# What fiction films have had the greatest effects on the ‘real’ world? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 15, 2016, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-fiction-films-have-had-the-greatest-effects-on-the-real-world/749081 "2016-03-15T16:20:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2016, 6:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-fiction-films-have-had-the-greatest-effects-on-the-real-world/749081/61 "2016-03-22T06:07:18Z")
_One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest_ – [Novel](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One_Flew_Over_the_Cuckoo%27s_Nest_%28novel%29) by Ken Kesey (1962), and the [movie](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One_Flew_Over_the_Cuckoo%27s_Nest_%28film%29) (1975) starring Jack Nicholson and Louise Fletcher. The popular rebellion against forced institutionalization in mental hospitals, and against the degrading institutional treatment and forced medications and electroshock treatments, was already a growing movement, I believe. The book and the movie further planted the distrust of mental institutions in the public mind, and I think was instrumental in the movement towards de-institutionalizing the mentally ill. The [Rosenhan Pseudo-Patient Experiment](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosenhan_experiment), published in 1973, was also done in about that same time period: [On Being Sane in Insane Places](http://www.bonkersinstitute.org/rosenhan.html) also contributed very much to the popular distrust of all things psychiatric. I think this also gave a big boost to Jack Nicholson’s acting career. His prior main movies, such as _Easy Rider_ and _Five Easy Pieces_ I think were seen more as cultural niche films. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2016, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-fiction-films-have-had-the-greatest-effects-on-the-real-world/749081/62 "2016-03-22T14:40:05Z")
Robocop – there is now a real company named OCP selling movie products like _Brawndo_. ---
**Author:** ![Sailboat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sailboat/32/461_2.png) [@Sailboat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sailboat)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2016, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-fiction-films-have-had-the-greatest-effects-on-the-real-world/749081/63 "2016-03-22T15:29:00Z")
> [@JoseB](#): > > Four years later, the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty was signed and in Reagan’s memoirs he drew a direct line from the film to the signing.[16] Not influential, but Saturday Night Live succinctly summed up the reasoning that led to the treaty. At the time, it was being recognized that forward-based nuclear weapons were vulnerable to being overrun in the early hours of a military crisis, creating unbearable pressure to “use them or lose them.” In an SNL skit mimicking those current-events roundtable shows where talking heads argue and bloviate, Phil Hartmann’s Frankenstein’s Monster was asked his opinion on forward-based intermediate nuclear forces. “FIRE BAD!” the monster bellowed, his signature phrase. Becoming agitated, he had to be calmed by his fellow talking heads. And in a nutshell, that’s the single thought that drove both nations to the bargaining table. ---
**Author:** ![furryman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/furryman/32/99_2.png) [@furryman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furryman)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2016, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-fiction-films-have-had-the-greatest-effects-on-the-real-world/749081/64 "2016-03-22T16:06:53Z")
> [@Boyo\_Jim](#): > > Robocop – there is now a real company named OCP selling movie products like _Brawndo_. Looking on Google I see a bunch of T-Shirts, mugs, cups and even some phones. Is there actually somebody selling Brawndo energy drink? ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2016, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-fiction-films-have-had-the-greatest-effects-on-the-real-world/749081/65 "2016-03-22T16:15:00Z")
> [@furryman](#): > > Looking on Google I see a bunch of T-Shirts, mugs, cups and even some phones. Is there actually somebody selling Brawndo energy drink? [http://www.omniconsumerproductscorporation.com/](http://www.omniconsumerproductscorporation.com/) ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2016, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-fiction-films-have-had-the-greatest-effects-on-the-real-world/749081/66 "2016-03-22T16:18:17Z")
Does it have electrolytes? ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2016, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-fiction-films-have-had-the-greatest-effects-on-the-real-world/749081/67 "2016-03-22T16:19:23Z")
Nothing but. ---
**Author:** ![drad\_dog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@drad\_dog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drad_dog)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2016, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-fiction-films-have-had-the-greatest-effects-on-the-real-world/749081/68 "2016-03-22T17:23:06Z")
> [@Senegoid](#): > > _One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest_ – [Novel](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One_Flew_Over_the_Cuckoo%27s_Nest_%28novel%29) by Ken Kesey (1962), and the [movie](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One_Flew_Over_the_Cuckoo%27s_Nest_%28film%29) (1975) starring Jack Nicholson and Louise Fletcher. > > The popular rebellion against forced institutionalization in mental hospitals, and against the degrading institutional treatment and forced medications and electroshock treatments, was already a growing movement, I believe. The book and the movie further planted the distrust of mental institutions in the public mind, and I think was instrumental in the movement towards de-institutionalizing the mentally ill. > > The [Rosenhan Pseudo-Patient Experiment](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosenhan_experiment), published in 1973, was also done in about that same time period: [On Being Sane in Insane