Misconstrued Plots?

[suttonfoster]

Posted: 8/4/11 at 5:51pm

Possible Spoilers

Hopefully I can explain this well. Are there any shows where people can misinterpret what is happening in the plot? For example in NEXT TO NORMAL, my friend thought that Dan was seeing Gabe and was sick after Diana left and got the illness she had. Also, in the beginning of "How Could I ever Forget", AT FIRST my friend thought the baby died in a car crash and Dan was driving. It was obviously later explained that that didn't happen. Can anyone else think of anything like this in a show?

[Barcelona]

Posted: 8/4/11 at 8:26pm

Do you mean shows where people wrongly misinterpret the plot, or ones that specifically leave some things open to interpretation.

Next to Normal is clearly the latter, ever after everything is explained

[dragonlp86]

Posted: 8/4/11 at 9:53pm

Next to Normal, especially the ending, is very ambiguous. People will take from it what they will.

[chewy5000]

Posted: 8/4/11 at 10:49pm

You mean Bobby never turned up to the party in the first place?! Mind=blown.

[SeanMartin]

Posted: 8/4/11 at 11:50pm

Well, certainly any good mystery play would want to mis-direct the audience as much as possible. Even GETTING AWAY WITH MURDER, which starts with the killer being IDd, manages to throw more than a few monkey wrenches at the audience.

[henrikegerman]

Posted: 8/5/11 at 3:16pm

Not sure if this qualifies as a plot-changer, but as a child I thought Fruma Sara was "the butcher's dear, darling 'retarded' wife."

[ahhrealmonsters]

Posted: 8/5/11 at 3:21pm

Some people don't always "get" Sweeney Todd. The ending, while not particularly ambiguous, happens fairly quickly, and some people don't necessarily understand all the deaths and the meanings behind them.

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 8/5/11 at 4:11pm

I still don't know what a Purple Summer is or why it was so important to sing about it. I guess the only thing that we really needed to know from that show is that sex kills.

[Archnem7]

Posted: 8/5/11 at 4:26pm

"Gem of the Ocean" in 2004 (I think), starring Phylicia Rashad...I sat through the entire play and to this day I couldn't even tell you what it was about...

Also, in Into the Woods - a lot of people don't get that the "Step-family" actually died of starvation...