# Fiction which is misrepresented in pop culture **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 23, 2013, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fiction-which-is-misrepresented-in-pop-culture/661683 "2013-06-23T03:17:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2013, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fiction-which-is-misrepresented-in-pop-culture/661683/21 "2013-06-24T02:18:50Z")
I came in here to talk about Kirk. Sniped. ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2013, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fiction-which-is-misrepresented-in-pop-culture/661683/22 "2013-06-24T02:58:42Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > And _Star Wars_ - what a rip-off. All of the fighting involved humans and aliens and robots. The stars were apparently neutral in these wars and were barely even mentioned. > [@grude](#): > > There is probably something in the VAST extended universe about a sentient star, or you could watch Andromeda if stars getting involved in galactic politics is your thing 😛 It was worse than that in Spanish, Star Wars was called “La Guerra de Las Galaxias” [http://www.micromo.es/la-guerra-de-las-galaxias](http://www.micromo.es/la-guerra-de-las-galaxias) Literally:\* The War of the Galaxies\*. I only remember seeing a sentient Galaxy in Futurama and it was not the fighting kind. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2013, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fiction-which-is-misrepresented-in-pop-culture/661683/23 "2013-06-24T03:23:02Z")
> [@grude](#): > > Anyway in my OP I forgot to mention I’ve seen criticism of the film that actual dreams are not like the ones depicted on screen, which is off the mark since the movie is about a VR machine not normal dreams. Dude, it is about dreams. It’s not open to interpretation, either. I think you have…imbued your own thoughts onto it. I’ll quote the screenplay, though this isn’t the only(and maybe not the best) reference. > [@](#): > > Cobb and Ariadne sit at an outdoor table. > COBB > They say we only use a fraction of > the true potential of our brains… > but they’re talking about when > we’re > awake > . While we dream, the > mind performs wonders. > ARIADNE > Such as? > COBB > How do you imagine a building? You > consciously create each aspect, > puzzling over it in stages… But > sometimes, when your imagination > flies > 2 > ARIADNE > I’m > discovering > it. > COBB > Exactly. Genuine inspiration. > Cobb leans forwards and draws on the paper table cl > oth. > COBB > In a dream your mind > continuously > does that… > Cobb has drawn a circle made of two arrows ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2013, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fiction-which-is-misrepresented-in-pop-culture/661683/24 "2013-06-24T03:41:33Z")
> [@Ethilrist](#): > > Frankenstein? Ain’t the monster. He’s the guy who made The Monster. But it’s an error of very long standing. The creature was referred to as "Frankenstein"by commentors and in plays within Mary Shelley’s own lifetime, in political cartoons from the 19th century, and in the Peggy Webling play that is the nominal (at least) source for the Universal movie. And it should be noted that the Creature never has a name in the book, so it needs _some_ kind of handle. Frankenstein himself calls it a number of things, but usually “The Wretch”. Some people claim that its name is Prometheus, but that’s never used in the book, and I think is a misreading of the book’s subtitle “The Modern Prometheus”, which actuallt refers to Victor Frankenstein. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2013, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fiction-which-is-misrepresented-in-pop-culture/661683/25 "2013-06-24T03:43:31Z")
My contribution: It isn’t a mistake made much anymore, but Uncle Tom in **Uncle Tom’s Cabin** , as many people have pointed out, is no “Uncle Tom”, He was a self-respecting individual who, despite the burden of slavery and Simon Legree’s punishments, didn’t kowtow or sell out. ---
**Author:** ![Martin\_Hyde](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/47e85d/32.png) [@Martin\_Hyde](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martin_Hyde)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2013, 11:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fiction-which-is-misrepresented-in-pop-culture/661683/26 "2013-06-24T11:06:26Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > My contribution: > > It isn’t a mistake made much anymore, but Uncle Tom in **Uncle Tom’s Cabin** , as many people have pointed out, is no “Uncle Tom”, He was a self-respecting individual who, despite the burden of slavery and Simon Legree’s punishments, didn’t kowtow or sell out. Yeah, calling a black person an “Uncle Tom” has always been an insult I got the meaning of but never really understood why it was used that way. Tom was, as you