# 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:** 43
**Author:** ![Renifer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/71c47a/32.png) [@Renifer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Renifer)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2010, 5:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/841 "2010-12-11T05:43:47Z")
> [@Don\_Draper](#): > > Along similar lines, it dawned on me many years after the fact that the main character in **E.T: the Extra-Terrestrial** is named **E** lio **T**. > > Also in the **Terminator** movies, the man who is destined to save mankind from doom (whose father is a mystery to everyone) is John Conner, whose initials would be J.C. - kind of like another well-known savior with an ambiguous paternity… Along those lines, The Nanny is an updated version of Pride and Prejudice. A lower caste woman with a loud, annoying family and an uptight wealthy man fall in love. Also, CC Babcock has the same initials as Caroline Bingley. ---
**Author:** ![Alka\_Seltzer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c89c15/32.png) [@Alka\_Seltzer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alka_Seltzer)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2011, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/842 "2011-01-11T14:21:26Z")
I’ve only just realised that the opening shot of most Bond film credits, where some anonymous hechman is targetting Bond and he turns and shoot him, is the view down a gun barrel. The spiral is the barrel’s rifling. I’d never really thought about it, but I always thought it was some weird scope or something. :smack: ---
**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:** [January 11, 2011, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/843 "2011-01-11T15:49:47Z")
> [@Don\_Draper](#): > > Also in the **Terminator** movies, the man who is destined to save mankind from doom (whose father is a mystery to everyone) is John Conner, whose initials would be J.C. - kind of like another well-known savior with an ambiguous paternity… In Stephen King’s The Green Mile, the inmate with the healing powers is John Coffey (like coffee, but not spelled that way). A lot of critics criticize King for giving him the initials “J.C.” His response was “It’s not rocket science, folks.” ---
**Author:** ![WotNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e19b73/32.png) [@WotNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WotNot)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2011, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/844 "2011-01-11T16:02:21Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > In Stephen King’s The Green Mile, the inmate with the healing powers is John Coffey (like coffee, but not spelled that way). No Ma’am. Not spelled the same at all. ---
**Author:** ![Slade](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5ac83/32.png) [@Slade](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slade)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2011, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/845 "2011-01-11T17:14:40Z")
There’s an episode of Frasier where he falls for a girl who looks just like his mother but never realises. Part way through the show he blinds himself with (I think) bug spray. I must have seen that episode four or five times before I realised the scene was included to match the Oedipus legend the writers were riffing on that week. ---
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2011, 8:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/846 "2011-01-12T08:54:05Z")
This is more like an omission that I didn’t notice, but here goes. Thanksgiving was never mentioned in **Calvin and Hobbes** , and I noticed this but never gave much thought as to why. I just realized it now. Watterson made some comments in the 10th anniversary collection about C&H having to be pretty much in their own little world, with only authority figures and Susie, the voice of reason, for balance. As such, he regretted the “Uncle Max” sequence, and Calvin’s brief stint as a Cub Scout, because bringing in these extraneous characters pushed the strip a bit off track. Thanksgiving is a **family** holiday, and there would be nothing gained by packing the house with unfamiliar adults, and potentially kids who wouldn’t understand the tiger schtick. So no need for Thanksgiving strips. ---
**Author:** ![Septima](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dc4da7/32.png) [@Septima](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Septima)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2011, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/847 "2011-01-12T19:06:28Z")
I finally made a suitable realization today. This must have been really obvious to everyone else, but here goes: In the music video for I Don’t Wanna Miss A Thing by Aerosmith, they use clips from the movie Armageddon. One of the clips is the one where Grace Stamper is crying and placing her hand on a large video screen of some sort. Now, in the movie, the image on the screen was of Grace’s father Harry Stamper, played by Bruce Willis. In the music video, the image on the screen is instead of Steve Tyler. Who is the father of Liv Tyler, the actress playing Grace Stamper. I just realized that must have been the entire point behind the music video. ---
**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:** [January 13, 2011, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/848 "2011-01-13T16:19:47Z")
How many times have I heard Les Miz’s song “I Dreamed A Dream”? About a million. So how come I didn’t realize until last night, but I had a dream that I had a dream, that the title doesn’t refer to having a dream, but dreaming that you are having a dream? ---
**Author:** ![Shot\_From\_Guns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ccd318/32.png) [@Shot\_From\_Guns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shot_From_Guns)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2011, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/849 "2011-01-13T16:38:44Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > How many times have I heard Les Miz’s song “I Dreamed A Dream”? About a million. > > So how come I didn’t realize until last night, but I had a dream that I had a dream, that the title doesn’t refer to having a dream, but dreaming that you are having a dream? Where do you get that impression? I couldn’t remember the lyrics so I looked them up. I don’t see anything [in there](http://www.stlyrics.com/lyrics/lesmiserables/idreamedadream.htm) that suggests that she’s talking about a dream of having a dream. And apparently the original French version of the song “was entitled [sic] ‘J’avais rêvé d’une autre vie’; (translated as ‘I had dreamed of another life’),” [according to Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Dreamed_a_Dream). ---
**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:** [January 13, 2011, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/850 "2011-01-13T16:39:54Z")
Well, it could mean dreaming a dream. ---
