# Things in movies and TV that went over your head as a child **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 20, 2011, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-in-movies-and-tv-that-went-over-your-head-as-a-child/582606 "2011-05-20T18:32:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2011, 5:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-in-movies-and-tv-that-went-over-your-head-as-a-child/582606/21 "2011-05-21T05:41:50Z")
> [@Dietrich\_K](#): > > When I was a kid, I thought this line from _Superman - The Movie_ was “You _will_ bow down before me, Jor-El. I swear it! No matter that it takes an eternity, you _will_ bow down before me! Both you, and then one day, your ass!” > > It wasn’t until years later that I figured out that it was actually, “You _will_ bow down before me, Jor-El. I swear it! No matter that it takes an eternity, you _will_ bow down before me! Both you, and then one day, your _heirs_!” The first line would have been way better. ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2011, 6:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-in-movies-and-tv-that-went-over-your-head-as-a-child/582606/22 "2011-05-21T06:03:39Z")
A lot of the dialogue in the Peanuts specials—I watched them from a _very_ early age, and the child actors clumsy/Spliced Together delivery didn’t really help, either. Of course, watching and enjoying them from an early age, I think I got the _tones and cadence_ of the lines pretty indelibly etched upon my memory, to this day. Odd thing, that…kinda like memorizing a song that’s sung in a language you don’t understand. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2011, 8:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-in-movies-and-tv-that-went-over-your-head-as-a-child/582606/23 "2011-05-21T08:23:06Z")
> [@Dietrich\_K](#): > > When I was a kid, I thought this line from _Superman - The Movie_ was “You _will_ bow down before me, Jor-El. I swear it! No matter that it takes an eternity, you _will_ bow down before me! Both you, and then one day, your ass!” So did I and my brother; my brother found it pretty offensive in fact. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2011, 12:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-in-movies-and-tv-that-went-over-your-head-as-a-child/582606/24 "2011-05-21T12:02:50Z")
Things that just seemed silly in old cartoons now make sense, like rifles going flaccid. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2011, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-in-movies-and-tv-that-went-over-your-head-as-a-child/582606/25 "2011-05-21T21:51:13Z")
> [@](#): > > Things that just seemed silly in old cartoons now make sense, like rifles going flaccid. Wait… They did, didn’t they? :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2011, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-in-movies-and-tv-that-went-over-your-head-as-a-child/582606/26 "2011-05-21T22:04:16Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > The second time I watched _Ghostbusters_, I was amazed at just how sexual it was. All that business about the Gatekeeper and the Keymaster just completely whooshed me as a kid-- I was just in it for the special effects. As an aside, at the time, Sigourney Weaver was approximately as hot as the solar corona. Considerably hotter than than that, in the scene when she’s possessed and showing off those amazing gams. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2011, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-in-movies-and-tv-that-went-over-your-head-as-a-child/582606/27 "2011-05-21T22:08:35Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > > [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](#): > > > > Things that just seemed silly in old cartoons now make sense, like rifles going flaccid. > > Wait… They did, didn’t they? > > :smack: :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2011, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-in-movies-and-tv-that-went-over-your-head-as-a-child/582606/28 "2011-05-21T22:08:59Z")
Lots of references in _Rocky and Bullwinkle_ – the Kerwood Derby, The Ruby Yacht of Omar Kyamm, etc. Not long ago I watched _Spartacus_ again after not seeing it for many years, and I was astounded by all the homoeroticism. I didn’t realize that _Pale Rider_ was a remake of _Shane_ until years after seeing it first. And now that I mention **Shane** and homoeroticism… well, **Shane** and homoeroticism. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2011, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-in-movies-and-tv-that-went-over-your-head-as-a-child/582606/29 "2011-05-21T22:11:20Z")
> [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](#): > > Things that just seemed silly in old cartoons now make sense, like rifles going flaccid. > [@Chronos](#): > > Wait… They did, didn’t they? > > :smack: > [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > :smack: :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Pyper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Pyper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pyper)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2011, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-in-movies-and-tv-that-went-over-your-head-as-a-child/582606/30 "2011-05-22T00:11:41Z")
I wasn’t exactly a kid when _A Bug’s Life_ came out, but I didn’t realize until I was watching it recently with one of my students that it is a remake of _The Magnificent Seven._ It even has the same style of music. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2011, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-in-movies-and-tv-that-went-over-your-head-as-a-child/582606/31 "2011-05-22T03:08:20Z")
> [@kushiel](#): > > My brother and his girlfriend took me to see There’s Something About Mary when I was about 12. I got most of it, but the sperm gel totally went over my head. And Cameron Diaz’s. ---
**Author:** ![PSXer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/48db29/32.png) [@PSXer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PSXer)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2011, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-in-movies-and-tv-that-went-over-your-head-as-a-child/582606/32 "2011-05-22T03:25:53Z")
> [@Boyo\_Jim](#): > > Lots of references in _Rocky and Bullwinkle_ – the Kerwood Derby, The Ruby Yacht of Omar Kyamm, etc. > > Not long ago I watched _Spartacus_ again after not seeing it for many years, and I was astounded by all the homoeroticism. > > I didn’t realize that _Pale Rider_ was a remake of _Shane_ until years after seeing it first. > > And now that I mention **Shane** and homoeroticism… well, **Shane** and homoeroticism. The “snails and oysters” scene was re-integrated into Spartacus in one of the re-releases, so maybe you didn’t see it if you watched it manye years ago. But perhaps you’re referring to other things too, I can’t right now recall ---
