issue #54: Do my references alienate you?
Reader.
Do you have someone in your life who often responds to normal conversation topics with arcane movie quotes?
Are YOU that someone?
I am. I’m that someone.
I may have the memory of a perimenopausal slice of Swiss cheese who smoked too many joints in her twenties… but I never forget a great line of dialogue.
Every year, my friends and I gather in a festive backyard to watch National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, projected onto the side of the house. We used to do this indoors, but Covid showed us the error of our ways.
✔️ decorations: Griswold level.
✔️ campfire: roaring.
✔️ ️ shout-singing along to the opening credits: loud.
✔️ favorite lines: obscure.
✔️ neighbor’s dog: barking.
It’s like our own little Rocky Horror Picture Show. There are things.
I’ve been known to quote this movie all year long. This summer, when the toilet at our beach house overflowed, my niece and nephew could not wait to tell us: the shitter was indeed full.
I once had a copywriting client—my first ever, in fact—who told me that movie quotes were alienating because not everyone has seen those movies. But that guy was an ex-Mormon whose cultural awareness was like, sub-zero, and his sense of humor was nonexistent, so... I'm pretty sure he was wrong.
The line he was challenging?
Say hello to my little friend. 🤦🏻♀️
To me, that's one of those things that just lives in the zeitgeist. It's repeated commonly enough that it works in most writing, even if the reader doesn't know where it comes from. (Scarface, starring Al Pacino.)
This is something I wrestle with quite a bit in my writing. There are SO many times that a movie quote will pop into my head, and it’s the perfect fucking punchline for whatever I’m talking about…
But if you don’t get the reference, it doesn’t work. And “alienated” is exactly how you don’t want your reader to feel. Ever.
As someone who consumed vast amounts of analog content before there were viral memes and 60-second clips of Amy Poehler’s podcast, I sometimes have a hard time distinguishing between a pop culture reference that “everyone” will get, vs. one that’s just my own lore.
So… let’s play a game. I’ll list a handful of my favorite movie quotes below. You copy and paste them into a reply, and see if you can identify the movie.
DON’T feel alienated. This is research. 🤓
- He is a boil on the butt of humanity!
- Put…ze candle… back!
- PO-TA-TOES?? Boil ‘em, mash ‘em, stick ‘em in a stew…
- And why is the carpet all wet, Todd? —I don’t know, Margo.
- You think he’s gone?? He’s not gone! That’s the whole point! He’s NEVER GONE!*
- You never say thank you! —That’s what the MONEY’S FOR!!!
- Look kids! Big Ben, Parliament
- 🎶waaater sucks. it really really sucks! 🎶
- How come every tiiiime I come in the kitchen… you in the kitchen?*
- MERRY CHRISTMAS MOVIE HOuUsE!
*I say both of these to my cat Henry almost every single day.
In your reply, please consider sharing some of YOUR favorite quotes, and I’ll see if I get them. Fun times!
See you next week,
Answer key:
- Steel Magnolias
- Young Frankenstein
- Lord of The Rings: The Two Towers
- National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation
- What About Bob?
- trick question, this is actually from Mad Men
- National Lampoon’s European Vacation, which I’ve never actually even seen lol
- The Waterboy
- Friday
- It’s A Wonderful Life