Original artwork, not a still
Lydia, I have a chance to teach you something here. You have got to take the upper hand in all situations or people, whether they're dead or alive, will walk all over you.
— Beetlejuice · 1988
Behind the line
What it means
Our interpretation.
Here the speaker lectures Lydia on assertiveness: seize control in every situation, or people will treat you like a doormat. The twist is the phrase 'whether they're dead or alive', which stretches the advice to ghosts too and makes it funnier.
Context reviewed