**Author:** ![Bytegeist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/9dc877/32.png) [@Bytegeist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bytegeist)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2011, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-in-movies-and-tv-that-went-over-your-head-as-a-child/582606/33 "2011-05-22T03:45:16Z")
At one point in _The Odd Couple_, the 1968 film with Walter Matthau and Jack Lemmon, Oscar says the following to Felix: You leave me little notes on my pillow. I told you 158 times I can’t stand little notes on my pillow. “We’re all out of cornflakes. F.U.” Took me three hours to figure out F.U. was Felix Ungar! It took me 20 years to realize “F.U.” has another particular meaning, and that that’s the whole point of the joke. ---
**Author:** ![rowrrbazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rowrrbazzle/32/414_2.png) [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2011, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-in-movies-and-tv-that-went-over-your-head-as-a-child/582606/34 "2011-05-22T03:59:20Z")
I don’t remember seeing this cartoon as a kid, but I wouldn’t have gotten the joke even as an adult if I hadn’t read about it. The Tex Avery cartoon “Uncle Tom’s Cabaña” contains a money shot, but there’s nothing explicitly sexual involved. It contains racial stereotypes offensive to many, so I’ve put the URL in the spoiler, positioned to the scene in question. [spoiler][- YouTube](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=id_y-l-6It4#t=3m35s%5B/spoiler%5D) ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2011, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-in-movies-and-tv-that-went-over-your-head-as-a-child/582606/35 "2011-05-22T04:08:41Z")
> [@Boyo\_Jim](#): > > And now that I mention **Shane** and homoeroticism… well, **Shane** and homoeroticism. Ah, I dunno. There was more going on with Shane and Marian, I thought. Unless you mean Alan Ladd and Van Heflin. I didn’t know that Ethan’s sister-in-law was in love with him, in _The Searchers_. When I was little, the family went to town on Saturdays. Mom shopped, stepdad went to the tavern, and my brother and I went to the movies – any movie. I saw _Man With the Golden Arm_ and kept waiting for a look at Frank Sinatra’s golden arm. You know, an arm made of gold! ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2011, 5:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-in-movies-and-tv-that-went-over-your-head-as-a-child/582606/36 "2011-05-22T05:26:56Z")
Another one that confused me: The Three Stooges. I was only about four or five when their shorts started being broadcast on TV, and they were the funniest things I had ever seen up to that time in my short life. But I wondered why Moe and Larry were the only two who were in every short. Why did Shemp look like Moe? Moe, Larry, and Curly Joe were still active as Stooges at the time, although their career was beginning to wind down. But what happened to Curly and Shemp and that other Joe? Why weren’t they Stooges anymore? Did they quit? Did Moe and Larry get mad at them and kick them out? I was too young to know that the shorts were decades old and that Curly and Shemp had passed on, nor did I know that Moe, Curly, and Shemp were all brothers. Now that I’m older, of course, I do know my Stooge history. ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2011, 6:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-in-movies-and-tv-that-went-over-your-head-as-a-child/582606/37 "2011-05-22T06:27:42Z")
In “Little Rascals” I missed that Froggy is supposed to be the Devil. ---
**Author:** ![tumbleddown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e9bcb4/32.png) [@tumbleddown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tumbleddown)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2011, 10:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-in-movies-and-tv-that-went-over-your-head-as-a-child/582606/38 "2011-05-22T10:21:56Z")
> [@Pyper](#): > > When my sister and I were kids, _Grease_ was her favorite movie. We must have watched it a hundred times. I didn’t realize until I was an adult how dirty that movie is! Sexual innuendo everywhere, a subplot about a broken condom leading to pregnancy- I never picked up on any of it. The sexual innuendo is rampant. Half the lyric of “Look At Me I’m Sandra Dee” are dirty, and Sandy and Danny have very differing memories of what happened on those “Summer Nights.” And it all went over my head. Save for when Marty Maraschino introduces herself with “as in cherry.” I did get by the time I was about 12, and it made me give this face: :eek: But was there a broken condom involved in Rizzo’s pregnancy scare? I only recall her being unsure if it was Kenickie’s problem or Crater Face Balmudo’s. ---
**Author:** ![Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mean_mr.mustard/32/3865_2.png) [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2011, 11:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-in-movies-and-tv-that-went-over-your-head-as-a-child/582606/39 "2011-05-22T11:20:52Z")
My kids loved **Grease** when they were younger, so I bought them the soundtrack on CD. I had a passing acquaintance with the lyrics, but I went :eek: while thumbing through the lyric booklet. So I put that booklet away; I have no idea where it is today. Jon ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2011, 1:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-in-movies-and-tv-that-went-over-your-head-as-a-child/582606/40 "2011-05-22T13:15:50Z")
> [@tumbleddown](#): > > But was there a broken condom involved in Rizzo’s pregnancy scare? I only recall her being unsure if it was Kenickie’s problem or Crater Face Balmudo’s. No broken condom mentioned. But she knew the potential sprog was Kenickie’s (Marty asked her and she confirmed could only be his) - she just lied to Kenickie 'cause she couldn’t stand his sympathy and worry for her. “Greased Lightening” was a handful of outuendo for our high school musical director to deal with. Somehow, the principal didn’t think, “the chicks’ll cream!” were appropriate lyrics for a 17 year old boy to be singing to a crowd of parents and grandparents. Of course, telling the 17 year old boy that he had to change the words simply \*ensured \*that they’d be sung loud and proud on performance nights! 😃 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-in-movies-and-tv-that-went-over-your-head-as-a-child/582606.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-in-movies-and-tv-that-went-over-your-head-as-a-child/582606.md?page=3)