The "Things You Didn't Get Until Later" Thread

[Willravel]

I'd been just farting around the house all afternoon when I noticed a special on the Science Channel about science fiction writers being prophetic (Prophets of Science Fiction). I'm a bit of a science fiction nerd, so I sat back with some pasta and enjoyed myself. The special had just finished with Jules Verne when it got to H.G. Wells. Yada, yada, time machine, yada, 4th dimension... War of the Worlds.

I love War of the Worlds, it's probably on my top 15 works of science fiction. I was always enchanted by the idea that despite all the power we think we have, we should always be humble. I loved the idea that even a superior species could be undone by the most simple of miscalculations. Sure, there are plenty of things you can take away from such a wonderful work of fiction.

The special went on, providing a context for Wells' writing of War of the Worlds, and they start to talk about Wells following the colonization of Tanzania and the extermination of the aboriginals by the British. Apparently, Wells was inspired by this atrocity to turn the tables on Britain and Europe by having some beings come down from the cosmos and lay about the Europeans the way that the Europeans were laying about Africa and Australia. I'd always understood that the Martians were coming to Earth for our resources, but for some reason I never put 2 and 2 together and realized that it was a metaphor for the colonization that Wells was seeing.

It was like getting punched in the face, but not in a bad way.

Have you ever taken a lot of time to figure out something interesting about a favorite movie, tv show, article, or book? Tell us about your experience!

[Zeraph]

Less meaningful but it took me till my early twenties to realize Bill was short for William.

[Willravel]

I kinda meant within the context of entertainment, but we can say you meant Bill Murray.

[djtestudo]

Originally Posted by Willravel

I kinda meant within the context of entertainment, but we can say you meant Bill Murray.

[Martian]

It still doesn't explain how Wells completely crapped out on the Deus Ex Machina ending. I mean, seriously. A cold?

I was watching Ferris Bueller's Day Off with Magpie earlier, and finally clued into a line that I'd never quite understood. Ferris' sister says to an intruder through the intercom "I have my father's gun and a scorching case of herpes." Somehow I never connected the herpes mention to the scene just prior where she tells the 911 operator that she's very protective of her body and doesn't want it to be killed or violated. I'd never understood why such a thing would be relevant and just shrugged it off as 'I'm in a very bad mood.'

Magpie, who apparently hasn't seen the movie the whole way through, explained it to me. I felt a bit stupid.

[MSD]

After years of being a fan of Jethro Tull, I was listening to Locomotive Breath one day and after the line "Old Charlie stole the handle, and the train it won't stop going," it finally clicked, "Oh! It's about Vietnam!" That was 5 or 6 years ago.

Originally Posted by Martian

It still doesn't explain how Wells completely crapped out on the Deus Ex Machina ending. I mean, seriously. A cold?

Colonists are susceptible to native diseases, even if they weren't wiped out.

[FoolThemAll]

"Let's see... ah, yes, 867-5309. Wait, that's not it... damn you Tommy Tutone!"

I figured he was talking about some child's toy phone. It wasn't until that one phone commercial that I became aware of the existence of the song.

[Fremen]

A friend and I were listening to "The House of the Rising Sun" the other day, and I commented that it was about a brothel, and she said it was about an actual prison in Louisiana.
Since she knows music better than I, I changed my long held beliefs, but, just now I went to the Wiki article, and now I guess we're both kind of right.

The House of the Rising Sun - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The real house...

Various places in New Orleans, Louisiana have been proposed as the inspiration for the song, with varying plausibility. The phrase "House of the Rising Sun" is often understood as a euphemism for a brothel, but it is not known whether or not the house described in the lyrics was an actual or fictitious place. One theory speculated the song is about a daughter who killed her father, an alcoholic gambler who had beaten his wife. Therefore, the House of the Rising Sun may be a jail-house, from which one would be the first person to see the sun rise (an idea supported by the lyric mentioning "a ball and chain," though that phrase has been used as slang to describe marital relationships for at least as long as the song has been in print). Because the song was often sung by women, another theory is that the House of the Rising Sun was where prostitutes were detained while they were treated for syphilis. Since cures with mercury were ineffective, going back was very likely.

Either way, a century ago the name would have suggested a link with the Land of the Rising Sun.

Only two candidates have historical documentation as using the name "Rising Sun", both having listings in old period city directories. The first was a small short-lived hotel on Conti Street in the French Quarter in the 1820s. It burned down in 1822. An excavation and document search in early 2005 found evidence supporting this claim, including an advertisement with language that may have euphemistically indicated prostitution. An unusually large number of pots of rouge and cosmetics were found by archaeologists at the site.

The second possibility was a late 19th century "Rising Sun Hall" on the riverfront of the uptown Carrollton neighborhood, which seems to have been a building owned and used for meetings of a Social Aid & Pleasure Club, commonly rented out for dances and functions. Definite links to gambling or prostitution, if any, are undocumented for either of these buildings, neither of which still exists.

Another claim is that The House of the Rising Sun actually existed between 1862 and about 1874 and was run by a Madam Marianne LeSoleil Levant whose name translates from French as "the rising sun". Bizarre New Orleans, a guide book on New Orleans, asserts that the real house was at 1614 Esplanade Avenue between 1862 and 1874 and was purportedly named for its madam, Marianne LeSoleil Levant.

It is also possible that the "House of the Rising Sun" is a metaphor for either the slave pens of the plantation, the plantation house, or the plantation itself, which were the subjects and themes of many traditional blues songs. Dave van Ronk claimed in his autobiography that he had seen pictures of the old New Orleans Prison for Women, the entrance to which was decorated with a rising sun design. He considered this proof that the House of the Rising Sun had been a nickname for the prison.

The gender of the singer is flexible. Earlier versions of the song are often sung from the female perspective, a woman who followed a drunk or a gambler to New Orleans and became a prostitute in the House of the Rising Sun (or, depending on one's interpretation, an inmate in a prison of the same name), such as in Joan Baez's version on her self-titled 1960 debut album. The Animals version was sung from a perspective of a male, warning about gambling and drinking. Bob Dylan's 1962 version and Shawn Mullins' recent covered version on his album "9th Ward Pickin' Parlor" is sung from the female perspective.

Not everyone, however, believes that the house even existed at all. Quoted on the BBC's 'h2g2' database, Pamela D. Arceneaux, a research librarian working at the Williams Research Center in New Orleans is quoted as saying: "I have made a study of the history of prostitution in New Orleans and have often confronted the perennial question, 'Where is the House of the Rising Sun?' without finding a satisfactory answer. Although it is generally assumed that the singer is referring to a brothel, there is actually nothing in the lyrics that indicate that the 'house' is a brothel. Many knowledgeable persons have conjectured that a better case can be made for either a gambling hall or a prison; however, to paraphrase Freud: sometimes lyrics are just lyrics."

There's really no telling with Wikipedia about what's true or not.

This probably doesn't fit your criteria, Will, but it was entertaining to read, anyway. Thanks for giving me the idea, Will.

[Crack]

Someone who has not watched Pulp Fiction please go watch it just once, then post in this thread. That would be fun to read!