said, not a pliant or particularly servile slave. Yes, he was enslaved, but he was no Stephen from _Django Unchained_. (Despite being a ridiculous movie Jackson’s portrayal of Stephen was a pretty amazing manifestation of the concept of an “Uncle Tom.”) ---
**Author:** ![bmoak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/9dc877/32.png) [@bmoak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bmoak)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2013, 11:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fiction-which-is-misrepresented-in-pop-culture/661683/27 "2013-06-24T11:27:55Z")
As successful as the book Uncle Toms’s Cabin was, far more people saw the minstrel and stage shows it spawned, where Tom (usually portrayed by an actor in blackface) was portrayed as cowardly, obsequious, shiftless, etc. The minstrel show depictions were the source of Uncle Tom as an epithet. ---
**Author:** ![Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/prof.pepperwinkle/32/13627_2.png) [@Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Prof.Pepperwinkle)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2013, 12:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fiction-which-is-misrepresented-in-pop-culture/661683/28 "2013-06-24T12:43:35Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > But it’s an error of very long standing. The creature was referred to as "Frankenstein"by commentors and in plays within Mary Shelley’s own lifetime, in political cartoons from the 19th century, and in the Peggy Webling play that is the nominal (at least) source for the Universal movie. > > And it should be noted that the Creature never has a name in the book, so it needs _some_ kind of handle. Frankenstein himself calls it a number of things, but usually “The Wretch”. Some people claim that its name is Prometheus, but that’s never used in the book, and I think is a misreading of the book’s subtitle “The Modern Prometheus”, which actuallt refers to Victor Frankenstein. I’ll have to reread it, 'cause I was remembering the Creature, having been taught to read from the Bible, names himself “Legion” for his parts are many. ---
**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:** [June 24, 2013, 12:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fiction-which-is-misrepresented-in-pop-culture/661683/29 "2013-06-24T12:47:52Z")
> [@Mahaloth](#): > > Dude, it is about dreams. It’s not open to interpretation, either. I think you have…imbued your own thoughts onto it. I’ll quote the screenplay, though this isn’t the only(and maybe not the best) reference. I’d go with a more clinical one: Yusuf: Brain function in the dream will be about twenty times to normal. When you enter a dream within that dream, the effect is compounded: it’s three dreams, that’s ten hours times twen… Eames: I’m sorry, uh, maths was never my strong subject. How much time is that? Cobb: It’s a week the first level down. Six months the second level down, and… the third level… Ariadne: …is ten years! Who would wanna be stuck in a dream for ten years? Yusuf: Depends on the dream. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2013, 12:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fiction-which-is-misrepresented-in-pop-culture/661683/30 "2013-06-24T12:54:45Z")
Inception is definitely about dreams. It’s similar to VR, but the environment is the dream of one of the participants, not a machine-hosted fiction - this is why the non-player characters are hostile to all participants except the host. The machine is just a mechanism to facilitate the sharing - the dream happens in the heads of the participants. ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2013, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fiction-which-is-misrepresented-in-pop-culture/661683/31 "2013-06-24T13:01:47Z")
> [@Zebra](#): > > Deliverance is a lot more than Dueling Banjos and Squeal like a pig. Yes, the book really makes this clear. It’s all about man’s fear of the wild and their attempt to conquer it. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2013, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fiction-which-is-misrepresented-in-pop-culture/661683/32 "2013-06-24T13:01:59Z")
**In the Heat of the Night** was a good book and a fantastic movie about racial tensions in the early 1960’s South. Really praiseworthy. The TV series wasn’t. ---
**Author:** ![Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapioca_Dextrin)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2013, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fiction-which-is-misrepresented-in-pop-culture/661683/33 "2013-06-24T14:54:53Z")
Everybody knows that Dracula was killed with a stake to the heart. Everybody except Bram Stoker, that is. It was a Bowie knife. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2013, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fiction-which-is-misrepresented-in-pop-culture/661683/34 "2013-06-24T15:10:35Z")
