How To Be Badass in Movies 101: The Symbolism of the Apples in Film

Apples have three tiers of symbolism in movies, and I figured now would be a good time to share that with my people. You either have symbolism 1, which is forbidden fruit, which goes back to biblical roots. You have symbolism 2, which is to show unwavering self-confidence bordering on cockiness. And finally, symbolism 3, which is my favorite. Why is it, any time you see a bad guy in a movie eating an apple, they are always slicing it with a knife and eating the apple slices off the blade? I have eaten apples my whole life, and around a bunch of different crowds, some much more surly than others. Yet, do you know how many times I have seen someone eat an apple off a knife in real life? Exactly none. While normally, this would lead me to assume the movies are lying to me once again, I am thinking the exact opposite. REAL LIFE is fucking up this time. If being badass in movies means slicing and eating an apple off a blade, wouldn’t doing that in REAL LIFE be equally badass? And if I have never seen it, doesn’t that mean it will be that much MORE badass the first time someone actually witnesses it? Honestly, I think from this moment forth I will be THAT guy. I will ALWAYS eat my apples off of blades. Sorry, got off track, back to the apples and symbolism and stuff.

I’m sorry, I can’t hear you over how cockily I am eating this apple.

But Remy, they’ll yell from the aisles, being badass in movies is not a relevant or accurate portrayal of badassness in real life. Duh, I know this. I am not talking about leaping from one building to another here and killing myself. I am not talking about getting into a fight with 15 people and thinking I will walk away from it. No, this “badass in movies” lesson is really simple, actually. All I have to do is eat an apple off a knife in front of some witnesses and that seals it. Why do think this course is called “being badass in movies 101.” This is some ultra-basic shit. This is like the “basic math” version of being badass in movies. But it also begets one HUGE question that has bugged me for a while, too. Why is eating an apple off a knife even considered badass? If anything, it is dangerous and impractical at BEST. But for those who think I am over hyping this trend, check it out, it exists:

Oh, that guy HAS to be bad because he stole the apple from a kid and is reiterating his badness by eating it off of a knife! That is a blatant example of it. Rather than go through YouTube and assemble all the scenes of tough or evil characters eating apples off blades, I think I made my point with that awful Dennis the Menace clip. But seriously, why apples? Is it because the apple was the ‘forbidden fruit’ in the bible, so to be desecrating that fruit with a sharp object seems even more perilous and incorrigible?

That is one lucky apple.

Pretty sure in this scene of the remake of Fright Night, Colin Farrell just told the lead he wants to bang his Mom and his girlfriend. Just like Farrell would in real life:

But note, he is not cutting it with a knife, which leads us to point two. Though that is often the move of the bad guy to establish his alpha’dom, apples in general are used to convey a sense of cockiness in movies leads, bad and good. First of all, not lying, this is another “thing.”

No knife needed. That is all man.

Do I want dat ass? No, I got dis apple.

Yes, this apple shows you just how virile and awesome I am, why do you ask?

But again, why the apple? What about the apple says badass in movies? We’re not sure at this point, but we have all allowed and embraced it enough that it is a trope we cannot escape now, and there is little we can do about it. Actually, there is ONE thing we can do about it, and I encourage it. We should ALL start eating apples off knives and carrying apples with us to bust out when a situation clearly needs an alpha. Not sure why, but movies say so, so be it.

Oh, and PLEASE don’t even get me started about that OTHER Apple we keep seeing in film now, that I REALLy don’t want to address as symbolism four but should, anyway:

Note, this Apple is not in her face but on her laptop. Product placement can go fuck itself (but first, have this tasty glass of Brawndo!)

This final Apple (capitalized so you can tell the difference) is the worst of all because it is a measurement of social status. Where at first the apple symbolized the loss of innocence, it went on to symbolize bad guys and extremely cocky good guys. But worst of all, now it is used to show the audience that the characters on film are doing well fiscally and can keep up with the Joneses. So scratch everything I said before about eating an apple off a blade of busting on out in a scenario when an alpha is needed. Nah, just be seen with your Apple product in hand and you are the most badass person of all: a consumer. Please note I was using my “sarcasm font” for that last sentence.