Ricochet is the best place on the internet to discuss the issues of the day, either through commenting on posts or writing your own for our active and dynamic community in a fully moderated environment. In addition, the Ricochet Audio Network offers over 50 original podcasts with new episodes released every day.
You’re Out of Your Element
A few weeks ago, I was watching Young Frankenstein. About halfway through, I realized that to the best of my knowledge, I hadn’t seen it before, yet due to the sort of people I associate with, I was already aware of all the most-referenced parts. It was not the first movie I’ve seen where previous secondhand knowledge somewhat diminished my enjoyment.
On the other side of the ledger, @hankrhody referenced Bartertown at work. In a group that could be expected to have known and asking other people afterward, he was only able to find 1.5 out of 19 people that knew who run Bartertown. (The half point was for knowing the movie.)
There are a couple reasons for telling these stories. The first is to point out ways that having common reference points and in-jokes can provide to bring people into a group or have a sidebar conversation that only a few people will understand. If someone asks me a yes/no question and I respond with “Is the Space Pope reptilian?” how they respond will probably have an effect on my opinion of them.
The second reason is to discuss exactly how much of a given medium one needs to be aware of in order to participate in a given conversation. If I know, for example: that the cake is a lie, you can’t fight in the War Room, that all your base are belong to us, that five is right out, that a man’s got to know his limitations, the Buster kept me out of handcuffs, that rug really tied the room together, if the light is green, the trap is clean, that word does not mean what I think it means, or that Shaft is one bad mother…, is it necessary to have actually consumed that media, or is it enough to know why it means what it means?
This principle can be applied to more than just movie and tv references. In another post, there was a discussion of the Fry’s Electronics chain and its legendarily bad customer service, which I was aware of despite not having been to one. Even Ricochet has some examples, although those will be left open as an exercise for the reader.
That’s all I’ve got, the floor is open. Anyone else have lines that they regularly use in conversation, whether or not anyone else will understand it?
Published in Group Writing
It used to bhe called “middlebrow”. Doesn’t exist anymore.
That phrase is so universal now as to be a genuine American idiom.
The OP refers to the phenomena of seeing a film for the first time, though knowing many of the famous lines already. There is an opposite to that – which can be a fun experience: Watching a film you love for the 100th time with someone who has never seen it. It’s as close as you can get to seeing it again for the first time.
Stay on the bomb run, boys! I’m gonna get them doors open if it harelips ever’body on Bear Creek!
100 years ago, cultural literacy, in the western civ sense, was confined to the written word. Great works of literature in the English language, supplemented with a smattering of Greek and Latin popularized by Oxford/Cambridge/Harvard/Princeton. Today’s sources are much wider. Think about what has evolved since 1900: audio recording, film, radio, TV and since the 1980s, the all consuming internet. Oh, and people live longer. It will be novel, but someone, somewhere in 2045 will probably say, non-ironically, “far out, man”.
I suppose you men are wondering why I called you all here.
Since seeing The Death of Stalin, I’m adding one to the list:
I have to spend a kopeck.
Not really related, but “Far out” triggered a thought.
I just got the most recent issue of the Alumni magazine from Denision University in the mail the other day.
There was a little blurb in it about John Denver appearing on Campus (circa 1966) – before he got famous – he was still with a trio whos name escapes me. Anyway, this person was recounting how they sat with him for awhile on the quad talking, and John played him a song he had just written, “Leaving on a Jet Plane”, and said something about having played it for Mary Travers who was interested in recording it with Peter Paul and Mary.
Denver, Boise, and Johnson, originally the Chad Mitchell Trio.
Yes, but awfully thin. Here at my office, we just brought on board a young man named Dillon Thomas. I chirped up with a lame joke about what kind of poetry he writes. That was the point when I discovered I was the only one on staff who has ever even heard of Dylan Thomas.
I don’t know most of the movie references on this wonderfully entertaining thread, so I guess I’m the one out of the cultural mainstream, not my co-workers who apparently didn’t take English lit.
Had the gentleman in question heard of Dylan Thomas? I almost never joke about someone’s name to themselves; they’ve heard them all before. If they haven’t then sometimes it’s best not explaining. Like when I offered to give that Leopold girl a hand…
I’m afraid to ask. Besides coming close to violating my mother’s 11th commandment—never ask a personal question—I want to keep my head down and not reinforce my growing reputation as that weird old lady at the front desk.
Ahhhh. I would have recognized “cornholio” as B&B, but only ever saw one or two episodes.
I didn’t take English lit either, and I mostly know Dylan Thomas from what I’m told were his dying words: “I’ve had eighteen straight whiskies, I think that’s the record.”
I take it that’s not going gentle into that good night?
What do you think?
For me, it’s Simon & Garfunkel, A Simple Desultory Philippic:
“Leave the gun; take the cannolis.” The Godfather
“Praise Jeebus!” The Simpsons
“It just doesn’t matter! It just doesn’t matter!” Meatballs
“Mmmm! Floor pie!” The Simpsons
“Listen, strange women lyin’ in ponds distributin’ swords is no basis for a system of government. Supreme executive power derives from a mandate from the masses, not from some farcical aquatic ceremony.” and “Did you see him repressing me? You saw him, didn’t you?” Monty Python and the Holy Grail
“All right, but apart from the sanitation, medicine, education, wine, public order, irrigation, roads, the fresh water system and public health, what have the Romans ever done for us?” Monty Python’s Life of Brian
I inevitably start anticipating lines and driving the first timer crazy.
You’re wet.
It’s raining.
Guilty confession: I’d only seen brief snippets of B&B and thought it was beyond stupid. To make matters worse, two friends of mine in acting school were huge fans and would frequently launch into interminable (and horrible) impressions — (“[Snort] – she said ‘butt’ — huh . . huh, huh [more snorting]“) so without ever having seen a full episode, I professed to hate the show.
Then, one day, I walked in to find the roommates watching the “cornholio” episode.
I won’t say I became an instant fan. But the girls never let me forget how many times I laughed out loud during that viewing.
I can count on one hand the number of times I’ve laughed so hard that I couldn’t breathe.
B&B hold one of those coveted spots:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qP0xQt2D3bA
I guess you just had to be there.
https://coub.com/view/hkvmz
the clip wasn’t on YouTube.
I had a similar response and had completely written it off until… I found out Hank Hill had his origins on that show in the form of the “disapproving old man neighbor”. Then came the day I realized Boomhouwer and Dale are age-progressed versions of B&B. And….I still hate that show.
I can only stand so much crudity, and B&B was over the line.
Two thumbs up.
Judge: “That is a lucid, intelligent, well thought-out objection.”
Attorney: “Thank you, Your Honor.”
Judge: in a firm toned “Overruled.”
“Back off man, I’m a scientist”