Getting Crap Past the Radar/Literature: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

[[File:zeltrons_love_luke_814.jpg|frame| Strict No Gays policy? Huh?]]

 

 

* The most noted example might be ''[[Animal Farm]].'' Designed to be a criticism of Communism, it had great difficulty finding a publisher, largely because of fears it would undermine the [[World War II]] alliance between the US, UK, and Soviet Union. If it had been written "straight," it might not have been published; as an allegory about farm animals, it could slide by.

* ''[[Where's Waldo]]?'': Cartoonist Martin Handford hid his titular hero amongst massive (sometimes absurdly so) crowd scenes in which so many unusual events were taking place that you had to look carefully to make out the guy in the striped shirt and ski cap (which was the point of the book). Many of the events depicted were ridiculous or bizarre, and several of them were controversial inclusions for a book aimed at kids ages 6 to 14: [[The Nudifier|a vacuum cleaner sucking a woman's dress off of her body]], [[Vomit Indiscretion Shot|a man graphically vomiting]], and [[Groin Attack|another guy getting accidentally hit in the nuts]]. One of these sneaky scenes was so subtle that you might not even notice it: a boy at the beach teases a bikini-clad beauty by placing the cold end of his ice cream cone on her back, causing her to bolt up from a prone to a semi-prone position; unless you're looking closely, you might not notice that the girl has loosened her bikini top so as not to get tan lines while sunbathing, and she's about to expose her bare breasts to the world.

*** Well, that and the strong implication in both novel and 1941 film that Peter Lorre's character Joel Cairo and the "gunsel," Wilmer, are having a homosexual affair. Also this line from the novel, about the gunsel: "The boy spoke two words, the first [[Narrative Profanity Filter|a short guttural verb]], the second 'you.'"

** Not literature, but relevant: [[Deadpool]] refers to himself as a "gunsel" multiple times in Joe Kelly's run--probably intentionally, and quite likely referencing this incident.

{{quote|'''The Toad:''' Oh, ''croap''!

'''Tiffany''': Pardon?

'''The Toad:''' Er, that was, er, swearing in Toad. }}

** Also later in the book the Toad says "shoap". And the Nac Mac Feegle's favourite: "Crivens!" As well as their "Pisht", which one of Tiffany's more "proper" witch teachers is ''assured'' means "tired".

*** And in the same book, Detritus also gives us "In Anhk-Morpork even der ''shit'' gets a street to itself. Truly dis is a land of opportunity."

** There's also Lance-Constable Sally Von Humpeding's real name -- aside from the "von ''Humpeding''" in the first place, her first name is ''"Salacia"''. There is ''no possible way'' that wasn't deliberate.

** Outside of [[Discworld]], ''[[Only You Can Save Mankind]]'' makes passing reference to Johnny's nickname being "Rubber". This looks like just a random bit of absurdism if you don't know [http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=rubber+johnny what a "rubber johnny" is.]

* One of the characters in Stanley G. Weinbaum's 1934 classic ''A Martian Odyssey'' is named "[[Bilingual Bonus|Putz]]". He also [[Have a Gay Old Time|ejaculates]] in one scene.

* During [[The Forties]], writers for science fiction magazine ''Astounding'' made a game of getting dirty references past bluenose assistant editor Kay Tarrant. George O. Smith succeeded with a reference to a tomcat as "the original ball-bearing mousetrap".

* [[Robert A. Heinlein]]'s ''[[The Star Beast]]'', written for what would now be called the young adult market, stars John Thomas Stuart XI, latest in a series of custodians of the titular alien pet. In the end, it is revealed that {{spoiler|the pet is a) female, b) royalty, and c) considers the Stuart line to be ''her'' pets.}} Heinlein managed to get away with writing of Lummox's "hobby of {{spoiler|raising John Thomases}}".

*** And don't forget the very obvious allusions to Stick and Velvet's affair in the very same book.

** In ''Crookedstar's Promise'', after Crookedjaw is happy that he hadn't {{spoiler|dreamed about Mapleshade}}:

*** And even earlier in the book, Crookedkit sees one of the RiverClan she-cats out at night with the WindClan deputy. He thinks that [[Innocent Inaccurate|it's just a secret mission]], but considering that she later has his kits... }}

* The [[Star Wars Expanded Universe]] lives this trope. Here are some examples I can think of off the top of my head:

** Also, in Book 14, wild horses act strangely. One woman in the area where this happens suggests that they may have been eating [[Reefer Madness|"loco weed"]]

*** Though this could be a case of reading too much into, since locoweed is an actual plant that livestock will eat that can cause irreversible neurological damage.

* Walt Whitman's "Song of Myself", in addition to openly discussing genitalia, has a scene where his soul gives him a blowjob.

* Either [[Inheritance Cycle|Christopher Paolini]] is unaware of the meaning of such things as comparing the size of, ahem, "bruises" while your pants are down, noticing an elvish groin is hairless, and the like, or he's a master of [[Ho Yay]].

* In the children's book ''The Anti-Peggy Plot'', where three kids attempt to sabotage the efforts of their soon-to-be [[Wicked Stepmother]], they sneak into what they think is her apartment. It turns out that it's the wrong one, and they learn this when the couple who lives there comes in, the man saying "Damn, am I in the mood." It was a few years before this troper realized exactly ''what'' the man was in the mood for.

* [[The Chronicles of Narnia]] has two examples:

** In [[The Silver Chair]], the author once again covers up a curse, this time with a curious contraction, in which Jill says something is "Dam' good of [Eustace]".

* In ''[[His Dark Materials|The Amber Spyglass]]'' (controversial for its atheistic theme, but marketed as a children's book), when Mary is telling Lyra and Will about love, Lyra feels an interesting sensation...

* In [[The Golden Dream of Carlo Chuchio]] there is a surprisingly realistic description of human trafficking without ''quite'' describing what was [[I Have You Now, My Pretty|intended for the heroine]].

 

[[Category:Radar]]