MovieChat Forums > The Invention of Lying (2009) Discussion > There's a difference between "telling th...

There's a difference between "telling the truth" and "having no filter"

posted 9 years ago by paperplane17
13 replies | jump to latest

I'm sure others have pointed this out, but still, it's my biggest complaint of this film.

If you're asked a question, sure, in this fictional world you must answer truthfully....

...but that doesn't mean you just volunteer every little piece of information willingly, even walking up to strangers and telling them. Even the most honest people have social filters and understand to keep things to themselves.

You wouldn't walk up to someone and say "If I could be a stripper, I would, but I'm not attractive enough" ...that's just... bizarre. Just like JG's character doesn't need to say "I was just masturbating" unless she was asked "what were you just doing?"

[–] randyw01 9 years ago

This reminds me of the TV show Arthur ( my niece used to watch it as a kid ); it had some troublemakers known as the Tibble Twins. A kid told them not to lie, so then they'd pretty much tell the truth like "you're fat" and so they had to be told that telling the truth doesn't mean you say everything that pops in your head.

Guess what! I've got a fever, and the only prescription is MORE COWBELL! -Bruce Dickinson-

[–] nineteenthly 9 years ago

I think the problem is how to account for people telling the truth. If people were able just to say nothing, it would mean they could deceive and from a plot perspective that would damage the prospects of the story. What they were doing was speaking their minds all the time, and in the real world people can be physiologically more impulsive. So yes it is having no filter, but it is possible that people could be like that as a whole instead of how they actually are and it would lead to them not lying.

[–] fluffchop 9 years ago

Exactly, there are no lies of omission possible in this world, therefore people don't hold things in. It's kind of mental but so is religion.

---
Scientologists love Narnia, there's plenty of closet space.

[–] Dan_Garten 9 years ago

Yeah.

[–] creatorof2002 9 years ago

Anybody here seen "Liar Liar" with Jim Carrey, where he loses the ability to lie for a few days? It is sort of the OPPOSITE of this movie because that movie took place in a world like ours where people can lie often but he COULD NOT lie, he was the only person in the world UNABLE to lie.

Well he at first made huge guffaws but once he realized he was unable to lie he got clever as hell and devised really intricate ways of phrasing things so that he technically was not lying but he was able to maneuver his way around the truth.

In a world where EVERYONE is like Jim Carrey was in that movie Liar Liar even if nobody was able to lie (some kind of alternate or parallel universe where evolution wired the human brain differently making lying impossible maybe?) people would still devise ways not to spill all the beans so to speak. Just not saying something is not lying.

[–] paperplane17 9 years ago

People would just not talk to each other. It's not lying if you just don't respond. You're not FORCED to provide an answer.

[–] dmahnarch 8 years ago

"Your Honor! Would the court be willing to grant me a short bathroom break?!
"Can it wait?"
"Yes it can. But, I've heard that if you hold it in you can damage the prostate gland, making it very difficult to get an erection or even become aroused."
"Is that true?"
"It has to be."
"Well, in that case I better take a little bathroom break myself."

____________________________
Kerbal Space Program:
Failure is not an option. It's a requirement!

[–] yusef-ghanima 9 years ago

like most people you are obviously so addicted to lying that you don't know what honesty is. when you tell half truths you are lying just by holding information back. so having no filter is exactly what honesty usually mean. that's why in court you have to say the whole truth, which mean you shouldn't have a filter.

i mostly will not be able to answer your reply, since marissa mayer hacked my email, no notification

[–] cdncritic 9 years ago

I think the only way to explain this away is if in this world people are so accustomed to telling the truth that it's just become natural for people to say what's on their mind. Like a gradual total desensitization - nothing is shocking or weird because when everyone says what's on their minds it simply becomes normal. But obviously this is filling in gaps in the story for them.

[–] house-hold 8 years ago

I totally agree about the only quibble, just watching this now for the first time, it sounds like more of speaking their thoughts, but still quite funny at times.

˙ǝɯoɔǝq noʎ ʞuıɥʇ noʎ ʇɐɥʍ ˙ƃuıɥʇʎɹǝʌǝ sı puıɯ ǝɥʇ

[–] crc-4 8 years ago

Its more like people coulden't keep their thoughts to them selves, probably explains why they can't lie. That would be like trying to lie to your self.

[–] krishunt-91681 8 years ago

I don't think people would just say things like 'i hate you' for no reason. In fact i feel in a culture like that people would be saying far less in an attempt to not upset people.
Also louis CK makes a slight error when sitting at the bar and gervais says something like 'i'm a one armed black man' and louis says 'i knew it!'.... clearly he didn't know it so therefore that was a lie!

[–] adventurous420 8 years ago

but that was too show that they will believe everything you say. so if he says he has a one arm then louis believes it.

its the same with everything else, he has 300 but says he has 800, so the lady says they made an error which they didn't.

everyone is just accepting whatever lies u feed them as truths therefore they're not really lying but filterting those lies as truths, hope this makes sense, lol