# "Men in Black" Interpretation **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 31, 2009, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-in-black-interpretation/508307 "2009-08-31T01:24:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![teela\_brown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d9b06d/32.png) [@teela\_brown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teela_brown)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2009, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-in-black-interpretation/508307/41 "2009-08-31T17:51:17Z")
> [@Red\_Barchetta](#): > > As an aside, I love this movie. The sequel, not so much. > > _neuralizes self_ > > What sequel? Although I don’t think the sequel measures up, I always record it if I see it listed. Because why? Because I think Frank the pug dog wearing a black suit or singing “I Will Survive” is hysterical. But I only watch it for that. ---
**Author:** ![Blaster\_Master](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/cab0a1/32.png) [@Blaster\_Master](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blaster_Master)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2009, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-in-black-interpretation/508307/42 "2009-08-31T18:03:52Z")
I came in to say, well, mostly what’s already been said. I think it was written so that, on the surface, it was funny that he was obviously failing both tests miserably and that all the other candidates knew he didn’t belong there but somehow got the job purely on K’s recommendation. After seeing the rest of the movie and seeing the scene again, it’s pretty clear that it was actually the exact opposite, that he was the only one that was passing the tests and, as others pointed out, Zed was just uptight because he didn’t respect authority. Overall, I think it’s a very cleverly written scene, and it’s nice to see a gem like that, along with a lot of other clever lines in a movie that is just fun and goofy on the surface. I like being able to get a whole new meaning out of a scene like that when I watch the movie for a second time. ---
**Author:** ![Unauthorized\_Cinnamon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/bc8723/32.png) [@Unauthorized\_Cinnamon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Unauthorized_Cinnamon)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2009, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-in-black-interpretation/508307/43 "2009-08-31T18:18:29Z")
I think it’s set up so you first think he’s screwing up, but then see that he’s brilliant. In the shooting gallery, all the others blast away immediately, and he hesitates, looking uncertain, and then belatedly fires one shot. And it’s a little girl. But then he explains and you realize he just passed the test. I think my favorite part is this, though: Edgar’s wife: Are you making fun of me? K: No ma’am, we at the FBI have no sense of humor that we’re aware of. (By the way, **RealityChuck** , you’re working on Jabberwocky? How do I get in on that? I hear it’s going to revolutionize how we do business.) ---
**Author:** ![Bosstone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/22d042/32.png) [@Bosstone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosstone)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2009, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-in-black-interpretation/508307/44 "2009-08-31T18:29:16Z")
> [@teela\_brown](#): > > Although I don’t think the sequel measures up, I always record it if I see it listed. Because why? Because I think Frank the pug dog wearing a black suit or singing “I Will Survive” is hysterical. But I only watch it for that. Plus it has Patrick Warburton, if briefly. I like the sequel fine, although it bothers me that the air of badassery and mystery that pervades the first movie is wiped away in the second. The MiB go from being elite agents to…airport security. Even during the brief customs scene in the first movie, you don’t get the sense of a mundane everyday airport. And the whole thing with J being awesome in the first half of the movie to acting like he didn’t have five years of experience under his belt once K returned…bah. Fun movie, but it totally kills the pure awesome in the original premise. ---
**Author:** ![E-Sabbath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e19adc/32.png) [@E-Sabbath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-Sabbath)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2009, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-in-black-interpretation/508307/45 "2009-08-31T19:34:30Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > She looked like she was about 8 or 9 years old, but she was carrying quantum mechanics textbooks. Something ain’t right there. … Well, yes, but I didn’t deserve to be shot at then, either. “Elvis is not dead, son. He just went home.” And, god, I loved using those giant vents for the tunnels as the entrance to a secret base. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2009, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-in-black-interpretation/508307/46 "2009-08-31T20:10:26Z")
I think the shooting range was also there to show that while the other guys were thinking like soldiers (blasting away at everything they see), he was thinking like a cop (observing, thinking, making judgment calls). And “cop” was what the MiB needed. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2009, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-in-black-interpretation/508307/47 "2009-08-31T20:12:58Z")
Also, dragging the table was nice, but if I were there I’d simply have laid down on the floor. The hell with dignity. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2009, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-in-black-interpretation/508307/48 "2009-08-31T20:34:46Z")
> [@Unauthorized\_Cinnamon](#): > > (By the way, **RealityChuck** , you’re working on Jabberwocky? How do I get in on that? I hear it’s going to revolutionize how we do business.) I’ll let personnel know you’re interested. ---
**Author:** ![Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/intergalactic_gladiator/32/112_2.png) [@Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Intergalactic_Gladiator)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2009, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-in-black-interpretation/508307/49 "2009-08-31T20:38:30Z")
When I saw the shooting range scene, I kind of thought that maybe Agent J wasn’t what they (or at least Zed) were looking for at the start, but something that they realized they needed. He’s brash, of course, but effective. THe brashness leads to more Will Smith-esque comedy. ---
