History Main / PopCulturalOsmosis

* The infamous "YOU ARE TEARING ME APART, LISA!" line from ''Film/TheRoom'' was actually done as an homage to ''Film/RebelWithoutACause''. Most people don't know this, and think that it originated in ''The Room''. Additionally, the comments sections of most [=YouTube=] uploads of the ''Rebel Without A Cause'' scene are flooded with references to ''The Room''.

* UsefulNotes/RichardIII is considered the patron saint of the HistoricalVillainUpgrade, thanks to a century of over-the-top Tudor propaganda and Shakespeare's deliciously villainous portrayal. Most historians still think he probably murdered his nephews, but his defenders, known as Ricardians, have been [[ByronicHero stanning]] for him since at least the early 1600s and point out that he was a brave and competent military commander who went down fighting and as king made some wise legal reforms. The fact that he was an inspiration for both Tyrion Lannister and Stannis Baratheon and the extraordinary story of the discovery of his remains hasn't hurt his popularity, but the truth of the man remains elusive.

* UsefulNotes/RichardIII is considered the patron saint of the HistoricalVillainUpgrade, thanks to a century of over-the-top Tudor propaganda and Shakespeare's deliciously villainous portrayal. Most historians still think he probably murdered his nephews, but his defenders, known as Ricardians, have been [[ByronicHero stanning]] for him since at least the early 1600s and point out that he was an extraordinary military commander and as king made some wise legal reforms. The fact that he was an inspiration for both Tyrion Lannister and Stannis Baratheon and the extraordinary story of the discovery of his remains hasn't hurt his popularity, but the truth of the man remains elusive.

* UsefulNotes/KingJohnOfEngland and UsefulNotes/RichardTheLionheart live on today more as characters in the legend of Myth/RobinHood, rather than real-life English kings. Also, Richard the Lionheart is often portrayed as a homosexual thanks to the speculative portrayal of him in ''Theatre/TheLionInWinter'' although scholars disagree on this portrayal. In fact, it is more likely that Richard and John's middle brother Geoffrey engaged in homosexual behavior, including the affair the Richard has in "Lion in Winter" with Philip II of France.
* UsefulNotes/RichardIII is considered the patron saint of the HistoricalVillainUpgrade, thanks to a century of over-the-top Tudor propaganda and Shakespeare's deliciously villainous portrayal. Most historians still think he probably murdered his nephews, but his defenders, known as Ricardians, have been [[ByronicHero stanning]] for him since at least the early 1600s and point out that he was an extraordinary military commander and as king made some wise legal reforms. The fact that he was an inspiration for both Tyrion Lannister and Stannis Baratheon and the extraordinary story of the discovery of his remains hasn't hurt his popularity.

* UsefulNotes/RichardIII is considered the patron saint of the HistoricalVillainUpgrade, thanks to a century of over-the-top Tudor propaganda and Shakespeare's deliciously villainous portrayal. Most historians still think he probably murdered his nephews, but his defenders, known as Ricardians, have been stanning for him since at least the early 1600s and that faction think of him more as a ByronicHero. The fact that he was an inspiration for both Tyrion Lannister and Stannis Baratheon and the extraordinary story of the discovery of his remains hasn't hurt his popularity.

* UsefulNotes/KingJohnOfEngland and UsefulNotes/RichardTheLionheart live on today more as characters in the legend of Myth/RobinHood, rather than real-life English kings.

* UsefulNotes/CleopatraVII[[note]]The "Cleopatra" most people are familiar with.[[/note]]: Many people imagine her as Creator/ElizabethTaylor in ''Film/{{Cleopatra}}'' (1963) which while unusually accurate to the historical record, was far more glamorous, fitting to 20th century beauty standards, since obviously no record survives of the ancient world. At the very least she was certainly not the WorldsMostBeautifulWoman as the film most definitely implies.

* The famous [[https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=LhKlCp5Sh9I Freddy's music box theme]] from ''VideoGame/{{FiveNightsAtFreddys}}'' is actually [[https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=4DNGMoMNLRY Les Toreadors]], composed by Georges Bizet.

