# I Can't Believe You've Never Seen/Read That! **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 28, 2000, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-cant-believe-youve-never-seen-read-that/43108 "2000-11-28T23:34:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Gadarene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47c2d/32.png) [@Gadarene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gadarene)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2000, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-cant-believe-youve-never-seen-read-that/43108/1 "2000-11-28T23:34:52Z")
The kids’ books thread inspired this. Um. I’ve never read any Tolkien. Not _The Hobbit_ or nothin’. I just never got around to it when I was a kid, and the few times I started his stuff when I was older, I felt like I’d read it all before. (Utterly ironic, I know, but since the sci-fi/fantasy I _did_ read drew so much on Tolkien, it was Tolkien that came across as being hopelessly derivative.) I’ve never read any Dickens. Don’t know why–it wasn’t assigned at school. And while I devour books (I even used the word ‘bibliophagy’ in my law school essay!), Dickens has never interested me as much as, say, Wodehouse (to use a completely dissimilar example). And if y’all haven’t _completely_ lost respect for me by now, here’s a partial list of the crushingly obvious movies that I never happen to have seen. The _Godfather_ trilogy _Jaws_ _Citizen Kane_ _Gone with the Wind_ _Titanic_ _It’s a Wonderful Life_ _The Sound of Music_ _Terminator_ _Alien_ _Singing in the Rain_ _Beauty and the Beast_ _Braveheart_ _Rocky_ _Annie Hall_ Not that I take pride in it, mind you. Well, except for _Titanic_. I relish not having seen that. Anyway, you know what? Despite it all, I’m still wonderfully well-read, and a huge film buff to boot. Feels good to get that off my chest, though. Anyone else? ---
**Author:** ![Biotop](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biotop/32/321_2.png) [@Biotop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biotop)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2000, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-cant-believe-youve-never-seen-read-that/43108/2 "2000-11-29T00:18:47Z")
I’ve never seen an episode of **Star Trek**. I lose friends over this. ---
**Author:** ![ren](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ed655f/32.png) [@ren](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ren)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2000, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-cant-believe-youve-never-seen-read-that/43108/3 "2000-11-29T00:24:22Z")
At least half the movies on your list I’ve never seen any of, either. I’ve seen only parts of at least 3 more. At least once a week, my girlfreind or I say to the other “you’ve never (seen/read) THAT?!?!”. I guess there’s just a lot out there to know… ---
**Author:** ![OpalCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8edcca/32.png) [@OpalCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OpalCat)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2000, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-cant-believe-youve-never-seen-read-that/43108/4 "2000-11-29T00:37:39Z")
I was recently SHOCKED to find out that a friend of mine had never seen/read Cinderella. We were in isketch ([www.isketch.net](http://www.isketch.net)) and someone was trying to draw “Cinderella” and they drew a pumpkin with wheels. He asked what that had to do with “Cinderella” and it came about that he had no clue what the story was even about. He was raised in New York, it’s not like he was off in some remote island never visited by modern man. ---
**Author:** ![Ringo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/779978/32.png) [@Ringo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ringo)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2000, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-cant-believe-youve-never-seen-read-that/43108/5 "2000-11-29T00:49:18Z")
I’ve managed to miss about a third of the OP’s list. And, I was without a TV for several years - I got a new one a couple of years ago, but had gotten so out of the habit of watching that I haven’t turned it on since I got it (a friend bought it for me - he thought it unnatural for me to be without one). Thus I’ve never seen _Seinfeldt_ (sp?), _The Simpsons_, _Friends_ or any other recent popular show. This _does_ result in a deficit in common culture that is often apparent, most notably when I go to a comedy club. ---
**Author:** ![zyzzyva](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@zyzzyva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zyzzyva)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2000, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-cant-believe-youve-never-seen-read-that/43108/6 "2000-11-29T00:54:27Z")
Never seen an episode of “The X Files.” I’ve also never seen an episode “Saved by the Bell” – i don’t know if anyone actually liked this show, but it seems that everyone i’ve ever met who’s within 5 years of my age has seen at least one episode. The same holds true for any series made by Aaron Spelling. I’m particularly proud of the last one. Notable movies: \*Schindler’s List, Citizen Kane, Gone With the Wind - I’m sure there are others, but i can’t think of them right now. Never read _Lord of the Flies_ or _Catcher in the Rye_. ---
