History Headscratchers / BeetleJuice

** From what I've read and heard, hauntings are due to the deceased still having something unfinished in their (after)life, and wont' be at rest until their desire is met. This is logical in the case of the Maitlands, who desired having a child, but died before they could even accomplish it.

** [[Film/PoltergeistIITheOtherSide Reverend Kane]].

* Another element that bugs me, though it's not really a problem with the movie, is that this troper always wanted to learn more about "Saturn" and the sandworms. Was it the real planet Saturn (seems pretty unlikely, with Saturn being a gas giant and all), or another dimension with the same name (since stepping out of the house takes them there, maybe it's a parallel ghost reality)? Wiki/TheOtherWiki says that in an earlier draft, it was called Titan rather than Saturn (which might explain the giant moon in the sky: that's probably Saturn itself), and that might still work, since Betelgeuse says "you've been to Saturn" (he didn't say they've been "on" Saturn, so maybe he meant the Saturn moons). The sandworms could apparently see and eat ghosts, which just adds to strangeness of it all. There's no way the movie could've gotten into the details without [[MST3KMantra bogging things down]], but there's so much mystery behind that plot element, and Saturn and its sandworms are just so weird and cool that I'd love to hear the writers talk more about what they had in mind.

*** Alternatively, even a fairly conservative wedding dress or suit can be fairly expensive, it's possible that Delia was planning to sell them for what could easily be $500 minimum rather than donating them. She may also have held onto them with idea that Lydia might be able to make use of them in a few years.

* What did Juno and Betelgeuse die of? They might be suicides, if you interpret the "suicides become civil servants" joke as canon, with the evidence of Ms Slit-Wrists, and Mr Hanging, and if you assume that this means every civil servant in the afterlife committed suicide. I wonder how?

* What did Juno mean when she told the Maitlands "Seems pretty quiet here. You should thank God you didn't die in Italy"?

*** Secondary thought, Italy is home to Rome and the Vatican. Lots of Catholic Priests, so ghosts would have to be very quiet and keep to themselves, or risk quick exorcism.
** It's an ethnic joke about [[RambunctiousItalian Rambunctious Italians]].

** Also, Adam's clearly on somewhat friendly terms with her, and his first instinct seeing her post mortem is a friendly wave. Since the Maitlands were specifically shown to have no children, it's possible the town simply had Jane resell the house since they had no next of kin.
*** Someone would have been in charge of the Maitland's estate, an executor they chose if they had a will, a court-appointed official if not (details depending on local laws) and whoever it was, that person would naturally sell the now-unoccupied house, and would call the local realtor to do it.
** Jane was related to Barbara (sister?) so she was probably the executrix of the estate and sold the house as soon as she was able. She already had an offer from Charles before the movie time started.

* If Beetlejuice needs witnesses in order to marry Lydia, it clearly needs to be a legal marriage. But in Connecticut, in order to get married below the age of 18 you need to be at least 16 and have a parents permission. Charles is kinda tied up and very clearly NOT giving his permission and Lydia is 15. So does it need to be legal or not?

** I think the implication was he would be a human, but with his powers intact. It's why it's so bad: not only would Lydia be permanently bound to a perverted RealityWarper, but now he can freely hang out in the mortal world, no questions asked. The musical implies Beetlejuice would lose his powers, although he would develop a new sense of empathy and joy, and he can still be killed like any other human, after which his powers would return.

* Here's my question - why on Earth did Delia and Charles marry? They have an antipathy for each other that puts the standard "married couples hate each other" trope to shame; there's no affection between Delia and Lydia, so it's not a case of Delia marrying Charles because she loves his daughter like her own; they seem to share no interests and in fact seen to be openly contemptuous of each other's interests... The closest I can see to a reason for them to have married is status, with Delia as an outre artist gaining status from being married to a real estate mogul, and Charles gaining a trophy wife with an odd but "acceptable" hobby.

* Why does Lydia refer to Charles as "Daddy" throughout the musical? She's a depressed {{Goth}} teenager who holds a lot of resentment for him and she doesn't call her mother (whom it seems she was much closer to) "Mommy". It seems weird she'd use a term associated with a DaddysGirl or someone much younger than her age. Plus she isn't consistent about it, she says "Daddy" in several songs but in some of her spoken dialogue it's "Dad." I guess maybe "Daddy" is easier to fit into song lyrics but it just doesn't jive with her overall gloomy character.

** Delia and Ortho did express dismay that the closet in question was so small. Possibly neither of them had thought of anything appropriate to do with such a modest space yet, so they hadn't cleaned it out yet.

** At the end of the movie, Charles is shown reading a book by the Handbook for the Recently Deceased press, "Harmorious Lifestyles and Peaceful Co-existences Between the Living and the Dead." [[StrangeMindsThinkAlike It reads like stereo instructions]], but I think it was a sign the Deetzes got Juno's permission to let the Deetzes stay and she gave Charles and Delia a manual for living with the Maitlands.

** Exactly--the only time Lydia would have heard the name would have been when Barbara was banishing Snake!BJ, who only looks marginally like Beetlejuice does normally. Besides, she has no reason to believe that Adam and Barbara have anything to do with a random, tiny ghost who happens to be living in the town model. Finally, as mentioned elsewhere on the page, nobody knows it's a name--for all they know, "Beetlejuice" is just some kind of evil-banishing spell for putting bad ghosts back where they belong.

* Here's my question- why on Earth did Delia and Charles marry? They have an antipathy for each other that puts the standard "married couples hate each other" trope to shame, there's no affection between Delia and Lydia, so it's not a case of Delia marrying Charles because she loves his daughter like her own, they seem to share no interests and in fact seen to be openly contemptuous of each other's interests... The closest I can see to a reason for them to have married is status, with Delia as an outre artist gaining status from being married to a real estate mogul, and Charles gaining a trophy wife with an odd but "acceptable" hobby.

* What I never got was why does "The Handbook for the Recently Deceased" have a section on how to perform exorcisms, especially when most ghosts are confined to the areas they died in? And what purpose does it serve since you obviously can't reverse it?

** I think the implication was he would be a human, but with his powers intact. It's why it's so bad: not only would Lydia be permanently bound to a perverted RealityWarper, but now he can freely hang out in the mortal world, no questions asked. The musical goes with Beetlejuice would lose all of his powers, although he would develop a new sense of empathy and joy, and he can still be killed like any other human.

** It's an ethnic joke about [[RambunctiousItalian Rambunctious Italians]]

** [[Film/{{Poltergeist}} Reverend Kane]].

** I think the implication was he would be a human, but with his powers intact. It's why it's so bad: not only would Lydia be permanently bound to a perverted RealityWarper, but now he can freely hang out in the mortal world, no questions asked.

* What I never got was why does "The Handbook for the Recently Deceased" have a section on exorcisms? What purpose does it serve beyond, you obviously can't reverse it?

* What I never got was why does "The Handbook for the Recently Deceased" have a section on exorcisms? What purpose does it serve beyond, you obviously can't reverse it?

** Even as a kid, I noticed this yet intuitively processed it as RuleOfFunny.

* The Deetzes (apart from Lydia) can't see Adam and Barbara, so they think they can't haunt them. The only problem is that they're still capable of moving physical objects. Barbara holds the wooden horse in front of a mirror, and Adam slams the attic door into someones face. Who cares if they can't see you? What's scarier than a poltergeist?

[[AC:Fridge Logic]]

* What exactly was going to happen if Beetlejuice got married? Would he just be able to exist permenantly or was he going to return as a living being with all his powers?