# Unexpected Different Attitudes In Older Works **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 7, 2019, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unexpected-different-attitudes-in-older-works/835178 "2019-06-07T19:16:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 9
**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:** [June 20, 2019, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unexpected-different-attitudes-in-older-works/835178/161 "2019-06-20T02:41:24Z")
> [@WildaBeast](#): > > Which reminds me of how in The Andy Griffith Show, Otis, the town drunk, is portrayed as a lovable comedic character rather than someone who has a serious problem. [Including domestic violence](https://youtube.com/watch?v=awIT82rSdL0). ([That whole episode](https://mayberry.fandom.com/wiki/Ellie_for_Council) has attitude problems.) ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2019, 7:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unexpected-different-attitudes-in-older-works/835178/162 "2019-06-20T07:12:25Z")
> [@Ukulele\_Ike](#): > > The smoking room on the _Hindenburg_ was carefully sealed so that passengers could indulge without creating a explosive flaming holocaust. I understand also that passengers might bring cigarettes, pipes, and cigars to smoke on board, but they were not allowed to bring matches or lighters on board. The only matches on board were in the hands of the smoking room’s steward, who would happily provide a light in the smoking room. But nowhere else, and neither would he provide a match to a passenger for use elsewhere. ---
**Author:** ![Red\_Wiggler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/red_wiggler/32/13190_2.png) [@Red\_Wiggler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Red_Wiggler)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2019, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unexpected-different-attitudes-in-older-works/835178/163 "2019-06-20T13:18:36Z")
In my haste yesterday while posting about _The King’s Speech_, I forgot to note that King George VI (Bertie) died of (primarily) lung cancer at the age of 56. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2019, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unexpected-different-attitudes-in-older-works/835178/164 "2019-06-20T14:26:41Z")
There were no such things as concussion protocols. No private eye could get through a book without being knocked unconscious at least once. In _The Last Secret_ by Dana Chambers, the good guy gets knocked out progressively harder \*\*four \*\*times, and then gets out of a hospital bed to fly off on a secret mission to Peru. But even ordinary people in movies get knocked on the head all the time. Sometimes it’s comic, sometimes it’s serious, but there’s never lasting effects and everybody shakes it off and proceeds with the plot. ---
**Author:** ![Pantastic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3bc359/32.png) [@Pantastic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pantastic)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2019, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unexpected-different-attitudes-in-older-works/835178/165 "2019-06-20T15:40:28Z")
> [@Broomstick](#): > > I’ll do better than that. > > The _Hindenburg_ zeppelin, you know, an aircraft full of highly flammable hydrogen gas, actually had a real, honest-to-Og smoking room on board. That’s distinctly different than what I’m thinking of though - they had a special room with special precautions, and people went there to smoke instead of hanging out wherever. If the stories I’m thinking of had a smoking room with special climate control, or had some sort of ‘hookah mask’ they put on to smoke it would be like the Hindenburg siutaiont. What I’m thinking of is people just casually smoking in their small, limited oxygen and weight environments. And especially if they’re eating nutrient paste from a tube or carrying food pills to save weight, but taking full packs of cigarettes (including packaging) instead of nicotine patches or pills, or at least compact tobacco with a reusable holder to get rid of filters and boxes. ---
**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:** [June 20, 2019, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unexpected-different-attitudes-in-older-works/835178/166 "2019-06-20T16:09:30Z")
> [@WildaBeast](#): > > Which reminds me of how in The Andy Griffith Show, Otis, the town drunk, is portrayed as a lovable comedic character rather than someone who has a serious problem. That reminds me of a real doozy. In an episode of the Dick Van Dyke show (the Lady and the Tiger and the Lawyer), Rob and Laurie each set up the new neighbor on dates - Rob sets him up on a date with his coworker (Sally) and Laurie sets him up on a date with her cousin. Both dates apparently go very well - the guy likes Sally, and he likes the cousin. Which one is he going to call for a second date? Apparently neither - but why? The reason why is that the neighbor has a problem - **he beats up women he gets involved with** , and until his psychologist cures him, he’s only dating women once, so he doesn’t get attached. If you