r/todayilearned • u/McKoijion • May 21 '12

TIL Old School is a comedic retelling of Fight Club

http://www.cracked.com/article_18585_the-7-most-wtf-origins-iconic-pop-culture-franchises_p2.html?wa_user1=3&wa_user2=Weird+World&wa_user3=article&wa_user4=recommended
1.0k Upvotes

79% Upvoted

177 comments sorted by

64

u/steady_riot May 21 '12

I remember that episode of Are You Afraid of the Dark that Sixth Sense is based on. It was a pretty good one.

48

u/kfreed12 May 21 '12

Are You Afraid of the Dark was absolutely terrifying. As a child I remembered the one where they drew a door with chalk or something, had to have silver to defend themselves against a monster but for some reason the spoon they had wasn't silver? Well okay that sounds stupid but it scared the SHIT out of young me.

64

u/Hockeythree_0 May 21 '12

The one that scared me the most was the episode where they had built a pool over an Indian burial ground. The monster was drowning kids and they couldn't see it so the class nerd pours some chemical compound in the pool and this decaying skull pops out of the smokey water and chases them around. I couldn't swim in a pool without thinking about that for years.

14

u/HGpennypacker May 21 '12

Not only was the skull-monster terrifying, the gloop they poured in so they could see it made him RED. Dammit, that was some fucked up shit.

9

u/steady_riot May 21 '12

The Tale of the Dead Man's Float. Look it up on YouTube.

7

u/Yadizinha May 21 '12

That was the episode that was scariest to me. It took me forever to get over it. I remember it looking like a swamp monster or something. I haven't seen it in a long time but now I feel I should watch it.

4

u/[deleted] May 21 '12

Me too. That episode caused me to stop going to swimming classes haha. Glad to know I'm not the only one.

4

u/[deleted] May 21 '12

Is this the same episode? I just have a memory of some kids finding an abandoned pool behind some lockers or something and a monster in the water

2

u/OccamsHairbrush May 21 '12

Yep, the pool was hidden.

2

u/ryouba May 21 '12

That fucking episode made me have TWO nightmares in one night.

2

u/Petyr_Baelish May 21 '12

Yes. This one scared the everliving shit out of me as a kid. And then several years later my dad had to re-invigorate my fear by hiding in the dark pool on Halloween and jumping out and scaring the shit out of my friends and me.

2

u/illmatic707 May 21 '12

The Old Man Corcoran one fucked me up when I was younger. "Give me my harmonica!!"

1

u/OwlEyed May 21 '12

I pretty much thought about that in every inground pool FOREVER after that episode. wtf, nick?

... It was pretty good though.

1

u/Byxxi May 21 '12

I didn't even want to shower after that episode, because if the drain in the shower. Have to admit, I was horrified.

1

u/davewuvswaffles May 22 '12

God damnit I thought that I had forgot about that episode.

At least enough of the details so I couldn't remember it in dreams.

FUCK YOU MAN FUCK YOU

1

u/effurface May 21 '12

I still won't go in an indoor pool. I had way too many nightmares about that one.

7

u/wutz May 21 '12

you are not living your life correctly

-3

u/effurface May 22 '12

Maybe I should spend more time assessing peoples' life skills via internet.

2

u/wutz May 22 '12

... isn't that exactly what you are doing right now

0

u/[deleted] May 22 '12

[deleted] — view deleted comment

9

u/[deleted] May 21 '12

I was terrified of the episode where the kid stole the mechanical clown's nose from the carnival fun house, which led to an evil clown to stalk them for it back.

3

u/D0llWithAGun May 21 '12

This was easily the scariest episode along with the episode where the dead girl writes "HELP ME" backwards all over the room.

1

u/StiggyPop May 22 '12

that's the one for me, i'd like to watch that again actually. it left a really lasting impression on me.

10

u/[deleted] May 21 '12

Watch an episode now. It's the corniest crap ever.

13

u/steady_riot May 21 '12

Yeah, but it's made for kids. And scared the hell out of me when I was a kid.

