Five Movies That Are Often Misinterpreted By People

ian0592 — Wed, 08 Jan 2014 22:21:00 +0000

The hottest controversy right now surrounds “The Wolf of Wall Street” and whether or not the film makes Jordan Belfort look like a hero or a villain. Okay, maybe this debate is a week old but I don’t get paid to do this so relevance is irrelevant here.

Anyway, “The Wolf of Wall Street” is not the first film to face this problem. Watching movies is such a subjective experience that they get misunderstood all of the time. Sometimes, this can be a good thing and it can bring up issues that nobody talks about, like how to view people who somehow make taking Quaaludes and snorting cocaine look hilarious. Other times, it can show how dumb people are, such as those who root for Jordan Belfort. Other times, misinterpretation can be dangerous when the irony is lost and life imitates art.

Here are five other movies that often get misinterpreted:

The Graduate (1967)

“The Graduate” contains a gloriously false happy ending. Ben Braddock (Dustin Hoffman) spends the whole film sleeping with Elaine Robinson’s (Katharine Ross) mother, and then decides that maybe he wants Elaine instead. So he crashes her wedding and they ride off on a bus together. Happily ever after? After just a minute, their two smiles quickly begin to fade in the shortest honeymoon phase known to man. “The Graduate” shows that impulsive love doesn’t normally work out. Generations of rom-coms to come always managed to get this ending wrong. The common misinterpretation of this ending is used as a key plot point in “500 Days of Summer.”

Taxi Driver (1976)

“Wolf” isn’t the first time that somebody has gotten one of Scorsese’s films wrong. “Taxi Driver” is one of cinema’s most haunting and ambiguous works of art. Excuse me while I go hit myself in the head with a hammer after writing that sentence. Anyway, the disturbed Travis Bickle (Robert De Niro) shoots up an entire army of pimps in his efforts to save a teenage prostitute. Yes, he saves a young girl’s life, but in the process he becomes one of the maniacs that he hates. In the end, newspapers declare him a hero and he evades jail time. Some might believe this is how we should actually feel about him, while others find it ironic that a psychopath would be venerated by the media. In an even more extreme case, John Hinckley Jr. was inspired by the film and attempted to assassinate Ronald Regan. Sometimes, misinterpretation leaves the realm of silly intellectual debate and turns into something much more frightening.

Wall Street (1987)

“Greed, for lack of a better word, is good.” This is the most famous quote from “Wall Street,” and many people took it as a life philosophy as opposed to a stern warning. The Gordon Gekko case is a failure of irony. Then again, I would probably trust anybody with a cell phone that awesome. Fittingly, one of the many people inspired by “greed is good” happened to be an idealistic young stock broker named Jordan Belfort.

Knocked Up/Juno (2007)

Both of these comedies from 2007 explore unexpected pregnancies and in both there is a key scene where a character decides to keep the baby instead of getting an abortion. Immediately, many conservatives hailed the film as strongly pro-life, showing that political people never miss out on a single chance to push their agendas. Rather, their decisions were necessary for the films. If Juno and Alison had opted to get abortions, then both “Knocked Up” and “Juno” would have been over within 20 minutes.

Tropic Thunder (2008)

The funniest scene in a very funny movie comes when method actor Kirk Lazarus (Robert Downey Jr.) explains to action star Tugg Speedman (Ben Stiller) that if you want to win an Oscar, then you “never go full retard.” Some considered this an assault on the mentally challenged, and protests ensued. It is unfortunate that many saw this joke to be a malicious one, as it is really pointing its finger at actors who try and exploit disabilities. Funny, nobody ever got worked up over the fact that Robert Downey Jr. is wearing blackface for nearly the entire duration of “Tropic Thunder.”

Great Lou Reed Musical Moments in Movies

ian0592 — Tue, 29 Oct 2013 02:40:00 +0000

On Sunday, rock ‘n roll pioneer Lou Reed passed away. It’s a testament to the genius of Lou Reed’s vision that a kid growing up in the 2000s could listen to “The Velvet Underground & Nico” for the first time and feel the same way somebody did when they first heard it in 1967.

I am proud to say that I still have a Velvet Underground poster hanging in my room, and that every time I give any album from either The Velvet Underground or just Lou Reed another listen, I hear something new every single time.

Besides being a multi-talented musician, Reed was an artist in many other forms. He made a few short films himself. He never got into feature acting, which is a shame, because I think he could have played a great, enigmatic villain or basically anybody who transfixes you with so few words.

Yet, one way Reed will live on is through the many movies that used the music that him and the greatest rock band ever created. Here I have just compiled a few of my favorites:

1. Trainspotting: Perfect Day

Mark Renton (Ewan McGregor), the heroin-loving hero of “Trainspotting,” idolizes Iggy Pop, but that doesn’t stop Danny Boyle from getting some Lou Reed in there. Given Reed’s reputation, I wouldn’t be surprised if “Perfect Day” has undertones of drug use. Either way, the misleadingly cheerful song is a perfect backdrop to Renton’s overdose: the exact thing that causes him so much pain also causes him so much joy. And that’s why he keeps coming back to it.

2. The Royal Tenenbaums: Stephanie Says

The word “angelic” has been used to describe The Velvet Underground’s “Sunday Morning,” but it also describes “Stephanie Says.” This beautiful tune comes at a transformative moment in the film, as a man (Luke Wilson) is reunited with the bird he thought had left him as a child. It perfectly highlights this nice little moment of possible closure.

3. Pale Blue Eyes, Adventureland

The characters of “Adventureland” worship at the feet of Lou Reed. I was tempted to go with “Satellite of Love,” mainly to highlight the scene where Ryan Reynolds commits the inexcusable crime of calling the song Shed a Light on Love. “Pale Blue Eyes” is one of The Velvet Underground’s best songs, and it illuminates this scene of quiet, budding love. Even Kristen Stewart’s constant lip biting can’t hurt it.

4. Killing Them Softly, Heroin

Okay, this one is a little too on the nose. “Heroin” didn’t need any visual representation; the drumming which represents the racing of the heart is more than enough. But “Killing Them Softly” did the best they could to visualize Lou Reed’s music. Overall, not bad.

5. Juno, I’m Sticking With You

In this song, Reed duets with Maureen Tucker. The Velvet Underground fits in perfectly with the eclectic “Juno” soundtrack. People liked to criticize “Juno” for being “hip” (because apparently that’s a bad thing). The fact that The Velvet Underground’s music could still be considered hip to today’s teenager shows that yes, Lou Reed is timeless.

Couldn’t find the original clip. Hopefully this’ll do.

The Reel Deal » Juno

Five Movies That Are Often Misinterpreted By People

Great Lou Reed Musical Moments in Movies