What is Digg?308 Comments
- danobrien23, on 10/12/2007, -1/+135I was hoping to see "From Justin To Kelly" on there, because I still don't understand how that movie was ever made
- teresa73521, on 10/12/2007, -5/+131After reading this, I still don't know wtf Donnie Darko was about.
I disagree that Bogie sending Ingrid Bergman away in Casablanca wasn't romantic. He loved her, but sent her off with another man so she would have a better life than he could give her. It was tragically romantic. - goldfenix, on 10/12/2007, -13/+91I'm suprised they missed Fight Club. That was an easy pick for that list.
Most people assume that fight club glorifies fighting and manliness. Actually, the message is "Don't be a space monkey." - SpaceDreamer, on 10/12/2007, -7/+71they forgot Top Gun, the ultimate gay movie!
- erikbra81, on 10/12/2007, -7/+701. "What everyone thinks the movie is about": stupid interpretation that 10-year-olds believe
2. "what it actually is": my own plausible but still fairly banal interpretation
3. Repeat
This guy is way too full of himself. - burnttoast11, on 10/12/2007, -1/+59Donnie Darko is pretty confusing, but for like 10 minutes after watching it for about the 10th time, I think a understood it, but then I lost it again.
- doubleviking, on 10/12/2007, -10/+65Don't worry, because not many people know wtf Donnie Darko was about anyway. Honestly, I still think Richard Kelly had no clue what it was about either. :(
- Homerr, on 10/12/2007, -12/+65I second Fight Club -
What everyone thinks the message is: Fighting bare-chested is *****-erotic.
What it actually is: The IKEA lifestyle is a soul-less and empty existence that emasculates an entire generation of men who have no great cause to fight for. - DDRSkata, on 10/12/2007, -13/+63Why am I being dugg down? It really does make sense. Here it is in a nutshell (it gets more complicated, but the website is down and I don't have the director's cut on hand, so I'm going from memory).
On October 2, 1988, the jet engine crashes through Donnie's roof. This event creates a fork in time. The primary universe is the "real" universe, and without it, all other universes would cease to exist. Donnie must complete a series of extremely connected tasks to cause the jet engine (which comes from the plane his mother and younger sister are on) to go back in time. He is guided by Frank, who is essentially an angel (I don't remember what the term Richard Kelly uses to describe him is, but that is his role). If he fails to complete the tasks, he will not die in the primary universe, which will lead to its collapse. By succeeding, he causes the tangent universe to collapse, saving all of existence in a very Jesus Christ way. Upon the collapse of the tangent universe, the memories of the 28:06:42:12 from the split enter the minds of everyone in the primary universe like a dream.
The Christ allegory is obvious. He dies to save humanity. The marquee outside of the movie theater says "The Last Temptation of Christ" (and originally, that was the movie they were to watch in the theater, but the rights to the clip cost too much, so they accepted Sam Raimi's offer to use a clip from The Evil Dead for free). Through his actions (most notably the collapse of the tangent universe and the subsequent mass memory/dream), people are spiritually/morally changed for the better (Jim Cunningham wakes up crying because he sees the consequences of his actions, and according to a "news article" on the old website, he commits suicide soon after; Frank touches his eye and looks distraught when he wakes up, likely deciding not to drive drunk anymore, etc.).
It's not impossible to understand. It's just impossible to COMPLETELY understand in one sitting. Well, unless you're watching the director's cut. - darkdaedra, on 10/20/2007, -10/+53Man takes intro to film class at community college + Man writes article mocking others who don't have such an educated and perceptive eye = Digg front page.
I study film and make film, and I can tell you that this mother ***** is just plain wrong on several accounts. - rockforever, on 10/12/2007, -6/+43You are an ignorant person. Pulp Fiction was a masterpiece.
- DDRSkata, on 10/12/2007, -2/+39The contents of the briefcase are unimportant. Tarantino has said repeatedly that he intentionally didn't specify what was inside and that the contents glow because he added a light bulb in the suitcase to make it seem more important and glorious.
- noisician, on 10/12/2007, -8/+44maybe travolta was playing a douchebag ?
- jspegele, on 10/12/2007, -5/+39To all of you: READ THE BOOK!
- stisaac, on 10/12/2007, -10/+42That guy is ***** pissed off about scarface.
- jspegele, on 10/12/2007, -5/+37If you couldn't already pick up on most of what this guy said, you shouldn't be allowed to watch movies.
- GoldenChild1, on 10/12/2007, -4/+36Nothing is more infuriating than when a person idolizes Tony Montana, when they really didn't even get the point of the movie. His situation was not one to be desired, and people don't realize it. Personally I'm glad my house isn't being raided by a Columbian drug cartel.
