Things in films/TV series you watched as a kid that you only noticed as an adult -

[ATaxingWoman]

Be it dirty double entendre jokes, symbolic imagery, propaganda or something else, there are things in films and TV series that we watched when we were children that we only noticed as adults or at least when we were older. Has this happened to you and if so, what was it?

One TV series that I watched as a kid was a Swedish children's show from the 70s called Vilse i pannkakan (Astray in the pancake). Children's shows and books that came out in Sweden during this time period generally had a left-wing slant and this show was most certainly no exception to that rule. For example, the main villain in the show, Storpotäten (Big Potato), who wants to steal all potatoes in the Pancake world, is an allegory for greedy capitalists.

I also liked to watch Jean-Marie Poiré's Les Visiteurs (although it was rated "Suitable for all audiences" in France, it was rated R in the U.S.) as a kid. When I rewatched it many years later, I noticed a whole bunch of sex jokes and profanities that completely flew over my head when I was five.

 

[Clop]

The entirety of Animaniacs.

 

[Graffiti canvas]

The entirety of Animaniacs.

Obligatory...

 

[RG 448]

Yeah pretty much any animated show Warner Brothers had their stamp on in the 90’s.

 

[Next Task]

The movie Grease. So much of that went over my head originally...

 

[PL 001]

Space Ghost: Coast to Coast. I remember watching that as a kid when it first aired ('94? '95?) Pretty much the entire show went over my head.

There was an episode of Rocko's Modern Life where Heffer becomes a security guard. The episode is one big parody of The Shining. Had to have my dad explain why he thought "Lloyd" was so funny.

The scene in Mrs. Doubtfire where he's trying to embarrass Pierce Brosnan at the restaurant by making all the double entendres for masturbation and hinting at the dildo collection his wife has went over my head.

 

[Clockwork_PurBle]

The scene in Home Alone where one of the guys burns his hand on the door and there's a shot of the doorknob's burned imprint on his hand is a reference to M. Obviously as a kid watching it at Christmas there was no way for me to have known about M.

And I'm not entirely sure, but I watched The Lovely Bones again the other day and the scene where Susan gets lured by Mr. Harvey that coincides with the family setting the dinner table is eerily similar to M as well.

Also, one of the unicorns in Regular Show is dressed in Clockwork Orange attire.

 

[Sexy Senior Citizen]

The dystopia of Yu-Gi-Oh! 5Ds. The disparity between the rich and poor is never truly addressed in the series, except in the context of Jack and Yusei's rivalry. The police force and prison system are corrupt beyond belief. There are secret societies dedicated to building psychic armies to rule mankind. Hell, the Crash Town arc has people enslaved in mines, extracting the ore needed to build Duel Disks until they die of exhaustion.
It's a pretty fucking dark series.

 

[BrunoMattei]

Rocko's Modern Life The Thread:

(Sorry for shitty clickbait but best I could find)

 

[Pepito The Cat]

The Cow and chicken's "Buffalo Gals" episode where there's a gang of biker chicks who are literally raging carpet munchers.

Cow and Chicken S02 E13 Buffalo Gals

The one and only. Hf. All rights belong to Cartoon Network.

youtu.be

 

[Eryngium]

Shrek had a shit ton, especially the first two movies.

 

[Lez]

The movie Grease. So much of that went over my head originally...

My school had a production for it, but we were only 10 years old so a lot of the lyrics/story was changed to be more kid-appropriate. We did watch the movie and only then realized the changes though we only picked up on the word 'shit' being in a song, and that was the only shocking thing to us.

 

[Next Task]

My school had a production for it, but we were only 10 years old so a lot of the lyrics/story was changed to be more kid-appropriate. We did watch the movie and only then realized the changes though we only picked up on the word 'shit' being in a song, and that was the only shocking thing to us.

There's so much sex stuff that went over my head when I first watched it. I thought the scene in the drive-in when Sandy storms off was shot poorly, because she slams the door and Danny falls back in pain, even though his hand was nowhere near the door. It wasn't until I was older I realised what she actually hit.

Ditto lyrics about 'a real pussy wagon', or the fake Rydell High theme song you hear the T-Birds singing at one point, or even just references to being an athletic supporter. It's filled with innuendo and sexual references that, as a kid around the age of ten, like you, I had no idea about.

 

[toilet_rainbow]

Buttercup totally put a condom in Professor Utonium's pocket before he went on his date with Sedusa. Hell, there was a ton of stuff with Sedusa that went over my head as a kiddo.

 

[XYZpdq]

In the MST3k episode of Bride of the Monster they do a bit at the end pretending to be Bela Lugosi to make fun of the bad editing of the ending, Crow has one hand/claw on his opposite arm as a gag about Bela's needle usage.

Obviously they made tons of drug jokes but I never picked up on that one until a few years back.

 

[Pocket Dragoon]

When I was around 9-10, my autism started noticing that a particular sound-effect of a man screaming was being used in a lot of movies & shows.

I didn't know until recently that it's called the "Wilhem Scream", and it's over 60yrs old.

The Wilhelm Scream Compilation

A video I found several years ago, with clips of films using the scream that is found in most George Lucas films... *NOTE** I did not make this video. Found ...

youtu.be

 

[Catgirl IRL]

The Cow and chicken's "Buffalo Gals" episode where there's a gang of biker chicks who are literally raging carpet munchers.

Cow and Chicken S02 E13 Buffalo Gals

The one and only. Hf. All rights belong to Cartoon Network.

youtu.be

I remember wondering why Mom was so happy that these chicks were ruining her carpet...

 

[cypocraphy]

At the 1991 Royal Rumble Sensational Queen Sherri is basically offering a blowjob to the Ultimate Warrior in exchange for Randy Savage getting a title shot.

 

[toilet_rainbow]

Classic Spongebob is on the TV and it's the episode where Spongebob hides a seahorse in the Krusty Krab. I somehow missed the "repeat for 40 years until we die" part of Squidward explaning to Spongebob their jobs until today.

 

[Kari Kamiya]

Counts for film, too, but I listened to the record of Phantom of the Opera quite a bit as a kid because my mom's a big fan, and it's such a sexually-charged musical holy shit. The Phantom is literally sex-obsessed and that's what he sings to Christine basically every chance he gets. But it's so flowery that I think if it wasn't for the imagery accompanying it, you wouldn't pick up on it normally.

Dragonheart has a lot of witty dialogue mostly jabbing at the manhood. And most of it's between a dragon and a knight quipping at each other, then a knight to a monk. And that's just before the woman shows up and then the dragon's actually serenading to and flirting with her. Guess in a way that's a jab to the "maiden sacrifice" dragons are known for, but still.

In Mulan, Li Shang's supposed bisexuality (maybe he is, I dunno, don't care).

Lady and the Tramp, Lady was in heat when she's out on the town with Tramp, and at the end of "Bella Notte" they spend a night on that hilltop that the camera pulls away to reveal all of those couples in cars, and that's why they have puppies at the end. Also just Tramp being a womanizer, like whoosh as a kid.