Friday, March 06, 2009

Hellions: I Need a Word!

So my kids are in the other room watching TV, and suddenly, they're laughing and mockingly singing the themes to "Charles In Charge", then "The Facts of Life."

But here's the thing: these kids, I know, have never seen either of these lame sitcoms. Their entire knowledge comes from these shows being satirized by other shows, such as Scrubs, in which a character sang in a barbershop quartet that performed only old TV themes.

Likewise, when my son and I watched Casablanca the other night, he noted that, even though he'd never seen it before, he knew all the good lines, becuase they'd been referenced so many times. I've never seen Titanic all the way through, but I know it through stuff like this:




So, I need the collective wisdom of my Hellions here: what do you call the phenomenon where someone knows a movie, TV show or what have you, not through actually seeing it, but through seeing it referenced?

18 comments:

Pat Kight said...

Viral culture?

Jon The Crime Spree Guy said...

Its called cinematic satirical transference, can only be cured by viewing original film or show.

I got a wall full of cure baby.

Dr. Jon

Carolyn Burns Bass said...

I shall refer this to my son who is brilliant at such things.

BTW, how far is Carthage from Fayetteville or Apex?

JD Rhoades said...

Carolyn: About 45 minutes from either one.

Anonymous said...

"Contact reference" by way of "contact high"?

Anonymous said...

I've always called this "familiarity by osmosis".

Gerard Saylor said...

Children? You have children?

JD Rhoades said...

Two.

Kristy Kiernan said...

I've been trying to come up with something brilliant all day. Oddly enough, it's not happening.

Nathan, darling, I know you're out there...

Kristy Kiernan said...

PS: May I just tell you once again how I adore thee?

My Woman card card was officially revoked when I professed to loathing Titanic. Seriously. I actually LOST FRIENDS. I am, apparently, Cold-Hearted and Un-Feeling and there is Something Wrong With Me.

JD Rhoades said...

Hah! Nothing wrong with you, K. That movie blows.

Knives, Fire & Fun said...

Satirical Reference Syndrome, or SRS for short.

I liked Titanic when I watched it, but I never need to see it again.

Anonymous said...

My vote is Retro Cachet.

Anonymous said...

That movie didn't blow entirely. Remember the part where one of the guys holding onto the stern falls loose and goes bonging off the propeller? That was good.

And the part where DiCaprio's character finally died? That was good too.

JD Rhoades said...

Gerard: well, there is that.

LongHairedWeirdo said...

Kristy:

Isn't being cold hearted about the Titanic a compliment, though?

One of the main themes of the movie was how horribly cold the water is. Clearly, you took the theme of the movie to heart... right?

Okay, I'll shut up now....

(And isn't Friends another cultura... okay, okay, I'm *really* shutting up now.)

JD Rhoades said...

No, no, do go on...

Corey Wilde said...

Virtual memory?

JD, you seriously understate the case when you say 'Titanic ' blows. Until I saw that film I didn't know it was possible to vomit more popcorn than I had eaten.