Why MITM?

[han_keep_smilin]

I have always wondered why it is called Malcolm in the middle. At first i thought it was because he was a middle child but then i realised that he would not have been middle child in the in the first few seasons.
does anyone know why? I wounld like to know.

 

[Wildcat]

Well, the first few seasons he was the middle child of out of himself, Reese and Dewey because Francis didn't live there. I guess even including Francis, he was still a middle child along with Reese. When Jamie came along, Malcolm literally became the middle child. But mainly I think it's called MITM because the show revolves around him. It's about his views of life with everything going on around him.

 

[admin]

Exactly what Wildcat says, its called Malcolm in the Middle because the show revolves around Malcolm, more so in earlier seasons when he would be the one talking to the camera, explaining situtations etc. None of the other characters have ever talked to the "audience" in the way Malcolm did, and sometimes still does.

With the birth of Jamie, Malcolm did literally become the middle child, but I don't believe that was that sibling positiosn was the reason for its name. Its most probably as that is who they chose to centre the programme around.

 

[vinnymonster]

I always thought it was called Malcolm in the Middle because somehow, he always winds up in the middle of the mess, well, at least from his perspective.
I could be wrong, but there's my idea.

Oh, and please note, I didnt mention Piama once in this post.

D'Oh!

 

[Amigo22]

I don't know what you mean about not mentioning Piama in your posts (I haven't noticed), but you said her name in that post, and that counts as mentioning her

 

[vinnymonster]

I don't know what you mean about not mentioning Piama in your posts (I haven't noticed), but you said her name in that post, and that counts as mentioning her

Sorry, I seem to have a Paima fixation

 

[NeCoHo]

We noticed.

 

[purple]

I think it could be because he is always stuck in the middle of situations. Not necessarily because he is the middle child.

 

[cazza14]

dunno
it's a good name though

 

[tjpeople]

dunno
it's a good name though

Welcome to the forums.

Hope you enjoy your time, do check out all the thread - with great content

It foxed me a while back (like the pun? foxed, as in fox, i know, im good....)

but i worked it out for myself they idea that he in the middle, as he doesnt reallt fix in.

 

[Deleted member 1693]

Maybe it's too obvious to be said, but the title is also a connection to "Monkey in the Middle", a popular playground game. It doesn't have anything to do with the game, but it has a ring to it (and there's also a nice instrumental with the same name by Desert Sessions).

 

[Evil King]

I always thought it was called Malcolm in the Middle because he was the 'Odd one out' of the family. Normally, if you read descriptions about MITM, it is alway explained in a format where they make it seem he is stuck in the middle of weird people. A crazy dad, a stupid brother, a control-freak mother, etc.

It's literally because he is in the middle of the situations like people have said.

 

[AlexTheMartian]

Every single one of you are right.

I personally think the writers or the creator specifically picked the name becuase the "Middle" had multiple meanings in relation to Malcolm's position, wither among his siblings or in the situations he get in.

Either that or they found out the multiple meanings afterward which just further confirmed that the name was a good one. I believe there are Movies, Books, and other TV shows with that same deal.

The proper linguistic term for a phase like "Malcolm in the Middle" is Polysemy. (i did not know that term, I just knew a term existed for it. Thanks Google, lol)

"A word is judged to be polysemous if it has two senses of the word whose meanings are related." - Wikipedia