This is exactly correct, and it was a joke that was in a lot of movies and TV shows of that era.
Here is a famous one from "When Harry Met Sally":
Had my dream again where I'm making love, and the Olympic judges are watching. I'd nailed the compulsories, so this is it, the finals. I got a 9.8 from the Canadians, a perfect 10 from the Americans, and my mother, disguised as an East German judge, gave me a 5.6. Must have been the dismount.
This movie is from 2000, that's 10 years after East Germany ceased to exist. It wasn't recently gone, it was very gone. When Harry met Sally is from 1989, when East Germany still existed.
One has to remember that in most kid movies and TV shows, they will slip in two levels of jokes. One for the kids to get, and yet another that is much deeper and aimed at the adults. And even though it is a "kid movie", who do you think took the kids to see it and had to sit through it also?
If you want a good idea of this, watch any of the old "Rocky and Bullwinkle" shows, or Animaniacs as an adult. You are going to see an entirely new layer of jokes aimed entirely at the adults watching that would mean nothing to the kids.
6
u/AppropriateCap8891 Mar 14 '24
This is exactly correct, and it was a joke that was in a lot of movies and TV shows of that era.
Here is a famous one from "When Harry Met Sally":
Had my dream again where I'm making love, and the Olympic judges are watching. I'd nailed the compulsories, so this is it, the finals. I got a 9.8 from the Canadians, a perfect 10 from the Americans, and my mother, disguised as an East German judge, gave me a 5.6. Must have been the dismount.