MovieChat Forums > The Squid and the Whale (2005) Discussion > Hey You

Hey You

posted 15 years ago by kohntarkosz
12 replies | jump to latest

Was anyone else watching this film, wondering how long it would take for someone to catch on that Walt had not only plagarized the song that he says he wrote, but plagarized it off one of the best selling albums of all time?

[–] 15 years ago

[deleted]

[–] vincebruno11 14 years ago

i thought it strained belief that no one else in the film had heard the song before. that song has been played on the radio constantly for the last 31 years.

"there is no more." - sitting bull

[–] bossversion1 14 years ago

You mean seven years.

[–] spring_june 14 years ago

Maybe they told the principal or someone after the show and it was too late to catch Walt? Or he just decided to talk to him in school? I doubt anyone would yell "That ain't yours!" during the performance.

People like Coldplay and voted for the Nazis, you can't trust people.

[–] fentress 14 years ago

A valid point. However, we should have at least heard some murmering or seen some looks of recognition on the faces of people in the audience. Probably most of the parents wouldn't have known the song, but they might have at least recognized it as sounding familiar. And there were students in the crowd too.

I think this is a movie with much to recommend it. However, I have to assert I found the plot development of Walt plagiarizing Hey You to be too incredible to buy into. He was an intelligent kid. He couldn't have thought he'd get away with it. But even harder to believe is that no one recognized it sooner. The parents were supposed to be pretty hip people for their age. Fortunately, it didn't ruin the gist of the movie for me.

[–] spring_june 14 years ago

Lili recognized it and didn't give any sort of look? I don't know, I always try give things the benefit of the doubt :P

People like Coldplay and voted for the Nazis, you can't trust people.

[–] GuyOnTheLeft 10 years ago

Only on classic rock radio, which a lot of people don't listen to.

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[–] alouette1977 14 years ago

I didn't buy it either. A movie version of Pink Floyd's The Wall came out in 1982. Those songs were around and not obscure. He gets away with taking credit for the song for so long, I thought all the characters had taken stupid pills. It irritated me as a plot point, how he even performs it at the school, and they take forever to catch on that's it's not his song!

[–] criztu 14 years ago

It irritated me as a plot point, how he even performs it at the school, and they take forever to catch on that's it's not his song!

don't be irritated. It's obvious the director wanted this particular track in the movie. It would have been very easy to pick a more obscure song, but I bet he bet on the ability of the audience to suspend its disbelief.

[–] GuyOnTheLeft 10 years ago

He wanted "Behind Blue Eyes", but couldn't get the rights. Also not an obscure song though.

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[–] negatyve 14 years ago

I just watched the movie. He only gets away with it for so long from his parents (the only people who listened to it before the show). During the show Lili recognized it, and looks around kind of shocked during the performance. The next time he's in school he's caught. There's nothing in the film to suggest that anything longer than a weekend has passed.

I think the subplot exists for showing the flaws in Bernard's character as much as Walt's. Bernard's ego revolves around his self-perceived intellectualism and appreciation for the arts but he can't recognize a popular song from one of the most intellectually ambitious albums ever recorded, and he even goes so far as to suggest that his writing was an inspiration for it.

[–] califor123 9 years ago

My god, you can't imagine that some people were not into Pink Floyd? I lived in L.A when that album came out. Some of the songs, including this one, were hardly played at all. Besides, you're supposed to 'suspend your disbelief' when you go to the movies. Otherwise, after seeing 'The Body Snatchers," you'll go crazy wondering if your parents have a pod in the cellar that looks like you.