History Main / ViewersAreGeniuses

* Literature/TheGaiad demands a knowledge of nearly every scientific discipline and literary tradition to understand, for example comparing DNA methylation to traditional Hebrew Calligrapgy

** His obliviousness to both flirting (his own and that of other people) and the innuendos he makes while talking about geology are meant to be hints to the fact that [[spoiler:sex is pretty much never on his mind]].
** The mere fact that Hednrik is in love with Melissa, but also [[spoiler:not attracted to her in a sexual way]] in his romantic route flies in the face of a common misconception about the orientation.

* ''Film/MrNobody''. The concept of Old Nemo's Memories, fractally nesting, equally possible subplots are easy to understand as concept, even while the film is jumping back and forth between them like hell. The fact that the scenes with the middle aged Nemo in this eyecancer pattern checkered vest within weirdly silent and hollow environments are littered amongst them does keeping track of the actual plot a little confusing at first. [[spoiler:That they are in this exact weird way to shout out that they did never take place in any possible lifespan is not apparent to say the least. Old Nemo has no actual backstory, so they are merely fillers in the little boy’s imagination, just like pretty much all of the Film. The same Effect occurs another time at the End, the Fact that all these possible lives are just Imagined is quite nicely to digest, even that post-dream decision does make sense if you think about it afterwards, but to keep track of that Metaphor with this whole Universe turnaround does only make sense if you're high or on your fifth run.]]

* ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' definitely counts. While some stories may appear to be even simple children's stories, every single novel in the series contains a VAST amount of parodies, references and allusions to many equally vastly different things. This ranges from history to quantum mechanics, and from popular culture to religion. Be it mythology, geography, Shakespeare, physics, popular culture or anything else, everything is discussed or parodied, and in order to understand all allusions one would be required to browse Wiki/{{Wikipedia}} 24/7. However, the series is still easily accessible by those who do not have such knowledge, allowing the reader to enjoy it no matter how much he knows, but the more educated readers will still get a huge GeniusBonus. A guide to many of the references in Pratchett's books is [[http://www.lspace.org/books/apf/index.html here.]]

* ''Literature/ParadiseLost'' is filled to the brim with allusions, intended to be read by an early modern GentlemanSnarker with an extensive library of contemporary and ancient works. Modern readers can substitute the library with Google and [[Wiki/{{Wikipedia}} The Other Wiki]].

* ''Series/YesMinister'' is a British comedy series about a Politician, an ObstructiveBureaucrat, and a 3rd underling who answers to the second one. Even an adult who isn't well-acquainted with the detailed workings of British government, let alone a non-Brit trying to watch the series, would find himself pausing the video to look up things like "quangos" and "marginal constituencies" on [[Wiki/{{Wikipedia}} That Other Wiki]].

* ''Wiki/SCPFoundation'': While they can all be enjoyed on their own, many [=SCPs=] require the reader to be this in order to fully appreciate them.

* The ARG/MITMysteryHunt. According to [[Wiki/{{Wikipedia}} The Other Wiki]], puzzles have involved "arcane or esoteric topics like quantum computing, stereoisomers, ancient Greek, Klingon, Bach preludes, coinage of Africa, and Barbie dolls". And that's not even getting into the actual ''steps'' required to solve the puzzles.

* Some aspects of Wiki/TVTropes aren't exactly newcomer friendly. For instance, some tropes, trope names, and even rules of this wiki can be confusing to some people. [[Administrivia/RenamedTropes This is also the reason why several tropes have their names changed.]] As an example, the trope "Dropped A Bridget On Him" had its name changed to the (admittedly less creative) UnsettlingGenderReveal, largely because people who have never heard of the meme or ''VideoGame/GuiltyGear'', where the meme comes from, or the trope DroppedABridgeOnHim would possibly have no clue what that trope is about until they open it. See FanMyopia.

** Of course, for most of Inferno, you need mostly to understand the politics of Italy at the time. When it was written, it would be the equivalent of writing about Bush trotting through hell and seeing all the Democrats, Al Quaedans, and EU-eans being tortured. Though it might not have been obvious even to Dante's contemporaries who was who, since he often uses partial names, nicknames or descriptions. (The equivalent of writing "here's Nick, il Cavaliere and the boy from Eton" and letting your readers figure out that you mean Nicolas Sarkozy, Silvio Berlusconi and UsefulNotes/DavidCameron.)

** ''Hyperion'' does the same thing but this time with Creator/JohnKeats, Jack Vance, time travel, quantum mechanics (again), transhumanism (again), Internet sociology, [[spoiler:The Wizard of Oz and the Canterbury Tales]].

** For a few examples: in ''VisualNovel/FateStayNight'', the resolution of Saber's fight with Berserker is an absurd DeusExMachina unless you've read [[Myth/KingArthur Malory]] and remember a few odd comments about how the magic system works from earlier in the story, and there's a couple of one-off lines in the Fate route that establish just how [[spoiler:Kotomine]] survives in Heaven's Feel, and in ''VisualNovel/FateHollowAtaraxia'' the only person who can beat [[spoiler:[[RogueProtagonist Bazett]]]] is [[spoiler:Lancer]] because of a few odd details about how their powers interact -- [[spoiler:her invincible counterattack triggers when you start your attack; he [[RealityWarper starts his attack after he resolves it]]]].

* The film version of ''No One Gets Out Alive'' doesn't bother to explain what it's main supernatural monster is, only that it originates from Mexico. For most of the movie it appears as a box with hands coming out of it, and TheReveal shows it as a fully CGI EldritchAbomination, but it does have a source, it's [[spoiler: Ītzpāpālōtl, of Myth/MayanMythology fame.]]
* Luhrmann and co. expect you to have some kind of familiarity with late 19th Century France if you're going to go see ''Film/MoulinRouge''. Some of its most common criticisms come from modern audiences not recognizing the discrepancies between modern society and the way things operated in 1899. For example, a common criticism is that Satine keeps saying she wants to be a real actress, but is already performing every night -- no, no. What she's saying is the equivalent of a modern day porn star saying she wants to become a Hollywood actress. A deleted scene directly acknowledges another critique that can be explained with historical knowledge: Zidler needs the Duke to be his investor because, even in spite of the rich clientele, he's in debt from all he's spent on electricity. Instead, the viewer has to rely on prior knowledge and intuition, as well as a few side comments, to understand... Because it definitely wasn't cheap back then.

