# What Major Misconceptions Did You Have About Creative Works? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 4, 2014, 9:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-major-misconceptions-did-you-have-about-creative-works/677868 "2014-01-04T09:40:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2014, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-major-misconceptions-did-you-have-about-creative-works/677868/81 "2014-01-14T13:11:35Z")
> [@furryman](#): > > I know I read Death of a Salesman in school and thinking it was one of the most depressing things I ever read. > Up until now I thought nothing at all happened in Waiting for Godot. Is that why it’s funny? This is why you cannot read a play and feel like you know the play. Imagine only reading the script for Star Wars. It’s clunky and boring. Plays don’t generally work on the page the way they work on the stage. Death of a Salesman is depressing. It’s also funny. The script is about 90% depressing and 10% funny; actors and a director change that ratio depending on how they want to, not by changing the script, but by making different choices in how to interpret it. [Waiting for Godot is funny because it’s funny](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=271pvKq2p4g). “Nothing happens,” in WfG in the way that Seinfeld is a “show about nothing.” It’s not that the actors are literally sitting quiet and still on the stage for 90 minutes, it’s that what “happens” isn’t the important part for moving the show forward - the conversations and relationships move the play, not a plot. You can sum up the “events” of the play in about two sentences: “Two men are waiting on the side of a road for someone named Godot. Two other men on the same road join them; they talk.” But you can write volumes about what the play is about. ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2014, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-major-misconceptions-did-you-have-about-creative-works/677868/82 "2014-01-14T14:58:32Z")
Several times in my life I’ve had the opportunity to see _Cabaret_, either in movie form or as a stage production, and I’ve always avoided it because I thought of it as a frothy bouncy musical with no plot / just a skeleton plot used to string one song&dance number after another. I had no idea it was kind of dark and decadent. Still haven’t seen it but it’s now on the lineup. ---
**Author:** ![Koxinga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/4af34b/32.png) [@Koxinga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Koxinga)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2014, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-major-misconceptions-did-you-have-about-creative-works/677868/83 "2014-01-14T15:12:12Z")
> [@WhyNot](#): > > Death of a Salesman is depressing. It’s also funny. The script is about 90% depressing and 10% funny; actors and a director change that ratio depending on how they want to, not by changing the script, but by making different choices in how to interpret it. For the life of me I cannot remember what the funny parts might be. ---
**Author:** ![Turek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/turek/32/18782_2.png) [@Turek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Turek)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2014, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-major-misconceptions-did-you-have-about-creative-works/677868/84 "2014-01-14T15:49:58Z")
> [@AHunter3](#): > > Several times in my life I’ve had the opportunity to see _Cabaret_, either in movie form or as a stage production, and I’ve always avoided it because I thought of it as a frothy bouncy musical with no plot / just a skeleton plot used to string one song&dance number after another. I had no idea it was kind of dark and decadent. And to balance things out, the other day in preparation for **Saving Mr. Banks** , I watched **Mary Poppins** for the first time. While I had expected a story with some songs mixed in, instead it’s a “frothy bouncy musical with no plot / just a skeleton plot used to string one song&dance number after another.” ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2014, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-major-misconceptions-did-you-have-about-creative-works/677868/85 "2014-01-14T15:52:28Z")
> [@Turek](#): > > And to balance things out, the other day in preparation for **Saving Mr. Banks** , I watched **Mary Poppins** for the first time. While I had expected a story with some songs mixed in, instead it’s a “frothy bouncy musical with no plot / just a skeleton plot used to string one song&dance number after another.” Yes, totally. If I had been the author I would have behaved pretty much as she did in _Saving Mr. Banks_, and it was exactly the expectation that _Cabaret_ was another _Mary Poppins_ that kept me away. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2014, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-major-misconceptions-did-you-have-about-creative-works/677868/86 "2014-01-14T19:28:16Z")
> [@WhyNot](#): > > [Waiting for Godot is funny because it’s funny](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=271pvKq2p4g). “Nothing happens,” in WfG in the way that Seinfeld is a “show about nothing.” It’s not that the actors are literally sitting quiet and still on the stage for 90 minutes, it’s that what “happens” isn’t the important part for moving the show forward - the conversations and relationships move the play, not a plot. You can sum up the “events” of the play in about two sentences: “Two men are waiting on the side of a road for someone named Godot. Two other men on the same road join them; they talk.” But you can write volumes about what the play is about. It’s not a laugh riot, but parts of it CAN be funny. Think of Vladimir and Estragon as a classic old-time comedy team, be it Abbott and Costello or Laurel and Hardy, and see if their exchanges aren’t vaudevillian in tone. ---
**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:** [January 14, 2014, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-major-misconceptions-did-you-have-about-creative-works/677868/87 "2014-01-14T20:57:24Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > It’s not a laugh riot, but parts of it CAN be funny. Think of Vladimir and Estragon as a classic old-time comedy team, be it Abbott and Costello or Laurel and Hardy, and see if their exchanges aren’t vaudevillian in tone. the Lincoln Center performance that ran in 1988 starred Robin Williams, Steve Martin, and F. Murray Abraham. It was reportedly a hoot. ---
**Author:** ![Laggard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/9de053/32.png) [@Laggard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Laggard)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2014, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-major-misconceptions-did-you-have-about-creative-works/677868/88 "2014-01-14T21:36:20Z")
I for some reason used to think Sophies Choice was about a horse. ---
