Pop culture fiction
From Infogalactic: the planetary knowledge core
Pop culture fiction is a genre of fiction where stories are written intentionally to be filled with references from other works and media.[1][2][3] Stories in this genre are focused solely on using popular culture references.
Criteria
Some works in the genre use pop culture references to elicit nostalgia among its consumers, while other examples have the whole setting and universe themselves built upon and revolves around pop cultural references.[1][4][5][6]
Many types of modern-day homage, metafiction, satires and parodies fall under this category.[1] Many stories inspired by games and geek culture have also been examples.[7] According to author Gary Westfahl, works under this genre demand an "aura of immaturity, of incompleteness, while projecting no pretenses."[8]
This genre should not be confused with Pop culture non-fiction, which are researches, encyclopedias, and other academic works focused on the study and analysis of pop culture, rather than stories centered around pop culture references.[9][10]
Examples
Notable pop culture fiction books
- Bret Easton Ellis's American Psycho (both the book and film) became one of the earliest examples of this genre with its endless use of brands and criticism on business and mindless consumerism.[2]
- Ernest Cline's Ready Player One (both book and film) which extensively use 1980s pop culture as its themes.[1][4][5][11]
- Louis Bulaong's Escapist Dream and its sequel Otaku Girl, are novels that genre-busts popular geek culture and topics into one virtual reality story.[1][12]
- Chris Fox's The Dark Lord Bert is a Dungeons & Dragons-inspired gamelit filled with pop culture references.[7]
List of pop culture fiction authors
- Bret Easton Ellis
- Ernest Cline
- Louis Bulaong
- Chris Fox
Notable pop culture fiction films
- Jean-Luc Godard's Band of Outsiders (1964) was influenced by Golden Age B-movie film noirs and Westerns[11]
- Blazing Saddles (1974)[13]
- Phantom of the Paradise (1974)[11]
- Young Frankenstein (1974)[14]
- Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975) satirizing epic cinema[15]
- Life of Brian (1979) satirized Biblical epic cinema[16]
- Airplane! (1980)[13]
- Spaceballs (1987)[17]
- Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988)[18]
- Army of Darkness (1992)[11]
- True Romance (1993)[13]
- Clerks (1994)[19]
- Pulp Fiction (1994), the critically beloved Cannes-winning multi-genre film that drew numerous aspects of popular culture.[20][11]
- Scream (1996)[13]
- Swingers (1996)[13][21]
- Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai (1999), the hip-hop gangster film infusing Japanese warrior culture with influences of filmmakers Jean-Pierre Melville and Seijun Suzuki.[13]
- Galaxy Quest (1999)
- Scary Movie series (2000-2013)[13]
- The Three Flavours Cornetto trilogy (2004-2013)[11]
- The Editor (2014)[13]
- Guardians of the Galaxy (2014)[13]
- The aforementioned American Psycho (2000) and Ready Player One (2018)
- Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018)
- Space Jam: A New Legacy (2021)
- Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers (2022)
- Animated franchises, such as Wreck-It Ralph, Hotel Transylvania, Shrek, The Lego Movie and Toy Story[13]
List of pop culture fiction filmmakers
List of pop culture fiction in comic format
- Scott Pilgrim which used various 1980s gaming references.[1]
- Warren Ellis's Planetary.[1]
- Outside of Western media, works such as Hayate The Combat Butler and Gin Tama have also become famous examples.[1]
List of pop culture fiction in television
- Robot Chicken, a sketch-comedy series that parodies popular culture, particularly Star Wars, DC Comics, and 1980s Saturday morning cartoons.
- Saturday Morning All Star Hits!
- WandaVision
See also
- Pop art
- Postmodernist literature
- Parody film
- Satire (film and television)
- Retro style
- Vaporwave
- Synthwave
- History of animation
- Cinephilia
- Mystery Science Theater 3000-Cult TV series that rely on well-known and/or obscure pop culture references as humor
External links
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 Kidd, Dustin. Pop Culture Freaks: Identity, Mass Media, and Society. Routledge; 2nd Edition (Updated: August 2020). pp. 143–145. ISBN 978-0813350875. Excerpt
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. January 19, 2016
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. May 5, 2015
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Alexander, Jonathan. The Uses and Abuses of Pop Culture in Ready Player One and Grandmother's Gold (July 7, 2020)
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. April 3, 2018
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. March 24, 2017
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. July 8, 2021
- ↑ Westfahl, Gary. Science Fiction, Children's Literature, and Popular Culture: Coming of Age in Fantasyland. Praeger; 1st Edition (April 30, 2000). pp. xi–xii. ISBN 978-0313308475
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. February 10, 2019
- ↑ What is “Pop Culture Narrative Nonfiction”?
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 11.3 11.4 11.5 11.6 The 10 Best Movies That Are Full of Pop Culture References - Page 2 - Taste of Cinema
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. July 1, 2021
- ↑ 13.00 13.01 13.02 13.03 13.04 13.05 13.06 13.07 13.08 13.09 13.10 The 10 Best Movies That Are Full of Pop Culture References - Taste of Cinema
- ↑ 10 Mel Brooks Jokes Modern Audiences Wouldn't Understand
- ↑ How 'Monty Python and the Holy Grail' Influenced Film By Satirizing It - The Atlantic
- ↑ How 'Monty Python and the Holy Grail' Influenced Film By Satirizing It - The Atlantic
- ↑ 10 Mel Brooks Jokes Modern Audiences Wouldn't Understand
- ↑ Drawn Thatt Way: 10 Behind The Scenes Facts About Who Framed Roger Rabbit - CBR
- ↑ Clerks: 10 Ways It Established Kevin Smith's Style|ScreenRant
- ↑ Pulp Fiction at 20: How a phenomenon was born - BBC Culture
- ↑ Double Down: Jon Favreau and Vince Vaughn Take Another Swing With 'Made' - Screens - The Austin Chronicle
- ↑ 10 Mel Brooks Jokes Modern Audiences Wouldn't Understand
- ↑ Edgar Wright: "I am a film school reject. Twice!"|Features|Roger Ebert
- ↑ Clerks: 10 Ways It Established Kevin Smith's Style|ScreenRant
- ↑ Askew Facts About The Films Of Kevin Smith|Fascinate
