Pop Cultural Osmosis Failure: Difference between revisions
→Western Animation
m (revise quote template spacing) |
|||
| (48 intermediate revisions by 8 users not shown) | |||
Line 1:
{{trope}}
{{quote|'''Soujirou:''' Oh, [[Street Fighter II|back then]], Bison was dressed up as Mike Tyson. Pretty cool.
'''Konata:''' Who's [[w:Mike Tyson
''(later that day)''
'''Soujirou:''' Today, I felt the generation gap in a deep and very personal way.
|''[[Lucky Star]]'' Manga vol. 6}}
This is a subversion of [[
# "Who's X?"
# "Oh, X! He was in Y, right!"
# "Wait, Y was based on a real X?"
# "Impressive, you know X... oh, you don't"
This can happen because the person from Group B:
Note that A-F can go both ways (for example, someone too old to know [[Britney Spears]] or The [[Backstreet Boys]] may have fond memories of ''[[I Love Lucy]]'' or [[wikipedia:
This, by the way, is the reason character-named tropes are often renamed. For example, if you're not familiar with original [[Sherlock Holmes]] tales, you won't know who [[Inspector Lestrade]] is; if not well-read in 19th-century French literature (or [[All Musicals Are Adaptations|Broadway musicals]]), [[Inspector Javert]] may be unknown to you.
Line 30 ⟶ 31:
One of the many, many reasons for [[Not Self-Explanatory]].
Compare [[Seinfeld Is Unfunny]], [[Adaptation Displacement]], [[Forgotten Trope]], [[It's Been Done]], [[Fleeting Demographic Rule]], [[Recognition Failure]], [[Lampshaded the Obscure Reference]], and [[Reindeer Aren't Real]]. Applying this to sports gives you [[Gretzky Has the Ball]].
Contrast
{{examples}}
=== Comic Books ===▼
▲== Comic Books ==
* In ''[[Birds of Prey (comics)|Birds of Prey]]'' #1 (2010 series), Lady Blackhawk (a time traveller from World War 2) doesn't get a reference to "[[Putting the Band Back Together]]". However, she has been in the present long enough to understand one to [[Twitter]].
* Agent 355 from ''[[Y: The
===
* ''[[Zombieland]]''
** Little Rock doesn't know who [[Willie Nelson]] is, much to Tallahassee's horror. Or who [[Bill Murray]] is, ALSO to Tallahassee's horror.
{{quote|'''Little Rock:''' Who’s Bill Murray?
'''Tallahassee:''' Alright, I’ve never hit a kid before. I mean that’s like asking who Gandhi is.
Line 52 ⟶ 50:
** Also done in reverse with a hilarious scene where Little Rock is trying to explain the concept of ''[[Hannah Montana]]'' to Tallahassee, which crosses into [[Real Life]], as that scene was, in fact, the two actors just talking as they left the camera running.
* ''[[The Running Man (film)|The Running Man]]'': "Who's Mr. Spock?"
* In ''[[Sister Act]] 2'', Delores wants to hear her students sing, so she singles them out and has them sing "Mary Had a Little Lamb". One girl doesn't know it. Yet oddly enough, she ''does'' know the theme from ''[[The Love Boat]]''. (Not really that
* ''[[Live Free or Die Hard]]'': Generational differences are a major theme in this belated sequel, and so variations of this come up frequently. For instance, Justin Long's character fails to understand what "Fortunate Son" by [[Creedence Clearwater Revival]]
* ''[[Armageddon]]'': Owen Wilson's character says he hates when someone says [[Jethro Tull]] [[I Am Not Shazam|is the name of the lead singer]]. The psychiatrist asks back "Who is Jethro Tull?"
* This exchange from ''[[Notting Hill]]'':
Line 67 ⟶ 65:
* Dirty Harry also causes puzzlement in ''[[Red Heat]]''.
{{quote|'''Ridzik:''' Captain Danko, congratulations. You are now the proud owner of the most powerful handgun in the world.
