History Main / AmericanGothicCouple

* During the "[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xV7ZcVFSWWU&t=3m15s Iowa Stubborn]]" number of ''Film/TheMusicMan'' part of the shipping crate (a "frame") for the new pool table is moved past a farm couple, temporarily creating this sort of tableau. They're wearing similar clothes and the man is holding a pitchfork just in case you thought it was a coincidence.

* During the "[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xV7ZcVFSWWU&t=3m15s Iowa Stubborn]]" number of ''Film/TheMusicMan'' part of the shipping crate (a "frame") for the new pool table is moved past a farm couple, temporarily creating this sort of tableau. The man is even holding a pitchfork to drive home the point.

* During the "Iowa Stubborn" number of ''Film/TheMusicMan'' part of the shipping crate (a "frame") for the new pool table is moved past a farm couple, temporarily creating this sort of tableau. The man is even holding a pitchfork to drive home the point.

''American Gothic''. No, not [[Series/AmericanGothic the show]], the 1930 Grant Wood painting with the dour, Alan Greenspan-esque man with a pitchfork and his equally dour daughter (often mistakenly assumed to be his wife). It is actually a portrait of Grant Wood's sister and his dentist. Incidentally, the house in the painting still stands today.

* The portrait book ''The People of Literature/{{Pern}}'' depicts Menolly's parents, Yanus and Mavi, as an American Gothic pastiche.

* The opening sequence of ''WesternAnimation/SKingOfTheHill'' ends with this (plus Bobby).

''American Gothic''. No, not [[AmericanGothic the show]], the 1930 Grant Wood painting with the dour, Alan Greenspan-esque man with a pitchfork and his equally dour daughter (often mistakenly assumed to be his wife). It is actually a portrait of Grant Wood's sister and his dentist. Incidentally, the house in the painting still stands today.

It's very well known, and along with Leonardo's [[MonaLisaSmile Mona Lisa]] and Edvard Munch's TheScream, it's one of the most parodied, imitated and referenced paintings in media, both real and fictional (there's even a [[http://americangothicparodies.blogspot.com/ blog]] devoted to collecting these parodies).

A gigantic compendium of parody images can be found [[http://www.squidoo.com/american-gothic here]].

* A sculpture on the Magnificent Mile of Michigan Avenue in [[UsefulNotes/{{Chicago}} Chicago, Illinois]] entitled "[[{{Eagleland}} God Bless America]]" and featuring the American Gothic couple was put on display in December 2008. The sculpture is located just south of the Tribune Tower.

* The Red Robin chain of restaurants has the painting featured on the wall - but with a burger added to the farmer's pitchfork.
* And [[http://strawberryfeelings.tumblr.com/post/5716686569/the-models-used-in-the-american-gothic-painting here]] is a photograph of the models from the painting themselves regarding the painting and (kind of) recreating their pose.

[[quoteright:283:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Americangothic.jpg]]

[[folder:Comicbooks]]
* The first issue of the 1990s version of ''MisterMiracle'' with the title character assuming the position of the daughter while his wife, Big Barda, is assuming the father with her horned helmet taking the place of the pitchfork.
* The cover of ''ComicBook/{{Crossed}}: Family Values'' #2 depicts the couple as Crossed with SlasherSmile[=s=], bloodstained weapons, and the house behind them on fire.
* The cover to issue 16 of ''ComicBook/{{Route 666}}'' does a version of this with the two protagonists.
* One issue of ''Comicbook/{{Flash}}'' has a montage of people who've hired a particular mercenary; one panel has a pastiche of the couple, intoning:
-->'''Man''': We would've lost our farm...but he shot the banker.
-->'''Woman''': Good riddance, too.

[[folder:Films -- Animated]]
* As part of the CreditsGag sequence at the end of the ''WesternAnimation/OverTheHedge'' film, RJ and Verne take up a silly pose with a spork. They're drawn; the result is the two as if in this painting.
* ''Disney/BeautyAndTheBeast'' has a brief image of the clock Cogsworth and Mrs. Potts looking like this during the song "Human Again".
* A reference to the painting appears in ''Disney/{{Mulan}}'', of all things, in a scene where Mulan's ancestors argue about what to do about her situation. Two of them are revealed to look just like the characters, albeit Chinese, complete with the man saying "Not to mention they'll lose the farm."
* "American Gothic" is one of the paintings parodied in the "Tigger's Family" song sequence of ''WesternAnimaton/TheTiggerMovie''.

