Question: Why can't Mr and Mrs Parker go next door to the Bumpus and tell them to control their dogs, so they won't bother them?
Answer: Who's to say they didn't? Ralphie describes the Bumpuses as 'hillbillies' so they might not care too much about controlling their animals or what they neighbors thought, and apparently the old man was the only one the dogs ever bothered so it would be hard to prove they were a general nuisance. Of course, the turkey incident might have tipped the scales.
Answer: You'd have to go back and watch a movie called *It Runs in the Family*. It's sort of a summertime Christmas story. All the actors are different, but it's Ralphie during the summer, and they actually go over to the Bumpass house and have more interaction with them.
It Runs in the Family is a completely different movie and has no connection to A Christmas Story. The movie you're referring to is called My Summer Story. It Runs in the Family was a tagline on the movie cover.
It is the same movie. It was released under both titles.
Question: Was Ralphie's family poor? Their house and furnishings seem pretty low class, but they never seem stressed about money, and they have a fairly extravagant Christmas.
Answer: They weren't poor and appeared to live a fairly comfortable middle-class life within their modest means. They could probably afford to splurge a little on Christmas. People who went through the Great Depression during the mid-20th century tended to hang on to old items, even if they could afford new ones and, unlike today, had lesser interest in material possessions. My own parents grew up in that era and rarely bought anything new, no matter how dated or worn. Also, situations (like holidays, social gatherings, special events, etc.) tend to look a bit exaggerated in movies and TV for visual effect.
I've also noticed this among my family members who grew up in the '60s through the '80s. They don't buy new things if the older ones are just fine. Since the late 2000s, it's more common for people to think that possessions and decor need to be "updated."
Question: When Miss Shields is discussing the incident with Flick with the whole class, she looks accusingly at Ralphie as it's clear she's blaming him. Why would Miss Shields blame Ralphie considering he never made Flick stick his tongue to the pole, none of the other students said anything and even Flick refused to talk about who really made him do it?
Answer: Miss Shields is not blaming Ralphie. She has probably seen him and Flick together around the school grounds, so she knows that they are friends. Therefore, she suspects that he knows what happened.
When Miss Shields looks at Ralphie, she says, "Those who did it know they're blame." She then says" Now don't you feel terrible? Don't you feel remorse for what you have done?"
I agree. From the way she looks at Ralphie and what she says when looking at him, she's blaming him.
Corrected entry: Ralphie hands in his theme and the teacher tells him to sit down. His classmates laugh at him, and as he goes to sit down, a classmate says, "You're a geek." - a typically 1980s phrase but not a typically 1930s/40s phrase.
Correction: Whereas "geek" means "nerd" nowadays, back in the 1930s/40s it meant something more along the lines of a freak, specifically someone who performs in a side show by eating live animals. So it is not so unreasonable that the kid would call Ralphie a "geek" as a way of saying he is a weirdo.
It sounded to me liked he used the word "genius".
Question: If they were constantly being bullied then why didn't Ralph and his friends tell their parents about their bully? That and why take the same route home if they knew that's where he'd be waiting for them?
Answer: Until recently, bullying wasn't taken very seriously. Also, school kids don't take very kindly to the idea of 'snitching.' Scut might have gotten in trouble if they'd told their parents, but in the long run, that might have made things worse for them. As for taking a different route home, it's possible he altered where he ambushed them or that he wasn't there every single day.
Thanks it's just that when Mad Magazine did their spoof of this I wondered this as did they.
Corrected entry: When Ralphie is decoding his secret message from Little Orphan Annie, when the shot is close to the paper, you can see that Ralphie writes in both capital and lowercase letters. As the scene continues, the camera changes angles so that the paper is farther away, and the entire message is written in capital letters.
Correction: The only lower case letter Ralphie prints is the letter "e" on the first word of the message "Be" he prints every other letter of the message in upper case. The camera shows the message correctly as it is written.
If you rewatch that scene, you will find that the "e" in "Be" does, in fact, change back and forth between capital and lowercase, depending on the shot.
Confirmed. The scene can be viewed here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zdA__2tKoIU In close ups of the paper, the first "e" is lower case. In over-the-shoulder shots, the first "E" is capitalized.
Question: Why doesn't Ralphie's father realise he's the one who unintentionally taught his son how to cuss, much less buy his lame excuse?
Answer: Because it's a funny look at real life. It's common for parents to cuss around their children, then be shocked when the kids start using the language themselves.
Exactly right. My parents cussed quite a bit when I was a child, but the first time I ever swore in front of my mother, she thought I learned it from watching The Real World with my sister.
True. I'd forgotten I learned how to cuss from my folks.
Answer: I think he did know. When he tells Ralphie to get in the car after saying the bad word, he kinda laughs to himself. It's only after Mom razzes him about taking too long to change the tire that he decides to share that Ralphie swore.
Character mistake: Right after the firefighters have removed Flick's tongue from the flagpole, notice the police officer on the left (Flick's right). He is wearing his sidearm on his right but his Sam Browne cross strap is attached to his belt on his left. The whole point of the cross strap is to support the weight of the sidearm, so the officer is wearing it backwards.
Suggested correction: With exception of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, the Sam Browne belt shoulder strap is typically worn over the right shoulder and attached to the belt on the left side.
This is correct for military uniforms - once again, the Sam Browne is used to support the weight of a weapon (in the military, this would be an officer's sword, always worn on the left side). However, for police uniforms, the shoulder strap is worn over whichever is the non-dominant shoulder (usually the left). Once again, this is to support the weight of the duty weapon. If you look at agencies such as the Kansas Highway Patrol, New Mexico State Police, and various police honor guards throughout the U.S., you will see that the strap is worn primarily over the left shoulder, since most people are right-handed and therefore would wear a duty weapon on their right side.
Answer: The weird lamp was the prize, there was no cash prize. Just the hideous lamp. The mother is not jealous of the lamp at all, it is tacky and ugly and she doesn't want it displayed in her home. The dad only says she is jealous because he is being defensive and argumentative after the lamp is broken. The dad was very proud of his prize so telling him how she felt about it would hurt his feelings. Whether or not she intentionally broke the lamp is a mystery.
BaconIsMyBFF
To add to the answer, Mrs. Parker admitted, "That is the ugliest lamp I have ever seen in my entire life."