10 Classic Movies You've Always Misunderstood

To put it plainly, you're wrong.

By Alex Leadbeater /

Fox Searchlight

There are just shy of 300,000 films on IMDb€™'s records. Ranging from Cannibal Zombie (how is that a threat to us?) to The Shawshank Redemption (current first place in the site's Top 250), it€™'s to be expected that every now and again a film will come along that not everyone fully understands.

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Some, like The Tree Of Life or Memento, are purposely instilled with an overly complex narrative that will take more than a single viewing to €˜get€™ (although in the former€™s case it€™'s all lights and no brain matter). But inevitably a classic film that everyone knows and love will have some members of the audience needlessly confused.

Here we bring you ten films (and one blockbuster TV show) that even you may have completely misunderstood, taking the wrong message, not getting a plot twist or just generally missing what made the film so great in the first place. And if you did misread a film on this list, take some solace in that sometimes the company behind it is pushing you towards the wrong conclusion, like the television example below...

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Honourable Mention: Lost - The Island Isn't Purgatory

ABC

The most enduring fan theory behind Lost, that the island was in fact purgatory, stuck around despite multiple characters escaping to the mainland at various points in the series. By the point time travel was introduced though, that theory seemed dead in the water. That was until the series finale revealed the alternate timeline that showed a reality where the plane didn't crash was a sort of purgatory where those from the island met up in after death.

Unfortunately, many fans misread this explanation as the whole thing being purgatory. Oddly enough that€™'s despite Christian Shepherd, the man who explained it all clearly stating €œeverything was real.€

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This wasn't helped by ABC choosing to air images of the original, lifeless crashed plane over the end credits. Chosen due to their iconic status (and being much calmer than a garish voiceover for what was on next), many fans thought it was irrefutable proof it was all purgatory.