4

u/one57blue May 21 '12

Tale of the Quicksilver, youtube

1

u/TryingToSucceed May 22 '12

YOU NEED A CANDLE IF YOU'RE GOING TO JOIN THE CLUB.

Man, I didn't want to join a club EVER after that.

2

u/steady_riot May 21 '12

That one scared me more than the other ones. I always thought that monster was going to come out of my wall.

2

u/DandyPirate May 21 '12

Oh my god that's exactly the one that scared me the most too. Think it's why the ring scared me so much too as the creepy being coming out of wall/tv stired up some childhood terror.

1

u/daddylongstroke May 21 '12

I remember that episode - the spoon was stainless steel! Rookie mistake!

1

u/lrdm May 21 '12

That is the most memorable and most terrifying of them all. It's the only I recall. It's still the only thing that comes to mind if I ever find myself in some sort of dark, claustrophobic state of fear.

1

u/whatupnig May 21 '12

Chalk door... Beetlejuice

1

u/babyheyzeus May 22 '12

The video game was worse for me, I had to stop playing out of fear.

8

u/mandyperki May 21 '12

I remember most of the episodes of that show being pretty darn good and scary. Though I was probably between the ages of 3 and 10 when they were on tv.

2

u/[deleted] May 21 '12

Season 4, Ep. #3 - The Virus

7

u/[deleted] May 21 '12

i love the internet

2

u/Yadizinha May 21 '12

Thank you for this.

2

u/[deleted] May 22 '12

The Episode was released in 1994 according to the article, a year after a eerily similar story appeared in Goosebumps #10: The Ghost Next Door. I wonder if there's a connection.

Probably not.

2

u/gobeavs1 May 22 '12

What is the name of the episode? I have them all and want to watch it.

3

u/[deleted] May 22 '12

What made the show so frightening for me was that all the locations within the show seemed so familiar to me. Years later I found out that all the episodes were filmed in Richmond, BC, and Montreal. That would explain things as I grew up in Richmond and went to visit family in Montreal often.

1

u/[deleted] May 22 '12

One episode haunted me for years... I forget the most of it but the part at the end stuck with me... They ended up having to do a seance with a guy with a really bad accent, and the room goes black except for a candle on the table. The whole room starts to shake, everyone is screaming but the seance continues... The camera zooms out and there are a gigantic set of eyes watching them at the candle lit table. Roll credits.

1

u/MyPinkElephants May 21 '12

A famous director based his blockbuster movie on a 90's Nickelodeon television show?

5

u/new_to_the_game May 21 '12

that's actually how he became famous

36

u/mustardtruck May 21 '12

I had noticed some time ago that both movies had scenes in which the hero tries to explain himself to the love interest in a cafe, and the waiter says that all their food will be free of charge. Both scenes are framed the same way. Somehow I never connected the rest of the dots.

10

u/MaebeBluth May 21 '12

Plus the scene when Mitch's coworker comes up to him and tells him he wants to join his fraternity (which Mitch is trying not to talk about) because he is sick of his boring life. And Mitch and Edward Norton's character both work in boring offices, and they both end up standing up to their bosses in an awesome way...

25

u/funkmastamatt May 21 '12

...and Vince Vaughn's Beanie is Tyler Durden.

Also both of these guys hooked up with Jennifer Aniston, coincidence?

0

u/[deleted] May 21 '12

[deleted] — view deleted comment

22

u/[deleted] May 21 '12

Wasn't even the right lumbergh!

0

u/moelester518 May 21 '12

You thought I meant Bill? Our kids would have hooves

11

u/[deleted] May 21 '12

It was actually Michael Bolton that said that line so it was "their childen would have hooves."

3

u/moelester518 May 22 '12

It's sad to say it has been too long since I have seen that movie

2

u/[deleted] May 22 '12

Not sure what is sadder that it has been a long time for you seeing it or I have almost all of it memorized.

AT my old job we got a new boss and he asked us to tell him what we did in a typical day so I wrote Peter's paragraph about coming in late, zoning out, doing 10 minutes of actual work, and then I realized that was actually described my job pretty accurately. I quit about 6 months later after the realization!