* The movie ''Good Fences'' starring Whoopi Goldberg also has a parody of the painting on its cover.
* In ''Film/TheRockyHorrorPictureShow'', 'Riff-Raff' (Richard O'Brien) and 'Magenta' (Patricia Quinn) pose as the couple in front of the arched church doors during the song "Dammit Janet", after the wedding of Brad and Janet's friends Betty Monroe and Ralph Hapschatt. At the end, when they reveal their alien identities, the pitchfork has turned into a trident-shaped raygun. The painting can also be briefly seen on a wall in the castle.

* ''ForRicherOrPoorer'', a 1997 comedy film starring Tim Allen and Kirstie Alley, makes a direct reference to the painting in its cinematic poster.

* The animated sequence of ''StayTuned'' features the characters in the painting ''screaming'' as the house is destroyed around them.

* After a resemblance was noted between ''Late Night With Conan O'Brien'''s host Conan O'Brien and Finland's President Tarja Halonen, occasional gags would pop-up comparing the two; one recurring one would be the two replacing the couple in ''American Gothic'' occasionally aired before cutting to a commercial, or as they return.
* Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie pose as the couple during the title and opening credits of ''The Simple Life''.

* ''Rove Live'' replaces the couple with Melissa Doyle and David Koch.

* In ''{{Series/Oz}}'', ''A Town Without Pity'', likenesses of the two prominent figures of the painting are featured in a narrative of how prisons in the US are mostly located in rural area of the country.

* In ''DesperateHousewives'', the couple appear briefly in the opening credits.

* A million dollar question was answered correctly related to the painting on the American version of the popular game show ''WhoWantsToBeAMillionaire''. Nancy Christy, a high school teacher, correctly answered this question and won the million dollars, as she remembered that the man in the painting was based on Grant Wood's dentist.

* In an episode of ''Series/WhoseLineIsItAnyway'', Drew and Ryan did this pose during a game of Props when their prop was a vaguely pitchfork looking thing.

* In the ''[[Series/TheSuiteLifeOfZackAndCody Suite Life On Deck]]'' episode "Mulch Ado About Nothing," Cody's re-creation of the Mulch Festival for Bailey includes a couple of passengers posing as the couple from the painting. [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] by Cody:
-->'''Cody''': More American, and less Gothic.
* {{Series/Dexter}} and his [[PosthumousCharacter older brother]] pose in front of a poster with the house in it. Dexter was holding a freshly bloodied pitchfork.

[[folder:Magazine]]

** As part of the long running "If NormanRockwell depicted the 20th century" series, magazine ''Mad'' printed a parody of the picture titled "American Gaythic," featuring two men.
** They parodied this painting on the cover of an issue using ''Series/TheXFiles'' characters [[http://www.robertoparada.com/gallery3/xfiles.html Scully & Mulder]].

* The painting is briefly spoofed by the band Music/{{Warrant}} in their music video for "Cherry Pie."
* The cover of American alternative rock band Everclear's 2000 album ''Songs From An American Movie Vol. 1: Learning How To Smile''. It shows the band's members holding guitars in front of a house and not smiling.

* EltonJohn and [=RuPaul=] portray the couple on the video for "Don't Go Breaking My Heart".
* The music video for [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5t99bpilCKw "Ain't No Rest For The Wicked" by Cage the Elephant]] has a cameo.

[[folder:Photography]]
* Music/AmandaPalmer and Creator/NeilGaiman posed for a parody photograph of the painting with Palmer holding a floor cleaner and Gaiman holding a BBQ fork. [[http://www.apexbookcompany.com/blog/2009/04/ten-days-of-amanda-palmer-day-1/ The photo]] was taken by Kyle Cassidy.
* ''American Gothic'' by Gordon Parks. The couple is replaced by a maid, the gothic house is replaced by the back of an American flag, and the pitchfork is replaced with a broom.

[[folder:Tabletop Games]]
* The artwork on the ''MagicTheGathering'' card [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=4558 Orcish Settlers]] parodied this painting with green orcs replacing the couple, a piece of toast impaled on a broken pitchfork, and the house on fire.
* An old issue of the official ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' magazine, ''Magazine/{{Dragon}}'', had a version of this on the cover, with the subjects holding D20s in their outstretched palms.
* [[http://www.flickr.com/photos/40127522@N05/5349377398/ This]] ''{{Munchkin}}'' promo card.