**Author:** ![Covered\_In\_Bees](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7ab992/32.png) [@Covered\_In\_Bees](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Covered_In_Bees)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2009, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-in-black-interpretation/508307/50 "2009-08-31T20:38:39Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > Also, dragging the table was nice, but if I were there I’d simply have laid down on the floor. The hell with dignity. I like this scene better than the shooting range scene. Everyone else is obsessed with protocol, as also exampled by “boy Captain America over here” whereas Edwards is just like “To hell with this, I need something to write on and there’s a table over there.” ---
**Author:** ![cmkeller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmkeller/32/118_2.png) [@cmkeller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmkeller)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2009, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-in-black-interpretation/508307/51 "2009-08-31T21:09:43Z")
Alessan: > [@](#): > > Also, dragging the table was nice, but if I were there I’d simply have laid down on the floor. The hell with dignity. Well, the applicants were told where to sit, and to break the spoken rules would have been a bad idea. But THEY WERE NEVER TOLD NOT TO USE THE TABLE. The others just assumed this to be an unspoken rule, and Will Smith realized there was no reason he shouldn’t. ---
**Author:** ![Bosstone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/22d042/32.png) [@Bosstone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosstone)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2009, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-in-black-interpretation/508307/52 "2009-08-31T22:20:40Z")
Because of this thread I’ve been watching the movie again (okay, listening while I work) and I caught a line I never understood the significance of until now. When the bug is talking to David Cross in the morgue trying to get the cat with the galaxy on his collar, the bug says, “A pet cat, means worlds to me.” I always thought it was just a line thrown in to try to convince Cross, but it really _does_ mean worlds, literal worlds, to him. ---
**Author:** ![Apollyon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/apollyon/32/4238_2.png) [@Apollyon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Apollyon)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2009, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-in-black-interpretation/508307/53 "2009-09-01T03:19:12Z")
Z also makes some comment to the effect that Edwards has a problem with authority, and K responds by suggesting that he too has that problem. Again, J is a natural. ---
**Author:** ![Cesario](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ecae2f/32.png) [@Cesario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cesario)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2009, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-in-black-interpretation/508307/54 "2009-09-01T03:25:40Z")
The entire point of those scenes was to demonstrate that he was being clever, and that unconventional thinking was required for the job he was interviewing for. The others stuck to their standard paradigm and failed. He got the job over all those other candidates because he was actually thinking outside the little box that would get him killed if he stayed inside it during his actual duties. ---
**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:** [September 1, 2009, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-in-black-interpretation/508307/55 "2009-09-01T04:42:39Z")
The annoying scraping noise as he moves the table is what makes the scene. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Lakai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/9de0a6/32.png) [@Lakai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lakai)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2009, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-in-black-interpretation/508307/56 "2009-09-01T04:54:42Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > It was very clear to me on first viewing that Edwards/Agent J was the only one passing the tests. I was curious as to why they didn’t show THREE tests, which in this sort of thing they usually do, but from the first two you could tell what was going on. > > It was, I thought, a remarkably clever bit of writing in a movie that was generally quite clever. Wasn’t the third test was just a trick to get the recruits to look into the neuralyzer? ---
**Author:** ![drastic\_quench](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e36b37/32.png) [@drastic\_quench](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drastic_quench)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2009, 5:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-in-black-interpretation/508307/57 "2009-09-01T05:11:45Z")
I don’t think any of the other candidates were even under consideration. They were unwittingly a control group of sorts. MiB knew exactly how those super-soldiers would perform, and knew that wasn’t what was needed. Smith’s character was the only one being evaluated. ---
**Author:** ![Indistinguishable](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/90ced4/32.png) [@Indistinguishable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indistinguishable)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2009, 5:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-in-black-interpretation/508307/58 "2009-09-01T05:12:28Z")
> [@Lakai](#): > > Wasn’t the third test was just a trick to get the recruits to look into the neuralyzer? “The eye exam”, if I recall correctly. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Bosstone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/22d042/32.png) [@Bosstone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosstone)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2009, 6:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-in-black-interpretation/508307/59 "2009-09-01T06:11:46Z")
> [@drastic\_quench](#): > > I don’t think any of the other candidates were even under consideration. They were unwittingly a control group of sorts. MiB knew exactly how those super-soldiers would perform, and knew that wasn’t what was needed. Smith’s character was the only one being evaluated. That’s my thinking as well. They were just there as decoration, while Edwards was the only real candidate. ---
**Author:** ![Koxinga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/4af34b/32.png) [@Koxinga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Koxinga)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2009, 6:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-in-black-interpretation/508307/60 "2009-09-01T06:32:44Z")
> [@Bosstone](#): > > They were just there as decoration, while Edwards was the only real candidate. The were there because they were the best of the Best of the BEST! SIR!! . . . WITH HONORS!!! (gives contemptuous glance to Bosstone.) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-in-black-interpretation/508307.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-in-black-interpretation/508307.md?page=4)