** The mere fact that Hednrik is in love with Melissa, but also [[spoiler:not attracted to her in a sexual way]] in his romantic route flies in the face of a common misconception make about the orientation.

** Even dialogue from after Hendrik and Melissa become a couple beats around the bush when it comes to the orientation's defining element, which is [[spoiler:a lacking or outright absent sexual attraction towards other people]]. The same happens with its most frequent direct consequence and the reason it's a potential issue in a romantic relationship: [[spoiler:rarely to never being in the mood to engage in intercourse (even with a romantic partner), and most people considering the lack of sex in a romance a dealbreaker]]. Because of those things, Melissa's reaction to Hendrik [[spoiler:booking them two nights in a high-end hotel catering to couples (which implies he's ready to have sex with her as a romantic gesture)]], in his romantic route's epilogue can be hard to understand, as well.

** The recurring mentions of cake are nod to a joke within the community that its members [[spoiler:would rather eat cake than have sex with another person]].

** Even dialogue from after Hendrik and Melissa become a couple beats around the bush when it comes to the orientation's defining element, which is [[spoiler:a lacking or outright absent sexual attraction towards other people]]. The same happens with its most frequent direct consequence and the reason it's a potential problem in a romantic relationship: [[spoiler:rarely to never being in the mood to engage in intercourse (even with a romantic partner), and most people considering the lack of sex in a romance a dealbreaker]]. Because of those things, Melissa's reaction to Hendrik [[spoiler:booking them two nights in a high-end hotel catering to couples (which implies he's ready to have sex with her as a romantic gesture)]], in his romantic route's epilogue can be hard to understand, as well.

* ''WesternAnimation/GravityFalls'' takes this UpToEleven. It purposely leaves clues for its viewers to solve, sometimes years in advance. Some of the clues include [[CreativeClosingCredits cryptograms in the credits,]] backwards messages, and [[FreezeFrameBonus details hidden in the background.]] Creator Alex Hirsch has said that he did this so that if anyone was as weird as him, they would find what they're looking for. Regarding the cryptograms, Season 2's is written in a [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vigen%C3%A8re_cipher Vigenère cipher]], an encoding process regarded as impenetrable for hundreds of years and which remains extremely difficult to break even in the present day without a key or a computer decryption program. Thankfully, said key is hidden within the episode, both as a word or phrase spoken by the characters and as text hidden within the background.

* ''Anime/ErgoProxy'' casually references Myth/ClassicalMythology (Daedelus and Icarus, Theseus and the Minos maze), philosophy (Rene Descartes, Creator/FriedrichNietzsche, and UsefulNotes/AlanTuring, many others), film (''Film/TheBattleshipPotemkin'', ''Manga/{{Akira}}'', ''Film/BladeRunner''), gnostic religion, art (Michelangelo, Millais), history, and many other things, almost to the point of showing off to the audience how smart they are by cramming episodes with as many allusions as possible. While you may not need an understanding of any of the references to appreciate the concrete plot, how many people caught the City Lights bookstore (a real one located in San Francisco) and its importance to the beat poetry movement, or that Re-L's name was listed as "124C41+" in a computer database, referencing the 1925 science-fiction novel ''Ralph 124C41+'' by Hugo Gernsback. Even RedShirt characters have names from obscure ancient religions.

* While ''ComicBook/KingdomCome'' would seem to have ContinuityLockout due to LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters, the characters that the reader needs to know are sufficiently introduced. But to fully appreciate the story, the reader needs to be familiar with the general evolution of the genre over the last 4 or 5 decades, especially then-recent trends in [[NinetiesAntihero characterization]] to understand what the story is commenting on and, in retrospect, its own place in [[UsefulNotes/TheModernAgeOfComicBooks changing the direction of the genre itself.]] The book is also replete with Biblical symbolism and imagery, and references to Christian theology. If you know that many Christian theologians consider Jesus to be fully God and fully human, and that this unique biology is essential to his self-sacrifice being meaningful, you appreciate Superman's speech to Captain Marvel a lot more (just as one "for instance").

* ''Film/CaptiveState'': Surprisingly little exposition, [[LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters a large cast]], and a lot of unanswered questions.

* Steven Erikson's ''Literature/MalazanBookOfTheFallen'' is quite possibly one of the most complex works of fantasy ever written. The main storylines of the series span four continents, every one of the ten {{Doorstopper}} books has a [[LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters cast of hundreds]], and the series's backstory covers hundreds of thousands of years. Viewpoint characters constantly change; there is extensive and deliberate use of LostInMediasRes, obtuse in-world poetry used as chapter epigraphs, oblique dialogue, digressions as characters discuss or ponder philosophy, and complex prose. The first book, ''Literature/GardensOfTheMoon'', is infamously difficult for new readers to get into. This was done deliberately, as Erikson wanted to weed out readers without the patience to keep track of his vast numbers of characters and plot lines.

* Animated sci-fi/UrbanFantasy series ''WebAnimation/BrokenSaints'' has a sprawling, slow-starting, and enormous plot with [[LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters numerous characters]], [[FauxSymbolism deep religious/philosophical themes and motifs]], [[AuthorAppeal references to obscure works, events, and cultures,]] and heaps upon heaps of TechnoBabble. The creators are themselves of the opinion that these elements are why the series is more popular in Asia and South America more so than North America.

The public's been clamoring for some more intelligent television in the wake of RealityTV and LowestCommonDenominator {{Recycled Script}}s. So, you go and write a series loaded with difficult quantum mechanics, quoting obscure 17th-century philosophers, with characters who are [[ThePhilosopher philosophical]] {{Magnificent Bastard}}s who speak [[BilingualBonus a dozen languages]] while conversing to each other by sending Shakespearean Zen koans hidden into [[SmartPeoplePlayChess chess move patterns]], and packed with [[RuleOfSymbolism allusions to ancient Sumerian religion.]] You make sure all your TechnoBabble is scientifically plausible and go to great lengths to make sure [[AnachronismStew all your ancient Roman soldiers are wearing exact replicas of period equipment.]] Now it's TrueArt, [[TemptingFate right]]?

