# 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:** 27
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2021, 6:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pop-culture-stuff-everyone-seems-to-misunderstand/940564/523 "2021-05-17T06:01:44Z")
I don’t think they knew that at the time. Of course if the bulk of their air ends up in space I don’t know what that says about their long term prospects for life. ---
**Author:** ![Asuka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@Asuka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asuka)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2021, 10:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pop-culture-stuff-everyone-seems-to-misunderstand/940564/524 "2021-05-17T10:11:14Z")
**Raiders of the Lost Ark** , there’s a popular meme that was given to the world by **The Big Bang Theory** that says > Indiana Jones plays no role in the outcome of the story. If he weren’t in the film, it would turn out exactly the same… If he weren’t in the movie, the Nazis would still have found the Ark, taken it to the island, opened it up, and all died, just like they did. This is forgetting the three major things Indy does. 1. Saves Marion from the Nazis in her bar 2. Causes the Nazis to dig in the wrong place because of saving Marion 3. Blows up the Nazi airplane that was originally going to transport the Ark directly to Berlin So if Indy wasn’t there, the Nazi’s would have killed Marion, went directly to the dig site to recover it, then fly it straight to Berlin and then they could do whatever the hell they wanted with it. Destroying the plane is what causes the US Government to get ahold of the the ark in the first place. Even if the Nazi’s did open it and all die, it would still be in German hands and they could send as many political prisoners to experiment with it to see what made it tick as they wanted, like a weird SCP Foundation research base. Detractors try to mission creep and claim “Well maybe the Ark would have killed Hitler” or “But Indy doesn’t recover the ark to put in a museum” but neither of those have anything to do with the flawed premise that the Big Bang Theory thought they were so smart for bringing up. ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2021, 10:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pop-culture-stuff-everyone-seems-to-misunderstand/940564/525 "2021-05-17T10:29:40Z")
> [@Asuka](#): > > Even if the Nazi’s did open it and all die, it would still be in German hands and they could send as many political prisoners to experiment with it to see what made it tick as they wanted Well, unless they opened it directly in front of der Führer and his leadership, which would probably have had some other effects, let’s say, on the world at large. ---
**Author:** ![eburacum\_45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eburacum_45/32/3385_2.png) [@eburacum\_45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eburacum_45)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2021, 10:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pop-culture-stuff-everyone-seems-to-misunderstand/940564/526 "2021-05-17T10:43:00Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > When characters in movies do dumb shit, it does not break my suspension of disbelief. Exactly. The ‘rule of stupid’ applies much more to real-life situations than to fiction. I was just reading about the fire on the SS _Normandie_ in 1942. So many stupid decisions, made at so many levels of the chain of command. Heinlein’s ‘competent hero’ seems to be woefully absent in real life situations. > **[Robert A. Heinlein](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Competent_man)** > > Robert Anson Heinlein (/ˈhaɪnlaɪn/; July 7, 1907 – May 8, 1988) was an American science fiction author, aeronautical engineer, and naval officer. Sometimes called the "dean of science fiction writers", he was among the first to emphasize scientific accuracy in his fiction, and was thus a pioneer of the subgenre of hard science fiction. His published works, both fiction and non-fiction, express admiration for competence and emphasize the value of critical thinking. His plots often p Heinlein be... ---
**Author:** ![eburacum\_45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eburacum_45/32/3385_2.png) [@eburacum\_45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eburacum_45)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2021, 10:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pop-culture-stuff-everyone-seems-to-misunderstand/940564/527 "2021-05-17T10:48:36Z")
> [@Odesio](#): > > As a Dredd fan myself, the best thing about Stallone’s version is that they really got the aesthetic right. That impressed me too, especially when the ABC warrior showed up. [![](https://i.pinimg.com/originals/9b/64/66/9b6466532acb40fd43f3d3078a03151d.png) ](https://i.pinimg.com/originals/9b/64/66/9b6466532acb40fd43f3d3078a03151d.png) Stallone wasn’t right for the role, though. ---
