When the scientists go to the White House, they have to wait and a Pentagon general comes with some bottled water and snacks and says they cost $10...After he takes their money, he quickly runs away inventing a reason. They later find out that White House snacks are actually free. What's going on here, why did that general scammed them?
sharePowerplay (they use that explanation in the movie) and it just shows how abject and petty are people, generally speaking.
shareWhere's the 'powerplay', he was a general, he didn't need to do that petty bullshit, maybe some young White House intern, could try that scam on guests to feel important...
shareMilitary v Academia. He’s a general and they are scientists/academics. He probably resented their intellect and achievements coming from the safe world of labs and libraries, while his career path involved boot camps and battlefields. He thought he was proving himself to be the smartest guy in the room by playing this little trick on them. It was a petty ego trip.
shareProbably just his weird prank
shareComedic satire?
shareI'm curios also why didn't they report him to the president, everyone in this movie starts rambling about completely random things, they could have brought this up to the president:
-Madam president, your general scammed us and took money for water and snacks...
-Hold on, you said you are here because you discovered a comet or something?
-That's not important, he took from us $10 for a bottle of water and a bag of crackers!
-I was briefed that this comet could destroyed all life on earth...
-What kind of a sick person charges us for free snacks! We want our money back!!!
I didn't get this bit at all. It wasn't especially funny or even humourous.
They tried to make it a thing in the movie, but it fell completely flat for me.
^^^^^^^^^^
shareMaybe it is a jab at military spending ripoff, such as $600 hammers or $37 screws, a $7,622 coffee maker, $640 toilet seats: https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1986-07-30-vw-18804-story.html
Jennifer Lawrence's character is appalled by other people caring about petty things while a comet will destroy the planet. I think the joke is that she's no different has she keeps talking about the snacks throughout the rest of the movie.
shareYes this is what I thought too. It’s very funny that with the world about to end she is so hung up on that and tells everyone she meets.
shareAgreed.
shareThe fact this whole thread is about people guessing at the signficance of it proves that, whatever the intent of this bit was about, it fell flat.
I think your explanation is probably the best one. I thought it was a lame running gag.
Or, on the other hand, the intent suceeded, and it got people to keep talking about it. Its like the briefcase in Pulp Fiction. Decades later people still argue what was inside it and the director has actually came out and said that was intentional effect.
shareI know a couple of people like that. They never interact with anyone they do not try to make a profit off. Maybe it's a Trump reference.
share