Gremlins (1984): rules, observations & question

[claws]

1. Origins of the mogwai. Any theories? I mean, we know they are folkloric creatures that are apparently real.
2. Do not expose the mogwai to light, especially sunlight, which will kill it. So they're nocturnal animals. The "sunlight will kill it" seems borrowed from vampire movies, which makes for an interesting twist. This is still within "movie rules that make sense", sort of.
3. Do not let it come in contact with water. But, are they allowed to drink water? If not, what do they drink? Randall's mom was about to make gizmo a hot chicken soup, which is made with water. Ooopsie. Snow is made of water, yet it has no effect on mogwai or the gremlins.
4. Never feed it after midnight. Assuming they have a natural habitat, no one can control their feeding after midnight. And isn't it technically after midnight all the time?
Any thoughts?

[Alex]

Well as they say in the second film, it is always midnight somewhere. If a place uses daylight savings, how does that come into it?

[pacman000]

4. Never feed it after midnight. Assuming they have a natural habitat, no one can control their feeding after midnight. And isn't it technically after midnight all the time?

I'd assume that's the easy way of saying "Don't feed it when the moon is in a certain part of the sky." Assuming they're real creatures; yes, no one can keep them from feeding after midnight in their natural habitat. The Gremlin-phase is thus a natural part of their lifecycle; it's when they can be considered adults. They just aren't good pets as adults.

[Allhallowsday]

1. Origins of the mogwai. Any theories? I mean, we know they are folkloric creatures that are apparently real.
2. Do not expose the mogwai to light, especially sunlight, which will kill it. So they're nocturnal animals. The "sunlight will kill it" seems borrowed from vampire movies, which makes for an interesting twist. This is still within "movie rules that make sense", sort of.
3. Do not let it come in contact with water. But, are they allowed to drink water? If not, what do they drink? Randall's mom was about to make gizmo a hot chicken soup, which is made with water. Ooopsie. Snow is made of water, yet it has no effect on mogwai or the gremlins.
4. Never feed it after midnight. Assuming they have a natural habitat, no one can control their feeding after midnight. And isn't it technically after midnight all the time?
Any thoughts?

Yes.  The last rule is obvious, in that you should not feed CHILDREN after midnight.  Your first question could express the mystery of individuality... where do we come from?  The second is exposure to illumination, or ENLIGHTENMENT.  The third is the unbreakable rule; the baptism into the faith - or lack thereof.  Each is a step closer and closer to the real theme of the movie: we make our own bad children, they are from us; we "teach them to watch television". 

[zelmo73]

3. Do not let it come in contact with water. But, are they allowed to drink water? If not, what do they drink? Randall's mom was about to make gizmo a hot chicken soup, which is made with water. Ooopsie. Snow is made of water, yet it has no effect on mogwai or the gremlins.

Even as a 10-going on 11-year-old kid when the movie first came out in theaters, I thought that this rule was a fishy one. It got even fishier when I got to the 6th grade and Science class and learned a few more things about the universe and the world that we live in, like how air also contains a variable amount of water vapor, on average around 1% at sea level, and 0.4% over the entire atmosphere.  

[pacman000]

I'd assume water must be the right density to cause the Gremlin to spawn. Do frogs lay their eggs in humid air, or fruit juice for that matter?

[zelmo73]

I'd assume water must be the right density to cause the Gremlin to spawn. Do frogs lay their eggs in humid air, or fruit juice for that matter?

It would have helped the movie immensely if they had added a brief synopsis or even a conjecture about the existing loopholes to those rules like what Gremlins 2: The New Batch (1990) did; even in fun and making fun of itself, just adding those little questions really made that movie much more enjoyable than the first one.

[chainsaw midget]

The novelization of the first gremlins movie it explained that Mogwai were created by alien scientists.  They were created to spread peace thoughout the universe and the Gremlin phase was an unexpected side effect.

The novelization was a bit out there. 

[pacman000]

Never knew about the novelization; may have to track it down.