MovieChat Forums > WarGames (1983) Discussion > 10 reasons why David is a prick

10 reasons why David is a prick



I just watched this movie for the first time in a while and I understand it's just a movie, but I can't get over how much of an arrogant prick he is. He just does whatever the hell he wants, whenever the hell he wants, with no respect whatsoever for authority, rules, or boundaries. With complete disregard for the consequences of his doing. I understand he's just a teenager, but he's completely aware of his actions. He just doesn't care.

10. He waltzes in to Biology class late because playing Galaga during school is more important. And after his teacher was nice enough not to write his punk ass up, he then has the audacity to interrupt his lesson and then slander him in front of the entire class. His teacher didn't deserve that at all. Yea, he was kind of a dick, but at least he never got personal.

9. Even though eventually she changed her mind, after Jennifer specifically tells him not to, he goes behind her back and changes her Biology grade. Not only is that disrespectful to her, but he also puts her in a situation where she could possibly get expelled if they were to get caught.

8. He tries to break into Protovision illegally to play their program without paying for it when he HAS the resources to acquire the game legally if he weren't so impatient. He's lucky to even have a computer in the '80's and at his age. I mean, his parents could and would be more than willing to just buy it for him for Christmas or his birthday if he'd just ask, even though he doesn't deserve it.

7. He's azzhole enough to put a lock and a sign on his bedroom door that says "Authorized Entrance Only", like he doesn't trust his own parents. They own that room and deserve the right to know what's going on in there if they want. They work two jobs to provide a nice home for him and all he does is sit in his room all day, engaging in illegal activities instead of just masturbating like every other teenager. I could understand if he had brothers or sisters, but he doesn't so that's just a slap in the face to his parents.

6. He's also rude to his parents who are cool enough to let him skip school for days at a time to research game designers. He does everything in his power to avoid socializing with them. He reads a magazine at the dinner table. I mean, would it KILL him to just put it away for 20 minutes and have a conversation with his parents. He just gets up from the table without asking because hacking into Protovision is top priority and can't wait until after dinner. Later in the movie, he comes home and just says,"Hi, dad!", like he just went for a bike ride or something, and doesn't even have the decency to say hi to his mom and kiss her hello. I know his parents are lame(and may possibly be aliens), but they spoil him and he treats them like strangers.

5. When Jennifer states that he could go to jail for bypassing long distance telephone fees for dialing every number in Sunnyvale, he says,"Only if you're over 18". What ignorance. Of course HE'S not going to go to jail, his name isn't on the phone bill. He doesn't stop to think that if the phone company finds out, his parents are going to be the ones held responsible because they ARE over 18. And the phone company's not going to give a damn if it was some punk kid making the calls, they're either going to press charges or send his parents a fat ass bill in the mail.

4. He's inconsiderate. After however many times his father's told him, he still doesn't have the courtesy to double check the trash can lid to make sure it's on tight. His mom even reminded him during dinner. It doesn't look to me like they ask that much out of him. They ask him to do one simple thing, he can at least do it right. He doesn't seem to care when he his father shows him the mess, either. Then after his mother politely asks him if he wants to invite his little friend to their barbecue, he ignores her and closes the shutters in her face and doesn't even ask Jennifer if she wants to stay. What an ass.

3. I don't think I should say anything else until I talk to a lawyer? Who does this prick thinks he is? McKittrick was more than gracious and patient with him. With the fate of the nation hanging in the balance, all David had to do was cooperate and explain in detail what he did and take responsibility for his actions. I mean, he'd already admitted that he broke into their system. Asking for a lawyer makes it look like he's hiding something and it also makes him look like a total dick. Then after that, he has the stones to log in to McKittrick's personal computer with glass walls around him like they wouldn't see it.

2. He programs his computer to dial every number in Sunnyvale, California, to try to get into Protovision's system, calling and hanging up on thousands of people in the process, some of whom are trying to work. Not to mention the thousands of people he woke up while it was dialing numbers overnight.