- BornWithRage, on 10/12/2007, -2/+31He hit Scarface on the ***** head. Could not have put it better myself.
- patientXero, on 10/12/2007, -1/+25I always thought Casablanca was an allegory for pre-U.S. WWII. You have Vichy France, Free France, Nazis and Fascist Italians all kinda hanging in North Africa. And then there's Rick, the American expatriot with a big heart, but whose rationale tells him to just stay neutral. Eventually he realizes he has to choose a side, which he does when he decides to help Ilsa leave with Victor. At the end, Free France and no-longer-neutral America are at "the beginning of a beautiful friendship."
In some ways, it's a propaganda film. - joeydoo, on 10/12/2007, -1/+24Yeah Tony Montana was an idiot. He got in over his head, didn't have anyone to defend him and was just like any little ***** selling coke on the street; easy pickings and ripe for a hostile take-over.
Idolising him is aspiring to be a failure. - joeydoo, on 10/12/2007, -4/+24@scjones. Did you just come out?
- pirilampo, on 10/20/2007, -2/+21"The Top Ten Most Misunderstood Movies Ever Made"
What everyone thinks the message is: "Opinionated blogger writes a cool post about movies he understands better than anyone else."
What it actually is: "Stupid blogger thinks he's way smarter than he actually is, and makes a fool of himself trying to be cool." - zoomie, on 10/12/2007, -18/+37First rule of fight club....Do NOT talk about fight club
- DiggsOnlyNeoCon, on 10/12/2007, -4/+23Or they were angels. Also, when you see the back of Wallace's head, there's a band-aid there. Traditionally, that's where the devil takes your soul out. The combo on the briefcase is 666, I think, too.
- MindTrigger, on 10/12/2007, -3/+21That movie single handedly relaunched Travolta's career. Without it he would just be some low level Scientology minion.
- Curufir, on 10/12/2007, -1/+18You're as bad as he is :)
Jurassic Park
People think: Ooh, shiny dinosaurs.
True Message: No Hollywood film is going to let kids get eaten by a dinosaur, no matter how much they ***** deserve it. - mysticmcj, on 10/12/2007, -3/+20Nothing beats the awesome "mouth-click" that Val Kilmer makes. It needs its own emoticon.
- CBTF, on 10/12/2007, -4/+20I D I O T
- 0siris, on 10/12/2007, -13/+28 The Top Ten Most Misunderstood Movies Ever Made
Written by Anthony Burch
We’re not talking about abstract, BS French art films or something. We’re talking Pulp Fiction, The Godfather, Scarface. The kind of movies that you assume you understand on a thematic level, but you really don’t. You need someone to clear things up for you: that’s why we’re here.
10. Pulp Fiction
What everyone thinks the message is: Tarantino values extreme violence and immoral, criminal characters
What it actually is: A selfish, violent life is one not worth living, and redemption is possible for anyone who wants it badly enough.
Most people who truly appreciate Pulp Fiction easily understand its message, but most of the twitchy, conservative, older generation who decried its violence and profanity completely missed the point. It’s easy to look at Pulp Fiction’s best scenes of violence and assume that Tarantino is glorifying the gangster lifestyle, until you consider that the only characters who end up living are the ones who (in some way or another) renounce their selfish ways and redeem themselves.
Plus, how can anyone watch Marcellus Wallace get anally raped and think that it glorifies the life of a criminal?
9. Jarhead
What everyone thinks the message is: War is really good! OR: War is really bad!
What it actually is: Respect your Marines.
Jarhead is a movie where you more or less get from it what you bring to it. If you are vehemently pro or anti-war, Jarhead will do nothing to change your mind in that respect. While the trailer made it seem like a modern Apocalypse Now – the gas mask football sequence seems a lot cooler when taken out of context – Jarhead strives only to tell the true story of what it it’s like to be a Marine. In this case, it involved a lot of waiting, masturbating, and getting cheated on by your girlfriend.
Kind of like high school.
8. Little Miss Sunshine
What everyone thinks the message is: Life sucks ass!
What it actually is: Life rules!
I didn’t say you had to agree with the true moral of every movie, especially considering how sappy and mainstream the otherwise-adequate Little Miss Sunshine is, but them’s the breaks.
Despite cramming as much forced familial dysfunction and philosophical cynicism as humanly possible into the first 90% of the movie, the writers make a complete 180 at the film’s climax and decide that, despite the fact that one of the characters is dead and the rest have had their lives ruined in literally every way conceivable, that life is actually pretty neat!
