# 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:** 6
**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 25, 2016, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-fiction-films-have-had-the-greatest-effects-on-the-real-world/749081/101 "2016-03-25T17:34:12Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > I’ve never seen any evidence that _Fight Club_ had _any_ impact on the amount of stuff people buy, or consumerism in general. On the other hand, a bunch of people started real-life fight clubs around the country. Are you familiar with the website [http://www.zerohedge.com/](http://www.zerohedge.com/)? I read it for entertainment purposes only (\*\*not \*\*educational), when eating lunch. Spend enough time there and you’ll see the spirit of Tyler is alive and well. ---
**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:** [March 25, 2016, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-fiction-films-have-had-the-greatest-effects-on-the-real-world/749081/102 "2016-03-25T17:41:11Z")
OK, so that website exists. What does it have to do with any impact on the amount of stuff people buy? ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2016, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-fiction-films-have-had-the-greatest-effects-on-the-real-world/749081/103 "2016-03-25T17:44:01Z")
> [@Jennshark](#): > > Idiots getting Border Collies after seeing _Babe_ (much like 101 _Dalmations_ landed many Dalmations in shelters after folks figured out they’re not great with kids). > > Most BCs are hyper-driven, scary-smart dogs who need lots of running room and intellectual stimulation (at least mine do; they have an acre+ to run on and go to herding classes). > > A lot of beautiful BCs ended up in shelters :mad: Cite that Dalmatians are not good with kids? _Dalmatians will get along with other pets and children if socialized as a puppy with all types of pets and people. Dalmatians can make a wonderful active playmate for children (with proper supervision to be sure that both the child and the dog are following acceptable rules for behavior)._ Read more at [Dalmatian Dog Breed Information and Characteristics](http://dogtime.com/dog-breeds/dalmatian#GoDOrcZuC3WTS0Lg.99) [http://www.dalmatianwelfare.co.uk/living-with/children/](http://www.dalmatianwelfare.co.uk/living-with/children/) But yes, border collies , Australian shepherds, some huskies, etc are scary smart, and should only be got as pet after research. ---
**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 25, 2016, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-fiction-films-have-had-the-greatest-effects-on-the-real-world/749081/104 "2016-03-25T18:13:00Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > OK, so that website exists. What does it have to do with any impact on the amount of stuff people buy? Try joining up and read some threads. Use a phrase like “buying shit you don’t need…etc” and you’re mostly preaching to the converted. Quite a few take it further and talk about their stock of ammo and dried foods and stacks of silver, but the general level is a resistance to commercialism and the messages from the MSM. The movie could’ve been a symptom of a trend away from commercialism and conspicuous consumption for most, I don’t know but it was released in 1999 so I doubt it, but it may have been a catalyst for some. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2016, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-fiction-films-have-had-the-greatest-effects-on-the-real-world/749081/105 "2016-03-26T19:15:30Z")
Willie Wonka and The Chocolate Factory led to Wonka Candies. Odd, because Dahl’s book was Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. The book and movie The Stepford Wives led to the adjective “stepford.” ---
**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 27, 2016, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-fiction-films-have-had-the-greatest-effects-on-the-real-world/749081/106 "2016-03-27T00:41:44Z")
_The Simpsons_ led to the adjective “cromulent.” ---
**Author:** ![Martini\_Enfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/martini_enfield/32/11123_2.png) [@Martini\_Enfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martini_Enfield)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2016, 9:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-fiction-films-have-had-the-greatest-effects-on-the-real-world/749081/107 "2016-03-27T09:51:46Z")
I think _The Matrix_ was responsible for a resurgence in neo-Zen philosophy stuff (“There is no spoon”), along with the idea that we’re all just living in a computer simulation. I know it wasn’t the first piece of fiction with that scenario, but it’s certainly the one that brought it to the forefront of popular culture. ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2016, 12:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-fiction-films-have-had-the-greatest-effects-on-the-real-world/749081/108 "2016-03-27T12:32:22Z")