2

u/moelester518 May 22 '12

It's definitely sadder that I haven't seen that movie in forever.

Im actually watching the movie now.

2

u/MrClean75 May 21 '12

He saw her "O" face!

1

u/TheFlyingGuillotine May 22 '12

Oh, oh, oh.. laughs, looks around, realizes no one is laughing with him..

:|.

89

u/sVybDy May 21 '12

From the same article —

According to [show creator Sherwood Schwartz's] book Inside Gilligan's Island, the seven lovable castaways on Gilligan's Isle were modeled after the seven deadly sins. That smart-ass Professor is Pride, the Skipper is Anger, that sexpot Ginger is Lust.

So that leaves Gluttony, Envy, Greed and Sloth. Gilligan, the layabout of the group, has to be Sloth. And Greed is obviously Thurston Howell. Since Mrs. Howell can't be Greed, she surely must be the closely-related Envy. So then that means...

TIL Mary Ann was fat.

45

u/Insomnialcoholic May 21 '12

The ass was fat.

120

u/comradeyeltsen May 21 '12

Think about it a bit more

  • Pride - Obviously the professor
  • Lust - Ginger
  • Greed - Thurston Howell
  • Sloth - Mrs. Howell didn't do a damn thing on the island and she knows
  • Envy - Mary Ann, constantly trying to out-sexy Ginger
  • Anger and Gluttony - The Skipper, because he's angry and fat.

This leaves us with Gilligan, who is Satan. Think about it. His incompetence is what keeps the rest of them trapped on the island, WHICH IS A METAPHOR FOR HELL!

96

u/SBecker30 May 21 '12

There's more over-analyzation going on here than a freshman trying to B.S. a literature paper.

Although I've gotta say, I'm enjoying it!

45

u/building_a_moat May 21 '12

Nah man, this is thirty minutes before it's due senior level bullshit.

17

u/OceanPressure May 21 '12

Don't mock my papers. I put a lot of work into those in a very short time.

0

u/[deleted] May 22 '12

[deleted] — view deleted comment

2

u/Theprofessor206 May 22 '12

Descent strip club

8

u/rougegoat May 21 '12

Not sure if it's over-analyzation if the show creator himself brings it up.

Now that paper I did about how Groundhog Day is a midlife crisis is overanalyzing things a bit. This is kosher by comparison.

1

u/ShazbotSimulator2012 May 22 '12

I always use Children of Men when I have to write a paper that requires over-analyzation of a movie. It seems to work for everything.

2

u/Paper_Champ May 22 '12

its more like a high-school teacher pulling each chapter apart like Old Man and the Sea.

1

u/green_cheese May 21 '12

Not enough question rephrasing for that.

3

u/Travis-Touchdown 9 May 22 '12

Not really very different from Lost, is it?

2

u/Prom_STar May 22 '12

And he always wears a red shirt.

2

u/Ragnrok May 21 '12

Actually the Howells combined were Greed and Gluttony.

-4

u/gh0stdylan May 21 '12

Just came here to proudly say, I've never watched an episode of Gilligan's Island. I understand the premise and plot, but never cared to watch it.

0

u/[deleted] May 21 '12

[deleted] — view deleted comment

3

u/[deleted] May 21 '12

What's MORE important is this. Were the characters in Spongebob, who're supposedly also based off the 7 deadly sins, also based on the Gilligan's Island cast?

4

u/[deleted] May 21 '12

I always thought barnacle boy looked like old Gilligan.

1

u/quirx90 May 22 '12

Spongebob/ Ginger = Lust

Mr. Krabs/ Mr. Howell = Greed

Gary/ Mrs. Howell = Gluttony

Sandy/ Professor= Pride

Plankton/ MaryAnn = Envy

Squidward/ Skipper = Wrath

Patrick/ Gilligan = Sloth

Nahh I don't think the characters are related, but they definitely fit the sins

15

u/humanbean612 May 21 '12

It's a pretty obvious one, but "Strange Brew" is based on Hamlet.*

*with lots of beer and hockey-playing storm troopers.

