Sorry to be a smarty pants but devils advocate and Sophie’s choice are both real things
Catholics use a devils advocate to argue against their serious decisions like beatification
Sophie’s choice allegedly really happened
Godfather is also something true from history, mafia dons were named godfather to people under their control, especially in the bandit days
In my sad life ‘the force’ is probably the most referenced thing from a film
Psst, RNATB, re-read bibliophage’s quote.
I’ll also add Inception, for anything with a microcosm of itself nested inside it (or preferably, multiple layers of same).
I think “Lolita” as a term for a certain type of girl was more popularized from the Kubrick movie than from the original Nabokov novel. In the book Lol was 12 while in the movie she was supposed to be at least 14 (Sue Lyons was 16). Which means the term has been extended to include young teens.
I thought 1589 was a typo. Now I see it was a whoosh. :smack:
Sophie’s Choice is based on a novel of the same name, not a real-life story.
digression: “Sophie’s Choice” - The novel, beautiful and wonderfully written. has stood the test of time better than the film. But the OP should see the movie if only to understand why Meryl Streep is considered a great actress.
I hear “there’s a glitch in the Matrix” fairly often to describe random events, deja vu, and weird quirky things in general.
Just out of curiosity, how popular was the term “Psycho” before Hitchcock’s 1960 film? Anybody know? (I’m asking a real question here.)
“Mommy Dearest” certainly ought to be on any list of film title neologisms.
Sophie’s Choice has been covered by others, but your other two are also wrong. The Catholic Church abolished the Devil’s Advocate decades ago and Godfather was adapted by the Mafia because they liked Puzo’s novel/the movie so much.
In Italian, the word for godfather is “compare.” In Sicily, it’s been bastardized into “cumpari.”
Before Mario Puzo, “Cumpari” was a term that a Sicilian peasant would use for his pal. If you’ve heard a stereotypical movie or TV Italian refer to a buddy as “My goombah,” well, that’s a further bastardiztion of the word for godfather.
No ordinary Sicilian would have addressed a feared crime boss with a term meant for a pal. Only Carlo Gambino’s closest cronies would have dared call him that. He’d have taken it as a sign of disrespect from anyone else.
We’ve been discussing our concerns with our daughter’s playmate in the terms, “She was all Single White Female with that other girl.”
Cruela De Vil pops up more than I would think.
“The Horse Whisperer” has given rise to at least a TV show called “The Dog Whisperer,” and I’ve heard of other terms where the animal’s name should be.
Two come to mind for me.* Peyton Place* and Fail Safe. Of course, both had very successful books predate the movie, but they could still qualify.
Pollyanna – an excessively or blindly optimistic person. (Random House Dictionary, via Dictionary.com)
“Stepford Wife” used to describe a certain type of woman.
And “Peter Pan” has actually become a psychological definition for a male who won’t commit or grow up.
Daydreamers are often compared to Walter Mitty.
Many great examples. Thanks folks. And yeah, even if a movie only popularized it, I think it still counts for what I’m looking for (kind of like the Bucket List thing I think).
There are so many more of these than I realized! Rain Man is definitely one I hear a LOT in my life.
Didn’t realize Sophie’s Choice was a book before it was a film but that doesn’t surprise me.
I’ve heard Deliverance used to describe certain…backwoods situations.