Insane interpretations that you have seen about media?

[griffin1977]

@Munch

theory that McConnoughy is dead the whole time,

This is my least favorite movie interpretation of all (with obvious exceptions, like say Jacobs Ladder)

[What_Exit]

There is a very old theory that it is also about the Gold vs. Silver standard, which was still a hot debate at the time.

The support for this isn’t strong.

[Munch]

@griffin1977

This is my least favorite movie interpretation of all

Right? Nolan spends so much capital building themes around the passage of time, everything being in the afterlife would make those themes completely meaningless.

[Thudlow_Boink]

Is The Wizard of Oz a satire of the French Revolution?

[F.U.Shakespeare]

When the Ken Russell film Tommy came out in 1975, religious acquiantances of mine insisted that the message was JEEBUS! There were allusions (messiah, feasts for the poor, etc.)

Informing them that PeteTownsend was a fan of (the decidedly-non-Jebus) Asian guru Mehir Baba fell on deaf ears.

[F.U.Shakespeare]

Correction: Meher Baba.

[Gatopescado]

Jesus: Even on his Favorite Table, I could beat his best.

[Asuka]

A common recent one

In the new Wonder Woman movie, it’s a pro-war/anti-pacifism film because the twist is the bad guy is the character who is actively seeking peace between Germany/Britain in World War 1. What they fail to mention is that the reason he wants “peace” is because he wants to do a false flag attack during the supposed armistice in order to cause a new wave of outrage to continue the war. The film isn’t actually saying HEY THIS GUY WHO WANTS PEACE IS THE BAD GUY SPECIFICALLY BECAUSE PEACE IS BAD

[Smapti]

@F.U.Shakespeare

Informing them that PeteTownsend was a fan of (the decidedly-non-Jebus) Asian guru Mehir Baba fell on deaf ears.

Didn’t Baba claim that he was also Jesus?

[blondebear]

@F.U.Shakespeare

Informing them that PeteTownsend was a fan of (the decidedly-non-Jebus) Asian guru Mehir Baba fell on deaf ears.

These days Pete Townshend’s ears are pretty deaf themselves.

[DWMarch]

@griffin1977

To actually return to the OP I always thought the “Marcellus Wallace’s soul is in the suitcase in Pulp Fiction” interpretation is the most insane nonsensical one.

Personally I think this one is fun but it also doesn’t make any kind of sense. Honey Bunny says “is that what I think it is?” like he has any idea what a freshly-extracted human soul in a goddamn briefcase is supposed to look like! Also, if we go with this idea, a human soul can apparently be folded up like laundry (if you want it clean) and carried around just like that. I dunno, I always assumed souls would be more gaseous or liquid in form. Souls are also stunningly beautiful even if they come out of a gangster known for getting medieval on people.

[Eric1]

I understand why movie fans sometimes focus on the question of the suitcase. I’ve felt the cast (even more minor like Butch’s significant other or the drug dealer’s SO’s best friend) stood out the most to me. They both had interactions that are normal that I wouldn’t have since caution is a main trait for me.

[Asuka]

My favorite dumb brief case theory was it was a suitcase nuke which explains the glow.

Because a bunch of dudes hanging out in an apartment are just going to steal a briefcase nuke like it’s no big deal.

[Q.Q.Switcheroo]

It worked in Kiss Me, Deadly…

[Peter_Morris]

The song Brown Eyed Girl is about anal sex.

[iamatractorboy]

The theory that ‘James Bond’ is a codename in the film series. No, it’s not. It’s his real name.

[dorvann]

In the season 4 episode of The Simpsons “So It’s Come to This: A Simpsons Clip Show”—Bart shakes a can of beer so much that explodes in Homer’s face and puts Homer into a coma.

Some fans have suggested that Homer has never woken up from the coma and the rest of the series is just a dream of his.

[dorvann]

There is always this anecdote about a wrong interpretation of a work(credit SciFiSam):

@SciFiSam

I wish I could remember the name of the academic. He wrote about his own mistake in some article I read way back in the 90s.

He had written an entire book based on a mishearing. It was a John Wayne movie, and he thought that Wayne said that the fight between the families was “feudal.”

So he wrote a whole book about how Westerns presented fights between families, and society in general, as feudal, like in the middle ages. He had some good arguments for it, too, and the book was fairly well-received.

Years later he realised that John Wayne hadn’t said feudal at all. He’d said futile. In the UK that’s pronounced /ˈfjuːtʌɪl/, like fyoo-tie (like Thai food) - ul. It’s not very similar to the American pronunciation at all, so it’s an understandable mishearing, but to write an entire book based on one mishearing is pretty unusual. Wayne’s line was a throwaway comment without nearly as much meaning as the academic assigned to it. He had wondered why nobody else had picked up on it, and now he knew.

https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-stories-of-incidents-where-someone-got-the-wrong-end-of-the-stick/849310/12

[Darren_Garrison]

@dorvann

There is always this anecdote about a wrong interpretation of a work

A whole book is a lot worse than this one article!:

Star Wars The Acolyte

Here’s a (unintentionally) funny article about the first episode. A whole piece built around the implications of Jedi Master Moss reporting an “unregistered force user” during the battle. Except what she actually said was “an unidentified force user”…

[Just_Asking_Questions]

@DWMarch

like he has any idea what a freshly-extracted human soul in a goddamn briefcase is supposed to look like!

In a universe where Hitler was killed in a Parisian movie theater, The Tate murders were prevented, and magic ninja assassins exist, it’s quite possible that everyone knows what disembodied souls look like.

Look, Tarentino is the one that made the briefcase glow, not the audience. Complain to him.