Places](http://www.bonkersinstitute.org/rosenhan.html) also contributed very much to the popular distrust of all things psychiatric. > > I think this also gave a big boost to Jack Nicholson’s acting career. His prior main movies, such as _Easy Rider_ and _Five Easy Pieces_ I think were seen more as cultural niche films. I don’t think Cuckoos nest was very effective at all. There is also a difference between “humanization”, which was of the 60’s, and de- institutionalization which was of the Reagan era and not humane at all. If you want a film that changed things see this: > **[Titicut Follies](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Titicut_Follies)** > > Titicut Follies is a 1967 American direct cinema documentary film produced, written, and directed by Frederick Wiseman and filmed by John Marshall. It deals with the patient-inmates of Bridgewater State Hospital for the Criminally Insane, a Massachusetts Correctional Institution in Bridgewater, Massachusetts. The title is taken from that of a talent show put on by the hospital staff. Titicut is the Wampanoag name for the nearby Taunton River. > The film won accolades in Germany and Italy. Wiseman ... ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2016, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-fiction-films-have-had-the-greatest-effects-on-the-real-world/749081/69 "2016-03-22T17:39:00Z")
Leni Riefenstahl’s _Triumph of the Will_ had some pretty substantial RW effects, too. ---
**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:** [March 23, 2016, 11:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-fiction-films-have-had-the-greatest-effects-on-the-real-world/749081/70 "2016-03-23T11:56:42Z")
> [@PastTense](#): > > So no one can think of any impact James Bond movies had? Fifty years in, I don’t have a jet pack yet, or even a suitcase helicopter. But hey, didn’t Roger Moore kind of invent snowboarding? ---
**Author:** ![TV\_time](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f17d59/32.png) [@TV\_time](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TV_time)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2016, 1:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-fiction-films-have-had-the-greatest-effects-on-the-real-world/749081/71 "2016-03-23T13:05:37Z")
> [@Horatio\_Hellpop](#): > > Fifty years in, I don’t have a jet pack yet, or even a suitcase helicopter. But hey, didn’t Roger Moore kind of invent snowboarding? Hey! I have a car that lays down a oil slick…Well, I guess that has more to do with the hole in my oil pan than wanting to be like Bond, though. ---
**Author:** ![TV\_time](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f17d59/32.png) [@TV\_time](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TV_time)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2016, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-fiction-films-have-had-the-greatest-effects-on-the-real-world/749081/72 "2016-03-23T13:19:52Z")
It was said at the time the film came out and a few years after that every time \*The Longest Day \*played in a town, enlistments in the military went up. I had a professor who contended that the films that had the most effect on society were _Birth of a Nation_ (mentioned earlier) and _Battleship Potemkin_. He contended that _Battleship Potemkin_ could be credited with keeping the Soviet Union afloat on a number of occasions early in existence. ---
**Author:** ![gallows\_fodder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8c91f0/32.png) [@gallows\_fodder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gallows_fodder)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2016, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-fiction-films-have-had-the-greatest-effects-on-the-real-world/749081/73 "2016-03-23T22:47:17Z")
The 1948 film **The Snake Pit** (great film, btw) catalyzed legislation to improve conditions in mental institutions in half the states in the nation (or so the studio. [claimed](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Snake_Pit#Impact)). ---
**Author:** ![JustinC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justinc/32/8083_2.png) [@JustinC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JustinC)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2016, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-fiction-films-have-had-the-greatest-effects-on-the-real-world/749081/74 "2016-03-24T15:55:46Z")
Possibly **The Truman Show** popularised reality TV, which was a very small part of television back then. **Trainspotting** certainly took the lustre off ‘heroin chic’. A certain movie may have led to people buying less shit they don’t need with money they don’t have. **Saving Private Ryan** was a lot of positive PR for the war industry after the self-admonishing Vietnam War movies. There are plenty of examples like **Lord of the Rings** which promoted countries as holiday destinations. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2016, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-fiction-films-have-had-the-greatest-effects-on-the-real-world/749081/75 "2016-03-24T16:12:24Z")
On that note, we may yet find that _The Martian_ helped reinvigorate interest and confidence in the manned spaceflight program. ---
**Author:** ![Jeff\_Lichtman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jeff_lichtman/32/1531_2.png) [@Jeff\_Lichtman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jeff_Lichtman)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2016, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-fiction-films-have-had-the-greatest-effects-on-the-real-world/749081/76 "2016-03-24T16:16:18Z")
> [@JustinC](#): > > A certain movie may have led to people buying less shit they don’t need with money they don’t have. What movie was this? ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2016, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-fiction-films-have-had-the-greatest-effects-on-the-real-world/749081/77 "2016-03-24T16:28:37Z")
> [@ElvisL1ves](#): > > On that note, we may yet find that _The Martian_ helped reinvigorate interest and confidence in the manned spaceflight program. Somehow this made me think of [this other thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=19205908#post19205908) where a bunch of college students who were offended by “Trump 2016” _sidewalk chalkings_ couldn’t figure out anything better to do about it than protest to the school’s president. ---