> [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](#): > > Everybody knows that Dracula was killed with a stake to the heart. > > Everybody except Bram Stoker, that is. It was a Bowie knife. Jim Bowie, Vampire Hunter! ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2013, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fiction-which-is-misrepresented-in-pop-culture/661683/35 "2013-06-24T15:26:51Z")
> [@Jophiel](#): > > 'Cept maybe Vasquez. > > _“Someone said ‘alien’, she thought they said illegal alien and signed up!”_ Which is, for any who don’t already know it, exactly what happened in the casting call. She thought the movie would be about illegal aliens and showed up dressed as one. ---
**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:** [June 24, 2013, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fiction-which-is-misrepresented-in-pop-culture/661683/36 "2013-06-24T15:28:35Z")
The concept that Vulcans cannot lie was introduced in the TOS episode _The Enterprise Incident_, in which practically everything Spock says is a lie, as part of a complicated plot to steal a piece of Romulan technology. ---
**Author:** ![Hermione](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/cdc98d/32.png) [@Hermione](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hermione)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2013, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fiction-which-is-misrepresented-in-pop-culture/661683/37 "2013-06-24T15:54:30Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > My contribution: > It isn’t a mistake made much anymore, but Uncle Tom in **Uncle Tom’s Cabin** , as many people have pointed out, is no “Uncle Tom”, He was a self-respecting individual who, despite the burden of slavery and Simon Legree’s punishments, didn’t kowtow or sell out. _Exactly._ Letting your cruel master beat you to death rather than squeal on runaway friends is hardly being a spineless toady. Legree tells Tom that he’s determined to kill Tom if he doesn’t tell what he knows. Tom calmly says, “I haven’t got anything to tell, Master.” Legree snarls that Tom has to know something, but Tom replies, “Of course I know…but I’ll die before I say a word.” Now, Tom DID submit to being at the beginning of the book rather than run away like Eliza did when her son was about to be sold, but IIRC (I don’t have the book in front of me) he only did so because he knew if he ran away, someone else would have to be sold in his place, and he couldn’t live with that. ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2013, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fiction-which-is-misrepresented-in-pop-culture/661683/38 "2013-06-24T16:04:08Z")
> [@Prof.Pepperwinkle](#): > > I’ll have to reread it, 'cause I was remembering the Creature, having been taught to read from the Bible, names himself “Legion” for his parts are many. 41 references to the creation as “the fiend” 33 references as “the monster” 11 as “the wretch” No indication of the word “legion” or “bible.” [Text](http://www.gutenberg.org/files/84/84-h/84-h.htm) ---
**Author:** ![puddleglum](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puddleglum/32/137_2.png) [@puddleglum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puddleglum)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2013, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fiction-which-is-misrepresented-in-pop-culture/661683/39 "2013-06-24T16:11:54Z")
> [@WordMan](#): > > **The Great Gatsby** and **Saturday Night Fever** - both are caustic commentaries on the cultural niches they portray - the social scene at Gatsby’s party is as silly as the disco scenes in SNF - and yet both were glamorized and held up as cool places to be. SNF is not a caustic comment on disco culture. Tony is a loser with a dead end job who lives with his parents and is going nowhere. However when he goes to a disco he becomes an important person with influence and recognition because of his dancing abilities. The characters in the film are losers who are not very bright, but the film shows the allure of disco and why people like it. ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2013, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fiction-which-is-misrepresented-in-pop-culture/661683/40 "2013-06-24T16:12:18Z")
> [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](#): > > 41 references to the creation as “the fiend” > 33 references as “the monster” > 11 as “the wretch” > No indication of the word “legion” or “bible.” > [Text](http://www.gutenberg.org/files/84/84-h/84-h.htm) Maybe [this](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=4166918&postcount=8) is what the poster was thinking of. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fiction-which-is-misrepresented-in-pop-culture/661683.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fiction-which-is-misrepresented-in-pop-culture/661683.md?page=3)