However, in the eyes of artists and some fans, this is a JustifiedTrope. There are many instances where a film with dense references and information provides an UnconventionalLearningExperience, introducing high concepts in a dramatic, entertaining fashion. This empowers readers and viewers and makes them interested and curious in exploring offbeat ideas that they otherwise might have felt they are not educated to understand and accept, since many of them have internalized the ViewersAreMorons ideas and reflexively feel some movies or books are not for them. For instance, Joseph Campbell's [[TheHerosJourney Heroic Journey]] concept was fairly obscure before ''Franchise/StarWars'' used a Heroic Journey plot, which brought the concept into the mainstream. There's also changing societial norms to consider. The number of people with college educations is higher today than it was, say, in TheSixties, so what used to be obscure becomes mainstream with the passage of time, and indeed, new genres and new storytelling techniques are created because audiences have become too smart for old plots and hackneyed clichés. In the case of some artists, the dense play of text and subtext for them ''is'' the reason why they make art in the first place, and they set out to fill it with {{Genius Bonus}}es and {{Rewatch Bonus}}es so that audiences can immerse themselves in understanding the work fully.

See also FauxSymbolism, MindScrew, and MoonLogicPuzzle. ''Not'' mutually exclusive with CriticalResearchFailure - just because a show is crammed with obscure knowledge doesn't mean that it is correct, [[SeriesContinuityError even when it comes from the show to begin with]]. This can be the result of too many {{In Joke}}s being included in a work.

[[folder:Anime & Manga]]

** While being comparatively lightweight, ''[[Anime/GhostInTheShellStandAloneComplex Stand Alone Complex]]'' discusses sociology and memes, and if you understood it fully the first time, you either already had an undergrad understanding of sociology, or earned one in the process of puzzling it out. It also has a tendency to have characters spout plot points (often convoluted political situations) at an accelerated clip. It then rarely, if ever, repeats itself. Example: In 2nd Gig the full source of the title 'Individual Eleven' and its supposed contents are explained once. Despite coming in in multiple episodes before and after the explanation. The extent of the subtleties in these conversations are enough to quickly lose all but astute Political Science majors the first time through, much more so than the sociology and philosophy references. Not to mention being [[spoiler:ultimately a RedHerring]].
** Near the end of the 2nd Gig, Kuze has a discussion with Yousuke Aramaki, which requires a customary understanding of basic Marxist economic philosophy to piece together.

** "''Lain'''s computer hardware is so cool. How come we don't get [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twentieth_Anniversary_Macintosh designs]] [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serial_Experiments_Lain#Apple_computers like those?"]]