**Author:** ![rowrrbazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rowrrbazzle/32/414_2.png) [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2000, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-cant-believe-youve-never-seen-read-that/43108/7 "2000-11-29T01:40:59Z")
I’ve only seen one James Bond movie and I’ve forgotten which one. I was 25 when I saw my first John Wayne movie. It was “The Searchers,” on TV, in the common room of a bed and breakfast place in the north York moors when I was on a vacation in England! (I’ve seen a few others on TV since then.) > [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Gadarene \* > Utterly ironic, I know, but since the sci-fi/fantasy I _did_ read drew so much on Tolkien, it was Tolkien that came across as being hopelessly derivative. Reminds me of the joke about someone who saw “Hamlet” for the first time: “That Shakespeare guy had no imagination. Too many clichés!” 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2000, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-cant-believe-youve-never-seen-read-that/43108/8 "2000-11-29T02:06:10Z")
::screams:: You’ve NEVER seen the Simpsons?! I can’t believe you’ve never seen/read that!! But no, it’s cool. Let’s see. Last year in English class, I turned out to be one of three people who hadn’t seen Titanic. And no, still haven’t seen it. I’ve never read Hamlet. (But give me time, I think we’re going to read it senior year.) I’ve never seen Gone With the Wind (read it though) or Citizen Kane either. Or Godfather. Hell I’ve seen practically nothing. Really. Its not even funny. But that’s all i can think of so far. ---
**Author:** ![Juniper200](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/df788c/32.png) [@Juniper200](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Juniper200)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2000, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-cant-believe-youve-never-seen-read-that/43108/9 "2000-11-29T02:18:11Z")
_The Phantom Menace_ was my first Star Wars film. I have never seen the others. This is not weighing heavily upon my soul. Seeing as how I am a resident of the planet Earth and everything, I still know all of the characters and the plot and most of the lines, but I’ve never seen the films. My excuse is that I’m waiting so I can watch the whole series in order. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![tracer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tracer/32/20578_2.png) [@tracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tracer)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2000, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-cant-believe-youve-never-seen-read-that/43108/10 "2000-11-29T02:35:14Z")
Juniper2000, a good friend of mine has never seen _any_ of the Star Wars films. When I played my laserdisc of the original _Star Wars_ for her, she got bored and left within five minutes! ---
**Author:** ![lolagranola](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ea5d25/32.png) [@lolagranola](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lolagranola)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2000, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-cant-believe-youve-never-seen-read-that/43108/11 "2000-11-29T02:42:28Z")
I’ve never seen Casablanca, and until last year, had never seen It’s a Wonderful Life. ---
**Author:** ![bafaa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e480ec/32.png) [@bafaa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bafaa)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2000, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-cant-believe-youve-never-seen-read-that/43108/12 "2000-11-29T02:54:32Z")
\*\* Gadarene\*\*, if you really are a film buff why would you deprive yourself of such excellent movies as _The Godfather, Jaws, Citizen Kane_, etc? (not Titanic though, good move there) Having said that, I’ve never seen _The Sound of Music, Gone With The Wind, or Singing in the Rain_ either and I have a friend who’s never seen _Rocky_. One day I was quoting Mickey at him “You’re a BUM!” and he just looked at me in confusion. I was like, “Hello? Burgess Meredith in Rocky?” “Oh, I’ve never seen Rocky…” What?!? And you call yourself an American?!? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![TVeblen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/4bbf92/32.png) [@TVeblen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TVeblen)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2000, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-cant-believe-youve-never-seen-read-that/43108/13 "2000-11-29T03:00:04Z")
I read the OP with grateful tears in my eyes–_yesss! twins separted at birth!_–then read subsequent posters and thought, "_triplets, quadruplets, uh, sextuplets, hexagrams, wait a minute…"_ It’s one thing to be uncultured and know it; it’s another to totally blank out even on pop culture! Hey, sometimes it’s suave, elegant shorthand–but it’s very specific. I’ve never seen _Titanic_ and won’t watch it for free on TV. (Been a diehard shipwreck fanatic for years, way before the hype. Ask me about the Andrea Doria!) Never seen the _Simpsons_. Was too bored by the hype to bother w/ _Phantom Menace_. Caught snippets of _Seinfeld_; clever but etoliated; turned it off and read. (blush) Don’t noise it around, but can’t tell ya how many bestseller/critical gotta-reads I’ve started and couldn’t finish. Fellow misfits are blessings. Veb ---
