Social The Snail joke from 'Training Day'

[zapataxiv]

Does anyone have any clue what metaphor or whatever they were going for with this "joke?"

Roger: "One day this man walks out of his house to go to work. He sees this snail on his porch. So he picks it up and chucks it over his roof, into the back yard. Snail bounces off a rock, cracks its shell all to shit and lands in the grass. Snail lies there dying."

Roger: "But it doesn't die. It eats some grass. Slowly heals. grows a new shell. And after a while it can crawl again. One day the snail up and heads back to the front of the house. Finally, after a year, the little guy crawls back on the porch. Right then, the man walks out to go to work and sees this snail again. So he says to it, "what the fuck's your problem?"

Roger: "Figure that joke out and you'll figure the streets out."



The closest i can think of is that:

No matter how long it takes you to achieve your dreams, they can be torn away from your in an instant by a much larger force, forcing you to start over...and there's no guarantee that force won't be there when and if you try again. The snail represents Roger, and the guy on the porch represents Alonzo.

was your mod ship stripped over your inability to understand this joke?

If they put you and Jei in the back seat who would win???

 

[zapataxiv]

I didn't know you like to get wet, TS.

are you calling him Thai?

 

[Drain Bamage]

It's called bad writing

 

[Crash Lance]

This thread is epic already.

 

[HereticBD]

It's a cautionary tale meant to imply that we should make sure a snail is dead, before we throw it down the street.

Save a life. Kill a snail.

 

[gspieler]

are you calling him Thai?

Tiger piss.

 

[aus101]

The people in the hood are “beaten down by the system”. Like the snail. They don’t give up though, eventually coming back to question the man.

 

[Ogata]

The REAL meaning behind it is:

Stop questioning the nature of human beings!

Look, Ethan Hawks character is the morally driven type character. He is the snail who gets kicked and thrown outside and instead of wising up to the harsh nature of human beings he is around, he wants to question why people are such big meanies!

Cliff point of the dudes joke:

- Shoot first, ask questions later

 

[Fishmonger]

people are cancer.

 

[revoltub]

Nonsense joke made for a nonsense movie for a nonsense audience.

 

[TKing]

Means the snail will come back and push his shit in

 

[DaleBoca]

Boy, people are really losing their damn minds...

 

[R.I.P. KMS]

It means don’t sleep through ethics class

 

[TheLinguist]

I always took it as: If you are stubborn and unwilling to change (Plans/ideas/thoughts) you will eventually be crushed where you thought success might lie.

 

[CutStryker]

Does anyone have any clue what metaphor or whatever they were going for with this "joke?"

Roger: "One day this man walks out of his house to go to work. He sees this snail on his porch. So he picks it up and chucks it over his roof, into the back yard. Snail bounces off a rock, cracks its shell all to shit and lands in the grass. Snail lies there dying."

Roger: "But it doesn't die. It eats some grass. Slowly heals. grows a new shell. And after a while it can crawl again. One day the snail up and heads back to the front of the house. Finally, after a year, the little guy crawls back on the porch. Right then, the man walks out to go to work and sees this snail again. So he says to it, "what the fuck's your problem?"

Roger: "Figure that joke out and you'll figure the streets out."



The closest i can think of is that:

No matter how long it takes you to achieve your dreams, they can be torn away from your in an instant by a much larger force, forcing you to start over...and there's no guarantee that force won't be there when and if you try again. The snail represents Roger, and the guy on the porch represents Alonzo.

Maybe be resilient and take your time and you’ll be on top of things?

 

[Merlotte's]

I’m putting cases on all you bitches!

 

[Squintz]

Nonsense joke made for a nonsense movie for a nonsense audience.

 

[LHWBelt]

Does anyone have any clue what metaphor or whatever they were going for with this "joke?"

Roger: "One day this man walks out of his house to go to work. He sees this snail on his porch. So he picks it up and chucks it over his roof, into the back yard. Snail bounces off a rock, cracks its shell all to shit and lands in the grass. Snail lies there dying."

Roger: "But it doesn't die. It eats some grass. Slowly heals. grows a new shell. And after a while it can crawl again. One day the snail up and heads back to the front of the house. Finally, after a year, the little guy crawls back on the porch. Right then, the man walks out to go to work and sees this snail again. So he says to it, "what the fuck's your problem?"

Roger: "Figure that joke out and you'll figure the streets out."



The closest i can think of is that:

No matter how long it takes you to achieve your dreams, they can be torn away from your in an instant by a much larger force, forcing you to start over...and there's no guarantee that force won't be there when and if you try again. The snail represents Roger, and the guy on the porch represents Alonzo.

Isn't Ethan Hawke high off his ass at that point? I was thinking he was mainly just messing with him.

 

[LHWBelt]

It's called bad writing

I've yet to hear Training Day be accused of bad writing.

 

[HereticBD]

I've yet to hear Training Day be accused of bad writing.

Structurally, it's pretty tight. However, it's fair to say not everything lands in the dialogue department. The "snail joke/smiles and cries" are good examples of them perhaps overreaching a bit in trying to sound deep.