# Pop Culture Stuff Everyone Seems to Misunderstand **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 22, 2021, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pop-culture-stuff-everyone-seems-to-misunderstand/940564 "2021-04-22T19:51:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 19
**Author:** ![BippityBoppityBoo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bippityboppityboo/32/5745_2.png) [@BippityBoppityBoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BippityBoppityBoo)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2021, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pop-culture-stuff-everyone-seems-to-misunderstand/940564/362 "2021-04-27T19:03:10Z")
Plus you’ve already done your parody assignment. Work smarter, not harder. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2021, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pop-culture-stuff-everyone-seems-to-misunderstand/940564/363 "2021-04-27T19:04:03Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > I suspect, more than anything, the teacher had just gone through a stack of essays that started with 'What is poetry? The dictionary defines it as…" and was just happy to read something that had a bit of wit and creativity to it. If you can parody the analytical process, you probably understand it well enough to deserve a passing grade. Right? I had a similar experience in high school, where I thought the essay I wrote was bullshit. I still kinda do–but what I’d done was demonstrate rhetorical skill, which is a nicer name for bullshit. It’s like I tell my students in math: I’m not interested in them telling me what 37+42 is, I already know the answer to that and I don’t need them to tell me. I’m interested in seeing how they solve it, so they can solve similar questions in their own life without needing my help. Same thing here. The teacher already knew her opinion of Huck Finn or whatever, she didn’t need a teenager to tell her how to understand the novel. She needed to see that the teenager had the necessary skills to reflect on other works, and more importantly to express their opinions in cogent, coherent writing. Whether they were expressing their honest opinion was completely irrelevant to what the teacher needed to know. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2021, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pop-culture-stuff-everyone-seems-to-misunderstand/940564/364 "2021-04-27T19:36:56Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > I’m not saying you were talking about anything other than clouds. I’m saying that _other_ people might be, and if you insist that there’s only one correct answer, you might miss the context in which other people are discussing issues. My point was that mike\_curtis claiming that there is no such thing as an objective fact is a completely insane thing to say, akin to a certain poster convinced that he is the universe. I used the objective fact that clouds are made of water (which I had already brought up) as one example of an objective fact, but other objective facts I could have mentioned include: In spatially flat vacuum the speed of light is around 186,000 miles per second. The energy of a proton at rest is around 938 MeV. In flat Eucledian space a triangle has three angles totalling 180 degrees. A molecule of water consists of one atom of oxygen and two atoms of hydrogen. _That_ was my context–not plays on words or “gotchas” based on the ambiguity of the English language–it was an assertion that there are very much a very large number of things that are objective facts. I realize that the state of someone’s mind isn’t something testable and verifiable at any point in the universe like the above listed objective facts, but I’m willing to believe that Flannery O’Conner knew what she was planning when she was writing and was not lying in the anecdote, and therefore I accept provisionally that “the hat was just a hat” is a fact, and that speculations on the “symbolism” of it are mental masturbation. ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2021, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pop-culture-stuff-everyone-seems-to-misunderstand/940564/365 "2021-04-27T19:37:17Z")
> [@gdave](#): > > The “criticism” you came across may not have been entirely serious. There’s a thriving online…game, I guess, I’m not sure of a better term, of going back to Disney classics, particularly the ones Millennials would have watched as kids, and “flipping the script.” You can find a lot of discussion, for example, of how Gaston was the real hero of _Beauty and the Beast_. It’s _mostly_ tongue-in-cheek, going back to beloved childhood classics with a cynical adult’s eye and deliberately misinterpreting everything and trying to come up with seemingly valid arguments about how the “hero” is really the villain and the “villain” is really the hero. > > But, it’s not always or entirely done with satirical intent. For example, I personally don’t think Gaston is a good guy in _Beauty and the Beast_, and arguments that he is are clearly just goofs, but Belle’s relationship with the Beast really is disturbingly similar to the dynamics of a real-world abusive relationship. Some of these reinterpretations are insightful and interesting, and some of them are less so, in my opinion. It’s hard to reinterpret Ursula as a heroine and have anything like the film we see (but certainly possible to look at Triton’s parenting with a dubious eye). On the other hand, you could probably have a decent version of the Karate Kid, and make it about Johnny (arrogant karate champ loses girlfriend, and cheats in championship, but grows enough to sincerely congratulate the kid who beat him, and to abandon his evil sensei (character growth!)) or about Kreese (a tragedy about a man who lets his ambition and hatred lead him to losing everything, even the respect of the kids he trained) without changing anything about what we see (just adding enough scenes to fill in the gaps). And the theory about Ferris being in Cameron’s imagination does contain some truth about how bad a friend Ferris really is. ---
