# Obvious things about a creative work you realize after the millionth time (OPEN SPOILERS POSSIBLE) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 24, 2009, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117 "2009-07-24T13:20:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 134
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2017, 5:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/2661 "2017-02-16T05:41:24Z")
I’ve been watching “Life In Pieces” (which is absolutely terrific, by the way) for a season and a half now and I only just noticed last weeks the show’s tagline: “One big family, four short stories”. The structure of the show is four roughly 5-minute storylines with various members of the family in each, usually with an overarching theme for the episode. The thing is, the family name is Short. So, four SHORT stories! ---
**Author:** ![furryman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/furryman/32/99_2.png) [@furryman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furryman)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2017, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/2662 "2017-02-16T20:15:57Z")
> [@edwards\_beard](#): > > Just heard of a connection between the first Tim Burton Batman movie and the Original Star Wars > > Not only was Red 6 (Porkins) in the Trench run and Lt Eckhart, fellow pilot Red 3 (Biggs) was the father in the family that was mugged at the beginning of the movie. “Put that map away, we’ll look like tourists” Biggs and Antilles sure do show up a lot of different places. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2017, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/2663 "2017-02-16T20:40:33Z")
The Paloma Faith song “Smoke & Mirrors” has the lines: _You might think I’m sitting home and crying But I’m not, oh no I pulled the Queen of Clubs, there’s no denying I’m having the time of my life_ Since the first time I ever heard the song, I thought of the Queen of Clubs in a flowery literary sense like if a woman was described as the Queen of Hearts (love) or Diamonds (wealth). I figured the Queen of Clubs (soldiers) was someone taking charge of their life. Yesterday, it dawned on me that I was overthinking it and she’s probably just saying she’s hitting a lot of dance clubs. ---
**Author:** ![Blue\_Blistering\_Barnacle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blue_blistering_barnacle/32/3386_2.png) [@Blue\_Blistering\_Barnacle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blue_Blistering_Barnacle)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2017, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/2664 "2017-02-17T20:18:29Z")
Monty Python and the Holy Grail I’ve seen it a jillion and a half times since I was a kid. Only now, on the wrong side of fifty, do I even notice all the times Arthur is trying to get various sources to get on with it and get to the point and tell him where the Grail is already! ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2017, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/2665 "2017-02-17T20:59:54Z")
> [@furryman](#): > > Biggs and Antilles sure do show up a lot of different places. Including the Final Fantasy game franchise, where Wedge and Biggs show up in the majority of the iterations of that game since IV. ---
**Author:** ![Hermione](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/cdc98d/32.png) [@Hermione](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hermione)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2017, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/2666 "2017-02-26T03:22:36Z")
This is something that went over my head (and would have gone over the heads of most young viewers), but was more obvious to me as an adult. In the movie A Boy Named Charlie Brown (from 1969–you know, the spelling-bee movie), Linus gives Charlie Brown his blanket for good luck before he boards the bus to New York. But after a while, Linus follows Charlie Brown (with Snoopy in tow) because the absence of his trusty security blanket is affecting him so badly. What I didn’t get as a kid was that Linus’ symptoms–dizziness, sweating, weakness, lightheadedness, fainting–were all _symptoms of a drug addict’s withdrawal._ And there’s another part of that movie I didn’t fully appreciate until I was grown. There’s a lovely sequence where Schroeder plays a movement from Beethoven’s Pathetique Sonata while impressionistic images fill the screen (after we see Schroeder’s piano grow from the little kid-size instrument to a full-size old-fashioned piano like the one the composer himself must have used). I didn’t realize at the time that these were the images flickering through Schroeder’s mind as he played–or, perhaps, he was putting himself in the shoes of Beethoven himself and experiencing the _composer’s_ visions, perhaps channeling his spirit. (We see shots of the skyline of Bonn, Germany, impressionistic nuns flocking through a cathedral much as young Ludwig might have seen them–and, at the end, right before Schroeder returns to reality, a glimpse of the composer on his deathbed and some drawings of other composers, as if Beethoven was reminding himself that others would carry on his work as he passed on.) ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2017, 7:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/2667 "2017-02-26T07:56:40Z")
