Automoderated users, Autopatrolled users, Bureaucrats, Comment administrators, Confirmed users, Moderators, Rollbackers, Administrators
213,963
edits
Short-Lived, Big Impact: Difference between revisions
→Literature
Derivative (talk | contribs) m (removed Category:Short-Lived Big Impact; added Category:Short-Lived, Big Impact using HotCat) |
|||
| (9 intermediate revisions by 5 users not shown) | |||
Line 1:
{{trope}}
[[File:
{{quote|It is a sobering thought that when Mozart was my age, he had been dead for two years.|[[Tom Lehrer]]}}
Line 8:
Sometimes a show, performer or franchise, for some reason or another, doesn't last too long. Perhaps [[Executive Meddling]] reared its ugly head, perhaps it was [[Too Good to Last]], perhaps [[Author Existence Failure]] was involved, or maybe it was simply ahead of its time. However, a few years down the road, the genre that it belonged to explodes in popularity, and when you interview the creative minds behind the genre, they ''always'' put that particular work front and center as their biggest influence. Quite simply, it was '''Short-Lived, Big Impact'''.
This trope is about something having left a noticeable impact on its genre, even though the work/artist was cut short. Short works that were great but have not influenced their genre a lot yet (
In serial media (comic books, anime, western cartoons, etc.), this trope can manifest as a work that was cut short or simply not meant to be a [[Long Runner]], but the impact it left on the genre is still felt.
Line 26:
== [[Film]] ==
* [[James Dean]] starred in only three Hollywood films and died in a tragic car crash shortly after finishing the third one, but his performances in ''[[East of Eden]]'' and ''[[Rebel Without a Cause]]'' (especially the latter) pretty much defined the "[[Troubled but Cute|misunderstood bad-boy teen]]" image of the era.
* [[Bruce Lee]] didn't star in very many films, and died at the age of 33, but he is widely credited with introducing martial
* [[Eddie and the Cruisers]] is an in-
* Filipino comedian [[Rene Requiestas]] was one of the country's top-grossing comedy acts owing to his gaunt, nearly-toothless appearance. Rene was often cast as sidekicks or as [[comic relief]] in various comedy-dramas alongside prominent actors of the 80s and 90s, though he has also played major roles especially in the unauthorised ''[[Batman]]'' musical pastiche ''[[Alyas Batman en Robin]]'' where he appeared as Joker. Apparently his career was just too good to last, succumbing from tuberculosis at the age of 36, though he is still well-remembered as a comedy legend alongside the likes of [[Dolphy]]. Such was his legacy that an independent filmmaker hired a Requiestas impersonator named Gilbert Orcine (who previously joined a lookalike contest in ''[[It's Showtime!]]'') in a parody trailer of the 2019 film ''[[Joker]]'' entitled ''Alyas Joker'', in reference to Requiestas' role as Joker in ''Alyas Batman''.<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BJiZvH3Fa-4 ALYAS JOKER (Joker Parody)]</ref>
== [[Literature]] ==
* [[Older Than Print]]: ''[[The Canterbury Tales]]'' was never even finished. It is still considered one of the most influential books of the English language despite the fact it was written in Middle English.
* [[John Keats]] was only 25 when he died, with only three books of his work published, but is considered one of the Great Romantic Poets.
* Stieg Larsson, author of [[The Millennium Trilogy|the ''Millennium'' Trilogy]] (of which ''[[The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo]]'' was the first book), died under mysterious circumstances before finishing what was supposed to be a five-book series. The series became a phenomenon, and many a modern author is already showing influence from his books, especially amongst the Nordic countries.
* The Brontë sisters, [[Charlotte Bronte|Charlotte]], [[Emily Brontë|Emily]] and [[Anne Bronte|Anne]] were extremely successful and influential authors, but they only wrote a total of seven books between the three of them.
* John Kennedy Toole committed suicide at 31 without publishing anything. Years after his death, ''[[A Confederacy of Dunces]]'' got published, received a Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and became a canonical work of Southern Literature. You'll still find plenty of references to it around New Orleans.
* Arthur Rimbaud is considered one of the most influential poets of the 19th century, despite giving up writing at ''19 years of age''.
== [[Live
* The [[Adam West]] ''[[Batman (TV series)|Batman]]'' series pretty much defined the Caped Crusader in the public eye for decades (and seemingly permanently in Japan), but the TV show itself only ran for two years.
* ''[[Star Trek: The Original Series]]'' originally lasted for just two seasons, being [[Uncancelled]] for a third season before dying completely. It's also a cultural icon, having an immense influence on science fiction, as well as western culture as a whole. Good luck finding someone who doesn't recognize Captain Kirk and Mister Spock, even if they were born long after the series was first aired.
* ''[[Japanese Spider-Man]]'' ran for one season (41 episodes), and subsequent sentai series seemed to require [[Humongous Mecha]].