* ''Anime/ErgoProxy'' casually references Greek myth (Daedelus and Icarus, Theseus and the Minos maze), philosophy (Descartes, Nietszche, Turing, many others), film (''Film/TheBattleshipPotemkin'', ''Manga/{{AKIRA}}'', ''Film/BladeRunner''), gnostic religion, art (Michelangelo, Millais), history, and many other things, almost to the point of showing off to the audience how smart they are by cramming episodes with as many allusions as possible.\\\
While you may not need an understanding of any of the references to appreciate the concrete plot, how many people caught the City Lights bookstore (a real one located in San Francisco) and its importance to the beat poetry movement, or that Re-L's name was listed as "124C41+" in a computer database, referencing early sci-fi novel ''Ralph 124C 41+'', published in 1925. Even RedShirt characters have names from obscure ancient religions.
* ''Franchise/{{Nasuverse}}''. Kinoko Nasu really, ''really'' loves winding philosophical debate, and he expects you to as well; his plots tend to get extremely complex, bringing up rules once or twice and then building stories based on them, and the rules governing the 'verse can get pretty complex as well, with a huge amount of MrExposition giving [[InstructionalDialogue Instruction Dialogue]] regarding borderline game-breaking abilities. ''VisualNovel/FateStayNight'' is particularly guilty. For example, several sections will be dedicated to explaining the minute details as to why imagining swords into being real is a [[WhatKindOfLamePowerIsHeartAnyway stupid, useless form of magic]], and then later it turns out that Shirou has a rare talent that turns it into a GameBreaker.
** For a few examples: In ''VisualNovel/FateStayNight'' The resolution of Saber's fight with Berserker is an absurd DeusExMachina unless you've read [[Myth/KingArthur Malory]] and remember a few odd comments about how the magic system works from earlier in the story, and there's a couple of one-off lines in the Fate route that establish just how [[spoiler:Kotomine]] survives in Heaven's Feel, and in ''VisualNovel/FateHollowAtaraxia'' the only person who can beat [[spoiler:[[RogueProtagonist Bazett]]]] is [[spoiler:Lancer]] because of a few odd details about how their powers interact - [[spoiler: her invincible counterattack triggers when you start your attack; he [[RealityWarper starts his attack after he resolves it]]]].
* Although ''Anime/SayonaraZetsubouSensei'' mostly makes sense to its intended Japanese audience ([[GagSeries for a certain definition of "makes sense"]]), anyone who attempts to ''translate'' it deserves our pity. The official English version of the manga has about a dozen pages at the end of each volume dedicated to explaining the dozens of references, most of which are about either Japanese pop culture or obscure Japanese historical events. Without these explanations, none of them will make the least bit of sense to a foreign reader, but [[DontExplainTheJoke jokes that have to be explained are hard to make funny.]]
* ''Anime/DarkerThanBlack'' never explains ''anything'', and on the rare occasions it does, [[UnreliableExpositor the source is usually less than trustworthy]]. Most of the background [[RiddleForTheAges is left deliberately vague]], and it ends with a {{Mind Screw}}y GainaxEnding. In short, if you want to sort out the overall plot (rather than the 2-episode sub-arcs; those tend to be fairly self-contained), you'd better have a very good memory or be taking notes.
* It feels weird sticking a fanservice manga/anime here, but ''Manga/IkkiTousen'', to some extent. The series seems to take for granted that all of its audience has some basic awareness of the historical characters it's portraying, which... for the most part, particularly in the West, they don't. It's made worse because those who ''do'' know the cast of ''Literature/RomanceOfTheThreeKingdoms'', either by having read the story or by being fans of ''VideoGame/DynastyWarriors'', most likely know them by their original ''Chinese'' names, but everyone in-series uses the names from the ''Japanese'' translation, making it very easy to miss the connection between, say, Sonsaku Hakufu and her counterpart Sun Ce.
* ''LightNovel/HaruhiSuzumiya.'' The references to philosophy and advanced mathematics in the light novels start out as GeniusBonus, but eventually become pretty crucial to knowing what the hell is going on.
* Played with ''Motohirou Katou'''s work, especially ''Manga/{{QED}}'' and ''Manga/{{CMB}}.'' The thing is, he always takes time to explains things that need explanation for most readers, but even with that, sometimes it still leaves us baffled (like Kana), especially things like [[EverybodyHatesMathematics mathematics and such.]]
* ''Anime/DigimonTamers,'' the DarkerAndEdgier third installment of the franchise, makes references to the history of Computing, the Internet, and Programming, being considered by some fans, the most mature and well-written of the whole series.
* In ''Manga/DemonSlayerKimetsuNoYaiba'', despite the series being a fairly simple and straightforward tale, the real nature of all elemental visuals accompanying the Breathing Styles’ swordsmanship - as in, they aren’t real - is presented in little key nods spread throughout the anime and manga, such as absolutely no character commenting, friend or foe, in the potential elemental damage that should be dealt by any of the demon slayers, whereas demons who actually have supernatural powers have had their elemental effects commented upon and warned against several times. However, these nods didn’t seem enough for some people, so Gotoge had to outright confirm in the manga, volume 17, extras that indeed none of Breathing Styles manifest real elements out of thin air.
* ''Manga/LiarGame'' is happy to explain psychology and game theory to you, but it certainly helps if you're at least somewhat familiar with concepts (like Prisoner's Dilemma).
* The MindScrew in ''Anime/RevolutionaryGirlUtena'' is a lot more comprehensible if you have knowledge of Kabbalah and Jungian psychology.
* While perfectly enjoyable without any such knowledge, only the biggest history buffs will get anywhere near all of ''Manga/OnePiece'''s references to real-life pirates, their crews, their ships, and nautical terms and techniques during the real-life Age of Piracy. An instance of such knowledge being beneficial to understanding the series is that any pirate named after a ''real'' seafarer will play an important role in the series.
* You probably would not believe that ''Anime/StrikeWitches'' [[FanService of all things]] can be planted here. But apart from its [[{{Moe}} most obvious appeal]], it delves into ideas about AlternateUniverse, AlternateHistory, UsefulNotes/WorldWarII technology, {{Historical Injoke}}s, UsefulNotes/GunSafety, military organisation, its takes about the conflict in Europe, the conflict in Africa and other stuff. Did you know that the real Hartmann accidentally (?) took Hitler's hat because his own was gone? This is the basis for the PantyThief episode in season 1.
* You know all about quantum mechanics, right? Then you'll ''love'' ''Anime/{{Noein}}'' (though this one isn't as bad, since there's a character whose main purpose is [[TheWatson to have quantum mechanics explained to him.]])
* ''Anime/ConcreteRevolutioChoujinGensou'''s use of AnachronicOrder makes it difficult to follow the plot and characters through its timeline. Not only that, the show's timeline takes place in an AlternateHistory with each episode events playing out a specific event that occurred in post war Japan. Combined with its philosophies on Justice, specifically JusticeWillPrevail, and GreyAndGrayMorality, you can see how it ended up on this list.
* Most viewers can enjoy ''Anime/GirlsUndPanzer'' for its story and presentation, but an extensive knowledge of UsefulNotes/WorldWarII-era armored fighting vehicles, weapons, military tactics, and other wartime esoterica definitely helps. For instance, why is Leopon team called that, and why is that particular tank in the hands of the Automotive Club? You'd first have to know that a leopon is a hybrid big cat (leopard and lioness crossbreeding), and that their Tiger (P) tank uses a hybrid transmission (petrol engines mated to electric motors). You'd then have to remember that while the gun worked fine, the Tiger (P) was more infamous for its notoriously unreliable motive systems--it's with Automotive Club because no other team would have the time or patience to make it work.
* During ''Manga/NarutoGaiden'', Sasuke's daughter, Sarada, undergoes a [[DaddyDNATest [=DNA=] Test]] to find, once and for all, if her real mother is Sasuke's former teammate, Karin. The test result comes out showing a perfect 100% match seemingly confirming it; [[spoiler:However those who know genetics will point out that a parent and child only share 50% of their [=DNA=], one only has a 100% genetic match with oneself (or an identical twin), which fits with the reveal later that the umbilical cord used for the test belonged to Sarada and not Karin]].

* ''Anime/YuGiOhTheDarkSideOfDimensions''—particularly in the original Japanese script—assumes that the viewer is as versed in quantum mechanics as Creator/KazukiTakahashi apparently became. The finer details about the abilities and philosophy of the Plana are rooted in quantum physics jargon, with only vague allusions to how knowing this stuff explains things like Kaiba’s new Duel Disk system being able to counter their powers [[spoiler:and summon Obelisk the Tormentor during his duel with Aigami]]. The movie-exclusive ArtifactOfDoom is not just called the Quantum Cube for pure {{technobabble}} reasons.
* ''Anime/GodzillaSingularPoint'''s human plot revolves around complicated discussions of quantum and theoretical physics to explain how the mysterious [[AppliedPhlebotinum Archetype]] element and the {{kaiju}} connected to it defy all traditional logical views of how physics work.

** One notable example is one where two shipwreck survivors are clinging to a shellfish-encrusted rock in the ocean, and one says "Don't worry, we'll have plenty to eat; the oysters go all the way to the top!". [[ViewersAreMorons You'd have to know that oysters actually live underwater to get the joke.]]
** Averted by ExecutiveMeddling in one case: a strip showing a shady-looking man with a jacket full of tiny deer, goats, antelope, etc, was originally to be captioned "Hey, buddy, you wanna buy an ungulate?", suggestive of [[CoatFullOfContraband a drug dealer pushing e.g. barbiturates]], but was [[ViewersAreMorons changed under pressure from the publisher]] to "Hey, buddy, you wanna buy a hoofed mammal?", ruining the allusion in the process. ([[DontExplainTheJoke "Ungulate" is the technical term for a hoofed mammal]]).

*** To the point that paleontologists now actually refer to the spiky end of a Stegosaurus as the "[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thagomizer thagomizer,]]" coined by a cave man professor in one Far Side strip as "named after the late Thag Simmons".