Even if your gay lover left you for someone who now has your job, and even if you can’t realize your dream of becoming a jet pilot due to biological defects beyond your control, and even if your self-help program didn’t sell (thus leaving you nearly bankrupt with two kids to support), everything can be okay if you dance!
If the movie had gone on for another week, most of the main characters would have committed suicide out of depression.
7. Raging Bull
What everyone thinks the message is: Determination and unwillingness to compromise can lead you to the top.
What it actually is: Don’t be an *****.
In talking about Raging Bull, Scorsese frequently mentions La Strada, an old film of director Frederico Fellini. In it, an ***** strongman befriends a kind young girl, and then abandons her on the road where she later dies. Too late, the strongman realizes he’s made a horrendous mistake. THAT, in essence, is what Raging Bull is about.
If you have a friend who claims to be knowledgeable about movies, ask him what Raging Bull is about. If he says “it’s about the rise and fall of a boxer,” or if he talks about how the best part of the movie is the well-choreographed boxing scenes, then he’s an idiot and you should kick him in the penis.
If he says “it’s about a violent boxer whose intensity in the ring propels him to stardom, but whose same intensity in his private life drives away everyone he loves,” then you’re probably talking to me. In which case, you should probably give me money for my time.
6. Donnie Darko
What everyone thinks the message is: Donnie goes back in time and intentionally kills himself at the end, thus preventing all of the problems he causes later in life.
What it actually is: Donnie rips the engine off his mother’s plane and throws it through the time vortex making his death not an intentional desire to prevent his existence but rather a necessity in order for him to be sent to heaven and what the goddamn ***** am I talking about?
Perhaps the greatest misunderstanding about Donnie Darko’s theme is the assumption that there is any theme at all. While emos have clutched onto this movie like their own cinematic Bible, and while it is an entertaining flick in its own right, a hard truth must be faced: if you watch the movie, and just the movie, and you think you’ve understood the plot, you are wrong. Very large, very important information pertaining to the movie is, for some reason, only available on the Donnie Darko website (which is structured more like an interactive game than a movie webpage).
Now, does that make the flick any less entertaining or weird or fun? No. But it does make whatever standalone message you thought you gleaned from the flick completely null and void.
5. The Searchers
What everyone thinks the message is: Nothing can break the bond between family, or the determination of one man’s love for his niece.
What it actually is: John Wayne hates himself some Injuns.
If you haven’t seen The Searchers in a really long time, you’ll probably remember it as a really great adventure story about some evil Indians and a heroic ex-soldier. And while it is a great adventure story, and a good movie in its own right, that’s not really what it’s about.
John Wayne, a racist ex-Confederate soldier, tracks down his kidnapped niece more out of hatred for Injuns than love for the girl. After finding out that she has become assimilated into their culture, Wayne seriously considers murdering her (against the wishes of his part-Indian nephew, who he pretty much treats like ***** for the entire movie).
You may also remember a great tracking shot of Wayne riding through an Indian camp, pistols blazing in both hands. You may not remember the part right afterward where he grabs the incapacitated Indian Chief and then scalps him for his own enjoyment.
4. Casablanca
What everyone thinks the message is: Love conquers all, and saves the good guys from the harshness of war.
What it actually is: Love is a waste of time. Join the peace corps.
Rick makes Ilsa leave with Laszlo at the end of the movie. Period.
Everybody quotes the “you’ll regret it, maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but soon, and for the rest of your life” speech as if it was the most romantic thing in the world, but Bogie’s essentially telling Ingrid Bergman to get the ***** out while she still can. He figured she’d be better off as a freedom fighter in France than Humphrey’s bitch in Casablanca.
And yeah, his desire for her to have a better life is kinda sweet, but it’s hardly romantic. Romance would have been if he’d boarded the plane with her, instead of staying behind with the gay French cop and the dead German.
3. The Godfather
What everyone thinks the message is: The Mob values family above all else.
What it actually is: Violence is a vicious, inescapable cycle.
Hey, society, I’ve got an idea. Let’s ignore all the actual events of the Godfather and only quote certain things out of context! Like when Brando says that “A man who doesn’t spend time with his family can never be a real man”!
Ignoring, of course, the fact that Michael Corleone – who is initially the most levelheaded of the Corleone children – has no qualms whatsoever about killing his repentant brother-in-law Carlo or his misunderstanding, borderline-retarded brother Fredo. The whole point of all of the flashbacks in The Godfather Part II was to show that violence begets more violence: a crime lord kills Vito’s family, Vito joins the mob so he can go back and kill the crime lord, and his children have to inherit his legacy of violence (which is why Michael starts out as an upstanding marine and ends up claiming to renounce Satan at his nephew’s baptism while simultaneously killing the ***** out of the heads of the four other families).
