# Have any popular, cool media franchises / works of fiction inspired real-life societal progress? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** star-trek-paramount\ **Created:** [June 5, 2025, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-any-popular-cool-media-franchises-works-of-fiction-inspired-real-life-societal-progress/1019245 "2025-06-05T23:32:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![themapleleaf](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/themapleleaf/32/14349_2.png) [@themapleleaf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/themapleleaf)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2025, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-any-popular-cool-media-franchises-works-of-fiction-inspired-real-life-societal-progress/1019245/1 "2025-06-05T23:32:18Z")
I’m wondering if any bestseller novels, cult TV shows, blockbuster movies, or other fictional media in recent decades inspired actual societal movements or progress on certain social issues due to some element in their fictional plot that proved inspiring to people in real life? Let me explain what I mean by contrasting two books from the past that inspired major social change. On one hand, we have Betty Friedan’s 1963 monograph _The Feminine Mystique_ This book is a work of non-fiction. Its discussion of the dissatisfaction that actual American housewives reported as regards their day-to-day existence apparently almost single-handedly inspired second-wave feminisim. First-wave feminism had in many places achieved giving women the right to vote and hold public office, as well as to reduce the power their husbands had over them (in short, to disentitle husbands from their wives’ property and from having direct physical custody of their wives). Second wave feminism brought about the current state of affairs where women have complete or near complete legal equality with men inasmuch as they must not be discriminated in the workplace, must be paid the same for equal work, cannot be required to get their husband’s countersignature on contracts, and so on. On the other hand, there is Harriet Beecher Stowe’s 1852 novel _Uncle Tom’s Cabin_. This one is a work of fiction; however, it made people in the Northern United States, who up until then often had a colored and idealized idea of the lives of Black slaves received from parodies of the latter in minstrel shows, aware of the harsh lives of slaves on plantations. Fast forward 13 years (and a civil war), and slavery is illegal across the USA. Both books have in common their having done a lot to change public opinion, leading to changes in laws with a view to give relief to a discriminated class of people. But whereas the former was a plain factual account of the status quo, the latter was a popular novel. What I’m wondering, can we find for any more recent social issue a parallel to _Uncle Tom_ among the fictional media from the 1980s or 1990s until today? Can anything that modern society received from _Star Wars_, _Star Trek_, _Harry Potter_, or any other recent franchise or standalone work in any fictional format (novel, series, TV series, and so on) be said to have inspired social change, if not (ultimately) changes in legislation, on any issue (LGBTQA rights, further waves of feminism, the rights of racial groups, or anything else)? Put another way, has any work of fiction in recent times ended up effectively inspiring society as if it were a manifesto for an issue? ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2025, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-any-popular-cool-media-franchises-works-of-fiction-inspired-real-life-societal-progress/1019245/2 "2025-06-05T23:45:30Z")
Deleted by poster. I see I didn’t answer the question as asked. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2025, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-any-popular-cool-media-franchises-works-of-fiction-inspired-real-life-societal-progress/1019245/3 "2025-06-06T00:04:38Z")
Upton Sinclair’s 1905 _The Jungle_ spurred Theodore Roosevelt to send inspectors to Chicago meatpacking plants. Their report forced Congress to pass the [first food safety laws](https://www.history.com/articles/upton-sinclair-the-jungle-us-food-safety-reforms). Somewhat ironically, food safety was not Sinclair’s goal. He had intended the novel to call attention to the plight of the workers. ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2025, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-any-popular-cool-media-franchises-works-of-fiction-inspired-real-life-societal-progress/1019245/4 "2025-06-06T00:04:59Z")
**Kent\_Clark** beat me to it. I was literally just typing up about Upton Sinclair and _The Jungle._ ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2025, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-any-popular-cool-media-franchises-works-of-fiction-inspired-real-life-societal-progress/1019245/5 "2025-06-06T00:06:05Z")
> [@Kent\_Clark](#): > > Upton Sinclair’s 1905 _The Jungle_ That was my answer too but the OP wants something after 1980. Also, interestingly, Sinclair wanted the book to spur socialism. Sinclair once said, “I aimed at the public’s heart, and by accident I hit it in the stomach.” So, he achieved change but not the change he wanted. ---
**Author:** ![Procrustus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/procrustus/32/2994_2.png) [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2025, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-any-popular-cool-media-franchises-works-of-fiction-inspired-real-life-societal-progress/1019245/6 "2025-06-06T00:10:09Z")
_War Games_ helped the “no nukes” movement? According to wikipedia, it did more to alert computer administrators the dangers of hacking. > Reagan’s interest in the film is credited with leading to the enactment 18 months later of [NSDD-145](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_security_directive), the first [Presidential directive](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Presidential_directive) on computer security. ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2025, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-any-popular-cool-media-franchises-works-of-fiction-inspired-real-life-societal-progress/1019245/7 "2025-06-06T00:15:34Z")