* ''ComicStrip/{{Frazz}}''. The author has actually stated that he believes his readers to be among the smartest in the world. Since he's the one getting the fan mail, we'll just have to take his word for it.
* Nearly every panel of ''Comicbook/TheLeagueOfExtraordinaryGentlemen'' features obscure references to English literature and/or comic art. The accompanying text-stories are, if anything, even worse/better.
* James Robinson's ''ComicBook/{{Starman}}'' is full of references to obscure things. LampshadeHanging in one issue:
-->'''Jack''': There's nothing wrong with being elite.\\

This one isn't about collectibles but it's the same kind of thing. I'm in a book store ... for new books. I've gone a little bit crazy and I'm about to spend a couple of hundred bucks. I murmur under my breath "money's too tight to mention". \\
Now the guy behind the register, he hears this. He looks at me, nodding his head knowingly like we're in some "club of cool" together. He says, "Yeah, [[CoveredUp Simply Red]]" like it's a password, and now we do the secret handshake. \\
And I'm thinking "Simply Red"? Lame English band. More soul at a polka convention. And the book store guy thinks he's on some kind of inside loop with that. \\
'''Sadie''': Jack, that's the smuggest thing I ever heard. A guy tries to be nice and you stand there hating him just because he hasn't heard of the Valentine Brothers. \\
You're like my ex-boyfriend. He was that way about authors. He'd deliberately drop obscure quotes and references. He'd take over conversations at parties. But none of what he read was for the love of it. His knowledge was like a weapon. \\
Don't tell me you're like that. I don't want another jerk. I've had... \\
Hey, why are you smiling? \\
'''Jack''': Because you've heard of the Valentine Brothers. \\
(Naturally, since Jack and Sadie both know that the Valentine Brothers are a soul duo who originally performed "Money's Too Tight To Mention" before Simply Red covered it, they have no reason to tell the readers this.)
* Really, ''most'' [[CrisisCrossover DC Crossovers]] are like that; though ComicBook/FinalCrisis takes the cake. It's not just the continuity that hung up fans on Final Crisis -- comic book nerds are very good at continuity. Morrison was also doing a lot of meta and philosophical weirdness about the nature of storytelling and the superhero genre in particular, which is a great way to annoy people who don't care about [[DeathOfTheAuthor Barthes]] or Morrison's issues with [[Franchise/WonderWoman William Moulton Marston]] and just want to see [[JustHereForGodzilla characters they love beat up characters they love to hate in heroic and impressive ways.]]

* Pretty much anything Creator/GrantMorrison has ever made. ComicBook/TheInvisibles gets special mention, since in order to fully follow it, you would need: a degree in history; a biography of Morrison; a complete and unabridged summary of British popular culture of the past 80 years with an emphasis on the 1960's; a reasonable understanding of the Voodoun, Aztec, and Native-Australian belief systems; an understanding of the underlying symbolism of the Egyptian tarot; books on metaphysics, homeopathy and the various theories of the holographic universes; a familiarity with the works of the Creator/MarquisDeSade; a copy of every single piece of conspiracy theory literature ever published from the 1940's to the present day; and a bucket full of enough psychoactive drugs to make Charlie Sheen run away screaming. Even then, you probably wouldn't get it all.
* ''ComicStrip/ThePhantom''. Not all the time, but a lot of the stories told about past Phantoms are more enjoyable if you know your world history.

* ''ComicBook/{{Joker}}''
** One doesn't need an intimate knowledge of Franchise/{{Batman}}'s relationship with ComicBook/TheJoker to understand the whole story, but it does explain certain moments, and can create a bit of DramaticIrony as you watch [[SmallNameBigEgo Jonny Frost]] (Joker's latest henchman) believe he's on [[UnwittingPawn top of the world with the Joker]] when [[EvilIsNotAToy nothing could be further from the truth.]] There are unexplained moments when Joker is looking around or asking others to look around for him, always commenting that [[Franchise/{{Batman}} ''someone'']] is watching him. The very first time it happens, it appears as if he's staring back at Arkham Asylum as he is released. [[spoiler: In reality, you can spot a hidden Batman among the gargoyles of Arkham, [[http://static.comicvine.com/uploads/original/0/3695/110324-163303-batman.gif like much of his promotional art.]] The second time is harder to spot, in the shadows on a rooftop while Joker and Jonny drive below him.]]

* Between Comicbook/{{Grayson}}, Comicbook/OmegaMen, and Comicbook/TheVision2015, writer Tom King is known for going light on direct exposition, and expecting the reader to keep up with themes and character development that are hidden beneath the surface. Naturally, this gets backlash from readers who are completely missing the point.

-->'''Character A''': Y'know, if ''Sir Nigel'' does come up on the test, I'll thank my lucky stars it wasn't, say, ''Rodney Stone''. Would've refused to read it on principle.
-->'''Character B''': What? I've never even heard of ''Rodney'' – oh. ''(rolls eyes)'' I'm guessing it came out around the turn of the century?
-->'''Character A''': So I'm predictable.
** If you knew without Googling or proceeding to the next chapter that this is supposed to mean Character A is predisposed toward a particular side, well, I'm glad you came down from your [[DaydreamBeliever terrifying]] [[FanWank ivory tower]] long enough to watch a cartoon, but... chances are you're the author.

* ''Literature/ASeriesOfUnfortunateEvents'' falls firmly into this category, particularly for a children's series. While this is partially {{lampshade|Hanging}}d with the constant refrain of "a word which here means-" (which often is for words that are incredibly easy to understand), it still does not explain the constant references, particularly in character names (Esme Squalor, Nero the fiddle-playing principal, Frank and Earnest, Duncan and Isadora, Mr. Poe, etc.) or the convoluted plots and MindScrew themes. While many kids around the age of 10 have enjoyed every minute of these books, they live and breathe this trope. This actually tremendously increases 'family value' of the books, because they can be very entertaining to kids and parents alike.

-->Philo Vance\\
Needs a kick in the pance.

* ''Literature/{{Blindsight}}'', a hard science fiction novel by Peter Watts, is probably one of the worst offenders there are. No, you will not read "radio signals were picked up". You will read, I kid you not, "Fourier transforms appeared".

* The ''LightNovel/HaruhiSuzumiya'' LightNovels. What starts out as a healthy amount of {{Genius Bonus}}es later falls straight into this. There are as many throwaway references to astrophysics as there are to pop culture, [[spoiler:a TimeTravel incident reaches near-''Film/{{Primer}}'' levels of complexity]], and one novel features an in-depth discussion of Euler's planar graph formula--which is necessary to resolve the current situation. There are ''diagrams''.