**Author:** ![Asuka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@Asuka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asuka)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2021, 10:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pop-culture-stuff-everyone-seems-to-misunderstand/940564/528 "2021-05-17T10:57:43Z")
But they wouldn’t just open it up right in front of Hitler anyway, as the entire point of the ceremony at the sub base was to see if it actually worked. If you’re presenting something to Hitler you better make sure it’s not just a bunch of dust in an old trunk. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2021, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pop-culture-stuff-everyone-seems-to-misunderstand/940564/529 "2021-05-17T15:17:52Z")
> [@Asuka](#): > > But they wouldn’t just open it up right in front of Hitler anyway, as the entire point of the ceremony at the sub base was to see if it actually worked. Forget, for a moment, the absurdity of Indy riding outside the submarine - let’s talk about how they got the Ark inside the sub in the first place. There aren’t any doors bigger than a torpedo, or a man, on that boat. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2021, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pop-culture-stuff-everyone-seems-to-misunderstand/940564/530 "2021-05-17T15:55:34Z")
> [@Asuka](#): > > **Raiders of the Lost Ark** , there’s a popular meme that was given to the world by **The Big Bang Theory** that says > > > Indiana Jones plays no role in the outcome of the story. If he weren’t in the film, it would turn out exactly the same… If he weren’t in the movie, the Nazis would still have found the Ark, taken it to the island, opened it up, and all died, just like they did. I’ve heard a similar argument about Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone; that if the kids did absolutely nothing, He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named would not be able to get the stone. (Although it’s been decades since I read the novel so I may be missing something.) ---
**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:** [May 17, 2021, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pop-culture-stuff-everyone-seems-to-misunderstand/940564/531 "2021-05-17T16:35:55Z")
> [@Jophiel](#): > > 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. I saw a sitcom episode once (“It’s a Living”?) in which the characters are trapped on an upper floor of a skyscraper by a fire (obviously a pre-9/11 episode), and to keep up their spirits, they sing “You Are My Sunshine” - only realizing after they are partway through how sad the lyrics really are. (see also “On Top of Old Smoky” which really goes downhill towards the end: “and the grave will decay you and turn you to dust” (etc.)) ---
**Author:** ![Biffster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biffster/32/339_2.png) [@Biffster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffster)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2021, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pop-culture-stuff-everyone-seems-to-misunderstand/940564/532 "2021-05-19T04:15:43Z")
> [@Melbourne](#): > > I don’t think I was aware of it until I shared a house with a film-studies student. > > And he had been sitting up the back of a film-studies screening, feeling mellow – as film-studies students often did at the time – when the screen burst into technicolor, and he let out a loud whoop – to the amusement of his lecturer and those who already knew what was coming. I think I noticed the shift to colour the very first time I saw it. It was like the first colour film ever made, wasn’t it? ---
**Author:** ![Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eyebrows_0f_doom/32/3119_2.png) [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2021, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pop-culture-stuff-everyone-seems-to-misunderstand/940564/533 "2021-05-19T04:27:28Z")
> [@Biffster](#): > > It was like the first colour film ever made, wasn’t it? No. Color film and the 3-strip Technicolor process had already been around for quite a while. ---
**Author:** ![Biffster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biffster/32/339_2.png) [@Biffster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffster)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2021, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pop-culture-stuff-everyone-seems-to-misunderstand/940564/534 "2021-05-19T04:27:37Z")
Or how about Ring around the Rosie Pocketful of posie Ashes, ashes We all fall down! A charming little ditty to help us remember the plague. 😳 ---
**Author:** ![Biffster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biffster/32/339_2.png) [@Biffster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffster)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2021, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pop-culture-stuff-everyone-seems-to-misunderstand/940564/535 "2021-05-19T04:32:12Z")
> [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](#): > > > [@Biffster](#): > > > > It was like the first colour film ever made, wasn’t it? > > No. Color film and the 3-strip Technicolor process had already been around for quite a while. Well okay, then. ---
