Comments on: Words of Wisdom, From a Guy That Doesn't Know A Whole Lot.

Question: Words of Wisdom, From a Guy That Doesn't Know A Whole Lot.

backseatpilot — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 09:52:09 -0800

I'm looking for cliches and stereotypes from movies and television about weddings, marriage, home ownership, raising children...

As best man at my younger brother's wedding, I have to give a speech at the reception. I've decided on a theme: "things your older brother is responsible for teaching you, except you've gone and done it before him". Brother is getting married, they bought a house, and I fully expect him to have children soon; I have done none of these things.

So, for part of the speech, I plan on imparting some life lessons to him and his bride. Having never done any of the things that I need to be teaching him about, I plan to take all of these "life lessons" from popular movies and television. I'm looking for some cliches and stereotypes that fit the bill. Think of the "Things I Learned From the Movies" list that was very popular back in the early days of the internet, e.g. "Every trip to the grocery store always includes at least two loaves of French bread". I want things like that, applied to marriage, owning a home, and children (and anything else that fits within the theme).

If you have still photos that exemplify the cliche, I'd love to see those. There will be PowerPoint.

By: misha

misha — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 10:13:23 -0800

Here's the only pic I could find, from Leave it to Beaver, but: full silverware, tablecloth and fresh flowers for every meal (which are naturally all eaten with the entire family present around the dining room table and all dressed nicely).

By: chesty_a_arthur

chesty_a_arthur — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 10:14:16 -0800

No matter how unattractive, oafish and lame you become, your wife will always be impossibly hot and quick with a withering comeback. (Cf. Raymond, King of Queens, Dodge commercials etc.)

By: cooker girl

cooker girl — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 10:23:49 -0800

Parenthood is great, for real lessons, if you want to get kinda serious at the end. The roller coaster analogy is perfect.

By: Skot

Skot — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 10:32:10 -0800

Man, cooker girl beat me to it. It was the first movie I thought of. I always liked this bit:

Julie: I can't do this! This is too intense!
Helen: This is marriage!

By: heather-b

heather-b — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 10:38:11 -0800

Annie Hall (quote at the end about the needing the eggs)

By: mysterious1der

mysterious1der — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 10:53:28 -0800

Can't find the comic, but there was a Far Side which poked fun at the "average 1.5 children" by showing a child sitting in front of the TV next to half of a kid (split vertically). It's a sight gag - don't know if you'll be near a projector.

By: Electric Dragon

Electric Dragon — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 10:58:55 -0800

Fortunately TVTropes has entire categories (weddings, marriage. family) devoted to this kind of thing.

Warning: TVTropes may cause you to forget passage of time and end up with seventeen browser tabs open while your dinner slowly burns.

By: DetonatedManiac

DetonatedManiac — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 11:12:27 -0800

If you really want people to get the reference, and utilize the still images in power point, then I would suggest you just look for iconic movie images that you figure everyone in the audience will get and THEN build your shtick around those.

It will go over much better than making perfect references to movies that no one in the audience has ever seen. (and unfortunately for you, family/relationship movies do not get as ubiquitously stuck in the American Psyche as Action/Epic movies... maybe some romantic comedies like There is something about Mary etc will resonate... YMMV).

That is, unless you will put video in your power point, then a couple of short lines or sequences from just about any good movie itself will get some laughs/tears.

PS - notwithstanding my thought about action/epic movies, here are some ideas:
-Forest Gump (tons of quotable lines there)
-Its a Wonderful Life
-Annie Hall (as was said)
-Raising Arizona (regarding kids... and probably some good stills from that)
-Mrs Doubtfire (marriage and making it work?? How being a transvestite can save your marriage????)

you know your audience better, go to AFI's website and poke around

By: heather-b

heather-b — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 11:39:25 -0800

maybe When Harry Met Sally?

By: geeky

geeky — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 11:46:51 -0800

I haven't seen it in ages, but for some reason I'm thinking The Money Pit may suit your needs.

By: any major dude

any major dude — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 11:47:23 -0800

Parenthood is one of the few movies out there about children and marriage that really nails it. Anyone thinking about either of those endeavors owes it to themselves to rent that video.

By: backseatpilot

backseatpilot — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 11:49:27 -0800

Thanks for the input so far. I'm not looking for the movies specifically, but rather the stereotypes that are espoused in them. TV Tropes looks like it might have some good material.

By: ukdanae

ukdanae — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 12:13:18 -0800

Families always live in giant wooden 3-story homes on a leafy lane with huuuuuge front and back yards (Father of the Bride)

Dads always go outside in their robe and slippers to get the newspapers (Desperate Housewives, father of bride, countless others)

By: hermitosis

hermitosis — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 12:59:15 -0800

"Somewhere That's Green"

By: not_on_display

not_on_display — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 13:22:12 -0800

Matt Groening's Life In Hell comic had a few "Lies my older sister told me" and "Lies I told my younger sister" entries. I'm having trouble finding them online, but I believe they can be found in the School is Hell compilation.

By: wenestvedt

wenestvedt — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 13:24:55 -0800

I think any time Homer Simpson "imparts" anything to Bart, you might have useful material.

By: bartleby

bartleby — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 16:06:47 -0800

I think this is the opposite of what you're looking for, but there's the cynical "Relationships are driven by awkward silences" trope:
When a couple runs out of things to talk about, they move in together, so they can talk about the house/apartment.
When a couple living together run out of things to talk about, they get a pet so they can talk about the cat/dog.
When a couple living together, with a pet, run out of things to talk about, they get engaged, so they can talk about the wedding plans.
When a married couple runs out of things to talk about, they have a child, so they can talk about the baby. This lasts a while, because they can move on to the toddler/tyke/teenager.
When a couple whose kids have grown up and moved out...well, if they don't have anything to talk about by now, then they can talk about the divorce.

So never run out of things to talk about!