> [@Hermione](#): > > In the movie A Boy Named Charlie Brown (from 1969–you know, the spelling-bee movie), Linus gives Charlie Brown his blanket for good luck before he boards the bus to New York. But after a while, Linus follows Charlie Brown (with Snoopy in tow) because the absence of his trusty security blanket is affecting him so badly. > > What I didn’t get as a kid was that Linus’ symptoms–dizziness, sweating, weakness, lightheadedness, fainting–were all _symptoms of a drug addict’s withdrawal._ In the daily strips, there’s a series equating it with quitting smoking. His grandmother will quit smoking if he gives up his blanket. ---
**Author:** ![galen\_ubal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/galen_ubal/32/4440_2.png) [@galen\_ubal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/galen_ubal)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2017, 8:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/2668 "2017-02-26T08:09:10Z")
I watched _Frozen_ for the bazillionth time yesterday, and left it running through the credits, though I’ll usually shut it off once they start. After all, I’ve seen it so many times… That was the first time I’d seen that it had a scene after the credits… :smack: ---
**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:** [March 11, 2017, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/2669 "2017-03-11T03:28:05Z")
In that classic SUPERMAN arc where our hero reluctantly kills the Phantom Zone villains, mention is made of how Supergirl _“is all that remains of a whole universe.”_ After all, the Kryptonian criminals had killed every human on the planet, and then Superman played executioner, and, well – that’s _it,_ isn’t it? As far as the big guy knows, Zod died and Bruce Wayne died and Lex Luthor died and so on and so forth, such that there was no one else left alive in that pocket universe. So I was re-reading it just now, and danged if a throwaway line didn’t suddenly jump out at me: _“We are free of the Phantom Zone,”_ says a villain, in best expositionary fashion, _“while our fellow Kryptonian criminals remain trapped there!”_ Huh. Just flatly declared like that? And so oddly specific a piece of information to get tossed in for some reason; and, in case extra emphasis is needed, Lex then laments that _“it looks as if my gullibility has released the worst of the inmates!!”_ Before executing them, Superman refers to the escapees as _“the three last survivors of the Krypton of this universe.”_ But – they _ain’t,_ are they? ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2017, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/2670 "2017-03-11T03:50:05Z")
> [@Jophiel](#): > > The Paloma Faith song “Smoke & Mirrors” has the lines: > > _You might think I’m sitting home and crying > But I’m not, oh no > I pulled the Queen of Clubs, there’s no denying > I’m having the time of my life_ > > Since the first time I ever heard the song, I thought of the Queen of Clubs in a flowery literary sense like if a woman was described as the Queen of Hearts (love) or Diamonds (wealth). I figured the Queen of Clubs (soldiers) was someone taking charge of their life. > > Yesterday, it dawned on me that I was overthinking it and she’s probably just saying she’s hitting a lot of dance clubs. I’m guessing she was just making a reference to the card game called [“Old Maid”](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_maid_(card_game)) > [@](#): > > There are retail card decks specifically crafted for playing old maid, but it is just as easy (though less pure) to play with a regular deck of 52 cards. When using a regular deck, a card is either added or removed, resulting in one unmatchable card. The most popular choices are to remove the ace of clubs or **queen of clubs** or to add a single joker.[3] The unmatchable card becomes the “old maid,” and whoever holds it at the end of the game is the loser. It is possible to discard a single card from the deck face-down; if this is done, players cannot know which card is the old maid. She is taking charge of her life, but not warrior style. She’s just not going to be the “old maid.” ---
**Author:** ![CairoCarol](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cairocarol/32/3825_2.png) [@CairoCarol](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CairoCarol)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2017, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/2671 "2017-03-11T04:04:24Z")
Every time this thread is resurrected, I think about posting, but it seems I have so far kept my shame to myself. Now I will reveal my stupidity: The first time I read “A Boy and His Dog” by Harlan Ellison, at the end I just thought…“okay, well, alright, that’s the end of the story.” Somehow, I completely missed the blindingly obvious fact that he fed the girl to his dog. When I read it the second time, and actually understood what the author meant, it gave me chills. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2017, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/2672 "2017-03-11T04:07:53Z")