1. During the entire movie he just goes around making others look bad and insulting people, including the ones he loves, to benefit himself and accomplish his ulterior motives. First, he makes his teacher look bad, then Jennifer, then Bo the dog. He makes his parents look really bad when he gets caught for hacking into the WOPR, making the WOPR look bad. The WOPR could have been a good idea, but since that little bastard had to go hacking into it, it made a lot of people look bad, from Richter the WOPR tech to General Beringer to the President of the United States. Then when he's detained at NORAD, he makes McKittrick look bad by violating his trust. Then makes Airman Fields look bad by breaking out of the infirmary, also making the alarm system engineer and repairman look bad. He makes the U.S. look bad to the Russians and vice versa. Last but not least, he makes Falken look bad by exploiting his "backdoor" password and then drags him to NORAD so he can face, firsthand, the repercussions of creating Joshua. He even makes McKittrick look bad, again, by ruffling up his hair at the end. When McKittrick said "Let me talk to this little prick", boy was he right.

reply

All true, but after all Falken was prepared to let the world get blown up by all out nuclear war so let's keep some perspective.

reply

8. He tries to break into Protovision illegally to play their program without paying for it when he HAS the resources to acquire the game legally if he weren't so impatient.


People actually did stuff like that. The early Lucasarts game Rescue on Fractalus was downloaded by hackers under the original title, Behind Jaggi Lines while it was still in development.

5. When Jennifer states that he could go to jail for bypassing long distance telephone fees for dialing every number in Sunnyvale, he says,"Only if you're over 18". What ignorance. Of course HE'S not going to go to jail, his name isn't on the phone bill.


Considering that his parents never complain about him tying up the phone for hours on end, it's likely that he has his own phone line. It's also possible that his parents had it put in his name so that if he didn't pay the bill, they wouldn't get stuck with it.

3. I don't think I should say anything else until I talk to a lawyer? Who does this prick thinks he is? McKittrick was more than gracious and patient with him.


At the point he said that, McKittrick had stopped being friendly and clearly didn't believe that David was telling the truth. It was obvious that he thought David was lying and that nothing he said would make any difference.

2. He programs his computer to dial every number in Sunnyvale, California, to try to get into Protovision's system, calling and hanging up on thousands of people in the process, some of whom are trying to work. Not to mention the thousands of people he woke up while it was dialing numbers overnight.


True, but that's something else that people actually used to do. Such programs were commonly available and after the movie came out, they became known as "war dialers". They were even built into at least one general purpose terminal program.

reply

Excellent response, I was going to make the point about Rescue on Fractalus and Wardialing but you nailed it. It was s different time back then, there was no Internet and kids, I admit to nothing :-), used their computers to see what was out there. There were basically two ways of doing that, you found other people on bulletin board systems (BBS) that you connected to (one at a time!) with your modem, and by wardialing to see what would answer. It wasn't really thought of as a dick move, more like you were exploring what was beyond your neighborhood.

Certainly stealing software was a dick move, stealing was stealing, that hasn't changed. In the character's defense, he just wanted to try the game out and was impatient, he wasn't (if I remember right) going to try and sell it himself. Far less of a 'crime' than what people do with bit torrent and Pirate Bay these days.

reply

Excellent response, I was going to make the point about Rescue on Fractalus and Wardialing but you nailed it. It was s different time back then, there was no Internet and kids, I admit to nothing :-), used their computers to see what was out there.


I never used a war dialer myself (I don't even think they were technically illegal), but I used to know some people who did. They never found much though. And of course everyone I knew had large collections of pirated C64 software, half of which didn't work correctly since it was meant for PAL TV systems and was messed up under NTSC.

I still remember the first time I downloaded a game on my brand new 300 baud modem. The terminal program printed a gauge across the screen (40 columns), the disk drive spun for a few seconds and a single dash appeared under the gauge. Several seconds later, another disk access, another dash. I figured it wasn't so bad because when it got all the way across it would be done. Finally, the last dash appeared and I waited for the message declaring it complete. Then there was another disk access and it started a second row of dashes. Then a third, fourth, fifth and finally a partial sixth row. All total, it took over half an hour to download a 64K game! When I upgraded to 1200 baud, I couldn't believe how fast it was.