**Author:** ![tracer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tracer/32/20578_2.png) [@tracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tracer)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2000, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-cant-believe-youve-never-seen-read-that/43108/14 "2000-11-29T03:08:04Z")
Admit it, **TVeblen**. You were just looking for an excuse to say “sextuplets.” ---
**Author:** ![delphica](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e9a140/32.png) [@delphica](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/delphica)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2000, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-cant-believe-youve-never-seen-read-that/43108/15 "2000-11-29T03:17:37Z")
My post-college roommate worked in TV advertising, so every night we used to watch three TVs (one with sound, two w/o) so that he could watch ad placement. It was just too much of an overload. So I haven’t seen any shows that have been on since about 1995. (Yes, I do have a TV. Its purpose is for watching sports.) I had a work study intern in my office a few years ago, and when I found out he hadn’t seen Star Wars, I gave him a paid vacation day provided he use it to watch the trilogy. He was hooked. ---
**Author:** ![Orshee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/7c8e57/32.png) [@Orshee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Orshee)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2000, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-cant-believe-youve-never-seen-read-that/43108/16 "2000-11-29T03:24:57Z")
I am very proud to have never seen the following films: Titanic Good Will Hunting Shakespeare In Love The more people tell me I must see/read/watch/listen to something, the more I resist it. I have a naive idea that the more popular something is, the worse it must be. Maybe it’s due to the lingering effects of having read Ayn Rand in my early twenties. ---
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2000, 4:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-cant-believe-youve-never-seen-read-that/43108/17 "2000-11-29T04:37:11Z")
I once told a co-worker “There’s a method to my madness.” He looked at me as if I was, well, mad. Shakespear, I told him. He never heard of him. I should mention he was Hassidic and did not go to public school. It just surprised me that someone as smart as him could lead such a sheltered life. ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2000, 4:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-cant-believe-youve-never-seen-read-that/43108/18 "2000-11-29T04:46:02Z")
I’ve only seen one Star Wars film and it didn’t really impress me. And I too, am less likely to see something if someone says “you’ve GOT to watch this!” it makes you resist the pull… ---
**Author:** ![rackensack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e5b9ba/32.png) [@rackensack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rackensack)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2000, 5:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-cant-believe-youve-never-seen-read-that/43108/19 "2000-11-29T05:58:01Z")
Gadarene, In David Lodge’s novel _Changing Places_ one of the characters (most of whom are literary academics) invents a parlour game he calls “Humiliation”. > [@](#): > > The essence of the matter is that each person names a book which he hasn’t read but assumes the others have read, and scores a point for each person who has read it. This presents an impossible dilemma at a faculty party for another character, an insecure careerist who > [@](#): > > has a pathological urge to succeed and a pathological fear of being thought uncultured, and this game set his two obsessions at war with each other, because he could succeed in the game only by exposing a gap in his culture . . . At first his psyche just couldn’t absorb the paradox . . . . suddenly Howard slammed his fist on the table, jutted his jaw about six feet over the table, and said: _Hamlet!_ He finally persuades the others that he’s serious, that he’s seen the Olivier film version but never actually read the text. Three days later, he’s passed over for tenure by the English Department, who refuse to grant tenure to someone who admits to never having read _Hamlet_. The repercussions of this continue on into the sequel, _Small World_ (a rare case of a sequel to a very good book that’s actually even better than the first installment). As for your list of unseen films, a handful are on my list as well: (the _Godfather_ movies, _Terminator_ and _Alien_ specifically). I’m also pretty sure that I’ve never seen _The Wizard of Oz_ straight through, though I’m certain I’ve seen it all in bits and pieces spread out through the years. And while I have read a couple of Dickens novels, I couldn’t agree more with anyone who says > [@](#): > > Dickens has never interested me as much as, say, Wodehouse who no doubt interests you _strangely_. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2000, 6:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-cant-believe-youve-never-seen-read-that/43108/20 "2000-11-29T06:29:58Z")
I’m surprised by how many people who have never seen Titanic. IS it because you resisted the hype deliberately? Is it because you hate Leonardo DiCaprio? Is it because you seriously just didn’t care about it? I mean, it’s not a bad movie - I really enjoyed it. Both times I watched it. Even though I knew how it ended. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-cant-believe-youve-never-seen-read-that/43108.md?page=2)