Entertainment For Lively Minds
Just an Allusion
Copies of “A Christmas Carol” in my local supermarket got me thinking about the persistent appeal of this story and also how Scrooge is universally recognised as a symbol of greed and miserliness. How many other literary allusions can be made these days with confidence that almost any audience will immediately understand the meaning? Put another way, what allusions might you expect to find (without any further explanation) in a tabloid newspaper? Here’s the ones I can think of:
Scrooge
Romeo
Catch 22
Achilles Heel
Trojan Horse
A pretty short list. “Big Brother” would have been in there 10 years ago but the original allusion has long been superseded. Sadly, “Walter Mitty” would probably now fail the Tabloid Test. There must be more - are there any others you can think of?
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Lady MacBeth
and for our US cousins " The Grinch "
Possibly
Not sure if everyone would get the "Lady Macbeth" allusion though - maybe they would. "Lord of the Flies" might also make it.
Ministry of Truth
perhaps ?
Room 101?
Fagin? But it’s mostly telly nowadays
Allusions to telly/comic characters that are instantly understood have probably replaced literary ones. Off the top of my head, I’d suggest:
Mr. Bean
Del Boy
Arthur Daley
Mavis Riley
Roy Of The Rovers
Millie Tant and Sid The Sexist
Loadsamoney
“Tory Boy”
Wayne & Waynetta Slob
Vicki Pollard
And, apparently my daughter’s Business Studies teacher “just like so is David Brent”
I’m sure there are plenty more.
(Update: Haven’t touched on films. Fatal Attraction brought us “bunny boiler”)
Viz has been a particularly rich source
In addition to Millie Tant and Sid the Sexist you'll often hear references to Modern Parents, Student Grant and the Fat Slags (on Saturday evening the conversation turned to the Bottom Inspectors, but that seems to be less common).
The expression 'completely hatstand' from Roger Irrelevant is in common use too.
Fnar
fnar
Svengali?
Mr. Chips?
Billy Liar?
Little Lord Fauntleroy?
Dorian Gray?
Sherlock Holmes?
Heathcliff?
Shylock?
Oliver Twist?
Yep
Some good ones there, though I have to say if someone said to me "He's a bit of a Heathcliff that one" I would have no idea what they were meaning...
Not in that context...
...but it's not uncommon for women to talk about attractive men having a Heathcliff quality.
Not so much Fagin and Shylock these days
due to the risk of anti-semitic interpretation.
Most of the following would pass the Tabloid Test:
Lothario is a literary reference (according to yesterday afternoon's Round Britian Quiz)
Rip Van Winkle
Peter Pan
Mad Hatter
Gandalf
Gollum
King Midas
Casanova
Lady Chatterley
Lolita
And I think I'd better stop there.
Star Wars
If you were to mention Jedi Mind Tricks most people would know what you're on about. I've seen that used in pieces on Labour Spin Doctors for instance.
And a lot of people would get references to a Man Of Steel, or a caped crusader.
Jedi Mind Tricks...
You mean the rap ensemble, yes?
As uttered by Gollum.......
Preciousssssss!!!
Strange Case
Jekyll and Hyde.
Nice One
No one would have any doubt what is meant by this
Devious
Machiavelli still gets used sometimes, usually in a piece on Mandelson. Robin Hood crops up from time to time as well.
I think Daleks
have replaced Big Brother in regard to single-minded bureaucracy and/or totalitarianism (cf Birtspeak 2.0 in Private Eye).
new
What about Casanova?Or am I on the wrong track again?
Bluebeard
...though it's a little dated
Frankenstein..
..always crops up whenever there's a public panic about some scientific development - Frankenstein Foods being the most recent I think.
There are loads
Jeeves and Bertie Wooster.
Hercule Poirot.
Oliver Twist.
Hamlet.
Romeo.
Frankenstein's Monster.
Oedipus.
Faust.
Falstaff.
Most of these would mean at least something to people who hadn't read the books or seen the plays.
Jeeves and Wooster
I thought these were household names: They are in my household, but not everywhere it seems...
I recently did some family history research on Percy Jeeves, the cricketer who inspired PG Wodehouse'a choice of name for Bertie Wooster's personal gentleman. The main thrust was "Are the modern-day descendants of this family aware of their literary legacy?". I traced and contacted a load of descendants, and they were split about 50:50 as to whether or not they knew of their family connection with the character.
One of them, a British adult of sufficient intelligence to use email, hadn't even heard of the character.
I have a cunning plan...
I described someone recently as 'Baldrick'; most of those listening got it; to my surprise a few had no idea what the hell I was talking about.
Although not literary, I have a feeling that using 'Madoff' as a shorthand for a big-league financial crook will become more common in the future.