Comments on: Examples of double-meanings in movies, shows, cartoons?

Question: Examples of double-meanings in movies, shows, cartoons?

iamkimiam — Sun, 19 Oct 2008 17:39:34 -0800

Looking for scenes with dialogue in G-rated movies, shows or cartoons that have hidden references for adults.

The examples I am looking for need to meet the following criteria:
• Found in movies and tv shows geared specifically toward a younger audience or a general audience (both kids and adults).
• Dialogue must contain a second/hidden meaning that only adults would understand.
• The hidden message is expressed through the spoken dialogue (not by gestures, signs in the background, etc.)

An example of the type of thing I'm looking for is typical in shows like the Simpsons, where kids watching are laughing at something Homer says because it sounds silly, but adults are laughing AT THE SAME DIALOGUE, but for a different reason...because it's a reference to something in the news, politics, etc. that kids would not understand or have access to.

Yes, this is for a paper. No, you are not helping me with my homework by answering this question. Not even close.

By: phunniemee

phunniemee — Sun, 19 Oct 2008 17:42:54 -0800

All the recent Disney movies are chock full of this. It's been a long time since I saw the movie so I can't point to any specific examples, but there were a whole bunch in Finding Nemo.

By: Countess Elena

Countess Elena — Sun, 19 Oct 2008 17:47:29 -0800

This happens a lot in Spongebob Squarepants, and also in the Powerpuff Girls. One entire episode of that show is constructed out of Beatles references. Catch one or two episodes of those and you're well on your way.

By: andoatnp

andoatnp — Sun, 19 Oct 2008 17:47:45 -0800

"The Simpsons: A Tale of Two Springfields (#12.2)" (2000)

[the residents of Old Springfield discover gold in the river after Homer turns off the dam]
Kent Brockman: Thanks, Mayor Simpson! From now on, we'll all be taking golden showers.
[muffled laughter is heard in the background]
Kent Brockman: What?

Source.

By: slightlybewildered

slightlybewildered — Sun, 19 Oct 2008 17:48:18 -0800

Lots in Shrek... "Do you think he's compensating for something?"

By: The White Hat

The White Hat — Sun, 19 Oct 2008 17:58:54 -0800

Old Sesame Street was also chock full of this kind of stuff. Example: H. Ross Parrot after H. Ross Perot, and Flo Bear after Flaubert.

By: easyasy3k

easyasy3k — Sun, 19 Oct 2008 18:01:36 -0800

Animaniacs Cultural References Guides

By: thegmann

thegmann — Sun, 19 Oct 2008 18:02:47 -0800

I believe it was PG rated, but in the movie Madagascar there is a scene where the donkey yells "Sugar Honey Iced Tea" (clearly spelling sh*t) as he's careening down a wave at the ground or some other bad situation. There's another part of the movie where they've made a "HELP" sign out of logs on the beach, but a part of the P falls away and it clearly says HELL for a while.

By: lee

lee — Sun, 19 Oct 2008 18:04:01 -0800

Peewee's Playhouse;

Peewee: My Cowboy Curtis, those are big boots you're wearing.

Cowboy Curtis: You know what they say Pee Wee, big boots.....big feet!

By: Countess Elena

Countess Elena — Sun, 19 Oct 2008 18:06:55 -0800

Kermit and Miss Piggy: "I can't get away / To marry you today . . ."

Rocko's Modern Life. In fact, all of Rocko's Modern Life, pretty much. Although it wasn't as good as the first season of Wacky Delly.

By: iamkimiam

iamkimiam — Sun, 19 Oct 2008 18:13:19 -0800

Sorry, I think I wasn't being entirely clear. I'm looking for examples where the spoken non-hidden meaning is is funny or sensical to kids too, but for a different reason than it would be for adults. Examples where the spoken dialogue doesn't make sense to kids or the wider audience (where they would just dismiss it as, "yeah, don't get it, but whatever, moving on") are not what I'm looking for. The 'golden showers' or the 'H. Ross Parrot' references are perfect. Thanks, more please!

By: MsMolly

MsMolly — Sun, 19 Oct 2008 18:23:42 -0800

From the Simpsons: "Quick Nibbles, chew through my ball sack!"

By: parmanparman

parmanparman — Sun, 19 Oct 2008 18:24:36 -0800

The Pattycake scene in Who Framed Roger Rabbit. God, I need to watch that movie again.

By: jepler

jepler — Sun, 19 Oct 2008 18:26:02 -0800

I don't know of a more specific term than double entendre.

By: martinX's bellbottoms

martinX's bellbottoms — Sun, 19 Oct 2008 18:35:59 -0800

The celebrity appearances on the Muppets/ Sesame Street? Like this video. It's a cute video and it's a funny knock off of Shiny Happy People. Also, Weird Al's parodies are funny even if you don't know the original song but when you do know the song you can enjoy them on another level.

