Benito Mussolini: Difference between revisions

* [[Butt Monkey]]: Called himself "el duce" and had the initials BM. TWO triple entendres. And he brought "el duce" on himself.

* [[The Casanova]]: Mussolini had for all of his life numerous flirts and lovers. And he was not ashamed to show it, building a womanizer reputation for himself. He believed (perhaps correctly, being in Italy) that his success with women contributes to his perception as a strong leader.

* [[Embarrassing Middle Name]]: Andrea?

** It means "manly".[[hottip:*:Andrea, like Andrew, comes from [[wikipedia:Andrea|the greek ''aner'', "man"]]. That means it's actually the female use that's embarassing.

* [[Take That]]: Mussolini's book, ''The Cardinal's Mistress''<ref>That or ''[[Atlas Shrugged]]''</ref> was the subject of [[Deadpan Snarker|Dorothy Parker's]] famous quip, "This is not a novel to be tossed aside lightly. It should be thrown with great force."

* [[Unnecessarily Large Interior]]: Mussolini had his visitors cross an excessively large hall to meet him, as a psychological intimidation tactic.

** The odd thing is that Mussolini had actually been a socialist (albeit a patriotic one) before the war, at a time when "socialist" and "communist" were not so clearly defined and frequently used interchangeably (among Marxists, anyway).

* [[War Is Glorious]]: He loved war (even though he was a reporter, rather than a soldier). In fact, Mussolini modeled fascism after the discipline and unity of the military. He viewed the besieged trenches of World War 1 as a perfect microcosm of his ideal Italy.

* One episode of ''[[Cheers]]'' had Carla trying to get around a family naming tradition that would have [[Unfortunate Implications|unintentionally]] [[Names to Run Away From Really Fast|forced the name "Benito Mussolini"]] onto her unborn baby.

* Frequently appeared in the wartime comics of [[Carl Giles]]. Giles was saddened to hear of Mussolini's death, as it meant he would no longer be able to mock him, uttering the immortal words: "''I've lost my Musso!''".

* He is the narrator of a chapter in ''Captain Corelli's Mandolin''. The entire chapter is a furious megalomaniac rant by Mussolini, where he raves about [[The Social Darwinist|the "survival of the fittest"]], praises the discipline and martial virtues of the Roman Empire, and how he wants the Italian people to have "ice in their soul". It ends with Mussolini being disturbed by his cat, and promptly [[Kick the Dog|kicking the cat to death.]]

* Mussolini plays an important part in [[Larry Niven]] and Jerry Pournelle's [[The Divine Comedy|Dante]]-based [[Science Fiction]] novel, ''[[Inferno]]'', where he {{spoiler|guides the novel's protagonist [[To Hell and Back|Through Hell And (Not-Quite) Back]]}}.

* In ''[[The Pride of Life]]'', Othello's superbeasts are named for European dictators, including "Mussol" for Mussolini.

* ''[[A Greater Britain]]'', a work aimed at rescuing Oswald Mosley from the scrappy heap, does the same to Mussolini: he fights on the Allied side of the truncated equivalent to [[WW 2]], and it reflects on his political gifts which tend to be brushed over nowadays.

* ''[[The Beano]]'' had two main wartime comic strips, ''Addie and Hermie'' (about Hitler and Goering) and ''Musso [[Once-Acceptable Targets|the Wop]]'', which used Italian stereotypes cheerfully and mocked the Italian Army for its lack of success in North Africa.

* In ''[[The Office]]'' Dwight reads a speech by Benito Mussolini apparently trying to say that paper salesmen are a [[Proud Warrior Race]].

** [[Punctuated for Emphasis|"We...Are...Warriors!"]]

* While Moe is doing his best Hitler impersonation in ''[[The Three Stooges]]'' short "You Nazty Spy", Curly does a spot-on impersonation of Mussolini.

* Is parodied along with Hitler in ''[[The Great Dictator]]'', in which the two conflict over which country would invade Austria. [[Truth in Television]] at the time, though the two became close allies later.