I am an academic spouse and have been at several dinner parties (drinks flowing) where the Republic has been analyzed. One theory which currently seems to be in vogue is that it is a cautionary tale about what would happen if the young were put in charge of society (ala Lord of the Flies). After a looong discussion on this topic during which the comment was made that the educational system of the Republic is a recipe for disaster, a lamb turned to me and asked whether the point of the speechifyin’ was to support home schooling.
Speaking of R.E.M., not everyone catches on that the song “Fall on Me” is about acid rain. (“Buy the sky and sell the sky…”)
Or that “Orange Crush” is about agent orange.(“We are agents of the free…”)
Or that “Losing My Religion” is about a secret crush, and the narrator is contemplating telling the object of his affections about his feelings. (“I’m choosing my confession…”)
(These are Michael Stipe-certified explanations of these songs, by the way. I’m not making this stuff up.)
Johnathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels is a huge misunderstood book. Many think it’s a charming children’s tale. It’s a satire on the society in which Swift lived.
All those urban legends about the movies. Here are my favorites that everyone gets wrong (I try telling them the truth, but they furrow their brows in confusion and say, “But I saw it on television.” :
Wizard of Oz-The munchkin hanging himself. Didn’t happen; it’s a stork. They used birds in the background and one got caught in the scene.
The Lion King: The spelling of SEX in the dust when Simba layed down on the cliff. It’s not SEX, it’s SFX.
Aladdin: The part where Aladdin is on the Princesses balcony and, while pushing Raja the tiger away, he says, “Good teenagers take off their clothes.” No, it’s, “Good kitty…take off…go!”
Three Men and a Baby: The supposed “ghost” in the apartment. It’s not a ghost, it’s a cardboard cutout of Ted Danson that was left on the set. Furthormore, it was not shot in an apartment, it was shot on a Hollywood sound stage.
Definitely “Lolita”. I’ve had embarassing moments when people ask me what my favorite book is, and some people have never even heard of it (???).
“So what’s it about?”
“It’s about this guy… um… who… um… bangsatweleveyearold…”
“WHAT?!?!?!”
“But it’s so much more! It raises interesting questions about the nature of love, obsession, who’s taking advantage of whom… even post-war American society as seen by an outsider…”
“But… but… he does WHAT with a twelve-year-old?”
No one has mentioned “The Truman Show”, which I think was a great yet highly misunderstood movie on a couple levels:
This movie was not meant to be a comedy, which many of my friends complained about. “Jim Carrey wasn’t very funny in it,” they whine. It was directed by Peter Weir for cripes sake! Remember “Witness” or “The Dead Poets Society”? Not your normal comedic masterpieces. There were a few humorous scenes, but no talking ass cheeks, which I guess disappointed some people.
Every review of the movie talked about how it was some sort of statement about the intrusiveness of the media, the coming of “big brother”, etc. To me it is more about the control we have in our own lives. Even when we DO think we know what’s going on and are happy, etc. like Truman was, things can totally change and that’s when we really get put to the test. When Truman was on the sailboat with the storm raging around him, he summoned all his strength and refused to back down–“Is that the best you can do??”, he screamed.
It’s more about the triumph of the human spirit than just “what if little cameras WERE put everywhere and we watched someone’s life 24 hours a day?”