**Author:** ![MrAtoz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@MrAtoz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrAtoz)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2021, 12:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pop-culture-stuff-everyone-seems-to-misunderstand/940564/536 "2021-05-19T12:07:20Z")
And if you want to count 2-strip Technicolor, color film goes back to the silent movie days. ---
**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:** [May 19, 2021, 12:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pop-culture-stuff-everyone-seems-to-misunderstand/940564/537 "2021-05-19T12:26:53Z")
That is unfortunately, probably not true [Ring a Ring o' Roses - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ring_a_Ring_o%27_Roses#Counterarguments) ---
**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:** [May 19, 2021, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pop-culture-stuff-everyone-seems-to-misunderstand/940564/538 "2021-05-19T14:19:41Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > I pulled out my contemporary issues. By Sept 1979 issue, no actual article mentions any comparison to _It!_ , at all. But there is one letter to the editor: I don’t have my copies at hand, but there was definitely a lengthy article in Cinefamntastique pointing out the obvious borrowings from It!, from Planet of Vampires, and elsewhere. ---
**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:** [May 19, 2021, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pop-culture-stuff-everyone-seems-to-misunderstand/940564/539 "2021-05-19T14:45:46Z")
From an interview with Walter Giler in the special Cinefantastique Alien issue (January 1979) (Not the article I was refering to) > [@](#): > > It was a bone skeleton of a story then. Really terrible. Just awful. You couldn’t give it away. It was amateurishly written, although the central idea was sound. Basically, it was a pastiche of fifties movies. We – Walter Hill and I – took it and rewrote it completely, added the Ash and the robot subplot. > > We fleshed it out, basically. If we had shot the original O’ Bannon script, we would have a remake of IT! THE TERROR FROM BEYOND SPACE. Which basically admits that, if you take out the Ash subplot, you’ve got **IT! The Terror from Beyond Space.** > **[David Giler: Cinefantastique Interview](https://www.scified.com/news/david-giler-cinefantastique-interview)** > > David Giler, who wrote scripts for MYRA BRECKINRIDGE, THE PARALLAX VIEW and FUN WITH DICK AND JANE, always seemed to get his office located d... Have a look at page 207 in **Paul Blaisdell, Monster Maker.** > **[Paul Blaisdell, Monster Maker](https://books.google.com/books?id=CS5ZkSc-nH0C&pg=PA207&lpg=PA207&dq=cinefantastique%2Balien%2B%22It%21%2BThe%2BTerror%2Bfrom%2BBeyond%2BSpace%22&source=bl&ots=ymtn1XmEaJ&sig=ACfU3U3ACfUU3QnGnNsT2R-ARCKIJ9Socw&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwi044GR_dXwAhVwneAKHQwQDOgQ6AEwEXoECBQQAw#v=onepage&q=cinefantastique%20alien%20%22It!%20The%20Terror%20from%20Beyond%20Space%22&f=false)** > > Paul Blaisdell was the man behind the monsters in such movies as The She Creature, Invasion of the Saucer Men, Not of This Earth, It! Terror from Beyond Space and many others. Working in primarily low-budget films, Blaisdell was forced to rely on... Blaisdell might not think there was a similarity, but the book makes clear that “[Alien] suffered critical barbs fired by fans who remembered _IT! The Terror from Beyond Space_ and believed it to be the uncredited inspiration…” ---
**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:** [May 19, 2021, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pop-culture-stuff-everyone-seems-to-misunderstand/940564/540 "2021-05-19T14:54:54Z")
> [@](#): > > This 1979 article from Cinefantastique makes a good case that Alien was largely. knowingly copied from It! > > (unable to copy relevant portion – go to website) > **[Is it true that “Alien: The 8th Passenger” (1979) almost has the same plot as...](https://www.quora.com/Is-it-true-that-Alien-The-8th-Passenger-1979-almost-has-the-same-plot-as-It-The-Terror-from-Beyond-Space-1958)** > > Answer (1 of 4): Not at all. We all know what the first movie is about. The second one isn’t as well known, so I'm going to explain its plot as I remember it. > > “It! The Terror From Beyond Space” has as its protagonist a galactic kangaroo that hops... ---
**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:** [May 19, 2021, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pop-culture-stuff-everyone-seems-to-misunderstand/940564/541 "2021-05-19T16:09:49Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > Which basically admits that, if you take out the Ash subplot, you’ve got **IT! The Terror from Beyond Space.** It in fact does not. ---
**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:** [May 19, 2021, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pop-culture-stuff-everyone-seems-to-misunderstand/940564/542 "2021-05-19T16:11:41Z")
I normally think that Quora is a lousy cite, but the top answer there is sublime. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pop-culture-stuff-everyone-seems-to-misunderstand/940564.md?page=26) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pop-culture-stuff-everyone-seems-to-misunderstand/940564.md?page=28)