**Author:** ![Stanislaus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stanislaus/32/3391_2.png) [@Stanislaus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stanislaus)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2016, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-fiction-films-have-had-the-greatest-effects-on-the-real-world/749081/78 "2016-03-24T16:38:42Z")
> [@buddha\_david](#): > > After the release of the film _Sideways_ (2004), sales of Merlot dropped by 2%, while Pinot Noir sales increased 16%. > [@ElvisL1ves](#): > > [A single line](http://www.usatoday.com/story/life/movies/2014/10/06/sideways-killed-merlot/15901489/) in the film _Sideways_ depressed sales of Merlot wine for years. It gets better than that. French growers were in a real bind. The demand for Pinot Noir outstripped the supply, while there was a plentiful supply of Merlot nobody wanted. What to do, what to do? > [@](#): > > [The answer was simple](http://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/feb/17/gallo-conned-french-fake-pinot-noir): the bottles being labelled pinot noir were in fact wine made from merlot or shiraz As a result of this scam, directly caused by Sideways’ influence on the US wine market: 1. Ernst and Gallo paid €7m for the wrong wine 2. The people behind it were eventually jailed and reputations were damaged for years. 3. A lot of easily influenced clowns who had made great play of how wonderful the “Pinot Noir” they were drinking was and how superior it was to plonk like Merlot found that they had, in fact, been drinking Merlot all along. ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2016, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-fiction-films-have-had-the-greatest-effects-on-the-real-world/749081/79 "2016-03-24T16:51:52Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > Why what? > > Why do they do it? > > As I say, it’s an old Jewish tradition, apparently: > [Home - Jewish Cemetery Association of MA](http://www.jcam.org/Pages/Foundation/visitationstones.htm) I’ve always been told that it’s a symbolic building of a monument. When I was a kid, I once asked a rabbi in a religious school Q&A if you can leave stones on gentile graves, and was told that it was fine, so I guess by the same token, anyone who wants to adopt the tradition is welcome to it. It’s not like keeping kosher, which the Torah says is specifically for the people of Israel, and not incumbent upon anyone else. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2016, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-fiction-films-have-had-the-greatest-effects-on-the-real-world/749081/80 "2016-03-24T17:00:33Z")
The Wallace and Gromit films definitely had an effect on the financial well-being of Wensleydale cheese (which I’d never heard of before seeing _A Grand Day Out_. Wikipedia says: > [@](#): > > In the 1990s, sales of Wensleydale cheese had fallen so low that production was at risk of being suspended.[11] However, the popular Wallace and Gromit animated shorts A Grand Day Out and A Close Shave had the main character Wallace, a cheese connoisseur, mention Wensleydale as a particularly favourite cheese. Animator Nick Park chose it solely because it had a good name that would be interesting to animate rather than due to its origins in northern England where the shorts were set. He was also unaware of the financial difficulties that the company was experiencing.[12] The company contacted Aardman Animations about a licence for a special brand of “Wallace and Gromit Wensleydale”, which proved to be an enormous success.[13] When the 2005 full-length Wallace and Gromit film, Curse of the Were-Rabbit, was released, sales of Wensleydale cheeses increased by 23%.[14][15] I recall seeing Wensleydale cheese with a Wallace and Gromit label on it when _Curse of the Were Rabbit_ came out. [https://www.google.com/search?q=wensleydale+cheese+wallace+and+gromit&biw=1920&bih=934&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&sqi=2&ved=0ahUKEwjak7Sc5dnLAhUN1WMKHSh\_ATcQsAQIGw#imgrc=hMPw3osvrrJQgM%3A](https://www.google.com/search?q=wensleydale+cheese+wallace+and+gromit&biw=1920&bih=934&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&sqi=2&ved=0ahUKEwjak7Sc5dnLAhUN1WMKHSh_ATcQsAQIGw#imgrc=hMPw3osvrrJQgM%3A) [http://wallaceandgromit.net/wensleydale.php](http://wallaceandgromit.net/wensleydale.php) On the other hand, mentioning “Wensleydale cheese” in the Monty Python cheese sketch certainly didn’t have such a big effect on the cheese: > [@](#): > > Wensleydale was one of the cheeses named by John Cleese in the Monty Python sketch “The Cheese Shop”, which originally appeared in a 1972 episode of Monty Python’s Flying Circus. In addition, the shop owner, played by Michael Palin, was named ‘Henry Wensleydale’, which caused some confusion between the two when the cheese was mentioned. ] > **[Wensleydale cheese](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wensleydale_cheese)** > > Wensleydale is a style of cheese originally produced in Wensleydale, North Yorkshire, England, but now mostly made in large commercial creameries throughout the United Kingdom. The term "Yorkshire Wensleydale" can only be used for cheese that is made in Wensleydale. The style of cheese originated from a monastery of French Cistercian monks who had settled in northern England, and continued to be produced by local farmers after the monastery was dissolved in 1540. Wensleydale cheese fell to We... See also here: > **[Wallace and Gromit's favourite Wensleydale helps British food exports surge](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/foodanddrink/5000965/Wallace-and-Gromits-favourite-Wensleydale-helps-British-food-exports-surge.html)** > > Wensleydale, the Yorkshire cheese beloved of the animated pair Wallace and Gromit, has helped British food exports enjoy a surge in trade. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-fiction-films-have-had-the-greatest-effects-on-the-real-world/749081.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-fiction-films-have-had-the-greatest-effects-on-the-real-world/749081.md?page=5)