MovieChat Forums > The Cider House Rules (2000) Discussion > Significance of Title? What are the "Rul...

Significance of Title? What are the "Rules"?

posted 10 years ago by peterquincy
8 replies | jump to latest

I might have missed this in the movie (or here on the message boards), but what are the Cider House "rules"? Why was this chosen as the title? This has been bugging me of late, and I need to settle a bet with a friend of mine. Many thanks for any info.

"Harold . . . That was your last date!"

[–] fg-fg-45-147600 10 years ago

When Homer starts his job picking apples, inside their living quarters there's a sign posted called The Cider House Rules but no one knows how to read. They learn they always break all the rules after Homer reads the rules to them.

[–] eiy 10 years ago

I think the title of the movie, which is also the title of the book it's based on, is to call out the phenomenon where people create rules for others when they have no understanding of the people they are creating rules for. Especially as the rules are 'expected' to be followed without any attempt of real communication or understanding.

The obvious case is that the cider house rules were just posted. Nobody ever talked to the workers about them, and nobody tried to understand why the violators do the things they do (e.g. workers go on top of the roof because it's hot in the house). As a result, the workers don't follow them.

The subtle one is the one about abortion. Lawmakers made abortion illegal without considering all scenarios where continuation of pregnancy creates severe hardship. Nobody bothers to talk to the women who elected for the route, and nobody tried to understand the hardship. As a result, people continue to find ways to have abortions, regardless of the law.

[–] swlabr 10 years ago

Excellent interpretation. I enjoyed reading your post. Thank you.

[–] Greyling5 10 years ago

And then there's Wally and Candy. Abortion, and now they will never have their own children.

Her father looks like a nice man, his mother looks like a nice woman, they could have weathered this, and probably welcomed a new addition.

But Wally and Candy were impulsive, immature, and settled it themselves.

[–] kya1 9 years ago

Thanks for that post.

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http://youtu.be/GAIJ3Rh5Qxs

[–] doubl3 8 years ago

Speaking of rules, the abortion theme is not even the only one that shows how hilarious this movie's message is. It's basically saying break all rules you don't agree with. The rules in the cider house itself, the doctor lying about the heart condition, him lying about the credentials of the main character, etc.... Typical leftist message of do whatever you want and rules are nott o be followed.

[–] Wuchak (8778) 6 years ago

Speaking of rules, the abortion theme is not even the only one that shows how hilarious this movie's message is. It's basically saying break all rules you don't agree with. The rules in the cider house itself, the doctor lying about the heart condition, him lying about the credentials of the main character, etc.... Typical leftist message of do whatever you want and rules are nott o be followed.

I encourage you to give the movie another viewing because it's smarter and more complex than you give it credit; it's also more middle-of-the-road. For one, it contrasts outer rules with innate moral rules. The former can be broken as it suits the individual without any ill-effects whereas the latter cannot be broken without severe consequences. For instance, the apple workers rightly mock the cider house rules made by people who don't know what it's like to live & work there, but Mr. Rose breaks a universal spiritual law and so (1.) loses his daughter and (2.) prematurely dies, which conveys the idea that "the wages of sin is death."

Furthermore, the rules of society demand that a person have proper credentials in order to do the work Dr. Larch performs -- and understandably so -- but official credentials on a wall are irrelevant in regards to some people, like Homer -- who's thoroughly trained & expert at his craft, credentials or no credentials -- and so Larch creates fake "proper" credentials to appease officials.

Also Wally & Candy impulsively have an illegal abortion at the beginning of the movie but, by the end, he's a paraplegic and it doesn't look like they're going to have wild sex anymore (which is different than saying they won't have any sexual relations); and, if they have children, they're probably going to have to adopt orphans. While that's wonderful, they no doubt strongly regret deciding to break the rules and have an abortion.

[–] Moonglum9 (11311) 5 years ago

Not "Rules" as in guiding decrees, but "Rules" as in awesome. Like The Cider House is totally fuckin awesome. It rules! That was too bulky for a title so they shortened it. And then made a really boring movie with Spiderman and Austin Powers' dad.