The Walrus Was Paul: Difference between revisions

|''[[The Beatles (band)|The Beatles]]'', "Glass Onion"}}

 

 

When adding examples, remember that the authors need to have ''stated'' their intent to dish out a [[Mind Screw]] (quotes are good here). Subjective guesses and theories go in 'normal' [[Mind Screw]].

 

{{examples}}

** He admitted in one interview that the reason he {{spoiler|turned Utena into a car}} in the movie was because he always wanted to see a beautiful girl turned into a car. No further reason. Doesn't stop fans from having braingasms trying to figure out what it meant.

* ''[[Serial Experiments Lain]]'' was supposed to be this once exported, but the creator was dismayed to discover that foreigners interpreted it pretty much the same way the Japanese audience did.

* ''[[Neon Genesis Evangelion]]'': [[Word of God]] stated numerous times that this work was generally designed with [[Mind Screw]] first, plot second. This became more and more apparent in later episodes with all of the symbolism and Freudian imagery splattered all over the place in an ambitious and disjointed fashion, mainly in the form of jump cuts.

 

 

== [[Comic Books]] ==

* Want to know what the heck Peter Milligan's ''[[Shade the Changing Man]]'' is actually ''about''? According to Milligan: "hair". The worrying thing is that there's some evidence (Shade goes through a few [[Expository Hairstyle Change]]s, and Kathy has an [[Important Haircut]]) to support this, and he ''did'' also write a comic called ''Hewligan's Haircut''...

 

* [[David Lynch]]'s works are explicitly this. So much to the point where if anyone on the set of ''[[Inland Empire]]'' asked him what's the plot/symbolism/whatever, he'd quote a passage from an Asian text that basically meant, "We make our own meanings."

{{quote|"We are like the spider. We weave our life and then move along in it. We are like the dreamer who dreams and then lives in the dream. This is true for the entire universe."}}

* ''[[Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan]]'': In his introduction, Khan makes a show of removing his left-hand glove, but leaves his right-hand glove on for the rest of the movie. According to director Nicholas Meyer, this was meant to provoke this reaction. When people ask for an explanation, he likes to reply, "Why do ''you'' think he left one glove on?"

 

* ''The [[Illuminatus]]! Trilogy'': [[Robert Anton Wilson]] has said the whole point was to [[Thirty Gambit Pileup|pile up]] enough conspiracy theories so that no one could be sure what was 'true' by the end.

* [[James Joyce]] said he hoped ''[[Ulysses]]'' would "keep the professors busy for centuries arguing over what I meant."

* Alternately and/or concurrently played straight, subverted, inverted, lampshaded and transcended in the works of [[Philip K. Dick]].

 

* BBC's ''[[Robin Hood (TV series)|Robin Hood]]'' has a scene in season 2 in which Sir Guy has a dream where Marian massages his shoulder and says that she "Should have let [him] take care of [her]" then Marian turns into Allan who say "I'm your boy" "I should've let you take care of me". The scene pleased many slash fans, but the writers admitted that it was just to get people talking.

* The ending to ''[[The Prisoner]]''. Patrick McGoohan wanted people to scratch their heads and cudgel their brains out trying to understand the final episode. He did too good a job—apparently disgruntled or just plain confused fans showed up at his house demanding to know what it was all about.

* ''[[Twin Peaks]]'', which despite its apparent [[Myth Arc]], was simply [[David Lynch]] making things up as he went along.

 

* [[The Beatles]]: "I Am the Walrus". They later turned this into an art form with "Glass Onion", the source for the [[Trope Namer]], which consists almost entirely of cryptic [[Shout-Out]]s [[Song of Song Titles|to the group's earlier songs.]]

** It's safe to say it's not just "I Am the Walrus", but half the songs [[John Lennon]] wrote. His quote pretty much proves it: He was so fed up with fans trying to find hidden allusions in their songs that he decided to write a completely nonsensical one—namely, "I Am the Walrus". Lennon allegedly said, "Let's see the fuckers figure ''that'' one out" after finishing it. Which, [[Fan Dumb|in an ironic twist]], [[Misaimed Fandom|was still searched for "clues"]]. But Lennon had the final word during his post-Beatles career when, in his song "God" he sang, "I was the walrus, but now, I'm John."

* [[Veruca Salt]] parodied/homaged the "Glass Onion" example in the bridge to "Volcano Girls" -- "Well here's another clue if you please/ the Seether's Louise", referring to a member of the band and the song "Seether", which had lyrics that were often debated over by fans. It was probably just meant as a tongue-in-cheek reference to interpretations rather than an actual mind screw though, as they'd already said in interviews that "the Seether" was a personification of anger.

** It's actually a very good homage to the original mind screw, though, right down to the misdirection (just as it was John and not Paul who sang lead on "I Am The Walrus", it was Nina and not Louise who sang lead on "Seether").

** There is ''one'' thing mentioned in the song that's definite, "the day the music died", which refers to the plane crash that killed Richie Valens, Buddy Holly, and The Big Bopper. ''That'', more than anything, is why this song has been picked to death.

* The art-rock group [[Tool]] pretty much runs off of this. They put a huge emphasis on personal interpretation of the imagery used in their songs, to the point where they ''never release official lyrics with their albums''.

** Not to mention their early endorsement of lachrymology, a fabricated philosophy that was basically psychobabble.

* [[Bob Dylan]], when asked what his songs were about, replied "Oh [[Henway|some are about three minutes, some are about five minutes]]."

{{quote|'''Interviewer:''' What's your message?

* ''[[Yume Nikki]]'' is a dialogue-free, non-linear journey through the dream world of a girl who won't go anywhere while awake except for her bedroom and adjacent balcony. Good luck getting any answers about what any of the dream symbols mean, what the heck happened in the ending, or what the fuck is up with {{spoiler|Uboa}}.

 

* [[Andrew Hussie]] is well known for mercilessly toying with the concept of [[Word of God]] by [[Trolling Creator|trolling factoid-hungry fans]], memorably claiming that the faces of ''[[Homestuck]]'''s trolls are actually collections of specialized genitalia that happen to look like an angry face to the human eye, and that all trolls have two penises, one for love and one for hate. When asked why he does this? "[[For the Lulz|Because it's fun!]]"

 

== [[Web Original]] ==

{{quote|'''sfraser0:''' ''i don't get it.....''

'''CornIceProductions, the guy who made the video:''' ''I do'' }}

 

== [[Western Animation]] ==

* ''[[Aeon Flux]]'' messes with your head constantly, and Peter Chung has gone out of his way not to explain anything, in hopes that the viewers will derive their own meanings. This approach eventually backfired badly on him, though. The plot of the film, almost universally considered terrible, had its genesis in the scriptwriters' own interpretation of the [[Mind Screw|mind screwiest]] episode of the series.

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Absurdity Ascendant]]

[[Category:Art Tropes]]

[[Category:Literary Tropes]]

[[Category:Music Tropes]]

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