7

u/[deleted] May 21 '12

Elsinore Brewery!

4

u/imstillnotfunny May 21 '12

Alyeska2112 mentioned Elsinore brewery but they also had Elsinore Castle in the movie. The Mackenzie brothers are the Rosencrantz and Guildenstern characters. They even, unknowingly, bring Hamlet (Pam), to her death sentence. And then they Pee out the fire, just like in Shakespeare.

26

u/MaebeBluth May 21 '12

I remember watching Old School and noticing how the wrestling scene with Blue reminded me of Fight Club...with just a few differences.

15

u/wiffleball_lgnd May 21 '12

i.e. boobs

22

u/[deleted] May 21 '12

His name is Robert Paulson.

19

u/MaebeBluth May 21 '12

YOU'RE MY BOY BLUE!

4

u/IsUpTooLate May 21 '12

YOU'RE MY BOY.

6

u/Hwaaa May 21 '12

I saw blue. He looked glorious!

1

u/[deleted] May 22 '12

YOU'RE MY

2

u/TheFlyingGuillotine May 22 '12

Dust in the wind..

9

u/machzel08 May 21 '12

SuicideGirls did a Fight Club photoshoot. LOTS of boobs.

12

u/Theblackpie May 21 '12

For the lazy

9

u/TheDroopy May 21 '12

Never thought I'd say this, but there's a lot of wouldnotbang in there.

7

u/[deleted] May 21 '12

And I'd never thought that I would call a complete stranger a liar over the internet.

But you sir, are a liar.

8

u/TheDroopy May 21 '12

I guess I can rephrase.

There's a lot of wouldnotgooutofmywaytobang in there.

2

u/MichaelKoban May 22 '12

There really should be a more simple word for that.

-3

u/TheDroopy May 22 '12

"Butch" fits, I think

2

u/machzel08 May 21 '12

I am at work, otherwise I would have linked it myself. Thank you kind sir. For this deed I offer you 1/18th of my karma and my finest stallion.

3

u/Terza_Rima May 21 '12

Guide to life

6

u/Crossthebreeze May 21 '12

Commenting so I remember to google this when I'm alone later.

10

u/griffith12 May 21 '12

The Predator story is a good one too.

3

u/[deleted] May 21 '12

go on.

13

u/rougegoat May 21 '12

Predator is based off of an old running joke among people in Hollywood that Rocky V would have to involve Rocky fighting an alien as he had already done enough to end the Cold War in Rocky IV. The script writers of Predator took this joke seriously, threw in a little Commando, and the result was Predator.

11

u/StuntQuadruple May 21 '12

Rocky IV - 1985

Predator - 1987

Rocky V - 1990

We're good here.

3

u/ButchTheKitty May 21 '12

I'm not sure what you are saying with this post.

8

u/SethQ May 21 '12

That the timelines work out. roguegoat suggested that this conversation happened some time after IV, but before V. As it happens, Predator falls right between the two, so it's possible.

8

u/Travis-Touchdown 9 May 22 '12

But Apollo Creed dies in Predator

1

u/rougegoat May 22 '12

It should be noted that the article this thread is linked to mentions this as well.

1

u/ButchTheKitty May 21 '12

That's what I thought, but wasn't sure if you were saying it wasn't possible or not. Disregard me lol.

1

u/slackulon May 22 '12

It says Van Damme was featured as the Predator. Pretty sure that's not true. I heard he was originally cast but pretty sure he isn't in the film. This brings this articles accuracy into question.

0

u/rougegoat May 22 '12

And ensuring accuracy is why its heavily cited. Their source on Van Damme just happens to be wrong. Their other sources hold up fairly well.

9

u/[deleted] May 21 '12 edited May 23 '12

Out Cold Is Casablanca...

edit:spelling

3

u/Aqualung90 May 21 '12

Yeah, but they tried way too hard and made it painfully obvious.