'''[[Arnold Schwarzenegger|Danko]]:''' Soviet Podbyrin, 9.2 milimeter, is world's most powerful handgun.
'''Ridzik:''' Oh, come on, everybody knows the .44 Magnum is the big boy on the block. Why do you think Dirty Harry uses it?
'''Danko:''' Who is Dirty Harry? }}
* In ''[[I Am Legend (film)|I Am Legend]]'', Anna doesn't know [[Bob Marley]] (but apparently knows his son Ziggy).
* ''[[The Avengers (film)|The Avengers]]'': [[Fish Out of Temporal Water]] [[Captain America (comics)]] has only a blank expression when Coulson drops [[Stephen Hawking]]'s name in a conversation. Used from the other perspective when Thor mentions an animal from Asgard that Coulson has clearly never encountered. Later, Cap is happy when he gets a ''[[The Wizard of Oz (film)|The Wizard of Oz]]'' reference that is lost on Thor.
* Subverted in ''[[Taken (film)|Taken]]''.
{{quote|'''Bryan Mills:''' Who's [[
=== Literature ===▼
▲== Literature ==
* This is both the title and the subject of Robert Cormier's ''Bunny Berigan -- Wasn't He a Musican or Something?'', much to the dismay of the Berigan fanboy who serves as the protagonist.
=== Live-Action TV ===▼
▲== Live-Action TV ==
* In a ''[[Scrubs]]'' episode, the Janitor tells Eliot that he changed the address in his personel file to "[[The Addams Family|1 Cemetery Lane]]" because Dr. Kelso keeps calling him "Lurch". Eliot just looks at him in polite incomprehension.
* ''[[Community]]'':
{{quote|'''Shirley:''' You remind me of [[Cheers|Sam and Diane]]... I hated Sam and Diane.
'''Anne:''' Who's Jack and Diane?
'''Shirley:''' ''(furious)'' Okay, I get it! You're young! }}
** Another example is when they are suggesting Abed change his personality:
{{quote|'''Abed:''' You're gonna ''Can't Buy Me Love'' me. You know, transform me from [[Training Montage|Zero to Hero]], [[Geek to Chic]]?
'''Troy:''' ''Ohhhhh'', he wants us to ''Love Don't Cost a Thing'' him.
'''Shirley:''' Ohhh!
'''Troy:''' ''[[Can't Buy Me Love]]'' was the remake for white audiences.
'''Shirley:''' That's so uncomfortable when they do that, I can't believe they didn't insult anyone. }}
* Temperance "[[Bones]]" Brennan's [[Catch Phrase]] for virtually any [[Pop Culture]] reference: "I don't know what that means." (She notably ''did'' know who [[Family Guy|Stewie]] was when it came up.) She is sliding from
* ''[[Lost]]''
** Sawyer constantly uses pop-culture references in his sarcastic quips and derisive nicknames. This backfires when he calls another character "Bobby", and specifies that he's referring to ''[[The Brady Bunch]]'', only to get the response "What the hell is ''The Brady Bunch''?" This exchange implies that the character grew up on the island and has little knowledge of the outside world.
Line 106 ⟶ 102:
** Apparently, Reid's never heard of the sitting in a tree song. He's also completely unaware of ''[[Twilight (novel)|Twilight]]''.
** And then there's this:
{{quote|'''Rossi:''' This from someone whose favorite album is [[The Beatles (band)|The Beatles]]' ''White Album''.
'''Hotch:''' Just because Manson liked it doesn't mean that it has to be ruined for the rest of us.
'''Reid:''' That's why I stick to Beethoven. No chance of negative associations.
''(beat)''
'''JJ:''' ... really? You've never heard of a movie called ''[[A Clockwork Orange (film)|A Clockwork Orange]]''? }}
** Hilariously subverted by Rossi, who knows Niko Bellic is a character from ''[[Grand Theft Auto (series)|Grand Theft Auto]]''.
Line 117 ⟶ 113:
* Happens all the time in ''[[The Big Bang Theory]]'' with Penny not getting the geeky references.