* Creator/StephenKing's ''Literature/TheDarkHalf'' has an in-universe example. The protagonist has written several highly intellectual novels with great reviews and poor sales. In the meantime he has also written under a pen name intentionally trashy books that [[LowestCommonDenominator engorge themselves on sex and violence]] which have gone on to become bestsellers. King wrote the book in part as a response to his pen name Richard Bachman becoming public knowledge. The stories he wrote under the pen name in turn tended to be less psychological than those with his own name on them.

* Creator/GeneWolfe
** He is well known for leaving large amounts of his background and story as puzzles for the reader -- particularly in the Literature/BookOfTheNewSun series. Important details like which characters are the lead character's close relatives and where (on earth) the story is set are left as puzzles for the reader -- as are many obscure (but real) words used in the series.
** Fundamentally, the reader is sometimes left to puzzle out what ''genre'' the story is supposed to be: SciFi or Fantasy? Religious or Secular? [[UnreliableNarrator The narrator himself may not know]].

* Creator/JasperFforde's works are loaded with literary puns and in-jokes, and oftentimes he relies on the conventions and limitations of his medium to drive important plot points. It's wonderful reading, but try to keep up.

** You'll get a lot more out of ''Literature/TheDiamondAge'' if you are already conversant with advanced concepts in nanotechnology and Asian geography.
** If you can't crack an output-feedback mode stream cipher before you read ''Literature/{{Cryptonomicon}}'', you'll be able to by the time you finish (there's even a handy Appendix to show you how!)

* ''Literature/TheSilmarillion'' -- Tolkien's epic history of Middle-Earth -- needs the reader to have both a photographic memory and an understanding of pre-medieval Norse / Germanic naming conventions just to keep up with the characters that were introduced hundreds of pages previously but then turn out to have a child who married the child of the child of... okay, enough of that. There is a list of characters at the back though, along with family trees so you can see such things as how Aragorn is related to Celebrimbor.
* Creator/CharlesStross is [[JustForFun/OneOfUs an arch-geek]], and ''Literature/TheLaundryFiles'' contains lots of references to Mandelbrot sets, P-complete and NP-complete equations, and a lot of other stuff that you have to have studied advanced math and the like to understand (thankfully, understanding the technobabble isn't required for enjoyment). Lampshaded early in ''The Atrocity Archive'' when Bob gives us an overview of computational demonology:
--> The [Turing] theorem is a hack on discrete number theory that simultaneously disproves the Church-Turing hypothesis (wave if you understood that)...
* ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'' -- The show may be complex, but George R.R. Martin's series is comprised of compressed paper bricks of characters, conflicts, locations, plotlines, motives, implications, deaths, twists, and revelations. There have been 24 major POV characters so far, narrating about as many distinct plotlines over half as many distinct locations, including over a hundred secondary characters. Not for the faint of attention span.
** Reading this series can be considered a dry run for Robert Jordan's ''Literature/TheWheelOfTime'' -- With over 140 POV characters spread over fifteen books, 10,000 pages and if you were to sit down and listen to them non-stop, just over 19 DAYS of audio. Whilst this could just be considered a colossal task on its own, any character could come back at any time, requiring readers to call back to previous books and remember what obscure phrase that was mentioned in passing could now mean in a revealing light.

* The ''Literature/{{MARZENA}}'' series itself is based on a non-fiction book called ''Outlast the Machine'', which is about explaining in understandable English the most intricate mysteries of the brain, and which likely started as a master thesis that decided to switch to the dark side. ''Transhuman Ambrosia'' is very pointy on its knowledge of neuroscience, and even comes up with its own theories of how the brain works by measuring the levels of brain activity using glial cells (exchanging bananas for bananas) and goes to great length to explain what consciousness is, how the brain creates it, and how we could artificially replicate and harness that process. The number of details is absolutely insane, and yet the book manages to keep things simplistic enough that you could just happily browse through it without realizing all the hidden scientific genius behind it.

* Unless you're quite familiar with the Literature/SherlockHolmes stories (simply having seen film/TV adaptations won't help much) and the Franchise/CthulhuMythos, Creator/NeilGaiman's short story "Literature/AStudyInEmerald" will require multiple readings to make sense. Despite this, it's one of his best loved short stories and won a UsefulNotes/HugoAward. Most of Gaiman's other work (''Literature/AmericanGods'' in particular) falls under GeniusBonus instead, as it will still mostly make sense if you don't have a thorough understanding of the background material (Myth/NorseMythology in ''American Gods''[='=] case), but you'll appreciate it even more if you do.

* Kit Williams' ''Literature/{{Masquerade|1979}}'' was ostensibly a children's book in which the illustrations provided clues to the burial location of the jewelled golden hare featured in the story. Williams claimed that a child of ten with a good understanding of language, mathematics, and astronomy would be just as likely to solve the puzzle as an {{UsefulNotes/Oxbridge}} don. The puzzle remained unsolved for nearly three years, and the two people who finally cracked it were physics teachers.[[note]] Not that this was enough for them to win the contest; the actual contest winner had done so not by solving the puzzle, but by exploiting a chain of personal connections between Williams and himself.[[/note]] Even now that the method behind the solution has been thoroughly documented and published, it still leaves many readers scratching their heads, wondering "How was ''anyone'' supposed to solve this??"

* ''[[Series/{{House}} House, M.D.]]'' is a textbook case. It started out this way, collecting a small but highly intelligent and medically-savvy fanbase on the official site, tended to include lots of ''Freudian themes'' and captured the overarching themes of "Everybody lies" and "No one is ever truly happy". Later on though, the writers began to appeal to the LowestCommonDenominator and skimp on the research.

