Popcultural Osmosis Failure / Referencing Reference Rather Than Original

Pop-Cultural Osmosis Failure examples:

Referencing Reference Rather Than Original

Comic Books

• Robin (1993): In an annual, Huntress tells Robin it was a clever idea of his to wear mirrors under their ponchos (to blind their enemies in a gunfight). He says he got the idea from an old movie. She says "A Fistful of Dollars, huh?" and he replies "No. Back to the Future Part III." This falls into Fridge Logic when considering that Marty got the idea from seeing that very scene from A Fistful of Dollars in Back to the Future Part II, and that Marty had identified himself as Clint Eastwood upon arriving in 1885. But it’s quite possible that Robin was just messing with her given the way he laughs at her reaction.
• The Sandman (1989): In one issue, Matthew the Raven perches on a bust and says "Nevermore!", then says he got it from the Roger Corman movie.
• Superman: In-universe Older Than They Think example has Superboy saying to Superman, "Second star to the right and straight on 'til morning." When Superman says, "Peter Pan. How appropriate." Superboy replies, "What are you talking about? Captain Kirk said that," in reference to Kirk's closing line at the end of the 6th movie where he was clearly quoting Peter Pan.

Comic Strips

• Phoebe and Her Unicorn: In one strip, Marigold says she assumes bird song is about unicorns. Phoebe suggests she just thinks the song is about her because she's so vain.
  Marigold: That song is also about me.
  Phoebe: What song?

Fan Works

• Sword Art Online Abridged: During the first season finale, Kirito and Kayaba have some fun exchanging pop culture references before their big duel, bonding over how no one else gets their references. However, at the end of the fight Kayaba gets disappointed when Kirito misattributes a certain quote during his Shut Up, Hannibal! speech:
  Kirito: I Reject Your Reality, and substitute my own!
  Kayaba: NICE! Dungeonmaster!
  Kirito: Huh?... what?! No! MythBusters! What the hell is "Dungeonmaster"?
  Kayaba: Oh... I was so happy there for a second...

Film- Live-Action

• Aquaman: Played with. Arthur and Mera hide in a whale's mouth to evade Atlantis's army, with Arthur stating he got the idea from Pinocchio. Later, a little girl repays Mera's kindness by giving her a copy of a Pinocchio storybook. Mera is aghast that Arthur risked their lives on an idea he got from a book, to which he replies "It was a book?"

Live-Action TV

• Brooklyn Nine-Nine: The normally Pop-Cultured Badass Jake references Iago, the character from Othello, under the impression that the name is originally Jafar's parrot from Aladdin
• The Coroner: In "Life", Davey quotes a line from Shakespeare which he had heard in and associated with Game of Thrones.
• QI: Jeremy Clarkson once dodged a forfeit through this trope: He answered the question "What has twenty legs, five heads, and can't reach its own nuts?" with a Boy Band that was too old for the QI elves to have listed it (namely, Westlife). Upon being informed that the trope was in play, co-panelist Jimmy Carr then forfeited on purpose with a more recent addition. (Which falls flat anyway — a five-member boy-band would have 10 legs, not 20...)

Music

• From the comments on YouTube, it appears that many think that "The Devil Went Down to Jamaica" is the original and "The Devil Went Down to Georgia" is the parody.

Webcomics

• Arthur, King of Time and Space: One strip starts with Arthur's journal/Life embellished webcomic, with several of the characters playing cards. Gawaine says, "He who steals these cards steals trash," Pellinore replies, "You can't beat the classics", and Gawaine asks if he's a M*A*S*H fan too. Cut to the real-world Gawaine saying, "I don't get it," because Arthur's portrayal of him as not knowing the line is a paraphrase of Othello is completely accurate.

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