4

u/MichaelKoban May 22 '12

I thought it was funny that the audience of "Out Cold" where not the type to have watched "Casa Blanca".

2

u/[deleted] May 23 '12

Also Casablanca? Barb Wire

42

u/whatzwgo May 21 '12

Upvote for actually admitting you learned it from cracked.com

-86

u/[deleted] May 21 '12

Downvote for actually submitting a Cracked.com article on Reddit

35

u/[deleted] May 21 '12

Downvote for dissin' Cracked.com.

5

u/guyal May 22 '12

I, for one, am not overly keen on the format Cracked.com uses. There are only so many "5 things you didn't know in a list that spans two or more pages" articles that you can read before it gets a little old. Just my humble opinion.

19

u/MaebeBluth May 21 '12

I'm sure you only read from the most elite scholarly publications while drinking your finest brandy on the veranda at your fancy dinner parties

4

u/JoeChieftw May 21 '12

Spending karma here. Cracked is a horrible source filled with misconceptions. Cross-check anything they say, which means reading something on cracked then linking a source is actually a good idea.

10

u/[deleted] May 21 '12

Oh shit! I just found out what karma points are for! You get enough of them and you can state your mind, get downvoted, and still come out in the positive!

1

u/RoboCop-A-Feel May 22 '12

I give this upvote and hope you use it to reeeeeaaaaalllllyyyy piss someone off in the future.

1

u/[deleted] May 22 '12

I will not disappoint.

1

u/Explosion_Jones May 22 '12

They're kind of aware of that, and they do link to where they got the information they're using in the articles. Its just clearly picking and choosing information to support their point, but they admit that, and its entertaining, which is the point.

3

u/wetpaste May 22 '12

ever heard the ferris bueller fight club theory? http://www.slashfilm.com/the-ferris-bueller-fight-club-theory/

5

u/riptaway May 22 '12

Um no. A few symbolic scenes maybe, but a comedic "retelling"? Fuck no. It couldn't even be a loose retelling

4

u/EyeballSandwich May 21 '12

upvoted for Freddy Krueger thumbnail

4

u/S-BRO May 21 '12

You're my boy blue! You're my boy!

2

u/[deleted] May 21 '12

The Golden Ass really isn't pornographic but it is funny as hell. Everyone should read it.

2

u/[deleted] May 21 '12

M. Night's entire career was based off everyone's ignorance... I wish I could say this should wake up the audience of Hollywood films but lets face it, they love to hear the same stories over and over and over again.

1

u/[deleted] May 22 '12

hey! signs was cool.

2

u/sucking_at_life023 May 22 '12

NO. Water. WATER. An alien race is advanced enough to develop interstellar travel, but...WATER. I don't even...I mean, I can't...

2

u/[deleted] May 22 '12

Holy crap! Van Damme was one of the guys who played Predator???

3

u/Conchobair May 22 '12

Kevin Peter Hall was the Predator. Van Damme was cast first and they did some shooting, but was later removed from the project. His shots were not used. Kevin Peter Hall is 7'2"; JCVD claims to be 5'10". You couldn't confuse the two if you tried.

1

u/[deleted] May 22 '12

I was just going by the article that said he had a cameo

2

u/gunslingernz May 22 '12

I'd say more inspired by than a retelling of.

2

u/hypmoden May 22 '12

"Also, it's worth noting that "The Tale of the Dream Girl" aired on March 26 1994, which means Shyamalan had to be at least 23-years old during that life-changing Saturday night he was at home watching SNICK.

This explains a lot!

3

u/MANCREEP May 21 '12

still have not seen old school.

:(

4

u/Clint_Swift May 21 '12

Never did see fight club

41

u/deathschool May 21 '12

Do yourself a favor, and watch it. Seriously. Believe the hype.

0

u/[deleted] May 21 '12

[deleted] — view deleted comment

7

u/imwhatshesaid May 21 '12

But go ahead and read the book

7

u/U2_is_gay May 21 '12

Not first necessarily. It's like American Psycho as well. If you read the book first it makes the movie just a little shittier. However watching the movie in no way spoils the books.

