MovieChat Forums > The Terminator (1984) Discussion > Why does Kyle know how to shop?

Why does Kyle know how to shop?

posted 3 years ago by avortac4 (3720)
18 replies | jump to latest

How many supermarkets are there in this movie's 2029 Los Angeles?

We are shown there's a full-blown war against machines that obliterate people night and day. There's no infrastructure, no money, no barbers, no manicurists.. yet Kyle's hair is impeccable, relatively short, very well combed and brushed, even to create a 'style'. His fingernails, same thing, very well groomed.

It's a bit contradictory; on one hand, he's so well groomed, on the other, he doesn't mind using smelly hobo pants for the rest of his life, even when he stumbles upon a clothes store. Let's take a jacket, shoes, shirt - but better pants? Nah, it's cool to steal from a hobo and I like the smell of the pants. What?

Then Kyle is an expert on how supermarkets and grocery stores operate - he has no problem locating one, behaving 'normally' in a place he has never been to before, and knows how to find items, select items, collect them in shopping cart - although he has never used one before - and all the little procedures that involve a 'shopping experience'. No problems whatsoever. Nothing overwhelms him at all!

This is so not believable. Think about if you go to an alien world, and you have to suddenly do 'shopping', but in a way you have never done it before, completely different from anything you know, and .. it's just not believable that you would just be able to do it all without problems.

In America, this is even more complicated because of the sales tax that is NOT included in the price!

(This was shocking to me - it's like they lie about how much something costs, because suddenly you have to pay extra tax when you buy something.. it doesn't make any sense, especially if you're used to shopping in other countries that do not conform to this kind of insanity and lying)

So basically not only do you have to know everything about shopping (does Kyle even know how to read, and why would he, do they have schools in the future? Apparently barbers and manicurists are an everyday luxury in the war-torn future though - shouldn't everyone have long, unkempt hair in the future, not this sleek, groomed look? Just look at the scene just before Kyle starts that 'I love you' crap, and pay attention to Kyle's impeccable hair - you'd think they have more important things to worry about in that particular future)..

..he is able to perform it quickly and efficiently, doesn't even try to hoard things (when you've known starvation and scarcity all your life, then you're suddenly in a supermarket with ABUNDANCE of objects, wouldn't some kind of hoarding instinct kick in? IN FACT, this was even shown in a Vietnam war movie, when a Vietnamese woman sees an American supermarket the first time, she tries to hoard an enormous amount of rice - but not our KYLE!)!

He is able to CALCULATE the sales tax and knows currency well enough to be able to pay the correct amount, and even the sales clerks' robotic smalltalk doesn't phase him at all. Wow!

Never mind fighting some robots, this 'first time shopping trip' is what amazes me about Kyle the most, I could NOT do that if I was him, I would be lost in the city for 5 hours before stumbling upon a 'supermarket' (how would I know what one looks like, what they sell, where they sell what, and so on), and then I'd be lost there until someone sends a cop to figure out what's wrong wtih me, I would suffer a breakdown from the SHEER ABUNDANCE of everything, try to hoard things, pay the wrong amounts, get startled about the sales clerks' interactions, not know what to do at the checkout counter, try to take things 'for free' because how the heck can I know you are not supposed to take objects beyond a certain point, etc.

..etc..etc.etc..

but not KYLE!

He must have stronger psyche than The Terminator!

A completely different world than he's ever been to before, and he's like fish in water, completely comfortable 100% of the time. He doesn't mind just staring out the window instead of wanting to fo exploring this amazing, wonderful world (well, wonderful compared to where he's from), he's not thinking each breath in this actually functional world with proper infrastructure is a miracle worth stopping to enjoy it for a moment every few minutes, etc..

Think about the psychological ramifications this movie doesn't address at all. I know there's 'cut footage' that tries to show how overwhelming the 'beauty of nature' is to him, because he's never seen it before, but it should go much deeper than that.

A shopping trip to Kyle should be like going to alien planet would be to us.. it would take WEEKS for him to be able to shop 'normally and quickly'. The supermarket would overwhelm him for so many reasons and levels simultaneously.

Why did Kyle even know what money or currency is? How does he know AND remember to somehow 'acquire some' (and this movie cheats by the line 'I don't want to know where you got it' or something)? How does he know what money looks like or where to get it or anything?

[–] brux (14704) 3 years ago

Clearly because John Connor prepared him ... that is the only possible answer I can think of.

