Culture & entertainment
Discover facts about culture & entertainment. Small discoveries that change the way you see familiar things.
Culture & entertainment
When bad jokes were answered with rotten fruit
Ancient audiences could answer a joke they hated by hurling rotten fruit and other garbage at the performer.
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How Betty Boop was tamed for the screen
Production codes forced Betty Boop’s creators to lengthen her skirt and tone down her rebellious behavior, turning the jazzy flapper into a more subdued…
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Why movies rely on CGI for difficult action
Green screens and visual effects let filmmakers build action that would be difficult to stage with real props, though heavy reliance on CGI can leave scenes…
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How theaters use scent to change the mood
Some live shows use hidden vents to release scents such as fresh pie or burning wood, helping create a cozy or ominous mood.
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Why circus safety nets can leave rope burns
The net prevents a fatal impact, but its ropes can scrape a falling performer’s skin and send them bouncing.
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Stage fog has to pass more than a visual test
The cloud that makes a spotlight visible also enters performers' breathing space. Repeated exposure to some theatrical fogs can irritate the nose and airways,…
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Marvel gave its own actors fake storylines to protect spoilers
For Avengers: Infinity War, Joe Russo described distributing misleading scripts, while Paul Bettany recalled rehearsing material containing false scenes and…
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When test audiences demand happy endings
Test-audience surveys can push studios toward happier endings, even when that means changing a tragic story.
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Box office bombs often miraculously gain huge cult followings
Some box-office flops later find devoted audiences through midnight screenings.
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Why newspaper ink smudges your hands
Inexpensive petroleum-based newspaper ink dries slowly, so it can rub off on your hands while you read.
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Radio silence is heavily monitored by broadcasters
A commercial transmitter that goes silent for more than a few seconds can trigger alarms, and fail-safes may play emergency recordings to fill the dead air.
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Computer graphics often just remove unwanted shadows
Visual-effects artists also erase practical details such as boom microphones and unwanted reflections from glossy surfaces.
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Sawing ladies in half originally shocked audiences
When the illusion debuted, medical staff were stationed in the lobby to treat viewers who fainted.
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A ventriloquist became a radio star with a dummy nobody could see
Edgar Bergen and Charlie McCarthy found a huge audience on radio, where the visual trick of throwing a voice was invisible. Listeners stayed for Charlie's…
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Throwing fake punches under extremely bright lights
Performers miss by several inches and slap their own legs to create the sound of impact, so up close the violence can look more like choreographed dancing.
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Changing dialogue entirely in translated text blocks
Localizers often rewrite jokes to fit another culture, so subtitles may deliver a different script from the dialogue spoken onscreen.
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Radio hosts deploy fake enthusiasm
Forced laughter and sound effects make a morning show sound lively, even when listeners are stuck in a dreary commute.
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Surviving utter destruction solely by being the lead actor
The joke is that the top-billed star survives a chaotic explosion unscathed while highly trained stunt performers are dispatched in seconds.
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riding a single catchy tune into obscurity
A song can dominate radio for a summer, then leave its performer struggling to recreate the success of that one hit.
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Why dubbing can change the original dialogue
Voice actors may have to change lines to match the movements of an actor’s mouth. That can alter the original dialogue’s tone or meaning.
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On talent shows, a sad story can beat talent
On some talent shows, a moving backstory can shape a contestant’s reception as much as the performance itself—even when their singing is only moderate.
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Why binge-watching kills the suspense
Rapidly watching dramatic twists leaves little time to speculate with friends between episodes, which is a big part of the suspense.
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Why TV shows put cliffhangers before ad breaks
Writers place a tense moment just before commercial breaks to keep viewers watching through the ads for the resolution.
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Why quiz shows make contestants forget everything
Spotlights, buzzing sounds, and sudden silence can throw contestants off, making even basic trivia harder to recall.
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