The most misunderstood movies ever made

I was just thinking about how you often hear of people who loved Fight Club but got the wrong idea about it (i.e. that Tyler Durden is the coolest movie character ever, and fighting each other and committing terrorism etc. are all cool things to do and we should all do it), thus missing all the messages of hypocrisy etc.

Anyway...based on that rough example, are there any other films that are often misunderstood by a large number of filmgoers? I think someone can think of a better way to word this than I can, but yeah, you see my point.

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I think Gone with the Wind is the most misunderstood movie ever made.

I think it is looked at, by many, as a view of a simpler, kinder, gentler civilization that was the ante-bellum South. I think this was also the view of the movie makers and the author of the book.

I think it is misunderstood because it is not an examination of a past era. It is a cover-up and propaganda piece attempting to persuade the audience of the merits of a social order that really had no merit.

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"Those are my principles. If you don't like them I have others."- Groucho Marx

I think Blade Runner is often misunderstood.

I think it is a very profound, philosophical and existential look at the human condition.

I think its basic point is that we really are not in a position to judge any one else because we don't really have a grasp of what reality is. Our reality is colored with our own personal experiences, which definitely doesn't make our perceptions the correct ones.

I also think, and have discussed on this board, how I think Last of the Mohicans (1992) is misunderstood.

I think, it very clearly paints Magua as the heroic victim. I also think, it just as clearly paints, Chingachgook and Uncas as collaborators and traitors.

If you moved the setting to Vichy France, circa 1945, they would have been hung at the end.

American History X - it is often either loved or loathed for the glorification of racism and violence, which isn't really what the film is all about.

You're right about GWTW embracing the whole "moonlight and mint juleps" myth of the Old South. So does Jezebel, Birth of a Nation, Steamboat Bill, Riverboat, Song of the South, The General, and any number of Civil War, pre-war, and post-war films. Makes me wonder why they never filmed best sellers like The Revolt of Nat Turner one of several slave uprisings that scared hell out of the South.

There's a piece of Houston, Tex., history that would make a great film--the Camp Logan riot early in the 20th century which is the only race riot in the history of this country in which more whites than blacks were killed. The rioters were armed members of a black infantry unit stationed here in Houston around the time of World War I. It's a hell of a story which has been done as a play, but no one has ever filmed it.

I guess that depends on whether you see that film in a historical vacumn with no knowledge of the original book or of the history of that period. The book, which has been a popular classic for years (I read it as a boy and bought copies for my sons and grandsons) makes it very clear that rather than a heroic victim, Magua is a trouble-maker and a drunk who was driven out from his own tribe. The movie has him talking about the death of his sons at the hand of the British general--in the book, his hatred is based on the fact that the British officer had him flogged for drinking--a common punishment for British soldiers, American irregulars and Indian scouts under military command in that period.

Chingachgook and Uncas, on the other hand, are the adopted family of Hawkeye and share his loyalties to the British with whom their tribe had a treaty. In fact, the Mohicans had practically died off as a result of their alignment with the British against the French and their Indian allies like the Heron. Which makes Chingachgook and Uncas more like the Polish and Free French pilots who flew for the RAF against the Germans and Vichy French in the Battle for Britain.

The sad thing is that the Indian allies of the British retained their loyalty to the king a few years later which the Americans rebelled against English rule. Under those long existing treaties, the Indians accepted pay from British agents to fight against the Americans, only the Indians often didn't distinguish between Rebels and Loyalists when raiding frontier homes. Americans in turn were outraged that tribes with whom they had lived for years in close proximity and who they had fought beside against the French and the Indian enemies of the friendly tribes would now turn against them apparently for the money the British agents paid them. I think this more than anything led to "the only Indian is a dead Indian" policy that the US seemed to pursue through the 19th Century.

What was it about, then?

The Matrix People think it was a profound exploration of Taoist philosophy and existentialism. It was actually a successful attempt by the leather industry to bring trench coats back into fashion.

Now that's funny!!!

What is is about? I have bought it but still haven't watched it I feel I have to be in the right mood not sure when that will be

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Well, really, it's about someone who sees the error of his ways and tries to escape his past, but can't. It isn't saying 'hey be a racist, kick someone's head in and have fun!', more 'hey this is what some people do, here is the way a lifestyle like this can suck you in, here are the consequences'. To grossly oversimplify it...

Thanks

I agree with you that Blade Runner is often misunderstood, but disagree, in part, with your definition.

For me it's about what makes us human. When does a machine stop being a machine and become human? Who is to say that just because someone (Roy, Rachel, etc) is manufactured that they are less human than someone who came into being through the more traditional "natural" route? Very existential stuff, and one of my favorite films. Ever.

I agree. I just think that beyond the story line there might be some points being made about, not only what it is to be human, but what it is to Nazi in 1940, or a racist in 1957 Mississippi or a Serb in the 90's.

I think Blade Runner is making a point that it is ludicrous for a human to judge the humanity of another (sub-human or replicant).

Dune, Blow-up, most of Felini's movies.

In what way are these misunderstood?

kill bill?

Looks like the most missunderstood answer to the most misanderstood question

I don't know how you can say his answer is any more 'misunderstood' than yours...neither of you have explained why you think the films you have picked are misunderstood.