> [@JoseB](#): > > About [The Day After](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Day_After), the Wikipedia article mentions that it influenced policymakers. Copypasting from there: > > _President Ronald Reagan watched the film several days before its screening, on November 5, 1983. He wrote in his diary that the film was “very effective and left me greatly depressed,”[16] and that it changed his mind on the prevailing policy on a “nuclear war”.[18] The film was also screened for the Joint Chiefs of Staff. A government advisor who attended the screening, a friend of Meyer’s [Meyer was the director of the film], told him “If you wanted to draw blood, you did it. Those guys sat there like they were turned to stone.” 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]_ …didn’t the [Strategic Defense Initiative](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strategic_Defense_Initiative), although proposed in '83, really start development around then, too? I mean, treaties are dandy and all, but the situation—and maybe even the aftereffects from the film—might have been a _bit_ more complicated than plowshares good, fire bad. ---
**Author:** ![Claverhouse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/13edae/32.png) [@Claverhouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Claverhouse)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2016, 12:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-fiction-films-have-had-the-greatest-effects-on-the-real-world/749081/109 "2016-03-27T12:40:46Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > This is a minor thing, but I _swear_ I never noticed anyone leaving stones or pebbles on tombs or memorials until they showed people doing that to Oskar Schindler’s tomb at the end of \* Schindler’s List\*. Now I see it everywhere. > It’s possible that the film merely brought it to my attention, but I don’t think so. I don’t recall seeing it earlier, and it stood out when I saw the film simply because it was a practice I’d never seen or heard of before. I gather than leaving Memorial Stones is an old Jewish practice, but I don’t think other groups did it until the film popularized the idea. > > Now I see it frequently at memorials. In particular, the Holocaust Memorial in Boston invariably has stones heaped upon the granite portions. It is most rooted in Scottish tradition, possibly for several 1000 years. Maybe they copied it from the Scots. Cairns were, rather slowly, built through singular additions. There’s a saying, “_Cuiridh mi clach air do charn_” —“_I will put a stone on your cairn_”. People have been adding stones — or _stanes_ — all over Scotland non-stop all the time. At 2nd Inverlochy, 1645, Montrose gave Argyll’s people a very well-deserved hiding, and since every passing MacDonald must add a stone, and every Campbell — hopefully well penitent — must subtract one. I would be pretty certain that all this started in the Cradle of Civilisation,the Middle East many 1000s of years ago. There are a _lot_ of stone structures there. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2016, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-fiction-films-have-had-the-greatest-effects-on-the-real-world/749081/110 "2016-03-27T14:13:09Z")
> [@Boyo\_Jim](#): > > _The Simpsons_ led to the adjective “cromulent.” Its usage has been embiggened since. ---
**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 27, 2016, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-fiction-films-have-had-the-greatest-effects-on-the-real-world/749081/111 "2016-03-27T15:12:47Z")
> [@Claverhouse](#): > > There’s a saying, “_Cuiridh mi clach air do charn_” —“_I will put a stone on your cairn_”. Didn’t Nikita Krushchev say something like that? ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2016, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-fiction-films-have-had-the-greatest-effects-on-the-real-world/749081/112 "2016-03-27T17:59:27Z")
> [@Smitty](#): > > _The Godfather_ had a big impact on the Mafia. After the movie came out, they changed from what we today would call “street thugs” and began to purposely conduct themselves in what they felt was a more dignified fashion. > > [Why Hollywood is married to the mob](http://www.theage.com.au/entertainment/movies/why-hollywood-is-married-to-the-mob-20100913-158dl.html) I think the Godfather films were great propaganda for the Mafia … they made them seem like honorable family men, a sort of criminal nobility, when all they’ve ever been were street scum with money. ---
**Author:** ![MacLir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9e8a1a/32.png) [@MacLir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MacLir)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2016, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-fiction-films-have-had-the-greatest-effects-on-the-real-world/749081/113 "2016-03-28T15:34:39Z")
> [@Claverhouse](#): > > It is most rooted in Scottish tradition, possibly for several 1000 years. Maybe they copied it from the Scots. Cairns were, rather slowly, built through singular additions. There’s a saying, “_Cuiridh mi clach air do charn_” —“_I will put a stone on your cairn_”. People have been adding stones — or _stanes_ — all over Scotland non-stop all the time. > At 2nd Inverlochy, 1645, Montrose gave Argyll’s people a very well-deserved hiding, and since every passing MacDonald must add a stone, and every Campbell — hopefully well penitent — must subtract one. > I would be pretty certain that all this started in the Cradle of Civilisation,the Middle East many 1000s of years ago. There are a _lot_ of stone structures there. One mountain near where I live has at least three separate cairns - all of which are built as fairly neat columns instead of rock-piles. Each is around six feet tall. They don’t show up well on Google Maps or I’d post a link. ---