** And in an episode, Penny sees failure while asking some regular pop culture questions to Sheldon and Leonard ("Singer who sang 'Oops!... I Did It Again'?"). Best summed up by:
{{quote|'''Penny:''' [[Looney Tunes|Tweety Bird]] tawt he taw a what?
'''Sheldon:''' [[Star Trek|Romulan]]? }}
** Sheldon will often not get references of popular subjects he deems to be beneath him.
Line 128 ⟶ 124:
* In the ''[[Doctor Who]]'' episode "The Empty Child", Rose jokingly refers to the Doctor as "Mr. Spock". Jack, who's from the future, doesn't get the reference and assumes it's actually the Doctor's name.
* Happens a lot in ''[[Star Trek]]'' due to the various alien races interacting with a mostly human main cast. The largest examples are Data's various failures in ''[[Star Trek: The Next Generation|Star Trek the Next Generation]]'' and Kira being frustrated several times by Sisko's references to baseball and never having heard of Captain Kirk in ''[[Star Trek: Deep Space Nine|Star Trek Deep Space Nine]]''.
* ''[[Stargate SG-1]]''
** In the episode "Bad Guys", Cameron compares someone to John McClane. Daniel doesn't understand. Teal'c, who is not even from Earth, explains, ''[[Die Hard]]''.
** Vala also regularly complains about her teammates using Tau'ri pop culture references, which she never get.
* In one episode of ''[[How I Met Your Mother]]'', Robin mentioned several
{{quote|'''Barney:''' What's the ''opposite'' of name dropping?}}
* In the ''[[Seinfeld]]'' episode "The Stranded" Elaine quotes the line "Maybe the dingo ate your baby?" from ''A Cry in the Dark''. The woman she's saying it to doesn't get the reference.
=== Music ===▼
▲== Music ==
* In the [[Weezer]] song "El Scorcho", the singer sees this as another attractive trait of the girl he's wooing: "I asked you to go to the [[Green Day]] concert. You said you'd never heard of them. ''How cool is that?''"
* Asking "[[The Who|Who]] sang [[Refrain From Assuming|Teenage Wasteland]]?" can lead to a [[Who's on First?]] scenario.
▲== Pro Wrestling ==
* [[Vince McMahon]] apparently doesn't watch TV very often. He didn't understand that [[Scott Hall]]'s Razor Ramon gimmick was a homage to ''[[Scarface]]'' and thought he made it up himself. He also didn't understand that Paul Birchill's pirate gimmick was a homage to ''[[Pirates of the Caribbean]]''.
* ''[[Mongrels]]'': In episode 3, cat Marion's [[Jail Bait]] girlfriend Lollipop fails to understand references to ''[[Romeo and Juliet]]'', [[Friends|Ross and Rachel]], and ''[[Gavin and Stacey]]'' because she is just that young, making it a
===
▲* ''[[Mongrels]]'': In episode 3, cat Marion's [[Jail Bait]] girlfriend Lollipop fails to understand references to ''[[Romeo and Juliet]]'', [[Friends|Ross and Rachel]], and ''[[Gavin and Stacey]]'' because she is just that young, making it a type 1D.
* In ''[[Final Fantasy XIII]]'', Vanille doesn't know who the Primarch of Cocoon is. Sazh has to explain, after wondering aloud if she fell asleep during History or something.
=== Web Comics ===▼
* ''[[PvP (webcomic)|
== Web Original ==▼
* [[TV Tropes]]: This is the reason that many tropes named after characters got [[Renamed Tropes|renamed]] (for example, [[Encyclopedia Brown|Bugs Meany Is Gonna Walk]] to [[Conviction by Contradiction]].)▼
▲== Web Comics ==
▲* ''[[PvP (webcomic)|Pv P]]'': [[http://www.pvponline.com/2001/10/18/ This strip. [[wikipedia:867-5309/Jenny|Explanation]], in case you don't get it either.