[–] avortac4 (3720) 3 years ago

I have hard time imagining they had time in the future to train or teach Kyle all this, there would've been more important things to do, and they couldn't have known they would send Kyle back to the past.

Or could they? When you start thinking about this, the whole movie falls apart.

Sarah knew Kyle would come back to 1984 from the future. This means, she could've told John (and the movie kind of implies she would do that). So John knows all this, so basically they could've trained Kyle for this mission from when he was little.

The thing is, I don't understand why they didn't prepare more and better for the future. Sarah knew what would happen, how, and what would cause it. And yet she doesn't try to stop it all from happening, just 'trains her son to fight the machines'. How about sabotaging the machines before they are ready? How about attacking every single 'machine stronghold', or base or whatnot, before they can even manufacture one terminator machine? They could do so much, but instead they just fight and wait until John is ready to teach them how to smash them incestuous devices to inoperable, valueless piles of discarded metal.

Why does John wait until humanity is almost gone before he starts teaching people?

Better yet, why doesn't John tell Kyle to tell Sarah to not use the phone in the motel, so the terminator can't find out where they are?

Movies really don't make sense if you think about them even a little bit.

[–] GreenGoblinsOck8 (7614) 3 years ago

I am pretty sure Sarah was dead before Kyle was in the resistance. Plus he does say, "It was a chance to meet the legend." which also makes it sound like she died before Kyle could have met her.

[–] avortac4 (3720) 3 years ago

I wanted to add that I have seen a video of a japanese woman being in Hawaii for the first time, and when she tries to buy something, and doesn't understand english all that well, she ends up just holding an envelope with money (bills) to the clerk, who then tentatively takes those bills one by one and tries to carefully explain what he's doing, and then afterwards, the woman turns to the camera and said that she didn't understand anything and just kept holding the money.

Why doesn't Kyle go through anything like this at least? Of course we are not shown his shopping trip, but he is some kind of shopping genius, considering that even someone from just a different country has problems shopping in USA, but not someone from a completely different time and world? It makes NO SENSE!

[–] kuatorises (7467) 3 years ago

He slaps money on the counter and says "Is this enough?" when paying for the hotel room. It's likely he did something very similar at the store. Calculate sales tax? What are you rambling about?

And is it really that hard to imagine she helped him throughout the movie because there isn't a scene of her explaining, "This is how ____ works."? Off screen, there's conversations. Use your head.

Comfortable? Kyle has PTSD. He is jittery as fuck and violent.

[–] cyguration (3951) 3 years ago

Yeah, apparently OP missed the part in the movie where every time Kyle tries to sleep he sees giant multi-story high robots that roll around, crushing humans beneath its treads and blasting holes in poor saps; creating an endless cycle of all-day violence and unfathomable misery.

I'd imagine anything would be better than sleeping for poor 'ole Kyle, and not being in a nightmarish cyberpunk hellhole where musclebound robots break into your paltry sleeping quarters to gun down dogs and kids probably made it seem like dealing with Los Angeles sales tax was heaven.

[–] MovieKnut (184) 3 years ago

You are way over thinking this. It is a fictional movie, not a documentary.

[–] millsey72 (10005) 3 years ago

Great observation. You found a plot hole

[–] Tomiggo (186) 3 years ago

No he did not!

[–] millsey72 (10005) 3 years ago

Yes he did. Trust me. I know a plot hole when I see one

[–] Tomiggo (186) 3 years ago

Nope!

[–] millsey72 (10005) 3 years ago

Oh so you are another one on here who doesn't understand what a plot hole is

[–] SandyR (8406) 3 years ago

I would hate to be so unable to sit back and enjoy a movie to the point that I worried about a character's knowledge of shopping and grooming.

[–] Mulletor (531) 3 years ago

Ha!

The theme song from Mystery Science Theater 3000 touches on this "If you're wondering how he eats and breathes and other science facts I should repeat to myself it's just a show I should really just relax"

[–] aavfreak (3178) 3 years ago

He is able to CALCULATE the sales tax and knows currency well enough to be able to pay the correct amount, and even the sales clerks' robotic smalltalk doesn't phase him at all. Wow!

I don't know a single person that was alive in the 80s that went shopping and was able to "calculate the sales tax" and pay the correct amount.

The cashier will ring everything up and tell you the total. Rarely did anyone pay with exact change. You just gave more than the total and they gave you change back. These are not difficult concepts as long as he knows how to read the numbers on the bills.