I take myslef to be a pretty good judge of movies and what they mean and maybe i dont understand MAgnolia because i saw it once a while back but i didnt get it. I really like PTA but i didnt understand the ending. The proloque to the movie sets up like the end will some ironic twist but i did not see how the frogs fit. Im not bring critical, i really want to know.
to put it more simply -- it was kind of an eye opener for the characters, ya know?
as PTA has said, the frogs were just probably the one thing in these people's lives that would just make total fucking sense to them. the prologue sets it up by showing us things that we would never believe could actually happen, that shits just too fucking crazy and weird, but things like that do happen, all the time. in subtler forms, more oft than not, but they do happen. and some of those things are just about as crazy as let's say - a rain of frogs. and to go even further, look at all the little tiny things that happen to all the characters in the movie, they may not mean jackshit to anybody else, but to those individuals, it means just as much or maybe more as fucking frogs falling out of the sky. i don't know if that made sense but -- hope it helped.
Anyone else?
I think if you don't get the rain of frogs now, you're never going to get it, and no amount of "explanation" is going to help. And I don't mean this in any kind of condescending way - I promise - it's just that: either it makes sense to you or it doesn't, you know? Either you're the kind of guy where that happening in that movie at that time feels emotionally perfect, or you're not... I am that kind of person - many people I know and respect aren't: that's just the way it is.
However, having said that: I assume you've been given the Exodus 8:2 explanation...?
nope
Quote from: children with angelsI think if you don't get the rain of frogs now, you're never going to get it, and no amount of "explanation" is going to help. And I don't mean this in any kind of condescending way - I promise - it's just that: either it makes sense to you or it doesn't, you know? Either you're the kind of guy where that happening in that movie at that time feels emotionally perfect, or you're not... I am that kind of person - many people I know and respect aren't: that's just the way it is
I agree. It works for some and not for others. But i dont think the ending should ruin the movie for the people who enjoy it up to that point. Just think of it as a weird and beautiful thing.
Well, the Exodus thing isn't so much an explanation as just a helpful thing to understanding the themes behind it... It's just that all the way through the movie - particularly the opening - the numbers 8 and 2 are repeated over and over again. These are pointers as to what's going to happen. In the gameshow sequence an audience member is holding up a sign with "Exodus 8:2" written on it (it's then taken away by a show's security guard), and you can see the same thing written on some billboards briefly during the frog rain at the end. Exodus 8:2 in the bible is an account of the plague of toads (or frogs depending on the translation) that God brought down on his people as punishment for the sins of man - they rose out of swamps, fell from the sky.
It's just a way of looking at the fact that things have got so fucked up in these people's lives that they need something to make them realise it - the rain of frogs is that...
Also: the possibility of frogs falling from the sky is a real one: it has been recorded on several occasions as happening (don't ask me to explain the science of it), therefore it's one of those things that make you say "well: if that was in a movie I wouldn't believe it" - but these strange things happen all the time...
children of angels is right, its not really something to figure out, its not something you have to "get" or can even really be explained, its something that happens and you either react to it or you dont.
i always think of it as like, "hey, you've got problems, they've got problems, we've all got problems. sometimes frogs fall from the sky, what the fuck can you do about it?"
everybody interprets it the way they want it to be interpreted.
have you seen the secret deleted scene on the dvd -- he originally shot it as a swarm of locust -- in the 24th hour he changed it to a rain of frogs. if you think of soloman as moses it all makes sense.
sigh...
cbk, i ought to change your avatar to goatse again.
Quote from: bonanzatazsigh...
cbk, i ought to change your avatar to goatse again.
why did you pick on me? go fuck yourself.
Quote from: cowboykurtishave you seen the secret deleted scene on the dvd -- he originally shot it as a swarm of locust -- in the 24th hour he changed it to a rain of frogs. if you think of soloman as moses it all makes sense.
Where on the DVD is this? Is this for R1?