* [http://www.gunnerkrigg.com/archive_page.php?comicID=236 This page] of ''[[Gunnerkrigg Court]]'', where it indicates that Annie barely knows anything about pop culture because (as we learn elsewhere) she grew up in a hospital.
{{quote|'''Kat:''' Welllll, he's not ''perfect!'' I mean, he thinks [[The Prodigy]]'s ''Fat of the Land'' is better than ''Music for the Jilted Generation''.
''(Antimony thinks about this for [[Beat Panel|a panel]])''
'''Antimony:''' I have no idea what you just said. }}
* The comic ''[[El Goonish Shive]]'' had this happen with Grace when confronted with a Santa look-alike. Of course, this is someone who was [[Raised by Wolves|cut off enough from society]] to ask the question "World War Two?! How many have we had!?"
Line 166 ⟶ 154:
"I... What?" }}
▲=== Web Original ===
▲* [[TV Tropes]] and [[All The Tropes]]: This is the reason that many tropes named after characters got [[Renamed Tropes|renamed]] (for example, [[Encyclopedia Brown|Bugs Meany Is Gonna Walk]] to [[Conviction by Contradiction]].)
** Also seen in any trope that doesn't explain the reference. (For example, [https://allthetropes.org/w/index.php?title=Remember_the_Alamo!&direction=prev&oldid=2005066 this version] of [[Remember the Alamo!]], which doesn't even try to explain what the Alamo is and why it should be remembered.)
=== Western Animation ===
* Much of the humor in ''[[Xiaolin Showdown]]'' is derived from the fact that Omi [[Raised by Wolves|has lived his entire life in the Xiaolin temple with virtually no exposure to the outside world]], meaning that he usually has no clue what the other characters in the show are talking about.
** Later in the series, Omi will frequently attempt to make a pop culture reference or use a common figure of speech but badly misword it, prompting another character to correct him, only for Omi to misinterpret the actual reference.
Line 175 ⟶ 166:
** In one instance, Omi miswords one of his attempted references so badly that none of the other characters can figure out what he was actually trying to say.
* Brian of ''[[Family Guy]]'' at one point takes Frank Sinatra, Jr. out club hopping, where his attempts to flirt with one vapid young woman fall completely flat because she doesn't recognize any of the names Sinatra keeps dropping. Brian has to stop an increasingly frustrated Sinatra from backhanding the girl.
* ''[[American Dad]]'': This probably keeps Stan and Steve from bonding well. Notably, during a father-son road trip when Stan needed to complete restoring his DeLorean, but have never heard of ''[[Back to the Future (film)|Back to The Future]]'' which Steve always reference.
* In ''[[The Simpsons (animation)|The Simpsons]]'' 2011 episode; when Cheech and Chong are making a reunion
{{quote|'''Bart:''' Who the hell are Cheech and Chong?
'''Homer:''' Cheech and Chong were the [[Beavis and Butthead
'''Bart:''' Who are Beavis and
* In [[Bob's Burgers]] episode "Nightmare on Ocean Adventure" Linda asked Louise what she was for halloween. Louise answered "dragon with a girl tattoo." Linda: "Ooh you [[The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo|flipped the script]]!" Louise: "What do you mean?"
** In another Halloween Episode, Linda thinks Louise's costume is [[Wolverine]]; actually, she is [[Edward Scissorhands]].
* [[Truth in Television]]: A teacher didn't think a kids choir needed to have the lyrics or music to the song "One Tin Soldier" since those kids should have [[Seen It a Million Times|heard it a million times]] and learned it through [[
▲== Real Life ==
▲* [[Truth in Television]]: A teacher didn't think a kids choir needed to have the lyrics or music to the song "One Tin Soldier" since those kids should have [[Seen It a Million Times|heard it a million times]] and learned it through [[Popcultural Osmosis]]. They hadn't, resulting in a very awkward moment on performance day.