* Utter the line "Right here, right now", and nearly anyone with associate it with Music/FatboySlim's song of that name, not the movie (''Film/StrangeDays'') [[StupidStatementDanceMix it's sampled from]].

* The animated Saturday morning show ''WesternAnimation/TheSmurfs'' used nothing but clips of classical music for mood and theme setting.

** Madagascar: [[WesternAnimation/{{Madagascar}} The animated film series]].

* Creator/JohnPhilipSousa's ''The Liberty Bell March'' is automatically associated with Series/MontyPythonsFlyingCircus. No exceptions.

* Theatre/AlsoSprachZarathustra. Ever since ''Film/TwoThousandOneASpaceOdyssey'' it's a StandardSnippet for MundaneMadeAwesome.

* Unless you're fan of the works of Creator/HermannHesse the word "Steppenwolf" will make you think of the band Music/{{Steppenwolf}} first rather than Hesse's famous novel.

* The ''Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy'' in ''Swan Lake''... or an absurdist advert for Cadbury's chocolate.
* Dvořák's ''New World'' symphony? Or an [[OopNorth North of England]]- themed advert for bread?

** Some people who hear the name Jesse James may think that you're referring to [[Anime/{{Pokemon}} Team Rocket]].

* The word ''avatar'' has become more well known among the general public thanks to ''Film/{{Avatar}}'', but most people will rather think of blue aliens ([[Franchise/AvatarTheLastAirbender or Airbenders]]) than what the concept actually means. (That is, when they aren't digitally literate enough to associate it with the little pictures people put near their online pseudonyms; the film's script explicitely played up the Internet associations of the term, even if it's only depicted on screen in a very loosest sense.)

** ''WesternAnimation/AliceInWonderland'': To the general public this is their main impression of [[Literature/AliceInWonderland the original novel]], even though Tweedlee-Dee and Tweedle-Dum appear in ''Alice Through The Looking-Glass''.

** Route 66, traveling through several western US states: The song "Route 66" as well as the ''WesternAnimation/{{Cars}}'' films.

* The characters in ''VideoGame/EternalFighterZero'' are actually lifted from ''VisualNovel/{{Air}}'', ''VisualNovel/{{Kanon}}'', ''VisualNovel/OneKagayakuKisetsuE'', and ''MOON''.

** Angelo Bronzino's painting "Venus, Cupid, Folly and Time" is fairly obscure nowadays, even in art circles, but one specific detail on the painting may ring a bell to Python fans. Cupid's foot has been used in the intro of every episode of "Monty Python's Flying Circus" and is now their official logo.

** Speaking of ''The Muppets'', many 90s kids think the Beach Boys song "Kokomo" was written for the ''It's Not Easy Being Green'' VHS or ''Muppet Beach Party''. And then there were people who thought that the music video itself was only a VHS-exclusive short on several Disney tapes and not a promotion for another video, which also happened with the Parachute Express "Doctor Looney's Remedy" music video on ''WesternAnimation/AGoofyMovie''.

* Any imitation of Count Dracula (and often of vampires in general) nowadays is a reference to Creator/BelaLugosi's portrayal of him in the 1931 classic ''[[Film/{{Dracula 1931}} Dracula]]''. Down to [[his Hungarian accent his Hungarian accent.]] Similarly any pop culture appearance of FrankensteinsMonster will be modeled after Creator/BorisKarloff's make-up in ''Film/Frankenstein1931''.

* Mike Myers' line "You put the wrong [=emPHAsis=] on the wrong [=sylLAble=]" is the one and only reason ''View From The Top'' has any kind of lasting pop cultural significance.

* The MauriceChevalierAccent is nowadays used for every French character in English-language comedy. Most people are completely unaware it all originated with Creator/MauriceChevalier's popularity in 1930s Hollywood movies. Chevalier's thick accent made him the stock Frenchman from which all other Frenchman in comedy and animation are now derived.

