Talk:Book:Carpe Jugulum/Annotations: Difference between revisions

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That's not just the best aswenr. It's the bestest answer!
 
Corgi PB (British) p. 279: [[Magrat Garlick]] and [[Nanny Ogg]] are escaping into [[Überwald]] with Princess Esmerelda. Magrat is being gloomy about their prospects for survival, as they are entering ever more deeply into [[Vampires|vampire]] country.  The dialogue, in the hijacked vampires' coach,  runs:
 
''And it could be worse'' said Nanny.
 
''How?''
 
''Well...there could be snakes in here with us''
 
Could this be a nod to the plot of the film ''Snakes on a Plane''?
 
____________
 
''Snakes on a Plane'' released 2006. ''Carpe Jugulum'' published 1998. Terry's very clever, not prescient.  --[[User:Old Dickens|Old Dickens]] 19:56, 11 May 2008 (UTC)
 
Whoops... red face, didn't check respective release dates.  But the film aside, I wonder if  the concept of "snakes on a plane" has been around  for some time, as a metaphor for the worst possible thing happening in the worst possible place, of being trapped with one's fears? All the makers of the film needed to do was to take a frightening thought that was already in the public domain and flesh it out with a plot... (Q: how to prove the phrase was there before the film?)--[[User:AgProv|AgProv]] 20:11, 11 May 2008 (UTC)
 
www.urbandictionary notes an early  sighting of the phrase in early 2005 (predating the film by a year) and suggests it was already in wide use before the film to denote a situation where the worst that can possibly happen is happening... "combining three of mankind's greatest and most potent fears: of flying in aircraft, of serpents, and of being trapped in a restricted space/being buried alive". Interesting: wonder if it can be attributed back further in time  as a phrase?--[[User:AgProv|AgProv]] 22:46, 11 May 2008 (UTC)
 
And Snopes.com records variations on a theme of the  urban legend of the snake(s) in the car (or ''train''!), which bites the driver/passenger, or otherwise causes disproportionate terror and damage in a closed confined space with no opportunity to escape. Therefore a routine journey becomes an occassion of terror and crawling dread, giving the urban myth its force and power. These are dated back to 1988 or earlier...[http://www.snopes.com/critters/snakes/snakes.asp#accident]
 
I was curious as to why Nanny's very specific choice of words seemed to evoke a film that, as Old Dickens pointed out,  wasn't to be released for another eight years. But how simple, when you realise what's happening: TP is evoking an urban myth which carries some force and power behind it. Enough force and power, in fact, for the film-makers to consider the same urban myth some years later,  and think ''Hey, if we update this as "Snakes on a '''''Plane''''', then we've got a blockbuster horror thriller!''
 
 
We could have our annotation after all - to the urban myth, and not the film! --[[User:AgProv|AgProv]] 22:56, 11 May 2008 (UTC)
 
In the first Indy film, ''Raiders of the Lost Ark'', the good Doctor Jones finds a bloody big snake in the front cockpit of the plane he escapes from the swarming Amazonian indians - and their blowpipes - in. Not hugely useful, but there. --[[User:Knmatt|Knmatt]] 10:06, 12 May 2008 (UTC)
 
Thanks!
 
The other point occuring to me is that having picked up on one homage to a vampire film I know quite well (Nicolas Roeg's '''''The Hunger'''''), {{CJ}} must be well stuffed with allusions and visual imagery drawn from things like the classic Hammer Horror movies. I have a vague idea, for instance, that the scene where the Countess turns herself into green vapour so as to get through the locked door and confront Magrat and the baby is a direct lift from a Hammer horror, but I couldn't say which one.
 
So there's a rich seam here for horror film buffs to mine! --[[User:AgProv|AgProv]] 14:15, 14 May 2008 (UTC)
 
 
At one moment, Agnes asks Vlad wheter vampirism is a "pyramid selling system". Therefore, two questions:
-should this even be included (allusion to economic theory)
-which page in English edition it was (sorry, I don't own English version)--[[Special:Contributions/83.6.252.24|83.6.252.24]] 18:38, 20 April 2010 (UTC)

Revision as of 21:45, 30 April 2011

That's not just the best aswenr. It's the bestest answer!