think I’m kidding - [The Dick Van Dyke Show: Episode 78: The Lady and the Tiger and the Lawyer](http://dickvandykeshow.blogspot.com/2011/06/episode-78-lady-and-tiger-and-lawyer.html) confirms my memory of the storyline ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2019, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unexpected-different-attitudes-in-older-works/835178/167 "2019-06-20T16:30:32Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > There were no such things as concussion protocols. No private eye could get through a book without being knocked unconscious at least once. In _The Last Secret_ by Dana Chambers, the good guy gets knocked out progressively harder \*\*four \*\*times, and then gets out of a hospital bed to fly off on a secret mission to Peru. > > But even ordinary people in movies get knocked on the head all the time. Sometimes it’s comic, sometimes it’s serious, but there’s never lasting effects and everybody shakes it off and proceeds with the plot. In an individual book, you don’t notice it, but over the course of the series, it’s frightening how many times Tarzan got knocked out, woke up with amnesia, then suddenly made a complete recovery by the climax of the story. ---
**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:** [June 20, 2019, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unexpected-different-attitudes-in-older-works/835178/168 "2019-06-20T16:51:13Z")
> [@mbh](#): > > In an individual book, you don’t notice it, but over the course of the series, it’s frightening how many times Tarzan got knocked out, woke up with amnesia, then suddenly made a complete recovery by the climax of the story. My wife (Dendarii Dame) tells me that Nancy Drew (a teenager!) gets a concussion in most of her books - yikes. ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2019, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unexpected-different-attitudes-in-older-works/835178/169 "2019-06-20T17:58:27Z")
A trope neatly subverted in [Morons from Outer Space](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dL_1MPbeBuE&list=PL7BD0A44F32E4A138&index=10&t=161s). ---
**Author:** ![Terminus\_Est](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terminus_est/32/3087_2.png) [@Terminus\_Est](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terminus_Est)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2019, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unexpected-different-attitudes-in-older-works/835178/170 "2019-06-20T17:58:53Z")
> [@Pantastic](#): > > What I’m thinking of is people just casually smoking in their small, limited oxygen and weight environments. Like a submarine. The Navy used to allow smoking in subs until they banned it altogether in 2010. ---
**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:** [June 20, 2019, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unexpected-different-attitudes-in-older-works/835178/171 "2019-06-20T19:03:55Z")
**Andy L** , at least that guy recognizes that his behavior is a problem, and is taking steps to try to curb it. ---
**Author:** ![Pantastic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3bc359/32.png) [@Pantastic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pantastic)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2019, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unexpected-different-attitudes-in-older-works/835178/172 "2019-06-20T19:05:34Z")
> [@Terminus\_Est](#): > > Like a submarine. The Navy used to allow smoking in subs until they banned it altogether in 2010. What I said doesn’t really match what I was thinking - I’m thinking more of closed environments with really tight restrictions on everything and really heavy recycling. US Navy Submarines are nuclear and generate oxygen by using the reactor to separate seawater into hydrogen and oxygen, they’re not limited to on board oxygen supplies, and aren’t recycling their air and water the way spaceships would have to. On older, non-nuclear submarines people would smoke while the sub was surfaced, but it wasn’t allowed while they were submerged, and that’s a much more space ship like environment in my mind. Also the sub isn’t so limited in weight and food supplies that the sailors are eating nutrient paste and pills instead of real food, so having regular packs of cigarettes doesn’t seem off in the same way. ---
**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:** [June 20, 2019, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unexpected-different-attitudes-in-older-works/835178/173 "2019-06-20T19:56:23Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > **Andy L** , at least that guy recognizes that his behavior is a problem, and is taking steps to try to curb it. True, but the seriousness of the problem doesn’t match well with the lightness of the rest of the episode, suggesting that the problem wasn’t really taken that seriously when the episode was new. ---
**Author:** ![ZonexandScout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zonexandscout/32/544_2.png) [@ZonexandScout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZonexandScout)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2019, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unexpected-different-attitudes-in-older-works/835178/174 "2019-06-20T20:02:44Z")
> [@EinsteinsHund](#): > > That reminds me of “Dallas”. When I saw it as a tween in the early eighties, I asked myself: “Is it typical for Americans to drink hard booze at each and every opportunity?” They were always drinking, be it a family gathering or a business meeting. People on _ **Dallas** _ drinking? Try watching any Brit series nowadays. My impression is that every single police officer has two or three bottles in his/her desk. This doesn’t include meeting right after work to hoist a few. ---
