Today, I want to know an example of a famous movie scene that you first encountered in a cartoon parody of the scene.
Pop Culture Theme Time is a feature where I put a question to you to see what you think about a particular theme. I might later revisit the theme for a future Drawing Crazy Patterns or Top Five.
One of the interesting things about cartoons is that when they are parodying famous movie scenes, they typically do it in such a way that even a little kid can understand that the cartoon clearly is referencing SOMEthing, it just isn’t clear to the kid WHAT is being spoofed. You know, characters will suddenly give undue meaning to certain phrases, or talk differently, there’s just a clear sense that there is a reference being made, whether you get it or not.
So I was hoping that you can all share an example of that sort of thing. I’m not going to ask for the FIRST time you saw this, as, well, come on, we’re talking about something you saw as a kid, who can be sure of stuff like that? Instead, I’d just like to hear AN example tht you can recall from your childhood.
For me, I’ll go with 1987’s “Double-O Duck” from the first season of DuckTales, where Launchpad bids farewell to Feathers Galore (obviously, the whole episode, and Feathers’ name, were James Bond references, as well, but obviously I knew about James Bond by then, so that doesn’t count for the purposes of this piece. Feathers Galore would, but I didn’t get the reference at the time). The scene is a spoof on the iconic farewell scene between Rick and Ilsa in Casablanca. It was obvious to me as a kid that it was referencing SOMEthing (and honestly, even before I actually saw the film, I likely figured it was a reference to Casablanca, probably from the scene being shown on various shows as a famous movie clip), but I hadn’t seen the film yet.
Okay, that’s my pick. How about you?
And feel free to suggest future Pop Culture Theme Time topics to me at brian@poprefs.com!
The “Goodfeathers” on Animaniacs would do Joe Pesci’s “You think I’m a CLOWN?!” bit. It was years before I knew where that came from
The first one that comes to mind is The Third Mouse in Pinky and the Brain. It was years before I even knew The Third Man was a movie though it would become one of my favorites.
Maybe the Muppet Babies where “Indiana Frog” races from a runaway boulder, but does it count if the cartoon uses actual footage from the movie being parodied?
Never mind: I just realized I saw the real Raiders of the Lost Ark first.
I thought of a better one: the scene in The Flintstones parodying “The Rain in Spain” from My Fair Lady: “The ants in France stay mainly on the plants “
The 1987 first season finale to “TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES,” episode 5 (“Shredder & Splintered”) featured a recreation of the famous, “It’s alive! IT’S ALIVE!” scene from 1931’s “FRANKENSTEIN.” Only instead of it being Dr. Frankenstein reacting to the monster, it’s the Shredder reacting to the animation of Krang’s android body. It’s almost a shot-for-shot recreation, and it was my first introduction to that scene (when I was 5 years old).
Man, all of the ones shared so far are so good and really bring back memories from my childhood. My first choice would have been the Pinky and the Brain episode homaging The Third Man as well, that one is so good, but I will go with another.
Muppet Babies has already been referenced, and its influences were pretty clear from the intro to the show. I know I first saw actual clips of Yoda on Dagobah on Muppet Babies before I even watched The Empire Strikes Back. But the Muppet Babies reference that stood out to me the most was an episode that was essentially a recreation of The African Queen, starring Humphrey Bogart and Katherine Hepburn. That movie doesn’t get as much attention these days, but in my mind growing up it had to be a classic if the Muppet Babies were parodying it.
By the time I saw cartoons like that I’d usually seen the originals, because I’m old.
An exception, a Bugs Bunny cartoon where he’s constantly running into Bogart saying his “Treasure of the Sierra Madre” line “Can you help out a fellow American who’s down on his luck?” I knew it meant something but I couldn’t figure out what.
I thought it was funny the very day you posted this. we watched The 1968 Yours, Mine, and Ours. there is a scene wheree Philip North wants to use his Step father’s last Beardsley. the nun teacher, insists he use his legal name North.
The teacher then makes him write Phillip North repeatedly on the blackboard. The opening of The Simpsons is laid out exactly the same.
I doubt would have noticed it if you had brought this up.
Just from the cel it looks like they’re doing Gone With the Wind. My pick is all the times Merrie Melodies referenced The Jazz Singer (specifically “Mammy”).
There’s an episode of The Real Ghostbusters called (I think) “You Can’t Take It With You” where they’re called out to bust what is essentially the ghost of Charles Foster Kane. The ghost, who looks and sounds like Orson Welles, roams “Xanadu” calling out for “Rosebud”. At the end he finds Rosebud, his old sled, and happily rides off into the sunset.
When I first saw Citizen Kane it blew my mind!
Okay, I’ve just Googled it and the episode is actually “Ghostbuster of the Year”!
The first one I can remember is a Tiny Toon Adventures episode that I later found out was one long homage to Citizen Kane. Only instead of Rosebud, Buster was trying to figure out what Montana Max saying “Acme” when throwing a tantriym meant, only it turns out he actually said acne because he was mad about having pimples.