* [[https://youtu.be/nKH_SxODIjg The song "Here Comes Peter Cottontail"]] which is commonly played during the spring and [[EasterSpecial Easter seasons]] actually came from the lesser known Creator/RankinBass holiday special ''WesternAnimation/HereComesPeterCottontail'' which shares the name of the song that came before it. However, a number of people would think and even believe that the song is actually about Peter Rabbit from ''Literature/TheTaleOfPeterRabbit'' which doesn't help that Peter Rabbit also has a [[NamesTheSame sister named Cottontail]]. As a result some Americans would think that "Peter Cottontail" was [[IAmNotShazam Peter Rabbit's full name]] and the title of the book.

** Humorously, it's not the first ''Zelda'' game that uses a ocarina either. Both ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaALinkToThePast'' and ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaLinksAwakening'' featured the instrument (and even ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaI the first game]]'' had a recorder which served [[WarpWhistle a similar gameplay purpose]]), though it was not as central to the plot.

* A majority of comments on the theme music to ''Series/TheMatchGameHollywoodSquaresHour'' will talk about winning a car. Since that series [[ShortRunners only ran for a few months]], ''Series/ThePriceIsRight'' used a few of the music cues from the show, including the theme being used in the 90's for the car plug, so more people remember the song from its' tenure on ''The Price Is Right'' than the actual show it came from.

* Many porn actors like Ron Jeremy, John Holmes, Traci Lords, Linda Lovelace, La Cicciolina, Lolo Ferrari,... are better known as punch lines in film and TV comedies, stand-up monologues and/or comedic blogs than the number of people who actually ''saw'' one of their movies. Some of them have even moved beyond the porn, consider it an OldShame, and get tired of people bringing it up as if they're still involved with that scene.

* Literature/TheSatanicVerses: Most people know more about the blasphemy controversy around this novel than that they've actually read it. Including many Muslim fundamentalists who want Creator/SalmanRushdie dead.

* Similar to the "Pistons Intro Song" above, The Alan Parsons Project's instrumental tune "Sirius" (aka the song right before "Eye in the Sky") is far more familiar as the intro song for the Chicago Bulls during the Jordan era.
* Utter the line "Right here, right now", and nearly anyone with associate it with Fat Boy Slim's song of that name, not the movie (''Film/StrangeDays'') [[StupidStatementDanceMix it's sampled from]].

* Fall Out Boy is more remembered as a pop rock band than the sidekick of Radioactive Man from WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons, which was the source for their name.

** How many people would recognize both songs as deriving from "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1TLFnokO1Oo Pastime Paradise]], an album track from the double-length Music/StevieWonder album, ''Music/SongsInTheKeyOfLife''?!

* Many people who have heard The Turtles' hit ''Happy Together'' will inevitably think back to the day [[VideoGame/SuperSmashBros64 something went wrong in the happy-go-lucky world of Nintendo.]]

* "Mmm...whatcha say" has become the Internet theme song for character deaths because of its infamously {{narm}}y use in ''Series/TheOC'' and ''Series/SaturdayNightLive'''s "Dear Sister" parody of the scene. It's a snippet of Music/ImogenHeap's ''Hide and Seek'' that has surpassed its original title, to the point that Music/JasonDerulo sampled it in a song called ''Whatcha Say.''

* Any imitation of Count Dracula (and often of vampires in general) nowadays is a reference to Creator/BelaLugosi's portrayal of him in the 1931 classic ''[[Film/{{Dracula 1931}} Dracula]]''. Down to his Hungarian accent. Similarly any pop culture appearance of Frankenstein's Monster will be modeled after Creator/BorisKarloff's make-up.

* "Badges? We don't need no stinking badges!" Despite being quoted ([[BeamMeUpScotty albeit, incorrectly]]) and parodied in pop culture for decades, most people have no idea this line is a reference to the Creator/HumphreyBogart film ''The Treasure of the Sierra Madre'', often attributing its origins to ''Film/BlazingSaddles'' instead. However, without the understanding that the line in the latter film is intended to be a parody of the former, the joke itself does not make sense. (The actual, original quote from the film goes, "Badges? We ain't got no badges. We don't need no badges! I don't have to show you any stinkin' badges!")

* Most people who live outside of the United States tend to believe that ''Creator/ChuckECheese'' is a fictional stand-in restaurant in media, due to how frequently it's been mentioned by works produced in the United States. Some of these people will be surprised when told that the restauraunt in question actually exists.