* As described on our very own page for ''[[Gargoyles]]'', in the entry for [[Belligerent Sexual Tension]]: "When describing Brooklyn and Katana's relationship in "Timedancer", [creator] [[Greg Weisman]] mentioned [[Cheers|Sam and Diane]]. No-one got it. Then he mentioned [[Much Ado About Nothing|Beatrice and Benedick]]. ''That one'' people got, which should tell you a lot about the kind of fans this show has."
* On [[This Very Wiki]], the page for [[Washington DC]] is illustrated with a montage of photos of... a bunch of statues and buildings. As of August 2019, no names for any of that stuff are given for those of us who don't live in the USA.
== "X was in Y, right?" ==
* From ''[[Armageddon]]'':
{{quote|'''A.J.:''' Have you ever heard of Evel Knievel?
Line 196 ⟶ 188:
* In ''[[Waxwork (film)|Waxwork]]'', one of the young people asks if the Phantom of the Opera figure's mask is the original from the movie, and the owner is surprised that someone made a movie about the Phantom. It's implied that the owner is not merely pop-culture clueless, but that he knows the Phantom ''actually existed'' in the movie's Verse and is amazed Hollywood would resort to filming his tale.
=== Music ===▼
▲== Music ==
* Fountains of Wayne's "I'll Do the Driving" includes an example, although the subject of the song makes the mangled reference without any prompting:
{{quote|''We're out, the jukebox plays "Jumping Jack Flash"
''She says "I love Johnny Cash, the man in red"
''I turn my head and pretend not to hear what she said'' }}
=== Western Animation ===▼
▲== Western Animation ==
* ''[[South Park]]: Bigger, Longer, and Uncut'':
{{quote|'''Chef:''' Have you ever heard of the Emancipation Proclamation?
'''General:''' I don't listen to hip-hop. }}
== "Wait, Y was based on a real X?" ==
(previously called "Type 3")
=== Advertising ===
* KFC's "Colonel" mascot character is based (loosely, in the 21st century) on [[w:Colonel Sanders|Colonel Harland Sanders]], the man who founded the Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurant chain. Back when KFC was called Kentucky Fried Chicken, Colonel Sanders' portrait was printed on the buckets.
▲== Music ==
* ''[[Also Sprach Zarathustra]]'' is
** a book by Nietzsche;
** a
*** the movie ''[[2001: A Space Odyssey]]'' and
*** [[Professional Wrestling|Professional wrestler]] [[Ric Flair]] as his [[Leitmotif]],
** and a JRPG (''[[Xenosaga]] 3: [[Gratuitous German|Also Sprach Zarathustra]]''),
:pretty much in that order.
* Likewise, "Ride of the Valkyries" is
** Or more recently, 4) [[Bryan Danielson|Daniel Bryan's]] [[WWE]] theme music. Of course, like many examples from Type 2, [[The Miz]] thought it was from ''[[Star Wars]]''.▼
** the beginning of Act III of Wagner's ''Die Walküre'';
** [[What's Opera, Doc?|"Kill the Wabbit! Kill the Wabbit!"]];
** the piece played during the air cavalry attack in the movie ''[[Apocalypse Now]]''; and
** [[Bryan Danielson|Daniel Bryan's]] [[World Wrestling Entertainment|WWE]] theme music.
▲**
* Basically the reason [[Covered Up]] and [[Sampled Up]] exist (just see the opening quote for the former entry).
=== Web Original ===▼
* In [[Atop the Fourth Wall|Linkara]] and [[The Spoony Experiment|Spoony's]] crossover review of "Warrior #1", Spoony mocks the Ultimate Warrior's disjointed speech patterns by quoting [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=68mbFvenlaQ Col. Campbell's infamous line] from ''[[Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty]]'' near verbatim (only adding a "Hoak Hogan" to keep with the theme). Months afterward, TGWTG fans who apparently never played MGS2 would often spout "I need scissors! 61!" when talking about the Ultimate Warrior, as if believing the line only came from that review.▼
== "You know X... oh, you don't" ==
▲== Web Original ==
(previously called "Type 4")
▲* In [[Atop the Fourth Wall|Linkara]] and [[The Spoony Experiment|Spoony's]] crossover review of "Warrior #1", Spoony mocks the Ultimate Warrior's disjointed speech patterns by quoting [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=68mbFvenlaQ Col. Campbell's infamous line] from ''[[Metal Gear Solid 2 Sons of Liberty]]'' near verbatim (only adding a "Hoak Hogan" to keep with the theme). Months afterward, TGWTG fans who apparently never played MGS2 would often spout "I need scissors! 61!" when talking about the Ultimate Warrior, as if believing the line only came from that review.