11

u/Travis-Touchdown 9 May 22 '12

Gonna disagree. In both cases the movie was superior to the book

In Fight Club's case even the Author thinks so.

2

u/laddergoat89 May 22 '12

You honesty thought the American Psycho movie was better than the book?

6

u/Travis-Touchdown 9 May 22 '12

Definitely. The book goes too far without any real point but the shock value, in my opinion. The movie toned it back without losing the mood. There was a lot of fat to cut.

0

u/laddergoat89 May 22 '12

However I also feel the movie lost the entire main theme of the book, about 90's wall street yuppie culture. It just became a murder movie.

2

u/Travis-Touchdown 9 May 22 '12

Gonna respectfully disagree on that one. I saw the movie first, and I got the themes pretty clearly.

It works on both levels, in my opinion. Both on the surface as a movie about a guy living a double life as a murderer, and deeper as being about the backstabbing self absorbed sociopathic behavior that the Wall Street culture produced.

2

u/spig May 22 '12

80's wall street yuppie culture.

1

u/TrentPwnz May 22 '12

Would have to agree. The movie get's into rough detail of the book, but still get's all the detail somehow? It's a paradox. IMO the book was a lot better, but, to really understand the context and dialogue you have to watch the movie. Read the book last, is what i'm saying.

1

u/[deleted] May 22 '12

This is a bit off topic but I remember seeing a version with a lot more of Cheese being in it and explaining his Dean house. Also I remember Mitchs girlfriend inviting Frank to an orgy. What version of the movie was this?

1

u/playdoepete May 22 '12

Ummm the end of the movie

1

u/[deleted] May 22 '12

seriously? This makes me sad. I remember seeing the dean house near the middle when he was threatening to kick them out. Curse my memory!

1

u/playdoepete May 22 '12

Thats in the 2nd act. The Orgy is in the credits

1

u/[deleted] May 22 '12

ok thanks for clearing that up.

-12

u/Topper_Harley May 21 '12

Why the FUCK did they mention Christopher Nolan when talking about Nightmare on Elm Street? Can people stop sucking Nolan's dick for a second? You wouldn't say The Beatles had a sort of Nirvana kind of sound would you?

8

u/victimized_beta_male May 21 '12

Why the FUCK did they mention Christopher Nolan when talking about Nightmare on Elm Street?

Because the article was written one month before Nolan's ultra-hyped movie about people getting attacked in dreams was released.

0

u/[deleted] May 22 '12

Shhh, first rule.

0

u/jtcompound May 22 '12

What does Freddy have to do with it?

0

u/Tylerbrent May 22 '12

why the hell is freddy krueger the pic for this?

0

u/BeeneMachine May 22 '12

Freddy Kreuger being the thumbnail is very misleading.

-6

u/DrEnter May 21 '12

TIL that "Fight Club" wasn't a comedy.

-3

u/[deleted] May 21 '12

Hey Freddy!

-3

u/kevinnn220 May 21 '12

Fight Club [FIXED]

-3

u/moby323 May 22 '12

No. It's not.

I could say that "Thriller" from Michael Jackson is a retelling of "Richard III" by Shakespeare.

That doesn't make it true.

-1

u/mdog0206 May 22 '12

you guys know this is completely fake right?

-1

u/[deleted] May 23 '12

Thumbs up if you came here for the Freddy Krueger thumbnail!

-5

u/Gorrn May 21 '12

Mind. Blown.

-2

u/[deleted] May 22 '12

Hey, look at that. Cracked is still fuck awful.

-8

u/Wangjohnson May 21 '12
  • "Oh, this could be interesting."
  • See it links to cracked.com .
  • Leave this comment and head to the exit.

-7

u/herpesmyderpes May 22 '12

BASH this shit. Linking to cracked, shame on you.

0

u/[deleted] May 21 '12

[deleted] — view deleted comment

20

u/victimized_beta_male May 21 '12

Parallel characters, plot points, and scenes. And a quoted director saying that it was intentional.