By: hellojed

hellojed — Sun, 19 Oct 2008 18:37:02 -0800

Found Via Reddit: 11 Naughtiest Moments in Animaniacs

By: -harlequin-

-harlequin- — Sun, 19 Oct 2008 18:42:17 -0800

Finding Nemo - they have mess up the aquarium so that the water will be changed. "ok everybody - think dirty thoughts!". It's lame joke for the kids, and a lame joke for the adults, but everybody laughed anyway.

By: amyms

amyms — Sun, 19 Oct 2008 18:44:02 -0800

I remember a cute example of what you're describing in an episode of the television show "Home Improvement"... The set-up was the cliche situation where one of the kids had heard the parents having sex. The kid asked something along the lines of "What were you doing in there?" The father answered "Your mom and I were having a wrestling match." The kid said "Oh, who won?" The father answered "Your mom won," to which the mom adds, "I won twice."

The reason I remember it is that there were children and adults watching at the time. The kids were laughing at the idea that the mom could have won two wrestling matches against the dad... And the adults were laughing at how clever the dialogue was in portraying the *nudge-nudge-wink-wink* stuff in a family-friendly way.

By: ormondsacker

ormondsacker — Sun, 19 Oct 2008 18:54:53 -0800

The always useful TVTropes wiki calls it a Parental Bonus (and provides a few screens worth of examples).

By: Melismata

Melismata — Sun, 19 Oct 2008 18:57:41 -0800

Again, Sesame Street was/is loaded with references. Roosevelt Franklin. Meryl Sheep. The song "Letter B," by The Beetles. The game shows like "What's my Part". And other non-direct references, too--the song by Kermit the Frog "Bein' Green" is widely known to be referring to racism, but a lot of younger kids would probably miss that.

(Showing my age again) The Electric Company was just as bad, if not worse. A character named Fargo North, Decoder. The musical "Fiddler on the Chair." And "It's a Word! It's a Plan! It's Letterman!" etc.

By: Solon and Thanks

Solon and Thanks — Sun, 19 Oct 2008 19:10:57 -0800

The Genie in Aladdin does a bunch of impersonations. I remember them all completely going over my head when I saw it first as a little kid.

TIME says:

"In his half an hour onscreen, the Genie makes dozens of eyeblink metamorphoses: [...] Arnold Schwarzenegger, Senor Wences, Ed Sullivan, Groucho Marx, [...] Eddie (Rochester) Anderson, [...] William F. Buckley Jr., Robert De Niro, [...] a Jean Gabin-style Frenchman, [...] Arsenio Hall, [...] Walter Brennan, a TV parade host and hostess, Ethel Merman, Rodney Dangerfield, Jack Nicholson, [...] Many of these apparitions show up in the Cab Callowayish A Friend like Me, a showstopper in which the Genie displays his awesome versatility."

By: Solon and Thanks

Solon and Thanks — Sun, 19 Oct 2008 19:13:00 -0800

(Oh, and I just saw your above message. I think my examples should still count because all the Genie's impersonations are funny to kids ["He's talking funny and making funny faces!"], they just don't get who is being referenced.)

By: Addlepated

Addlepated — Sun, 19 Oct 2008 19:27:50 -0800

The Wizard of Oz is full of this, IMO.

"Back where I come from we
have universities, seats of great learning
-- where men go to become great thinkers.
And when they come out, they think deep
thoughts -- and with no more brains than
you have.... But! They have one thing you
haven't got! A diploma!"
---
DOROTHY
How can you talk if you haven't got a brain?

SCARECROW
I don't know. But some people without
brains do an awful lot of talking, don't
they?

MCS -- Dorothy nods, speaks --

DOROTHY
Yes, I guess you're right.
---

Also, seconding Shrek and throwing Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory out there, too.

By: flod logic

flod logic — Sun, 19 Oct 2008 19:35:53 -0800

There seem to be quite a few funny references for parents in the show Arthur.

By: JaredSeth

JaredSeth — Sun, 19 Oct 2008 19:41:08 -0800

There are hundreds of these in Bugs Bunny episodes.

By: peep

peep — Sun, 19 Oct 2008 19:41:52 -0800

Pee Wee's Playhouse was full of these. Another was "Is that a wrench in your pocket?"

By: cocoagirl

cocoagirl — Sun, 19 Oct 2008 19:47:23 -0800

Madagascar, King Julian:
"Welcome giant pansies."
"All hail the New York Giants!"

Madagascar, Gloria (as she shakes off crabs & starfish attached to her breasts):
"OK, it's time to get off. That's all the fun you get."

By: bjgeiger

bjgeiger — Sun, 19 Oct 2008 19:57:46 -0800

Disney's Hercules has many....

By: archaic

archaic — Sun, 19 Oct 2008 20:00:57 -0800

The Simpsons are chock full of these. My personal favorite was one of the Halloween episodes that was a send up of King Kong. As Marge is about to board the ship to Skull Island someone says: "Women and seamen don't mix"

By: tomble

tomble — Sun, 19 Oct 2008 20:02:11 -0800

I always got a laugh out of the name of the king in Shrek - Farquaad, pronounced Fuckwad.