> [@Procrustus](#): > > _War Games_ helped the “no nukes” movement? I’m not seeing this. The message of the film was “The only winning move is not to play.” That was not something new and unknown. It was genuinely not a bug, but a feature. Mutually Assured Destruction was a massive deterrent. The US got the first nuclear bombs. We used both of them on Japan. The idea that starting a nuclear exchange would result in basically the end of the world- and definitely the end of the USA and USSR kept either side from launching. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2025, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-any-popular-cool-media-franchises-works-of-fiction-inspired-real-life-societal-progress/1019245/8 "2025-06-06T00:16:02Z")
I missed that part of the question. I’d say it’s more difficult in an era of multiple mass media to single out one particular work as the inspiration for an entire social movement- or even a trend. ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2025, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-any-popular-cool-media-franchises-works-of-fiction-inspired-real-life-societal-progress/1019245/9 "2025-06-06T00:19:54Z")
I would suggest: - **The Feminine Mystique** by Betty Friedan. It was published in the 60s but its effects went well into the 80s and beyond for gender equality. - **And the Band Played On** by Randy Shilts. It really helped change the discussion around the AIDS epidemic and spurred activism and certainly was a part of getting homosexuals out of the closet and into the mainstream of public life (Shilts died from HIV a few years later). ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2025, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-any-popular-cool-media-franchises-works-of-fiction-inspired-real-life-societal-progress/1019245/10 "2025-06-06T00:20:02Z")
Not “progress” but definitely a societal movement mostly propagated online was inspired by _The Matrix_ series that literally has millions of people rejecting the very concept of reality. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2025, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-any-popular-cool-media-franchises-works-of-fiction-inspired-real-life-societal-progress/1019245/11 "2025-06-06T00:23:32Z")
> [@Whack-a-Mole](#): > > **The Feminine Mystique** by Betty Friedan. It was published in the 60s but its effects went well into the 80s. I we are going back to the 1960s about works with a lasting influence on current societal well being, don’t forget Ralph Nader’s **Unsafe at Any Speed** ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2025, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-any-popular-cool-media-franchises-works-of-fiction-inspired-real-life-societal-progress/1019245/12 "2025-06-06T00:58:17Z")
Silent Spring, though I don’t think it’s fictional. ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2025, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-any-popular-cool-media-franchises-works-of-fiction-inspired-real-life-societal-progress/1019245/13 "2025-06-06T01:17:05Z")
Alongside of Betty Friedan, there was Marilyn French’s _The Womens’ Room_ which was widely read and provocatively controversial. It fleshed out many of Friedan’s major points in dialogue and character situations. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2025, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-any-popular-cool-media-franchises-works-of-fiction-inspired-real-life-societal-progress/1019245/14 "2025-06-06T01:32:30Z")
Ayn Rand’s works have motivated the political views of a number of people. ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2025, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-any-popular-cool-media-franchises-works-of-fiction-inspired-real-life-societal-progress/1019245/15 "2025-06-06T01:49:22Z")
**Oliver Twist** triggered a reform movement. **Wag the Dog** didn’t, but it very likely prevented escalation of American involvement in wars in Sudan and Yugoslavia in the wake of Clinton’s personal scandals. ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2025, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-any-popular-cool-media-franchises-works-of-fiction-inspired-real-life-societal-progress/1019245/16 "2025-06-06T02:41:40Z")
The Handmaid’s tale, but that is more of a cautionary tale of what could go wrong if people don’t start fighting back harder. However it does seem to inspire people to resist fascism and misogyny. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2025, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-any-popular-cool-media-franchises-works-of-fiction-inspired-real-life-societal-progress/1019245/17 "2025-06-06T03:00:32Z")
[Moderating] Oh, and since this has some measure of subjectivity, but is about fiction, CS is probably a better fit. Moving. ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2025, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-any-popular-cool-media-franchises-works-of-fiction-inspired-real-life-societal-progress/1019245/18 "2025-06-06T03:05:27Z")
If we are going there I would suggest: - **The End of Nature** by Bill McKibben - **This Changes Everything** by Naomi Klein ---
**Author:** ![Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eyebrows_0f_doom/32/3119_2.png) [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2025, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-any-popular-cool-media-franchises-works-of-fiction-inspired-real-life-societal-progress/1019245/19 "2025-06-06T03:23:32Z")
> [@Whack-a-Mole](#): > > - **The Feminine Mystique** by Betty Friedan. It was published in the 60s but its effects went well into the 80s and beyond for gender equality. Literally half the OP is talking about this book. ---
**Author:** ![WOOKINPANUBv.2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wookinpanubv.2/32/3260_2.png) [@WOOKINPANUBv.2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WOOKINPANUBv.2)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2025, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-any-popular-cool-media-franchises-works-of-fiction-inspired-real-life-societal-progress/1019245/20 "2025-06-06T03:38:40Z")
I’m not sure if this fits, but Ted Lasso seemed to inspire a wave of positivity / step back from cynical humor. I remember noticing it at the height of its success, but damn if I can think of any examples at the moment. I just remember what I perceived as a move toward a kinder brand of humor. It was nice while it lasted. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-any-popular-cool-media-franchises-works-of-fiction-inspired-real-life-societal-progress/1019245.md?page=2)