**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:** [April 27, 2021, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pop-culture-stuff-everyone-seems-to-misunderstand/940564/366 "2021-04-27T19:44:39Z")
In my college intro poetry course, I was once hurting for a poem (we had to write five a week) and so, in a flash of “inspiration”, just copied the ingredient list on my shampoo bottle and called it Modern Alchemy. The teacher gave me good marks on it but, in retrospect, I’m pretty sure that was more approving of my moxie and the tongue-in-cheek nature of how I reached five poems rather than thinking “This is brilliant poetry”. And, while I thought I had totally pulled one over on him and bragged to my friends, I knew it wasn’t an indictment on the field of poetry and didn’t think I could mail this into some famous poetry journal or anything. Sometimes teachers just act like people. Anyway, back to the OP, I heard _Puff the Magic Dragon_ today and it reminded me of the time I was singing it in the shower while my wife was getting ready in the bathroom. When I reached the last verse, she accused me of making it up because she had no idea it was so depressing. I think that, much like _You Are My Sunshine_, a number of people only ever hear the first verse and assume it’s a happy little kid’s tune. Especially among people who didn’t live through the songs’ initial popularity and heard it more second-hand. ---
**Author:** ![naita](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naita/32/5862_2.png) [@naita](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/naita)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2021, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pop-culture-stuff-everyone-seems-to-misunderstand/940564/367 "2021-04-27T19:47:51Z")
> [@Andy\_L](#): > > On the other hand, you could probably have a decent version of the Karate Kid, and make it about Johnny (arrogant karate champ loses girlfriend, and cheats in championship, but grows enough to sincerely congratulate the kid who beat him, and to abandon his evil sensei (character growth!)) or about Kreese (a tragedy about a man who lets his ambition and hatred lead him to losing everything, even the respect of the kids he trained) without changing anything about what we see (just adding enough scenes to fill in the gaps) I cannot let this one go by without mentioning, for those that might have missed it, that Netflix has three seasons, and a fourth on the way, of [Cobra Kai](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7221388/) with Daniel, Lawrence and Kreese 35 years older and played by the actors in Karate Kid. I assume there’s already a thread here about it, but the point here is that we get at least some bits of “how things looked from the other side” in Lawrence talking about the events. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2021, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pop-culture-stuff-everyone-seems-to-misunderstand/940564/368 "2021-04-27T19:48:57Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > “If every reaction is valid, then no reaction is valid” is not a logically coherent position. Maybe not, but “if no answer is incorrect, then no answer is correct” is. And if there is no correct or incorrect answer, it is a useless question. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2021, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pop-culture-stuff-everyone-seems-to-misunderstand/940564/369 "2021-04-27T19:54:13Z")
> [@drad\_dog](#): > > That can’t be “literature” though. It implies more. “Literature” is the dusty old books schools force children to dissect to teach most of them to hate reading. > **[Are High Schools Ruining Reading for Our Kids? – Book Cave](https://mybookcave.com/are-high-schools-ruining-reading-for-our-kids/)** > > Schools work hard to educate our children, but when it comes to reading do they try too hard? Is trying to force students to enjoy classic novels contributing to the 33% of high school graduates and 42% of college students who never read another... ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2021, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pop-culture-stuff-everyone-seems-to-misunderstand/940564/370 "2021-04-27T20:00:53Z")
Haven’t watched those, but have heard good things about them. ---