The Simpsons :
Smithers: "I think women and seamen don't mix."
Burns: "We know what you think!"

By: iamkimiam

iamkimiam — Sun, 19 Oct 2008 20:12:56 -0800

Whoa, in MeFi surround sound.

By: plinth

plinth — Sun, 19 Oct 2008 20:38:42 -0800

Hello? Rocky and Bullwinkle - pretty much all of them!

The Ruby Yacht of Omar Kayyam.

By: orthogonality

orthogonality — Sun, 19 Oct 2008 20:49:04 -0800

"The Little Engine That Could" movie, in which the older female engine informs the Little Engine that she'd let him pull a train for her.

By: needs more cowbell

needs more cowbell — Sun, 19 Oct 2008 21:12:17 -0800

Sesame Street had a segment with Patti LaBelle singing "How I Miss My X." As a Sesame Street piece it's about the letter X, but to an adult it's about an ex[spouse.]

By: TheSecretDecoderRing

TheSecretDecoderRing — Sun, 19 Oct 2008 23:48:11 -0800

Does "Mystery Science Theater 3000" count? It wasn't necessarily a "family" show, but it definitely had appeal to kids, if the fan letters that were read on the show were any indication.

I first started watching in high school, and over the years I've come to realize there were countless jokes they'd make during the movies that were references to old shows, songs, etc, but often were inherently funny even if you didn't know the sources.

One example is in a Bela Lugosi short, where his chauffer looks like he's breaking the fourth wall, and Joel says in a gravelly voice, "That's my boss, always going on about his life of danger. But who does all the driving? We'll be right back!" I laughed and laughed. Only later did I realize this was a riff on Lionel Stander's intro from "Hart to Hart."

And I'm not sure this counts, but there was one scene in GI Joe where one of the top baddies barks orders at his minions, who insist on sitting around and drinking coffee, because of "union rules." It's funny to a kid, but even funnier to an adult. That and the original Transformers had a few of these ironic jokes sprinkled here and there.

And I'd have to think there's something to be found in the old Charlie Brown specials, although the only things I can think wouldn't make any sense to kids (like the one about Christmas being run by a big eastern syndicate). Same for the old Muppet movies. And Calvin and Hobbes. (I'm just hoping others can think of good examples).

By: jbickers

jbickers — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 01:06:59 -0800

There are lots in the movie "Babe," such as when Ferdinand the duck is explaining why he's cock-a-doodle-dooing in the mornings in an attempt to save his own life. "What do roosters do? They make eggs with the hens and wake up the humans. I tried it with the hens, and it didn't work."

Tons more, and also throughout the sequel.

By: beccaj

beccaj — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 04:36:22 -0800

There an "Elmo's World" that is all about feet... and he refers to his fish "Dorothy" and says she doesn't have any feet but he says kind of naughtily something like "but she still gets around"

By: mattoxic

mattoxic — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 06:14:11 -0800

Lots of Roger Ramjet. Lots are on youtube, and most have jokes aimed at adults.

By: allkindsoftime

allkindsoftime — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 07:26:19 -0800

Lots of these in the Veggie Tales movies too.

By: Goofyy

Goofyy — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 09:47:13 -0800

Possibly my all-time favorite came from some Simpson's Halloween special. Bart has a magic book, and is making an incantation:
"Mentor Ramses, Trojan Sheik!" he intones.

And that's where I threw myself on the floor, screaming, because the laughing hurt too much. The 2 friends I was viewing with didn't understand the words. Um, yea, I was still kind of new to the Simpsons, at the time.

By: raisingsand

raisingsand — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 10:33:23 -0800

In one of the Scooby Doo movies, I think it's the first one, Shaggy meets a beautiful girl.

Shaggy: What's your name?

Beautiful girl: My name is Mary Jane.

Shaggy: Mary Jane! That's my favorite name!

I know it doesn't fit your criteria, but back when our kids were little and G-rated movies were about all we watched, this one line got me through those years.

By: anthom

anthom — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 10:48:15 -0800

The Tick was full of these as well.

One of my favorites was the therapist Taft, a smooth blaxploitation-type whose entrance was always accompanied by wah-wah guitars and backup singers going "Who's the man?"

Darn right.

By: kidsleepy

kidsleepy — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 12:09:55 -0800

In an episode of SpongeBob, he's trying to teach Patrick how to make a snowball. Patrick can't wrap his head around it, making first a cube, then a pyramid, and then finally a double-helix shape. Funny for kids, because it's a weird shape, and funny for adults, because we recognize it.

By: EndsOfInvention

EndsOfInvention — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 15:31:52 -0800

The Simpsons, in the flash-back to when Ned Flanders was a badly-behaved little kid, in the therapist's office.

Ned [running around the office]: I'm Dick Tracy, take that Prune Face! Now I'm Prune Face, take that Dick Tracy! Now I'm Prune Tracy, take that-
Therapist: Come here Ned.

(Can't remember the exact line the therapist (or doctor) says, but you get the idea)