (For instance, you see Macy and Gimble fight about who can give Kris the bigger bonus, but you don’t see Kris ask them for the X-ray machine.) –Cliffy ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2006, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/embarrassing-epiphanies-about-movies/342966/64 "2006-02-07T19:57:13Z")
Here’s a tangentially related CS thread I started in 2004: “Jokes (and other things) that you didn’t get until much, much later.” – [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=259977](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=259977) ---
**Author:** ![lisacurl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/41988e/32.png) [@lisacurl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lisacurl)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2006, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/embarrassing-epiphanies-about-movies/342966/65 "2006-02-07T20:12:49Z")
> [@smiling bandit](#): > > Are you sure Shaloub’s character was supposed to be stoned? I think he was just supposed to be so laid-back nothing ever phased him. It’s a Tony Shaloub thing. > > Besides, he was on the ship for quite a while without having any “smoking” breaks. Of course, maybe he was one of those potheads who’s been on it for so long they’re perma-stoned. I figured he was carrying. ---
**Author:** ![Tenar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/35a633/32.png) [@Tenar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tenar)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2006, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/embarrassing-epiphanies-about-movies/342966/66 "2006-02-07T23:36:53Z")
> [@Cliffy](#): > > Right. But because he’s _stoned_. > > It took me years to realize that Kris Kringle in Miracle on 34th Street was definitively just a nice old man with whiskers. I originally thought they left it up in the air, but the real miracle is about how everyone acting in their own self-interest (except Kris and Natalie Wood) leads to a happy ending. Of course, it isn’t helped by the fact that whenever they show it on TV now they cut everything that establishes this. (For instance, you see Macy and Gimble fight about who can give Kris the bigger bonus, but you don’t see Kris ask them for the X-ray machine.) > > –Cliffy I don’t quite agree with you on this one. The lack of absolute proof that he is Santa Claus doesn’t prove definitively that he is NOT Santa. The fact that Kris didn’t deliver the X-ray machine with a sleigh doesn’t mean that he isn’t magic. Unless your point is that he IS Santa, but that Santa is just a nice old man with whiskers? Also, although it is far from 100% proof, let’s not forget Santa’s surprising knowledge of Dutch. I own the DVD, which I have watched more times than I care to admit, and I don’t concede that Kringle isn’t Santa. Put me down for “unresolved.” There is no proof that Kringle (or Santa, for that matter) left the cane in the house at the end, but then, there is no proof that he did not, either. ---
**Author:** ![Talon\_Karrde](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Talon\_Karrde](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Talon_Karrde)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2006, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/embarrassing-epiphanies-about-movies/342966/67 "2006-02-08T00:20:16Z")
> [@Brain Wreck](#): > > When I watched Napoleon Dynamite, I inadvertently turned on the director’s commentary. When the movie started, everybody was like “Why’s the director talking over everything” and I was like “Shut up, it’s irony.” After about 15 minutes we had enough of irony and discovered the problem. Heh, that sounds exactly like what the character Napoleon Dynamite would say. ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2006, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/embarrassing-epiphanies-about-movies/342966/68 "2006-02-08T00:59:18Z")
Until I watched Back to the Future II on DVD yesterday I had no idea that Michael J Fox played his own daughter (and that was only because I listened to the commentary). ---
**Author:** ![Baine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Baine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baine)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2006, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/embarrassing-epiphanies-about-movies/342966/69 "2006-02-08T01:24:00Z")
Having grown up with the movie _Back to the Future_, it was a long time before I ever really thought about the fact that the actors playing Marty’s parents in 1985 are younger actors playing older people with the help of makeup. Now it always kind of disturbs me to see actors wearing “old person makeup”. ---
**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:** [February 8, 2006, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/embarrassing-epiphanies-about-movies/342966/70 "2006-02-08T01:40:24Z")
> [@robardin](#): > > Indeed. Overall I feel the core theme of the movie is much more evocative of _Henry V_ and the other “King” plays than _Hamlet_ And I’ve noticed that many people don’t make the connection that [O Brother, Where Art Thou?](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0190590/) is a loose retelling of _The Odyssey_ until I point it out to them. ---
**Author:** ![iamthewalrus\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/258eb7/32.png) [@iamthewalrus\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamthewalrus_3)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2006, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/embarrassing-epiphanies-about-movies/342966/71 "2006-02-08T02:44:29Z")
> [@alphaboi867](#): > > Until I watched Back to the Future II on DVD yesterday I had no idea that Michael J Fox played his own daughter (and that was only because I listened to the commentary). No way! I’ve gotta watch that again. ---
**Author:** ![wolf\_in\_second\_hand\_clothing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/9d8465/32.png) [@wolf\_in\_second\_hand\_clothing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolf_in_second_hand_clothing)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2006, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/embarrassing-epiphanies-about-movies/342966/72 "2006-02-08T03:15:08Z")
Until the recent commercials, I had no idea that **The Pink Panther** was not, in fact, about an animated pink panther. ---