=== Comic Books ===▼
* An example from [[Older Than They Think]] fits here, as a clash of [[
▲==== Type 4 ====
▲== Comic Books ==
▲* An example from [[Older Than They Think]] fits here, as a clash of [[Popcultural Osmosis]]: An in-universe example has [[Superboy]] saying to [[Superman]] "Second star to the right and straight on till morning." When Superman says "''[[Peter Pan]]''. How appropriate." Superboy replies "What are you talking about? [[Star Trek|Captain Kirk]] said that," in reference to Kirk's closing line at the end of [[Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country|the 6th movie]] where he was clearly quoting ''Peter Pan.
* In a ''[[Robin]]'' annual, Huntress tells Robin it was a clever idea of his to wear mirrors under their ponchos (to blind their enemies in a gunfight). He says he got the idea from an old movie. She says "''[[A Fistful of Dollars]]'', huh?" and he replies "No. ''[[Back to the Future (film)|Back to The Future]] III''.
* In ''[[Fanhunter]]'', it goes something like this:
Line 237 ⟶ 232:
'''Other guy:''' The classic song by [[Frank Sinatra]]?
'''John Konstantin:''' No, the ending of ''[[Evangelion]]''. }}
:: The trope is actually used twice here, since the song was written by Bart Howard, first recorded by Kaye Ballard in 1954 and [[Covered Up|only recorded by Frank Sinatra 10 years later]].
* In one issue of ''[[The Sandman]]'', Matthew the Raven [[The Raven (poem)|perches on a bust and says "Nevermore!"]], then says he got it from the [[Roger Corman]] movie.
* An ''[[Arthur, King of Time and Space]]'' strip starts with Arthur's [[Show Within a Show|journal/Life Embellished webcomic]], with several of the characters playing cards. Gawaine says "He who steals these cards steals trash", Pellinore replied "[[Author Catchphrase|You can't beat the classics]]", and Gawaine asks if he's a ''[[M*A*S*H (television)|
==
=== Web Original ===
▲* An ''[[Arthur, King of Time and Space]]'' strip starts with Arthur's [[Show Within a Show|journal/Life Embellished webcomic]], with several of the characters playing cards. Gawaine says "He who steals these cards steals trash", Pellinore replied "[[Author Catchphrase|You can't beat the classics]]", and Gawaine asks if he's a ''[[M*A*S*H|Mash]]'' fan too. Cut to the real-world Gawaine saying "I don't get it", because Arthur's portrayal of him as not knowing the line is a paraphrase of ''[[Othello]]'' is completely accurate.
* The [http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/musically-oblivious-8th-grader Musically Oblivious 8th Grader] [[Memetic Mutation|meme]] uses various types.▼
=== Real Life ===
* Pop Cultural Osmosis Failure marches on: the question "[[Paul McCartney]] was in [[The Beatles (band)|a band]] before [[Wings (band)|Wings]]?" has been replaced almost everywhere with "Paul McCartney was in a band?" ... except where it's been re-replaced with "Who's Paul McCartney?" Any of these are often heard as jokes, and occasionally heard as serious questions.
▲==== Various ====
▲== Web Original ==
▲* The [http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/musically-oblivious-8th-grader Musically Oblivious 8th Grader] [[Memetic Mutation|meme]] uses various types.
{{reflist}}
[[Category:
[[Category:
[[Category:Meta Concepts]]
| |||