What's a joke or reference in a piece of media that you saw but didn't understand until years or even decades later? (lemmy.world)

submitted 22 hours ago by early_riser@lemmy.world to c/asklemmy@lemmy.world

26 comments fedilink hide all child comments

In A Bug's Life, the circus ringmaster is a flea. It's a flea circus.

Admittedly I had heard the term "flea circus" my entire life but only this morning looked up what it actually was. I mean it's pretty straightforward, a bunch of fleas made to look like they're in a circus, but I was missing the history and context.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[-] the_korben@feddit.org 17 points 22 hours ago

I still remember reading the first issue of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles in German when I was 9 or 10 years old. In one of the panels where they first encounter the Shredder, I think Raphael says something like "Who is this guy? Darth Vader?". I had never seen Star Wars before and didn't even know how to pronounce the name. Still, a few days later I tried to be cool and dropped that reference at the playground. One of the older boys from the neighborhood was like "Who? 'Dart Fadder'? What are you talking about?" Naturally, they corrected my pronunciation, found it hilarious that I didn't know Star Wars and I was the idiot of the day. I never forgave Kevin Eastman for that and it took a few more years until I actually watched Star Wars and got the reference.

These days of course I know that having read the very first issue of TMNT at the age of 10 or so is actually several orders of magnitudes cooler than having seen Star Wars. ;)

[-] ch00f@lemmy.world 3 points 18 hours ago

Are you aware of all the parallels between TMNT and Daredevil?

this post was submitted on 15 Feb 2026

56 points (100.0% liked)

Ask Lemmy

37798 readers

1973 users here now

A Fediverse community for open-ended, thought provoking questions

Rules: (interactive)

1) Be nice and; have fun

Doxxing, trolling, sealioning, racism, and toxicity are not welcomed in AskLemmy. Remember what your mother said: if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all. In addition, the site-wide Lemmy.world terms of service also apply here. Please familiarize yourself with them

2) All posts must end with a '?'

This is sort of like Jeopardy. Please phrase all post titles in the form of a proper question ending with ?

3) No spam

Please do not flood the community with nonsense. Actual suspected spammers will be banned on site. No astroturfing.

4) NSFW is okay, within reason

Just remember to tag posts with either a content warning or a [NSFW] tag. Overtly sexual posts are not allowed, please direct them to either !asklemmyafterdark@lemmy.world or !asklemmynsfw@lemmynsfw.com. NSFW comments should be restricted to posts tagged [NSFW].

5) This is not a support community.

It is not a place for 'how do I?', type questions. If you have any questions regarding the site itself or would like to report a community, please direct them to Lemmy.world Support or email info@lemmy.world. For other questions check our partnered communities list, or use the search function.

6) No US Politics.

Please don't post about current US Politics. If you need to do this, try !politicaldiscussion@lemmy.world or !askusa@discuss.online

Reminder: The terms of service apply here too.