Quote from: RaviQuote from: cowboykurtishave you seen the secret deleted scene on the dvd -- he originally shot it as a swarm of locust -- in the 24th hour he changed it to a rain of frogs. if you think of soloman as moses it all makes sense.
Where on the DVD is this? Is this for R1?
This is on the dvd that just flew out of CBK's ass.
Quote from: RegularKarateQuote from: RaviQuote from: cowboykurtishave you seen the secret deleted scene on the dvd -- he originally shot it as a swarm of locust -- in the 24th hour he changed it to a rain of frogs. if you think of soloman as moses it all makes sense.
Where on the DVD is this? Is this for R1?
This is on the dvd that just flew out of CBK's ass.
this is true
There was also a hiden scene on the secren region 9 dvd where there are wookies falling from the sky. I thought that was pretty cool, but I think he ran into some copyright laws and had to change it. It's a shame.
raining frogs = frog plague...yes?
http://www.ptanderson.com/featurefilms/magnolia/secrets.htm
"And I didn't even know it was in the bible until Henry Gibson gave me a copy of it, bookmarked to the appropriate frog passage. "
hey look at that. this parent teacher dude has a site!
You know it can really happen... I saw a documentary about it once. It's very rare though, and it's usually fish instead of frogs. here goes:
There can be a huge bad ass tornado somewhere that sucks the fish (and frogs) from lakes or rivers or swamps, and the wind is so strong that they don't fall down from the sky until it calms down. It can be miles away from where they were sucked.
I've got a simular problem here: I live on an island (Madeira) that is about 300 miles west of marroko. when there's a huge sand storm in the sahara desert, small particles of sand fall here, there is a thin layer of dust everywhere.
Of course, in magnolia, the storm stops long before the frograin
My life is turning upside down... What else could possibly happen? Frogs could fall from the sky. Well, yeah... There is that. Why not.
The world, life, everything... No matter how much in control you feel at any moment the sky could open up and it could start raining frogs, just to let you know that it ain't all about you. It's about everyone around you.
But an explanation. It's right there at the start.
"These strange things happen all the time"
Quote from: bonanzatazi always think of it as like, "hey, you've got problems, they've got problems, we've all got problems. sometimes frogs fall from the sky, what the fuck can you do about it?"
I like this take.
The problems of your life (real, imagined, actually very big, actually very small, whatever) seem less important, dismissable, maybe even conquerable when a miraculous act of nature overwhelms them (ie frogs falling out of the sky).
Someone remind me: doesn't a single frog fall through Jimmy Gator's skylight thing and strike him?
Yes
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Did anybody think Jim's gun falling out of the sky at the end of the sequence was a bit too much?
I thought it was the perfect touch. I remember my friend not having a problem with the frogs but was annoyed by the gun.
Quote from: poser......annoyed by the gun.
There was something about a deleted scene where the Worm throws the gun out of his car window as he passes by. So, even though the frogs were falling due to the storm, the gun did not. But, how would anyone figure this out by simply watching the movie?
When I first saw Magnolia, my friends hated it. I was the only one who liked it, but I couldn't explain why. I couldn't answer any questions about what this or that meant. Just that I felt a sense of inspiration or something. I remember hoping it would win Best Picture over American Beauty.
But, responding to some earlier posts, please let those of us who did not "get it" right away have a second chance. I love learning about all this hidden meaning stuff that is found on the PTA and Xixax websites.
The more I learn, the more I appreciate this movie.
Quote from: rustinglassYou know it can really happen...
I know. I saw it once on Unsolved Mysteries, though the mystery had been solved. I remember it was YEARS before Magnolia and this episode was on and I'm like, "that would make for an awesome sequence in a movie!" so that pta beat me to it and gained millions of fanboys in the process. well you may have won this time mr. PAUL THOMAS! but next time you won't be so lucky!
of course, my movie was about aliens that were going to invade the planet and would distract the humans with falling fish, but still. it's the principle of the thing.
Quote from: bonanzataz
of course, my movie was about aliens that were going to invade the planet and would distract the humans with falling fish, but still. it's the principle of the thing.
Bastard! You stole my idea!