**Author:** ![Shot\_From\_Guns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ccd318/32.png) [@Shot\_From\_Guns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shot_From_Guns)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2011, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/851 "2011-01-13T17:07:09Z")
I guess. But I wouldn’t call it an “obvious thing,” just one possible interpretation. ---
**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:** [January 13, 2011, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/852 "2011-01-13T17:36:14Z")
Not the millionth ti me – I caught this one the first time, but it’s still clever. At the end of John Sayles’ _Brother from Another Planet_, the titular Brother escapes from the interstellar bounty-hunters/slave hunters and is last seen riding in a subway car. A Subway is an Underground Railroad. ---
**Author:** ![Lakai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/9de0a6/32.png) [@Lakai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lakai)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2011, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/853 "2011-01-13T17:45:10Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > Well, it could mean dreaming a dream. There’s nothing in the song to indicate that she was dreaming about having another dream. It appears that she’s talking about having a dream. Dreaming a dream. Not dreaming about a dream. The world dream sounds so weird to me now. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2011, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/854 "2011-02-12T17:59:43Z")
In _Dune_, the spice is called “melange” and it is said repeatedly that “the spice is life.” “Melange” means “mixture.” One of its synonyms is “variety.” So, you could say that variety is the spice of life. ---
**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:** [February 13, 2011, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/855 "2011-02-13T18:27:54Z")
When did I first read _Gone With the Wind_. Forty years ago. How many times have I re-read it? Four times from cover to cover, plus parts of it over one hundred times. When did I realize that both the main character :mad: and her younger daughtter ☹ have colorful middle names? (Katie Scarlett and Bonnie Blue), Yesterday.:smack: ---
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2011, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/856 "2011-02-13T18:38:37Z")
It was not until I was watching **Casino Royale** , the one with Daniel Craig, that I realized, “James Bond” is not the agent’s name – it’s his **alias**. Duh: when you become a double-0, you most likely have to cut all ties with your former life, including never seeing your parents again if they’re living, and taking the alias they assign you. ---
**Author:** ![caligulathegod](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/caligulathegod/32/9685_2.png) [@caligulathegod](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/caligulathegod)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2011, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/857 "2011-02-13T20:59:14Z")
I was watching Keeping Up Appearances, a Brit-com about a snobbish social climbing woman and her hen-pecked milquetoast husband and noticed something I hadn’t really connected before. The main character, Hyacinth Bucket insists that her last name is pronounced “Bouquet” (Boo-KAY) trying to make herself seem more sophisticated (her husband says he USED to be plain old Charlie Bucket before he married Hyacinth). Her sisters are Rose, Daisy and Violet. In nearly 15 years of watching the show, I never caught the underlying joke of her name. She and her sisters are all named for flowers and she insists her last name be pronounced as “Bouquet” (as in flowers). ---
**Author:** ![caligulathegod](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/caligulathegod/32/9685_2.png) [@caligulathegod](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/caligulathegod)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2011, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/858 "2011-02-13T21:02:30Z")
> [@Rilchiam](#): > > It was not until I was watching **Casino Royale** , the one with Daniel Craig, that I realized, “James Bond” is not the agent’s name – it’s his **alias**. Duh: when you become a double-0, you most likely have to cut all ties with your former life, including never seeing your parents again if they’re living, and taking the alias they assign you. I’m pretty sure that is not the case. One director wanted to do it that way so he could get a cameo from Sean Connery, but it was rejected by the producers/owners of the James Bond series. Daniel Craig’s film is an outright reboot of the series. Although, ironically, the original parody version of Casino Royale from the 60s DID have that as its conceit. ---
**Author:** ![HMS\_Irruncible](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hms_irruncible/32/7394_2.png) [@HMS\_Irruncible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HMS_Irruncible)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2011, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/859 "2011-02-13T21:08:43Z")
> [@Not\_A\_Tame\_Lion](#): > > I’ve been hearing “Gimme Some Lovin’” for decades now, but it was only a few months ago, hearing it on the radio, when I realized that Steve Winwood was trying to sing like Ray Charles. Should have been obvious, never was. When you get right down to it, who \* isn’t\* trying to sing like Ray Charles? ---
**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:** [February 13, 2011, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obvious-things-about-a-creative-work-you-realize-after-the-millionth-time-open-spoilers-possible/504117/860 "2011-02-13T21:13:48Z")
> [@Rilchiam](#): > > It was not until I was watching **Casino Royale** , the one with Daniel Craig, that I realized, “James Bond” is not the agent’s name – it’s his **alias**. Duh: when you become a double-0, you most likely have to cut all ties with your former life, including never seeing your parents again if they’re living, and taking the alias they assign you. Uh, no. Is there evidence of this in the movie? [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=42) [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=44)