History Main / SpellingBee

* ''WebVideo/TheMisfortuneOfBeingNed'' has one of these. Which ends with Ned being repeatedly stung by a bee.

Spelling bees are SeriousBusiness in Hollywood, which will usually give them more coverage than school athletics. The rules are also generally not the same as RealLife spelling bee rules. (Yes, [[AluminumChristmasTrees spelling bees happen regularly in reality]], although they're generally more mundane and low-profile than fictional versions.) Similarly, while real life spelling bees do tend to use PlayerElimination, fictional portrayals are far more likely to come down to a tight final two, whereas in real spelling bees, it's feasible for the last handful of losers to drop in the same round.

-->'''Murderface:''' Technicality. P-I-S-S. [[SoundEffectBeep (riff)]] you.

* An ad for [[Ride/DisneyThemeParks Walt Disney World]]'s ''100 Years of Magic'' celebration starts with a kid asked to spell "microphone". The kids starts spelling "M-I-C...", then an someone chimes in with "K-E-Y", and the whole auditorium erupts into [[Series/TheMickeyMouseClub the famous theme song]].

* ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'' nods to the trope with the episode "Hooked on Monkey Fonics", although the spelling bee does not end up being the primary focus of the episode; the spelling bee is merely an excuse to introduce two homeschooled siblings to the cast (one of whom is, in fact, a pastiche of an ''actual'' national spelling bee winner). The main plot of the episode deals with the brother's attempts to fit in at school, and Kyle having a crush on the sister. Cartman's mother bought the titular Monkey Fonics to help her son train for the spelling bee. He gets thrown out on the first round after being unable to spell "chair" -- with the monkey engaging in ADateWithRosiePalms rather than assisting him with the word.

* ''ComicBook/{{Buzz}}'' takes spelling bees to unusually epic levels with a world where spelling causes the words to appear in physical form to be used to beat up opponents. Society seems centered around literature and spelling, smuggling spelling lists is a crime that warrants being exiled from the country, at least one cult is mentioned as worshiping the Scrabble board, back-alley spelling bees are treated like back-alley brawls, and a mysterious group called the "Spelluminati" secretly controls all sanctioned spelling bees. The artwork was done by [[WebComic/HannaIsNotABoysName Tess Stone]], so the illustrations of weaponized words is pretty damned awesome.

* ''Series/WizardsOfWaverlyPlace'': In "Marathoner Harper", Alex makes up it to Harper for having used magic on her to make her unfairly win many contests in the past by recreating those contests. One of these constests was the fourth grade spelling bee.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/PinkyElmyraAndTheBrain'' episode, "Gee, Your Hair Spells Teriffic", The Brain plans to [[Franchise/JurassicPark clone dinosaurs from fossilized amber mosquitos.]] To get the money to do so, he has to get Elmyra to win a spelling bee, and given Elmyra's atrocious spelling, the only way to make that work is to cheat, something celebrity judge [[Series/BarneyAndFriends Baloney the Dinosaur]] [[BerserkButton doesn't take too kindly to]].

* ''Film/{{Akeelah and the Bee}}'' centers around a girl climbing through the spelling bee ranks, all the way to national level.

Spelling bees are SeriousBusiness in Hollywood, which will usually give them more coverage than school athletics. The rules are also generally not the same as RealLife spelling bee rules. (Yes, [[AluminumChristmasTrees spelling bees happen regularly in reality]], although they're generally more mundane and low-profile than fictional versions.)

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Detention}}'' has an episode where six of the eight main kids compete for a Get Out of Detention Free card. [[PerkyGoth Shareena]] practices with morbid words, [[CheerfulChild Shelley]] learns cheerful words, and [[ThinkTwins Oranjella and Lemonjella]] one-up each other with long words. During the bee, Shareena and Shelley fail to spell words from each other's practice books. [[TheVoiceless Duncan]] uses a vibrating yo-yo string to pronounce letters, but it snaps after one letter too many. Final round: [[spoiler:the twins get double-disqualified when one of them interrupts the other's spelling of "rivalry," and Gug wins by spelling a word that he heard the twins spell during practice]].

* ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'' nods to the trope with the episode "Hooked on Monkey Fonics", although the spelling bee does not end up being the primary focus of the episode; the spelling bee is merely an excuse to introduce two homeschooled siblings to the cast (one of whom is, in fact, a pastiche of an ''actual'' national spelling bee winner). The main plot of the episode deals with the brother's attempts to fit in at school, and Kyle having a crush on the sister. Cartman's mother bought the titular Monkey Fonics to help her son train for the spelling bee. He gets thrown out on the first round after being unable to spell "chair" -- simply because the Monkey Fonics didn't have the word.

* ''Bee Season''

[[folder:Real Life, R-E-A-L L-I-F-E, Real Life]]
* Great moments from real-life spelling bees...
** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gJSlYSzqksU Incunabula]]
** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A8jwp5ou5hE Sardoodledom]]
** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XevYP0yAkI8 Alopecoid]]
** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VjzrNWPul9E Numnah]]
** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8hwM6A27jlw Chinook]]
** [[https://twitter.com/silviakillings/status/870466574553165824 Mogollon]]
[[/folder]]

* ''Theatre/TheTwentyFifthAnnualPutnamCountySpellingBee''

* ''Film/{{Akeelah and the Bee}}''

* In ''Series/StrangerThings'', the police chief Jim Hopper tries to pry information from a state coroner. He talks to him undercover in a bar and buys him a drink under the guise of celebrating his daughter's victory in a spelling bee contest.
-->'''Jim Hopper:''' My daughter, she won the spelling bee today. \\
'''Gary O'Bannon:''' Is that right? Yeah, that's right. \\
'''Jim Hopper:''' ‘Odontalgia’. That was the word. You know what it means? It's a fancy name for a toothache.\\

* In ''Series/{{The Suite Life of Zack and Cody}}'', Cody enters a spelling bee, which Zack tries (and fails) to convince Cody to deliberately lose in order to pay back another spelling bee competitor who he borrowed money from.

* ''Series/{{Wizards of Waverly Place}}'': In "Marathoner Harper", Alex makes up it to Harper for having used magic on her to make her unfairly win many contests in the past by recreating those contests. One of these constests was the fourth grade spelling bee.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' has an episode with a rigged international spelling bee tournament, and they want Lisa to take a dive so her {{Adorkable}} competitor can win. She refuses to, but spells the word wrong anyway, losing both the prize and the bribe. As for the third finalist, she is told to spell one in a set of homophones and loses after getting out the second letter.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' has an episode with a rigged international spelling bee tournament, and they want Lisa to take a dive so a cute boy can win. She refuses to, but spells the word wrong anyway, losing both the prize and the bribe. As for the third finalist, she is told to spell one in a set of homophones and loses after getting out the second letter.

* ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyEquestriaGirlsFriendshipGames'': The fourth portion of the academic decathlon is a spelling bee. As it is part of a song, this goes rather fast. We mostly see the words that eliminate one of the participants; overall, this give the impression the girls aren't very good at spelling. Only Twilight spells her word (isosceles) correctly.

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