* ''Alternative 3''. A British documentary series decides to have a bit of fun for April Fool's day, and claim British scientists are being taken to a secret base on Mars to protect them from a terrible disaster. Twenty years later, the show is now a central part of a great many conspiracy theories by those who failed to get the joke.
* ''Series/{{Carnivale}}'' had knights templar and tarot card mythology, [[MindScrew obscure symbolism]], cultural references from the 1930s, fabulous and expensive-looking recreations of the depression-era midwest, and refusal to provide helpful exposition to the audience. It got cancelled after two seasons.
* ''Series/DoctorWho''

[[folder:Web Comics]]

* ''Webcomic/{{Achewood}}''. Full of obscure references to pop culture, music, history, and foreign languages.
* ''Webcomic/AmongTheChosen'' states this as part of its author's writing style. The basic introduction to the story may be read [[http://amongthechosen.com/about/ here]]. ''Among The Chosen gets'' confusing in a hurry. The mil-speak, the TechnoBabble, mythological references, and the tendency to mention important information exactly once all contributes to this.
* ''Webcomic/DresdenCodak'' is very guilty of this, frequently covering subjects such as Jungian philosophy and transhumanism.
** The ''[[MagicAmpersand Dungeons & Discourse]]'' [[http://dresdencodak.com/2006/12/03/dungeons-and-discourse/ comics]] [[http://dresdencodak.com/2009/01/27/advanced-dungeons-and-discourse/ in particular]] make a ''lot'' more sense if you have a decent knowledge of philosophy. A "Kierkeguardian" shouting "My existential dread won't affect them if they have no sense of self!" is highly amusing. Trust me.

*** And again in [[http://xkcd.com/18/ an early comic]].

** SOP for ''xkcd'' is generally that if you don't get Monday's strip, just wait a couple of days and you'll laugh at Wednesday's strip.

* ''Webcomic/{{Lackadaisy}}'' has so many historical references regarding not just the prohibition, but pop culture, advertising, slang, and politics during the 1920s (not to mention Rocky's ramblings on physics, mythology, and poetry) that the published first volume has an entire section in the back of the book explaining each and every one.
* ''Webcomic/HarkAVagrant'' deals with fairly obscure western history on a pretty regular basis...much of it (shudder) ''[[CanadaEh Canadian]]'' history. Which even [[ButNotTooForeign we Canadians]] aren't too familiar with.
* ''Webcomic/GunnerkriggCourt''. Being a story that plays on the dichotomy between magic and science, with an AllMythsAreTrue premise, it focuses on obscure world mythology and... chemical elements. Having a working knowledge of both ''may'' help hugely in figuring out its intricate plot. The fandom, which (using a '''bare''' minimum of information) figured out that the character Brinnie's [[spoiler: "Old Man" is Odin, and shortly after, that Brinnie herself is the Valkyrie Brynhild]]. (The information they had? [[http://www.gunnerkrigg.com/archive_page.php?comicID=541 This page, and nothing more]]. There hadn't been a single mention of the [[spoiler: Norse pantheon]] in the story so far.)
** The caption for that comic, "mystery solved" was originally intended to be ironic because fans had been curious about a photo of this character for a long time, and this page explained so little about her. Turns out, if your fanbase is smart enough, a little information is enough. [[HeartwarmingInHindsight Mystery solved indeed.]]

-->''I believe the reader is well prepared for every shift in the nature of the story's unfolding. There are primers on what to expect along the way. Very early, when we first met Dave, we began a humble exercise in non-linear pacing. Conversations he had with John and Rose, then revisited from an earlier timeframe from his perspective. Some nonlinear revisitations with Jade's story as well. It wasn't just messing around. It established that time was something to be tinkered with in this story, more intensively as we progress. The MC intermission was a primer on complicated time travel dynamics taking center stage in the story. It was a tangent, quite silly and convoluted, but very good preparation for the concepts to follow, which have dominated the story since. The troll arc was a very aggressive primer on completely off the rails nonlinear story progression, which has somewhat extended beyond it into the main story, and will continue to do so. All of these primer concepts are now firing on all cylinders at once. And the word primer is [[Film/{{Primer}} the title of a very complicated time travel movie]], which I have not seen yet. I imagine watching it would serve as a decent primer for reading Homestuck.''

---> Remember how that happened? That didn't stop being a thing that happened or anything.
* ''Webcomic/TheOrderOfTheStick'' half averts this, half plays it straight — you can understand all the happenings in the plot without having any knowledge of ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'', but many of the non-punchline jokes will be completely nonsensical. In fact, they're used so often, and so consistently and savvily, that people who didn't have a knowledge of D&D when they started reading the comic can acquire an understanding of the vernacular over the course of 750+ strips without once searching for D&D information elsewhere, in the manner of the dialect in ''Literature/AClockworkOrange''.

* ''Literature/TheSilmarillion'' -- Tolkien's epic history of Middle-Earth -- needs the reader to have both a photographic memory and an understanding of pre-medieval Norse / Germanic naming conventions just to keep up with the characters that were introduced hundreds of pages previously but then turn out to have a child who married the child of the child of... okay, enough of that, I personally recommend sticky notes. Lots and lots of sticky notes. There is a list of characters at the back though, along with family trees so you can see such things as how Aragorn is related to Celebrimbor.

* While ''ComicBook/KingdomCome'' would seem to have ContinuityLockout due to LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters, the characters that the reader needs to know are sufficiently introduced. But to fully appreciate the story, the reader needs to be familiar with the general evolution of the genre over the last 4 or 5 decades, especially then-recent trends in [[NinetiesAntihero characterization]] to understand what the story is commenting on and, in retrospect, its own place in [[UsefulNotes/TheModernAgeOfComicBooks changing the direction of the genre itself.]]

** It has [=Ryukishi07=] go on about the basics of Schrodinger's Cat, Raven Paradox, and Devil's Proof. He also makes lengthy articles about his philosophies of anti-mystery, cultural noise, and chessboard logic. And to top it off, he makes numerous references to famous mystery writers. However, his critics accuse him of not knowing what he's talking about, even when it comes to his own inventions.

'''Disraeli:''' You don't even know who I am!

* ''WesternAnimation/TheHunchbackOfNotreDame'' is packed with religious symbolism the average adult viewer, and certainly the average child, would not understand. Some examples that come to mind are Esmeralda's dance dress being the colors of the Whore of Babylon, Phoebus and the soldiers offering 30 pieces of silver to the gypsies in exchange for her location, and Frollo's [[SanitySlippageSong song Hellfire]] (in which he insists his lust and obsession with Esmeralda is her fault and God's rather than his own) being sung to a confessional prayer to chants of ''Mea culpa'' (through my fault).