Although, he DOES, technically, “spend time” with his family members. Right before he, you know. Kills them.
2. Gone With The Wind
What everyone thinks the message is: Nothing can stop love, or the will to survive.
What it actually is: Black people is dumb. The South shall rise again!
People heralded Hattie McDaniel’s Best Supporting Oscar win as a watershed moment in motion picture history: a moment that marked a more intelligent, more progressive Hollywood.
Too bad they gave her the award for playing a stupid, unrealistically kind slave woman.
Most of the troubles that Scarlett O’Hara faces in Gone With The Wind come from one of three sources: (1) The Civil War, (2) Postwar Carpetbaggers/Greedy Union Soldiers, and (3) Clark Gable’s dick. Two of these three problems go more or less unrecognized and unremembered in modern society.
While the film is pretty damn good, and does a fantastic job of developing the two leads (over the course of the movie, Scarlett goes from “prissy Southern bitch” to “prissy Southern bitch who doesn’t take ***** from anyone”), nobody seems to remember the scene in which the Evil Union Soldier tries to rape Scarlett, forcing her to shoot him in self-defense. Or how grateful Mammy is to have such a kind, caring massuh in Miss Scawlett.
Appreciate the on-again-off-again-on-again relationship between Rhett Butler and Scarlett O’Hara all you like, just don’t forget that biggest problems these sympathetic, well-drawn characters have to deal with all come from evil men in blue uniforms who believed blacks should be free.
1. Scarface
What everyone thinks the message is: Tony Montana is awesome!
What it actually is: No, he isn’t!
If there is any cultural phenomenon more widespread or more infuriating than the wholesale misunderstanding of Scarface by the gangster rap community, I don’t know what it is. Either every copy of Scarface in the ghetto has the last half of the movie edited out, or America is dumber than anyone could have ever truly considered.
Wannabe gangstas(z) look at Tony Montana’s rise, and they think, “That’s me. He’s uncompromising, he’s ambitious, he’s intelligent, and he’s got morals. He is a product of his environment, but he’s made the most out of it and is a relative hero amongst villains.”
Then they look at Tony Montana’s fall, where he abandons his mother, loses Michelle Pfieffer, ***** murders his best friend, involuntarily gets his sister shot, and then gets blown in half by a shotgun, they think, “Let’s watch the first half again.”
Honestly, how ridiculous a world do we live in where an entire generational subgroup admires the aesthetics of a drug-fueled gangster flick, but not its overall message?
Not to mention, this general attitude led to the creation of the alternate-reality Scarface video game, where Tony survives the shootout.
But let’s not think about that right now. - dgaspard, on 10/12/2007, -7/+22Wallace's soul. That's why Travolta and Jackson didn't die when they were shot at from point blank range. They were saving a soul. It really was divine intervention.
- FearlessFreep, on 10/12/2007, -5/+19" It was about explosions, bullet time effects, and kung fu..period. Stop trying to make it more than it was."
And that really worked very well until they started taking themselves much too seriously about what it was supposed to be all about... - themarq, on 10/12/2007, -3/+17I love how that old chestnut of the bandaid on the back of Wallace's neck indicates that his soul has been taken because "traditionally" that's where the devil takes your soul from. Can anyone cite a single reference (pre-Pulp Fiction) that even halfway alludes to this being "traditional?"
Christ, just because you read it on the Internet doesn't mean it's true. - ki1022, on 10/12/2007, -6/+19@DDRSkata, I never interpreted it like that. The way I saw it was this...
When the engine first falls out of the sky in the beginning of the movie, Donnie is asleep on the golf course. Why is he there? Because frank led him there and gave him the time/date thing. Frank knew this was going to happen and made donnie leave his house. Now, what this makes me think is that Donnie realized that he was going to die when time was up and be sent back again. From that point on in the movie he was living "extra time" after he already really wouldve died, therefore having no regrets about anything. Thats what I think it meant by "I can do anything". At the end of the movie, he finally goes back in time to when the engine falls, and faces his fate.
ah...its too much to get into. It is a complex movie and im sure everyone has different opinions about the story/meaning. I stick by my story though! ;-) - Noctem, on 10/12/2007, -2/+15Losing faith in humanity while watching MTV isn't a phenomenon, it's almost a prerequisite for watching at this point in time.
- tdogg241, on 10/12/2007, -3/+15FTA: "...but most of the twitchy, conservative, older generation who decried its violence and profanity completely missed the point."
