be wary of strangers theme
The idea that we ought better be cautious around outsiders we do not know, is expressly stated or pointedly illustrated.
Examples
In talesoftheunexpected5x16 "A Man with a Fortune", Janet Murdoch met her doom after she set out to travel with the strange American John Smith and it turned out he was a psychopathic killer descended from a long line of psychopathic killers.
20 total · 4 choice · 10 major · 6 minor
| Story | Level | Motivation |
|---|---|---|
| ftt1982e2x05 | choice | The obvious moral of the story is that strangers may be wolves out to eat you. |
| movie: The Night of the Hunter (1955) | choice | It seemed the point of the story was to caution that the vilest of people may come in the guise of the good. |
| shortstory: Little Red Riding Hood (1889) | choice | Charles Perrault sums up the moral of the story as follows: "From this story one learns that children, especially young lasses, pretty, courteous and well-bred, do very wrong to listen to strangers, And it is not an unheard thing if the Wolf is thereby provided with his dinner". |
| tz1985e3x17 | choice | Mrs. Wilkins warned her young son Danny multiple times about the dangers of fraternizing with strangers, but Danny disregarded her advice, and was very nearly abducted by an alien as a result. |
| ahh1x08 | major | The Mitchells' welcomed the stranger who saved their son's life into their home, and were nearly extorted out of $20,000 by him for their trouble. In his closing remarks, Alfred Hitchcock summed up moral of the story as follows: "If a stranger offers to save your life, think it over." |
| ahh1x17 | major | Karen refused to let a stranger into her home to use the phone, and was later assured she did the right thing by the deputy sheriff. Indeed, the entire story turns on whether she should have turned away the stranger at her door. |
| ahh3x06 | major | Stella and Emory briefly deliberated over whether to take in the drifter Jesse to help with the peach harvest. Though Jesse quickly showed signs of being a creep, Emory's greed was overridden by his better judgement to Stella's dismay. |
| ftt1982e3x03 | major | Two times Pinocchio got into trouble it was because he got hoodwinked by strange people he met in the street. |
| ftt1982e3x05 | major | Snow White fell afoul of two passers by, who were in fact the witch queen in magic disguise. She was admonished to not trust strangers. |
| talesoftheunexpected3x01 | major | Sylvia neglected to follow this age old advice to her peril. |