This is a THREADED message board. Please reply to the proper post!

reply

I had a war dialer for my Amiga. It was fun. I never found much though.

reply

Original poster is a prude and a philistine :)

http://www.imdb.com/user/ur2533227/ratings
www.kittysafe.net

reply

[deleted]

He's not a prick, he's just gifted, bored and young.

http://www.imdb.com/user/ur2533227/ratings
www.kittysafe.net

reply

[deleted]

. . . he gets caught for hacking into the WOPR, making the WOPR look bad.


LMBO!

reply

He has no reason to be arrogant, and that's worse. He's not a jock in high school. He plays video games and is late for class all the time. Like one of the guys at NORAD says, "He's intelligent but an underachiever, he's alienated by his parents, has few friends." He cheats by hacking in to the school's computer and changes his grades. He changes Jennifer's grades without her consent, just to impress her. He's a computer geek. Having said all that, I think it's still a good movie. Brodrick's in his 50's now. Amazing! Next year will be the 30th anniversary of the movie. What's the difference between David Lightman and Ferris Bueller? Can't believe it's that old!! I feel old!! LOL

reply

Some of the things that you listed show where he was definitely wrong, but as for most of them...Have you ever raised or been a teenager? Even if a teen is quite smart, as this character was, their brains are developing, the way that decisions are processed (or not processed) is totally different from the way that adults make decisions. Yes, of course, teens should be taught and given consequences and moral values, but when working with them, one has to "choose your battles". Nit picking about every little thing does not work, it just makes things much worse. As would name-calling.
Also, to answer point 10, he was deliberately rude to the teacher because he wanted to get sent to the office in order to find the school's new password. That was alluded to several times shortly afterward.
The reason he reads at the table (by the way, there are much worse things than that), was to show that his family did not communicate with each other on a very deep level. That also was alluded to in other spots, and helped to explain why his parents had no idea about his hacking.
This is IRONY. Hello! That this boy thinks he is just playing games and having fun, and finds that he brings the world very close to total annihilation. That irony is the major point of the film!
I think it's appropriate and a little comedic that Barry Corbin's character calls him a prick, but to work it out with 10 reasons seems a little obsessive. Unless you are making a joke, in which case, you got me!

reply

10. Being tardy is kind of prickish. I'll give you that. Of course the whole point of insulting the teacher was to get the password.

9. It's unlikely she would have been expelled. Most guys would probably be doing whatever they could to impress a girl if they were still virgins at 17.

8. They had hacking laws back then? He had an older computer that was outdated by 1983. Presumable because he was able to get the parts cheaper and was able to put it together himself.

7. It seems a bit odd for a 17 year old to write that on his door. Without knowing his life's history, it could have been a room left to him by an older sibling and he never took the note down. Or considering that the dog was running out by itself, he could have had a younger sibling that you never get to see. Him missing at the dinner table could be explained by the fact that he was at a sleep over. There was never an indication that he didn't have siblings. Ferris Bueller had a much younger brother and sister, but you never see them.
And why would he not lock the door if he was masturbating all day. Maybe he has gay porn magazines.

6. Matthew Broderick does like to skip school. But he probably didn't get permission. He plays sick often. But his Dad's a creep anyway. You see how he's asking Jennifer if she knows what tumulus means as her mounds are bouncing up and down going up the stairs. He's like three times her age for god's sake.

5. You're ignoring the fact that the way around that he refers too was by using the neighbor's phone line. He's a prick because they would go to jail.

4. Least he didn't rape her when she locked her legs around him.

3. But he was considerate enough to let McKittrick know that the phone was ringing.....so. I mean, it was ringing a very long time.

2. I know. If you're going to crank call someone, at least ask them if their refrigerator is running or send them some pizzas.