Sounds like you, meshman. - brandon573, on 10/12/2007, -3/+15Thinking the message of Scarface is "Tony Montana isn't awesome" is as stupid as thinking the message is "Tony Montana is awesome". Its just focusing on the "fall" instead of the "rise", but still ignoring the other half of the movie.
The message should be not to loose your "hunger" when you get to the top. It takes hard work to make it on top and it takes hard work to stay there.
Not doing mountains of coke could be another lesson learned too. - 0siris, on 10/12/2007, -10/+22Wallace's band aid was to cover a rather gnarley scar. The original intent of the breifcase was to contain the riches from resivior dogs. It was changed to a glowing light as to not distract from the plot. What was in the briefcase doesnt matter, which is why they dont tell you. Its not his soul, thats just a (fairly good) theory that has no basis in cannon.
- jtryba, on 10/12/2007, -3/+14@FearlessFreep "but that's just because the writer was not clever enough to actually tell a story...and manage to get a lot of people to fill in with speculation what he was too lazy to think through"
What you call laziness, many others see as one of the defining characteristics of art. Art is attractive because it engages the imagination, not because it force feeds it content.
I enjoy open ended narratives that challenge me to actually think about what the meaning was. In the end, it doesn't matter if my answer is the one the director had in mind when he made the film; I bring my own interpretation to the table, just like with my favorite book, painting, or song.
If you want a formulaic experience where everything is laid out for you, check out MTV's Next, Date My Mom, or Exposed. If you don't get the theme the first time through, don't worry, it will all be repeated after the commercial break. - Decimit, on 10/12/2007, -2/+13*Spoiler* (if by chance that one person that has yet to see this movie is actually reading digg and not living in a cave)
Memento makes perfect sense. The story is very well laid out. The only real question is presented at the end by the Teddy character about what happened to his wife and the details of the John G character. What most people don't realize is these details do not matter to the story in any way. Is John G dead? Has he killed "fake" John Gs? Did he kill his wife? Doesn't matter. What matters with the movie is how he progresses with his wife and how he manages to do it. He will never know, and even if he somehow discovered, he wouldn't remember anyway. You are making the journey with him and everything he experiences. - lsbigbro11, on 10/12/2007, -9/+20That was great. Loved the Scarface one.
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -8/+19The matrix did not have a deeper meaning. It was about explosions, bullet time effects, and kung fu..period. Stop trying to make it more than it was.
- FearlessFreep, on 10/12/2007, -3/+13Because a blog that says "Top 10 explanations that you already knew about movies" wouldn't get many hits...
- echoforever, on 10/12/2007, -9/+19Memento anyone?
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -2/+12Am I the only one that dislikes reading how other people think one should interpret or "understand" something...whether it be art, music, movies? My interpretation is what makes it a personal experience. If we're all told how to interpret something...it has officially entered the Suck Zone.
- wonboodoo, on 10/12/2007, -5/+15Man studies and makes film. Man feels that any blog about movies is written by a "mother *****" who couldn't possibly have such a great understanding of film as he has. = His comment gets Dugg up.
- thomasoa, on 10/12/2007, -1/+10Well, that was lame.
Casablanca is not 'about love' at all, it is about sacrifice. Rick is a metaphor for America at the first part of WWII, isolationist, cynical, unwilling to get involved. This is made clear with the dialogue where Rick asks, "If it is December 1941 in Casablanca, what time is it in New York?" and follows it up with a comment about how America must be asleep. - 1kewldude, on 10/12/2007, -0/+9I can't believe they left off Pootie Tang!
- pron*, on 10/12/2007, -1/+9@ MikeWeller
I may be wrong there buddy, but it was Sleep With Me where Tarantino talks about Top Gun being about one man's struggle with his own homesexuality, not Reservoir Dogs. Great scene when he lays it all out. I love repeating the same arguments in front of really homophobic guys cause they get pissed and you know you are ruining one of their favorite movies of all time. They'll never be able to watch Top Gun again without nagging thoughts in the back of their minds.
More info:
http://www.whysanity.net/monos/sleep.html
http://www.ieatpaint.com/topgun/
"You can be my wingman anytime".... "*****, you can be mine" - falstaff, on 10/12/2007, -3/+11If you missed the last 10 minutes of Memento, it's indeed a WTF movie. If you watch the whole thing, it makes perfect sense.
- happyfundave, on 10/12/2007, -3/+11@JohnHyperion
Wait....WHAT!!! Kurt Cobain and Janis Joplin were both amazing artists who had really ***** up lives. People idolize the music, but few people now would actually want that cluster ***** of a life Kurt Cobain had. Also where is there any connection between a violent drug dealer and a historic man who preached non-violence.
Face it, he was pretty spot on about Scarface. -
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