Talk:Roach Motel

Untitled

It's true.

unsigned comment by Flying Hamster. -- 8^D BD2412 ^gab 16:38, 2005 Apr 8 (UTC)

Removing image of "Roach motel" because the picture was apparently drawn with paintbrush and is not a detailed rendition of a real roach motel. Not up to encyclopedia quality standards.71.163.210.242 04:31, 13 July 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Appearances in popular media

After several iterations, I have come up with the following paragraph to describe uses of the Roach Motel in popular media:

Roach Motel devices have prominently featured in several films, including depictions of human characters ending up inside them through various plot devices. In A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master, Freddy Krueger kills a teenage girl (played by Brooke Theiss) by turning her into a cockroach, trapping her in a Roach Motel, and squishing it in his hand. In Honey, We Shrunk Ourselves, the main characters cut through a Roach Motel to escape from a cockroach that is pursuing them. The Roach Motel tagline is referenced in the 1997 film Men in Black; Agent K (played by Tommy Lee Jones) states that "Roaches check in", and Agent J (played by Will Smith) completes the thought, saying "but they don't check out". The line does not actually appear in the film, although the agents do defeat a large insect-like alien that they refer to as a cockroach.

Who is the lady in the ads?

She is the one who made the roach motel famous. How about giving her what is due? Is she still alive? I have been wondering. --68.118.201.68 (talk) 02:41, 25 January 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Sottolacqua has removed this, as well as previous versions which were less narrative in structure. I'd like to determine the consensus of the community as to whether the above information should be included in the article. Cheers! bd2412 T 21:53, 13 November 2009 (UTC)[reply]

This is random minutia. The roach motel scene in A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master consists of less than one minute of footage, likewise with Honey, We Shrunk Ourselves. A quip from the film Men in Black is not a noteworthy pop culture reference. Furthermore, that line doesn't actually even appear in the film! Why is this trivia needed? It does nothing to add verifiable reference or additional understanding to the article.

None of this solidifies the Roach Motel's place in pop culture. These are random instances of a brief mentioning of the product and are a small percentage of the likely thousands of times one liners or images depicting roach motels have been seen in the media. Sottolacqua (talk) 22:00, 13 November 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Have you ever seen such a reference for a D-Con roach trap? That the Roach Motel is the version mentioned in popular culture is itself significant. bd2412 T 22:03, 13 November 2009 (UTC)[reply]

You've missed the point I'm making about the randomness and insignificance of these "references" within pop culture in general. Why mention these three specific random appearances? One of them doesn't even appear in the actual movie you're referencing. How is this applicable? Sottolacqua (talk) 22:06, 13 November 2009 (UTC)[reply]

No, it doesn't appear in the film. It appears as a tagline in the marketing campaign, which is markedly more significant. You and I have differing opinions about the utility of including these materials in the article, but neither of us alone can claim that our opinion constitutes a consensus. bd2412 T 23:50, 13 November 2009 (UTC)[reply]