**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 28, 2016, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-fiction-films-have-had-the-greatest-effects-on-the-real-world/749081/114 "2016-03-28T16:31:48Z")
> [@Claverhouse](#): > > It is most rooted in Scottish tradition, possibly for several 1000 years. Maybe they copied it from the Scots. Cairns were, rather slowly, built through singular additions. There’s a saying, “_Cuiridh mi clach air do charn_” —“_I will put a stone on your cairn_”. People have been adding stones — or _stanes_ — all over Scotland non-stop all the time. > At 2nd Inverlochy, 1645, Montrose gave Argyll’s people a very well-deserved hiding, and since every passing MacDonald must add a stone, and every Campbell — hopefully well penitent — must subtract one. > I would be pretty certain that all this started in the Cradle of Civilisation,the Middle East many 1000s of years ago. There are a _lot_ of stone structures there. I’m familiar with cairns and the process of adding to them, but I maintain this modern practice of placing stones atop monuments which are already complete, and made of large dressed stones, is completely different. With traditional cairns, the small stone you add is virtually indistinguishable from the ones making up the rest of the pile. But this modern practice has people putting smaller stones, utterly unlike those making up the monument, atop the monument itself. They’re not adding just another stone to the cairn. They’re placing an extra alien element to a monument. In that sense, putting a pebble on a monument is more like leaving, say, a tree on top of a cairn. You could say you’re adding to the pile, but what you’re adding ain’t the same. ---
**Author:** ![BrassyPhrase](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ea666f/32.png) [@BrassyPhrase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrassyPhrase)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2016, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-fiction-films-have-had-the-greatest-effects-on-the-real-world/749081/115 "2016-03-28T17:30:18Z")
> [@EinsteinsHund](#): > > They were part of the famous house band of Stax, Booker T And The Mg’s, who played on almost all the Stax recordings and still had time to lay down some of the coolest and most influential instrumental music of their time on their own. They were one of the best bands in all of pop history, maybe only comparable in their special function to Motown’s Funk Brothers or the Wrecking Crew, but with many albums on their own. Yeah, I love them, and I’m proud to have seen them playing live once (in '93 on the European tour with Neil Young. They played _Dock Of The Bay,_ and Neil introduced it with: "Here’s a song you might know. And there’s the guy who wrote it (pointing at Steve Cropper)). A very exceptional band, also in the regard that they were a mix-raced band in the South in the early 60s with a seventeen year old black band leader. Sorry, not to hijack the thread–but if anyone gets a chance to go to the Stax museum in Memphis-GO!!! One of the most interesting museums I’ve ever been to (and I love museums). I learned so much about blues, soul, gospel, the different sounds from the different studios and the history of these styles of music! ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2016, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-fiction-films-have-had-the-greatest-effects-on-the-real-world/749081/116 "2016-03-28T17:33:19Z")
I wonder if _My Cousin Vinnie_ lowered sales of instant grits in the South? ---
**Author:** ![Toxgoddess](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f08c70/32.png) [@Toxgoddess](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Toxgoddess)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2016, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-fiction-films-have-had-the-greatest-effects-on-the-real-world/749081/117 "2016-03-28T18:17:03Z")
> [@davidm](#): > > Seriously. What’s with the secrecy about the movie’s damned title **JustinC**? Just tell us already. My guess is we are talking about _Supersize Me_. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2016, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-fiction-films-have-had-the-greatest-effects-on-the-real-world/749081/118 "2016-03-28T18:18:01Z")
> [@Toxgoddess](#): > > My guess is we are talking about _Supersize Me_. Fight Club. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Toxgoddess](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f08c70/32.png) [@Toxgoddess](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Toxgoddess)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2016, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-fiction-films-have-had-the-greatest-effects-on-the-real-world/749081/119 "2016-03-28T18:19:05Z")
My guess was we were talking about _Supersize Me_. Lots of people steered away from McDonald’s and fast food for a while after that. We were among them. Darn edit window. Still, sort of fits. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2016, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-fiction-films-have-had-the-greatest-effects-on-the-real-world/749081/120 "2016-03-28T18:46:34Z")
> [@Toxgoddess](#): > > My guess was we were talking about _Supersize Me_. Lots of people steered away from McDonald’s and fast food for a while after that. We were among them. > > Darn edit window. Still, sort of fits. No, he PMed me. Fight Club. Which, you dont talk about. Hence the “joke” of not giving the title. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-fiction-films-have-had-the-greatest-effects-on-the-real-world/749081.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-fiction-films-have-had-the-greatest-effects-on-the-real-world/749081.md?page=7)