I’ve been following the webcomic _Girl Genius_ for fifteen years now. It’s a steampunk fantasy where Europe has been torn apart by decades of war between mad scientists - imagine The 30 Years War with giant robots and death rays. Anyway, there’s one inventor - presumably dead at the time of the comic - who is universally held to be the most brilliant mind, the most talented artist, the greatest _spark_ that ever lived, whose inventions are still prized above the work of all others - a man known as Van Rijn. Just realized last month that the character the comic is referring to is [Rembrandt van Rijn.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rembrandt?) You can’t really blame me for not realizing it; it’s such a common last name, after all. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2017, 6:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/2673 "2017-03-11T06:14:12Z")
> [@CairoCarol](#): > > I completely missed the blindingly obvious fact that he fed the girl to his dog. He \*shared \*the girl with his dog, didn’t he? :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2017, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/2674 "2017-03-11T15:33:18Z")
No, apparently he didn’t eat any of her: Go to 1:27:31. This is going by the movie and not the novella, of course. The novella doesn't make it quite clear. ---
**Author:** ![CairoCarol](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cairocarol/32/3825_2.png) [@CairoCarol](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CairoCarol)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2017, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/2675 "2017-03-11T15:35:05Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > He \*shared \*the girl with his dog, didn’t he? :dubious: Oh, okay … the second time I read the story and got the previously missed meaning was while I was waiting to have an interview as part of my college applications. I’m now 58, so what is amazing is that I remember it at all, not that I remember it slightly wrong 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2017, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/2676 "2017-03-12T00:58:15Z")
> [@Wendell\_Wagner](#): > > No, apparently he didn’t eat any of her: > > Go to 1:27:31. This is going by the movie and not the novella, of course. The novella doesn't make it quite clear. He doesn’t eat any of her at _that sitting_, but there are clearly leftovers they’ll have later on. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2017, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/2677 "2017-03-12T04:51:16Z")
Not necessarily. It could be that only the dog will eat the leftovers of her. That would be more consistent with the man’s attitude, which seems to be that the dog needs the food desperately but he doesn’t. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2017, 8:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/2678 "2017-03-12T08:31:28Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > Just realized last month that the character the comic is referring to is [Rembrandt van Rijn.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rembrandt?) > > You can’t really blame me for not realizing it; it’s such a common last name, after all. :smack: Rembrandt was just an artist, not a polymath like Leonardo, I think it’s a leap unless Foglio has indicated the link… I though it was more a sci-fi in-joke reference to Poul Anderson’s Nicholas van Rijn ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2017, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/2679 "2017-03-13T14:00:18Z")
> [@CairoCarol](#): > > Every time this thread is resurrected, I think about posting, but it seems I have so far kept my shame to myself. Now I will reveal my stupidity: > > The first time I read “A Boy and His Dog” by Harlan Ellison, at the end I just thought…“okay, well, alright, that’s the end of the story.” Somehow, I completely missed the blindingly obvious fact that he fed the girl to his dog. > > When I read it the second time, and actually understood what the author meant, it gave me chills. But it’s a classic story arc: [ul] [li]Boy finds girl[/li][li]Boy loses girl[/li][li]Boy gets girl back[/li][\*]Boy feeds girl to dog[/ul] ---
**Author:** ![Mister\_Rik](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mister_rik/32/491_2.png) [@Mister\_Rik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mister_Rik)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2017, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/2680 "2017-03-14T14:27:16Z")
_sigh_ After hearing the Willie Nelson/Merle Haggard song, _Pancho & Lefty_, at work a couple times recently, after having heard the song many times over the last few decades, it suddenly dawned on me that, “Whoa, I think Lefty sold out Pancho to the federales!” Then, after looking up [the video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AbZ3VdYb90o) to include in this post, I discovered that the video spells it out quite blatantly. To be fair, I’d actually never seen the video until now. I had always interpreted the song with the idea that the cops had caught Pancho, and Lefty managed to escape with the loot. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117.md?page=133) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117.md?page=135)