* ''[[Twin Peaks]]'': With only two seasons and 30 episodes, it popularized the [[Quirky Town]] genre in American television, having descendants such ''[[Picket Fences]]'' and ''[[Northern Exposure]]'' that ran much longer than ''Twin Peaks'' itself. Also, the amount of surrealism, eccentric humor, and horror in it were highly exceptional for a mainstream American drama series of its era, but such elements became much more common in television in its wake in the 1990s and 2000s.
* ''[[The Greatest American Hero]]'': As lampshaded by Peter Griffin in the title quote. ''GAH'' - after only a
== [[Music]] ==
Line 49 ⟶ 50:
** [[The Rolling Stones|Brian Jones]]—founded [[The Rolling Stones]], who were the main influences of bands like ACDC, [[Aerosmith]], [[Led Zeppelin]], etc, who pioneered the [[Heavy Metal]] genre.
** [[Jimi Hendrix]]—one of the most influential guitarists of all time; the "burn the strings" guitar solo was invented by him, and just about every hard rocker since has imitated it.
** [[Janis Joplin]]—a key player in women coming onto the rock scene; everyone from [[Paramore]] to [[
** [[The Doors|Jim Morrison]]—in addition to being the lead singer of [[The Doors]], he is widely regarded has having perfected the modern "rock star" image.
** [[Nirvana|Kurt Cobain]]—the lead singer of [[Nirvana]], he helped define the image of rock the late 80's and early 90's, and set the stage for the rock scene in the next decade.
Line 59 ⟶ 60:
* [[Tupac Shakur|2Pac]] and [[The Notorious B.I.G.]] both died at 25, leaving a profound influence on rap in their wake.
* [[Joy Division]] only released two albums owing to the [[Author Existence Failure]] of their lead singer (who died at 23), but are the first thing everyone thinks of when they hear the term [[Post Punk]], in addition to helping lay the groundwork for what would become [[Goth Rock]]. If [[The Doors]] did not influence them, usually Joy Division did. Subverted, however, when the remaining members regrouped as [[New Order]].
* [[The Beatles (band)|The Beatles]]. 12 years together, 7 years recording professionally, little more than a dozen albums... still getting airplay a half-century after they disbanded, still cited as influences on later performers' work.
* [[Cream]] was only together for a couple of years, but in that time, they influenced Hendrix, the development of heavy metal ([[Led Zeppelin]], [[Deep Purple]]) and jam bands like [[The Allman Brothers Band]] and [[The Grateful Dead]].
* ''[[Buddy Holly|Buddy freaking Holly.]]'' He died at 22; without him the Beatles wouldn't even be ''named'' the same. (It was a [[Shout-Out]] to Buddy Holly and the Crickets.) He was also a massive influence on [[Bob Dylan]], the Rolling Stones, and pretty much the entire early rock scene.
Line 67 ⟶ 68:
* [[Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart]] died at 35, as noted in the page quote.
* [[Tom Lehrer]]. His recording career in the '50s and '60s produced only three full albums before he grew tired of the industry and retired to a life in academia.
* [[Aaliyah]] only released 3 albums over 7 years before her untimely death at the age of 22. However, she is considered one of the redefining artists of [[R
* Brazilian comedy rock band ''"Mamonas Assassinas"'' is definitely an example. A time interval of only 6 months between their sudden rise to fame, to the tragic airplane crash that killed all members in 1996. They only had one released album, but still remain one of the most popular and influential bands in Brazil to this day.
Line 74 ⟶ 75:
== [[Western Animation]] ==
* [[UPA]] [United Productions of America] barely lasted more than a decade as a theatrical cartoon studio, during which time their [[Limited Animation|stylized approach to the medium]] profoundly changed the way cartoons looked for the next few decades ([[The Dark Age of Animation|for better or worse]]). Even today, their influence, direct or indirect, is felt in shows as diverse as ''[[Dexter's Laboratory]]'', ''[[The Powerpuff Girls]]'', ''[[Beavis and Butthead]]'', ''[[Samurai Jack]]'', ''[[Home Movies]]'', ''[[The Simpsons (animation)|The Simpsons]]'' and ''[[My Little Pony:
* ''[[The Ren and Stimpy Show]]'' at four seasons ([[Fanon Discontinuity|the last two of which are barely talked about nowadays]]) did not last so long as the two other shows in the original [[Nicktoons]] line up, ''[[Rugrats]]'' and ''[[Doug]]'', which continued in some form or another for the better part of a decade. And yet, ''R&S'' is among the most influential cartoon shows of the last twenty years, spawning dozens of imitators and being the [[Trope Maker]] for the [[Gross-Out Show]] genre.
* ''[[Mighty Mouse the New Adventures]]'' managed just 19 episodes before it was shut down in a controversy fueled by [[Moral Guardians]]. However, the series was highly influential on later animated series, and those series' snarky, zany, pop-culture obsessed tone. Additionally, it was one of the first examples of "creator-run animation" on American television - animation that had the [[Creator Thumbprint]] of a specific artist (in this case [[Ralph Bakshi]]) or team of animators.
Line 85 ⟶ 86:
[[Category:Trivia Trope]]
[[Category:Older Than Print]]
[[Category:Shout-Outs Index]]
[[Category:{{PAGENAME}}]]
| |||