**Author:** ![gdave](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gdave/32/3683_2.png) [@gdave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gdave)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2021, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pop-culture-stuff-everyone-seems-to-misunderstand/940564/371 "2021-04-27T20:12:01Z")
Yeah, I was going to say, your re-interpretation of _The Karate Kid_ is pretty much exactly what _Kobra Kai_ does. The first season, especially, I thought was an extraordinarily finely balanced mix of genuinely funny humor and genuinely moving drama, which depicted both Daniel and Lawrence as sympathetic but flawed protagonists. ---
**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:** [April 27, 2021, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pop-culture-stuff-everyone-seems-to-misunderstand/940564/372 "2021-04-27T20:24:25Z")
Not every question has a correct answer, and not having a correct answer doesn’t make a question useless. “How do you feel?” isn’t a useless question, or one with a correct answer. Neither is “Did you like this book?” Neither is, “What did this book make you think about?” ---
**Author:** ![SmartAleq](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smartaleq/32/163_2.png) [@SmartAleq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmartAleq)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2021, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pop-culture-stuff-everyone-seems-to-misunderstand/940564/373 "2021-04-27T20:32:13Z")
If a giraffe could leap, pound for pound as 'igh as a grass’opper…e’d avoid a _lot of trouble._ ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2021, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pop-culture-stuff-everyone-seems-to-misunderstand/940564/374 "2021-04-27T20:33:21Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > Not every question has a correct answer, and not having a correct answer doesn’t make a question useless. “How do you feel?” Of course “how do you feel” has a correct answer–the correct answer is the way that the person feels. ---
**Author:** ![Stephe96](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Stephe96](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stephe96)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2021, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pop-culture-stuff-everyone-seems-to-misunderstand/940564/375 "2021-04-27T20:33:42Z")
RE: Raiders of the Lost Ark. I never thought about that. But maybe Indy had arranged to leave with the idol via plane while the rest of his group hoofed it back. Hell, maybe that’s why his team kept betraying him! ---
**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:** [April 27, 2021, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pop-culture-stuff-everyone-seems-to-misunderstand/940564/376 "2021-04-27T20:35:29Z")
Right. Now extrapolate that to the third question I posed, and explain again what your problem with reader response is. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2021, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pop-culture-stuff-everyone-seems-to-misunderstand/940564/377 "2021-04-27T20:42:36Z")
The difference between asking “how do you feel about your grandmother getting cancer” and asking “what is the purpose of your grandmother getting cancer.” ---
**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:** [April 27, 2021, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pop-culture-stuff-everyone-seems-to-misunderstand/940564/378 "2021-04-27T20:45:20Z")
What? ---
**Author:** ![mikecurtis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mikecurtis/32/3284_2.png) [@mikecurtis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mikecurtis)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2021, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pop-culture-stuff-everyone-seems-to-misunderstand/940564/379 "2021-04-27T20:55:50Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > mike\_curtis It’s just mikecurtis, no underscore. > [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > In spatially flat vacuum the speed of light is around 186,000 miles per second. Are you sure of that fact? [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/pTn6Ewhb27k/maxresdefault.jpg "Why No One Has Measured The Speed Of Light") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pTn6Ewhb27k) ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2021, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pop-culture-stuff-everyone-seems-to-misunderstand/940564/380 "2021-04-27T20:56:03Z")
Asking how someone feels about their grandmother’s cancer has a real answer–it is a description of the real emotional state within their mind. That is the equivalent of asking “what is five plus five”. Asking someone about the purpose of their grandmother’s cancer is a meaningless question because it has no meaningful answer. ---
**Author:** ![Chingon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chingon/32/17645_2.png) [@Chingon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chingon)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2021, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pop-culture-stuff-everyone-seems-to-misunderstand/940564/381 "2021-04-27T20:57:25Z")
I think it’s interesting to read how people who are not neurotypical ingest art. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pop-culture-stuff-everyone-seems-to-misunderstand/940564.md?page=18) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pop-culture-stuff-everyone-seems-to-misunderstand/940564.md?page=20)