1. Bo is spelled Beau. Why would they name a dog bo? That would just be stupid. Speaking if which, why didn't you have a list of problems that bitch gave. Jumping up on the table at dinner time. Knocking over the trash can. Running loose though the neighborhood. Mauling that poor little girl down the street. wtf?
You also missed making the ferry crew look bad by trying to leave without him. And Pat Healy for risking her job by yelling at the guy closing the door at NORAD. BTW why is that guy on the outside. Doesn't he know what that would mean if the door closes?

reply

To Kalen-2, about the father asking what that word meant. I didn't get that impression at all. It was supposed to be kind of funny how he was so into his crossword puzzle. How come feminist types always want to assume every man is a creepy, leecherous pig?

reply

Well it was kind of a joke and someone else suggested it a long time ago and fits as well as anything.
Although if you though it was funny that he was into his crossword puzzle, it's probably because you're a chick and have no idea what funny is.
If you were a male, you would know the answer to your last question. You're obviously not, or need to lower you estrogen injections.
You probably should just get back into the kitchen and make sandwiches.

reply

Probably because most feminist types hate men. Or only like the "metro" type of "men" who would rather turn their wife/daughter/etc over to an attacker than try to defend them.

reply

>> How come feminist types always want to assume every man is a creepy, leecherous pig? >>

Feminist "types?" All women who believe in being treated fairly are feminists. I don't think you know what the word means. It doesn't mean man-hater. It's not the 60's anymore.

------------------------
"Love means never having to say you're ugly." - the Abominable Dr. Phibes

reply

Re 5 - Inaccurate. His parents or he is paying for the circuit; he is using Phreaking logic to blast escape codes down the line. At the time, a lot of exchanges accepted in-band signalling over that side of the pond.

reply

It's a fictitious movie. He could be using the neighbor's lines.

reply

Back in 1983 or thereabouts, phone phreaking was actually done in the manner of the film. Classic example of the Shown Their Work trope in action.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phreaking
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wardialing

Splicing into neighbours' lines would also muck up any modem comms... party lines were much more of a 50s/60s thing.

reply

What do you mean by done in the manner of the film. They never show how he was doing it. The only thing they said was "There's ways around that."

And if he didn't splice into their lines? He could have cut the lines directly and took them over completely.

reply

Splicing someone's line would be too obvious - the neighbour would immediately be aware of the calls during the next billing cycle.

I recall books like The Hacker's Handbook that mentioned the inband signalling used at the time - this was able to be abused by people making UNTRACKABLE calls by issuing network instructions directly, thus bypassing the billing systems.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hacker%27s_Handbook

In addition, the novalisation covers some of the phreaking activities more.

reply

But the next billing cycle would be a month later. I think he could unplug the line before then.
I used to be able to make any call using my dad's telephone line tester quite easily back then on the junction box near my house. Wasn't even complicated to listen in on anyone's call either. Not likely what david would have done, but still.

reply

>> Least he didn't rape her when she locked her legs around him. >>

What? You're an idiot.

------------------------
"Love means never having to say you're ugly." - the Abominable Dr. Phibes

reply

You think he should have raped her? Seems a bit rude.

reply

[deleted]

>You see how he's asking Jennifer if she knows what tumulus means as her mounds are bouncing up and down going up the stairs.

BTW the definition of mounds can be: a small rounded mass.
Use some common sense. Did you think that their reference of a prophylactic factory catching on fire on the news was by random chance? Jeez....

>If you can turn that into something sexual, you have a drastically dirty mind.

Yes, I am a guy.

reply

Well, yes, he's the typical teenager at first: reckless, self-centered, oblivious, underachieving, shirks responsibilities.

That exactly why he gets into trouble. A responsible teen would not be hacking into a military computer.

That's also why the formula works because he is reckless and his recklessness gets him in trouble, and when he tries to be straight up the military do not believe him because he has done everything to undermine his own integrity.

It's your typical "Hero with a Thousand Faces" premise of the reluctant protaganist and flawed character, who finds himself in a dilemma, goes on a journey to save the masses and redeems himself.

reply

Key plot point - he DID NOT KNOW he was authenticating to a military system - the norm at the time was for a banner on a login display to tell you who you were logging into. These characters were UNPRINTABLE.

He THOUGHT he was logging into Sunnyvale (a games company).

reply