**Author:** ![Turek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/turek/32/18782_2.png) [@Turek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Turek)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2014, 11:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-major-misconceptions-did-you-have-about-creative-works/677868/89 "2014-01-15T11:57:10Z")
> [@Laggard](#): > > I for some reason used to think Sophies Choice was about a horse. You probably watched too many episodes of MASH. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Southern\_Yankee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/southern_yankee/32/2800_2.png) [@Southern\_Yankee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Southern_Yankee)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2014, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-major-misconceptions-did-you-have-about-creative-works/677868/90 "2014-01-15T13:26:05Z")
> [@sciurophobic](#): > > I thought _Bat Out of Hell_ was a heavy metal album. Maybe because of the album [cover](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bat_Out_of_Hell)? ---
**Author:** ![Laggard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/9de053/32.png) [@Laggard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Laggard)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2014, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-major-misconceptions-did-you-have-about-creative-works/677868/91 "2014-01-15T13:50:44Z")
> [@Turek](#): > > You probably watched too many episodes of MASH. 😃 That’s what I think also. ---
**Author:** ![Dale\_Sams](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/779978/32.png) [@Dale\_Sams](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dale_Sams)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2014, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-major-misconceptions-did-you-have-about-creative-works/677868/92 "2014-01-15T15:30:36Z")
> [@Turek](#): > > And to balance things out, the other day in preparation for **Saving Mr. Banks** , I watched **Mary Poppins** for the first time. While I had expected a story with some songs mixed in, instead it’s a “frothy bouncy musical with no plot / just a skeleton plot used to string one song&dance number after another.” “Just”? I think the themes of spend more time with your kids and learn to enjoy life…are very well done. With a side dollop of misty-eye for the “Tuppance Lady”. ---
**Author:** ![iamthewalrus\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/258eb7/32.png) [@iamthewalrus\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamthewalrus_3)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2014, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-major-misconceptions-did-you-have-about-creative-works/677868/93 "2014-01-15T18:06:18Z")
I thought that the _Andre_ in _My Dinner with Andre_ was Andre the Giant because I associated him with Wallace Shawn due to _The Princess Bride_. > [@Laggard](#): > > I for some reason used to think Sophies Choice was about a horse. This wins the thread. ---
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2014, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-major-misconceptions-did-you-have-about-creative-works/677868/94 "2014-01-15T18:19:19Z")
> [@Laggard](#): > > I for some reason used to think Sophies Choice was about a horse. Not getting the MASH reference, but you probably confused it with [Hobson’s Choice](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hobson's_choice). ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2014, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-major-misconceptions-did-you-have-about-creative-works/677868/95 "2014-01-15T18:22:02Z")
I used to think that a “Leopard-skin Pill-box hat” was a typical case of mid-sixties-Dylan’s absurdist humorous hyperbole. Nope, I later learned i[t’s a real thing.](http://media.tumblr.com/tumblr_krq26b91yy1qzctx8.png) ---
**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:** [January 15, 2014, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-major-misconceptions-did-you-have-about-creative-works/677868/96 "2014-01-15T18:22:40Z")
> [@Morbo](#): > > Not getting the MASH reference, but you probably confused it with [Hobson’s Choice](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hobson's_choice). Col. Potter’s horse was named Sophie. ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2014, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-major-misconceptions-did-you-have-about-creative-works/677868/97 "2014-01-15T18:27:20Z")
This is slightly off-topic, but parly on-topic: When I first saw it, I thought that Buck Henry’s [introduction of the new (Season 6) SNL cast members was legit](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=569288) :eek: ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2014, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-major-misconceptions-did-you-have-about-creative-works/677868/98 "2014-01-15T20:33:20Z")
> [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](#): > > Before I ever saw “Birth of a Nation,” I thought it might have something to do with the American Revolution. See, I knew it had to do with the KKK, but I still thought it would be about the American Revolution, just retold through their eyes. ---
**Author:** ![Hampshire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hampshire/32/4887_2.png) [@Hampshire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hampshire)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2014, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-major-misconceptions-did-you-have-about-creative-works/677868/99 "2014-01-15T21:40:40Z")
I thought the title for the movie _The Cider House Rules_ was a declarative statement and the movie about a frat house. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Stafford\_Cripps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_stafford_cripps/32/7167_2.png) [@The\_Stafford\_Cripps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Stafford_Cripps)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2014, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-major-misconceptions-did-you-have-about-creative-works/677868/100 "2014-01-15T23:05:37Z")
> [@Morbo](#): > > Not getting the MASH reference, but you probably confused it with [Hobson’s Choice](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hobson's_choice). Though if you think the well known play _Hobson’s Choice_ is about a horse then you’re equally confused. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-major-misconceptions-did-you-have-about-creative-works/677868.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-major-misconceptions-did-you-have-about-creative-works/677868.md?page=6)