**Author:** ![TruCelt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trucelt/32/523_2.png) [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2019, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unexpected-different-attitudes-in-older-works/835178/175 "2019-06-20T20:45:34Z")
In an early 70’s novel by an author who later became very popular (neither the name or the title will come to me just now) there is a scene where a man invites his boss for dinner, and his young wife meets the boss at the front door of their apartment building. On the way up the stairs (it’s a third floor walk-up) she drops a hint that “If he doesn’t get a promotion soon my legs will be all muscles!” The author then leaps to the boss’s mind where the soft flesh of her legs is admired as he follows her up the stairs “No muscles there!” ---
**Author:** ![Lamoral](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lamoral/32/16078_2.png) [@Lamoral](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamoral)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2019, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unexpected-different-attitudes-in-older-works/835178/176 "2019-06-20T21:30:56Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > There were no such things as concussion protocols. No private eye could get through a book without being knocked unconscious at least once. In _The Last Secret_ by Dana Chambers, the good guy gets knocked out progressively harder \*\*four \*\*times, and then gets out of a hospital bed to fly off on a secret mission to Peru. > > But even ordinary people in movies get knocked on the head all the time. Sometimes it’s comic, sometimes it’s serious, but there’s never lasting effects and everybody shakes it off and proceeds with the plot. This has not changed at all. It’s still a trope of shows and movies, and I have yet to see the effects of head trauma treated accurately in anything. ---
**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:** [June 20, 2019, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unexpected-different-attitudes-in-older-works/835178/177 "2019-06-20T23:37:56Z")
> [@Lamoral](#): > > This has not changed at all. It’s still a trope of shows and movies, and I have yet to see the effects of head trauma treated accurately in anything. In “Elementary” Sherlock Holmes takes several months to recover after his repeated concussions catch up to him (and the risks of further injuries are also mentioned from time to time). ---
**Author:** ![WildaBeast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wildabeast/32/6_2.png) [@WildaBeast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WildaBeast)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2019, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unexpected-different-attitudes-in-older-works/835178/178 "2019-06-21T00:53:08Z")
I thought of one: In _Vertigo_, where James Stewart’s character makes his new girlfriend change her hair and clothing to resemble the woman who’d died earlier in the film. Especially when he’s at the department store searching for a very specific dress that she’d worn, the women working there act as if there’s absolutely nothing unusual about a man telling his girlfriend what to wear. As I recall one of them says something along the lines of “It sounds like the gentleman knows what he wants” when she suggests buying a different dress instead. At this point he doesn’t yet know that the girlfriend and the woman who “died” are the same person. She’d been hired to impersonate someone and fake her death as part of a murder plot. Or maybe he suspects it, which is why he wants to do the whole makeover thing. Even if that’s the reason it’s still weird from a modern perspective for him to tell his girlfriend exactly how to dress. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2019, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unexpected-different-attitudes-in-older-works/835178/179 "2019-06-21T18:13:21Z")
I just spotted a scene in a _Perry Mason_ show that comes off as creepy today: Mason goes to a house and spots a young boy outside playing alone. That sort of thing has been mentioned before in this thread, but Mason goes up to boy to ask a few questions. The boy is silent, then says he’s not supposed to talk to strangers. Mason says, “It’s all right. I’m talking to you.” Innocent back then, but it’s sounds like a line a pedophile might use. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unexpected-different-attitudes-in-older-works/835178.md?page=8)