**Author:** ![Merijeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f05b48/32.png) [@Merijeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merijeek)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2006, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/embarrassing-epiphanies-about-movies/342966/73 "2006-02-08T03:58:49Z")
> [@iamthewalrus(:3=](#): > > No way! > > I’ve gotta watch that again. Apparently, you never saw the adds for the movie at the time. It was something like: “Starring Michael J. Fox [shows Marty], Michael J. Fox [Shows old Marty], and Michael J. Fox [Michael J Fox in Girl Wig].” -Joe, watched lots of TV back then ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2006, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/embarrassing-epiphanies-about-movies/342966/74 "2006-02-08T04:09:40Z")
I saw _The Crying Game_ when it first came out in 1993. At the time, ironically, I did not know the concept of transgender. I assumed she was just being a smart aleck when she called herself a “girl.” It took years to understand that she _really_ meant it. ---
**Author:** ![Talon\_Karrde](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Talon\_Karrde](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Talon_Karrde)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2006, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/embarrassing-epiphanies-about-movies/342966/75 "2006-02-08T04:23:06Z")
> [@Johanna](#): > > I saw _The Crying Game_ when it first came out in 1993. At the time, ironically, I did not know the concept of transgender. I assumed she was just being a smart aleck when she called herself a “girl.” It took years to understand that she _really_ meant it. I did NOT see that coming when I was watching the movie, which I guess could be considered an embarassing epiphany. Even as the camera panned down her naked body, it didn’t register for a couple of seconds. I was watching with my brother and he saw the twist coming. ---
**Author:** ![KJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b2d939/32.png) [@KJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KJ)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2006, 5:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/embarrassing-epiphanies-about-movies/342966/76 "2006-02-08T05:34:55Z")
[sub]I’m embarassed to say this, but I didn’t realize the significance of the last scene in “The Sixth Sense” until the movie was over and I was in the theater parking lot.[/sub] > [@Achren](#): > > Many years passed before I realized that [Jock offered to marry Lady](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0048280/) because she was pregnant. Wha? I don’t remember that at _all_…I haven’t seen that movie since I was a kid. I should watch it again. > [@MGibson](#): > > I used to think Yoda was just a really old human. Me too! It totally makes sense that a) after hundreds of years your body would look like that, and b) Being connected with the force would make you live a really long time. I only really noticed that wasn’t right when I noticed he’s only got two fingers and a thumb, and weird alien feet. For a long time, I didn’t realize that the mice in **An Americal Tail** were supposed to be Jewish, or that **Cats Don’t Dance** was a sort of allegory for black actors in the early days of cinema. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Rieux](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@Dr.Rieux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Rieux)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2006, 5:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/embarrassing-epiphanies-about-movies/342966/77 "2006-02-08T05:35:50Z")
> [@Superdude](#): > > And I’ve noticed that many people don’t make the connection that [O Brother, Where Art Thou?](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0190590/) is a loose retelling of _The Odyssey_ until I point it out to them. It’s explicitly stated in the opening credits. When _Galaxy Quest_ came out, there was a rumor that scenes of Tony Shalhoub’s character smoking weed had been filmed, but edited out. ---
**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:** [February 8, 2006, 7:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/embarrassing-epiphanies-about-movies/342966/78 "2006-02-08T07:06:07Z")
> [@Dr. Rieux](#): > > It’s explicitly stated in the opening credits. Well, it quotes the opening lines in text on the screen, but I don’t think that it says more than that. And I live in Kentucky. Most people here think of Homer as Bart’s dad. ---
**Author:** ![Cliffy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/59ef9b/32.png) [@Cliffy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cliffy)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2006, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/embarrassing-epiphanies-about-movies/342966/79 "2006-02-08T15:37:55Z")
> [@Tenar](#): > > I don’t quite agree with you on this one. The lack of absolute proof that he is Santa Claus doesn’t prove definitively that he is NOT Santa. My feeling is the fact that there’s not one scintilla of an iota of an indication that he’s anything but a nice old man with whiskers. It _appears_ that there is, but that’s all tricks. Kris gets the job because Doris needs an immediate replacement; he keeps it because Shellhammer takes credit for the idea; Dr. Whatsis gets his X-ray machine because Macy and Gimble want to one-up each other; their customers are happy because only because the magnates see good business in customer satisfaction; Fred takes the case because he dislikes his big firm job and wants to strike out on his own (and is also legitimately concerned about Kris, but he still admits it’s going to get his name in the papers); Doris comes around primarily to convince both Fred and herself that she belongs with Fred; the mail comes to Kris because the post office is looking for any reason to clear out all its dead letters; and Kris ultimately wins his case because Boss Tweed tells the judge he has to let him. As for the Dutch, well, Doris speaks French but that doesn’t make her Joan of Arc. It goes on and on. The real miracle is that even though everyone looks out for their own self-interest, that all comes together in one moment to make them all happy. –Cliffy ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2006, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/embarrassing-epiphanies-about-movies/342966/80 "2006-02-08T16:05:15Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > For some reason I didn’t realize Bruce Willis’s girlfriend in _Pulp Fiction_ was French. I could have sworn, both times I saw it in the theater, that she was Asian (and assumed that her accent was perhaps due to being Vietnamese or from some other French Asian colony). No idea why I thought this, but one of the people who saw it with me also thought she was Asian. But she is Asian! I saw it twice I know she’s Asian! Isn’t she? So, she’s French huh? :smack: [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/embarrassing-epiphanies-about-movies/342966.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/embarrassing-epiphanies-about-movies/342966.md?page=5)