Social The Snail joke from 'Training Day'

[SamSchmidt]

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.

 

[SFMMA]

I means play the long game and it was adapted for the movie. The better and original form is:

An old man is reading a book comfortably by the fire. He hears a knock on the door, and when he slowly gets up and answers it, he looks down and sees a snail. Annoyed that the snail disrupted his relaxing respite, he picks it up and hurls it. A year later, the old man hears a knock on the door, answers it, and it’s the same snail. The snail says, “what the fuck was that all about?!”

The joke being, of course, that snails are slow. Jokes are better when you explain them.

 

[lowlife]

Perspective? Are we sure there's a joke here? I need another bowl.

 

[Ûdun Ghuephd]

It's about the female reaction to your tiny pecker TS.

 

[Jack Reacheround]

Yeah, I got it. It’s all about hiding your smiles and your cries.

 

[Kowboy Karl]

It means King Kong ain’t got shit on me

 

[IloveTHIS]

hes telling you to stop beating your wife

 

[dirtypablo]

I read something somewhere that it's about being real with people. The joke isn't actually supposed to be funny, it's a test of your reaction. Will you fake laugh because that's what's expected, or be real and acknowledge it wasn't funny even if that means people aren't going to like you?

 

[JOE QUEEF]

 

[gspieler]

I always thought the man represented harsh reality, or in the context of this movie, "the streets". And the snail represents fighting the good fight, e.g. someone like Jake. The moral of the story being that good intentions aren't going to save your ass in the real world.

Either that, or poo butt ass. The story might just be a metaphor for poo butt ass.

 

[magicmarker]

The snail gets thrown out and busted up the first time.

The snail gets the opportunity to engage in dialogue the next time after being resilient enough to come back again.

Rules on the streets aren’t much different.

Walk into the wrong neighborhood and you might get f*cked up. Heal up and come back and people will be willing to talk to you about why you’re there.

 

[Bagatur]

the snail is the streets. the snail didnt forget. the streets never forget. that is how I understood it.

 

[Merlotte's]

There ain’t nothing to figure out that’s just some senseless bullshit.

 

[Merlotte's]

Perspective? Are we sure there's a joke here? I need another bowl.

@Smokes

 

[rocketskates]

Had you figured it out on your own you could’ve stayed a mod

 

[Fraz]

Is the snail well done or does it just have ketchup on it?

 

[dog y]

You're the god damn snail.

 

[Smokes]

@Smokes

But I think the Joke is just to not take anything PERSONAL. It's just business. The snail shouldn't be mad about the guy throwing him off his porch. So the guy ask him what is his problem.


Edit: I think he learn from the joke and realised the Mexicans were just being real with him.

 

[Long Dark Blues]

I'm not sure, TS.

I do know that you gotta control your smiles and cries.

Nobody can take that away from you.

 

[gspieler]

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