* Kit Williams' ''[[Literature/KitWilliamsMasquerade Masquerade]]'' was ostensibly a children's book in which the illustrations provided clues to the burial location of the jewelled golden hare featured in the story. Williams claimed that a child of ten with a good understanding of language, mathematics, and astronomy would be just as likely to solve the puzzle as an {{UsefulNotes/Oxbridge}} don. The puzzle remained unsolved for nearly three years, and the two people who finally cracked it were physics teachers.[[note]] Not that this was enough for them to win the contest; the actual contest winner had done so not by solving the puzzle, but by exploiting a chain of personal connections between Williams and himself.[[/note]] Even now that the method behind the solution has been thoroughly documented and published, it still leaves many readers scratching their heads, wondering "How was ''anyone'' supposed to solve this??"

* While they can still be enjoyed on a superficial level, William Gibson's novels (''Literature/{{Neuromancer}}'', ''Mona Lisa Overdrive'', ''Idoru'', etc.) rely on complex and multilayered metaphors, both pop culture and "learned" allusions, and a blurring of traditional concepts of "human," "life," "technology" and "reality", among others. On the other hand, Gibson admits in interviews that readers shouldn't look too deep into the technical aspects of computer science and cyberspace in his works, because he didn't even ''own'' a computer until well after he'd written ''Literature/{{Neuromancer}}'', and was profoundly disappointed with how mundane it was. However, he ''did'' do the research; he's known to keep track of "the invisible literature" -- scientific research papers.

** Part of the confusion stems from Faulkner's intent to have different points of view and time periods made explicit by the use of a variety of text colours. Therefore, a section narrated by Benjy in the 'present' would be printed in one colour, past events in another, and a section narrated by another character in a whole different colour. Printing expenses prevented the multicolour approach from going forward but the story retains the unannounced jumping perspective, making it a uniquely challenging narrative.

* ''Literature/ASeriesOfUnfortunateEvents'' falls firmly into this category, particularly for a children's series. While this is partially Lampshaded with the constant refrain of "a word which here means-" (which often is for words that are incredibly easy to understand), it still does not explain the constant references, particularly in character names (Esme Squalor, Nero the fiddle-playing principal, Frank and Earnest, Duncan and Isadora, Mr. Poe, etc.) or the convoluted plots and MindScrew themes. While many kids around the age of 10 have enjoyed every minute of these books, they live and breathe this trope. This actually tremendously increases 'family value' of the books, because they can be very entertaining to kids and parents alike.

* Creator/CharlesStross' ''Literature/{{Accelerando}}'' relies heavily on computer science and information theory concepts without bothering to explain them, and is literally ''written in ExpoSpeak''.

--> Philo Vance
--> Needs a kick in the pance.

** One can only really understand ''Ilium'' and ''Olympos'' after studying ''Literature/TheIliad'', ''Literature/TheOdyssey'', and Shakespeare's ''Theatre/TheTempest''; and be familiar with ''Literature/TheTimeMachine'', the complete works of Marcel Proust, Shakespeare's sonnets, and Hans Moravec's writings; and should know a decent amount about quantum physics, the Voynich manuscript, terraforming, transhumanism, and biosphere theory. Then it might make sense. No guarantees. It helps that there are characters who love talking about Proust and ''Literature/TheIliad'' while much of the rest can be taken as [[TechnoBabble "awesome magic stuff"]].
** ''Hyperion'' does the same thing but this time with Creator/JohnKeats, Jack Vance, time travel, quantum mechanics (again), transhumanism (again), Internet sociology, [[spoiler: The Wizard of Oz and the Canterbury Tales]].

** Or you could have watched (or [[MissingEpisode read or listened to]]) the ''Doctor Who'' serials "City of Death" and "Shada", since Adams basically reused their plots - even copying some of the dialogue verbatim. He gets forgiven since he was script writer, and the episodes he wrote initially didn't make it to air due to a strike at the BBC.

* ''Blindsight'', a hard science fiction novel by Peter Watts, is probably one of the worst offenders there are. No, you will not read "radio signals were picked up". You will read, I kid you not, "Fourier transforms appeared".

* ''[[Literature/{{MARZENA}} The MARZENA Series]]'' itself is based on a non-fiction book called ''Outlast the Machine'', which is about explaining in understandable English the most intricate mysteries of the brain, and which likely started as a master thesis that decided to switch to the dark side. Transhuman Ambrosia is very pointy on its knowledge of neuroscience, and even comes up with its own theories of how the brain works by measuring the levels of brain activity using glial cells (exchanging bananas for bananas), and goes to great length to explain what is consciousness, how the brain creates it, and how we could artificially replicate and harness that process. The amount of details is absolutely insane, and yet the book manages to keep things simplistic enough that you could just happily browse through it without realizing all the hidden scientific genius behind it.

* Luhrmann and co. expect you to have some kind of familiarity with late 19th Century France if you're going to go see ''Film/MoulinRouge''. Some of its most common criticisms come from modern audiences not recognizing the discrepancies between modern society and the way things operated in 1899. For example, a common criticism is that Satine keeps saying she wants to be a real actress, but is already performing every night -- no, no. What she's saying is the equivalent of a modern day porn star saying she wants to become a Hollywood actress. A deleted scene directly acknowledges another critique that can be explained with historical knowledge: Zidler needs the Duke to be his investor because, even in spite of the rich clientele, he's in debt from all he's spent on electricity. It definitely wasn't cheap back then.

* Luhrmann and co. expect you to have some kind of familiarity with late 19th Century France if you're going to go see ''Film/MoulinRouge!''. Some of its most common criticisms come from modern audiences not recognizing the discrepancies between modern society and the way things operated in 1899. For example, a common criticism is that Satine keeps saying she wants to be a real actress, but is already performing every night -- no, no. What she's saying is the equivalent of a modern day porn star saying she wants to become a Hollywood actress. A deleted scene directly acknowledges another critique that can be explained with historical knowledge: Zidler needs the Duke to be his investor because, even in spite of the rich clientele, he's in debt from all he's spent on electricity. It definitely wasn't cheap back then.

* Luhrmann and co. expect you to have some kind of familiarity with late 19th Century France if you're going to go see ''Film/{{MoulinRouge!}}''. Some of its most common criticisms come from modern audiences not recognizing the discrepancies between modern society and the way things operated in 1899. For example, a common criticism is that Satine keeps saying she wants to be a real actress, but is already performing every night -- no, no. What she's saying is the equivalent of a modern day porn star saying she wants to become a Hollywood actress. A deleted scene directly acknowledges another critique that can be explained with historical knowledge: Zidler needs the Duke to be his investor because, even in spite of the rich clientele, he's in debt from all he's spent on electricity. It definitely wasn't cheap back then.