[[folder:Theatre]]
* In ''Theatre/TheMusicMan'', a brief visual reference is made during the "Iowa Stubborn" number as two workmen moving a pool table packing case frame stop in front of a farmer and wife, who strike this pose as they sing.
* Anthony Weigh's play ''2000 Feet Away'', which had its London premiere at the Bush Theatre in 2008, is primarily set in Eldon, Iowa. The play opens with a scene featuring the painting at the Art Institute. American Gothic is thereafter a key motif throughout the play.

[[folder:Videogames]]
* In ''VideoGame/KingdomOfLoathing'', one monster in Spookyraven Manor's Haunted Gallery is "a guy with a pitchfork, and his wife."
* ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'':
** It features a parody of this painting. There's one in the inn in Vengeance Landing where the couple is replaced by a pair of equally dour-looking undeads. All undead look dour. They're ''undead''.
** With the shattering, a pair of orc [=NPCs=] were added into the orc starting area. They stand, completely immobile (as opposed to the majority of other [=NPCs=] who breathe and occasionally shift their weight) arranged in custom positions that mimic the painting, and that is all they do. The male orc is even holding a pitchfork in a vertical position, when an NPC holding an item would normally hold it horizontally.
* In episode 3 of [[TelltaleGames Telltale's]] ''VideoGame/BackToTheFuture'' game, there is a portrait of [[spoiler:First Citizen Brown and his wife Edna]] in the former's office that looks like American Gothic.
* ''VideoGmae/{{Terraria}}'' has a painting in it called the ''Terrarian Gothic'', featuring the Mechanic and Goblin Tinker.

[[folder:Webcomics]]
* The traditional first panel of webcomic ''San Antonio Rock City'' by Mitch Clem.

* In the classic ''WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes'' short "Louvre Come Back To Me!", Pepe Le Pew and Penelope Pussycat hide in the Louvre's air conditioning, his scent pervades into a gallery above, reaching ''American Gothic'', and the figures' heads disappear into their costumes.
* In the ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'' episode "Artist Unknown," Squidward Tentacles is revealed to have made a version of the painting, with the two figures drawn in his likeness. All of Squidward's art is just his face drawn in various degrees of abstractness.
* In ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' episode "Bart Gets an Elephant", Bart is seen cleaning the wall with a cloth. Without looking, he makes his way across the American Gothic painting, removing the paint to reveal the message: "If you can read this, you scrubbed too hard. Signed, Grant Wood"
* The second disc of the ''WesternAnimation/BeavisAndButthead'' ''Creator/MikeJudge Collection Volume 1'' has a cover depicting Beavis and Butthead as the characters in American Gothic.

* On the Creator/AdultSwim show ''{{Metalocalypse}}'', Toki Wartooth's parents resemble the painting, albeit much darker and sinister looking.
* In ''WesternAnimation/SupermanTheAnimatedSeries'' Mr. Mxyzptlk turns Ma and Pa Kent into an American Gothic-inspired painting for "safekeeping."
* They show up toward the end of the eagle's flight (about 1:14) in Vincent Collins's "[[http://www.archive.org/details/200 200]]."

* The opening sequence of KingOfTheHill ends with this (plus Bobby).

[[folder:Other]]
* The cover of John Sweeney's book ''The Art of the Laugh''.
* Lavender Magazine parodied the work for a special gardening issue (April 27, 2007), featuring drag queen Wanda Wisdom and podcast producer Bradley Traynor.
* At Ohio State Buckeyes football games (usually after a touchdown), the scoreboard will sometimes display the painting, and a few seconds later, the mans eyes bug out and his tongue waves all over the place.
* One of the pieces in the book ''The Art Of Literature/{{Discworld}}'' features '''Death''' taking the place of the man, from his brief retirement in ''Discworld/ReaperMan''. The woman, therefore, is Miss Flitworth.
* A collection of [[Franchise/TheMuppets Muppet]] parodies of famous artworks, under the title ''The Kermitage Collection'', included Kermit and Miss Piggy in ''American Gothique''.
* The portrait book ''The People of Literature/{{Pern}}'' depicts Menolly's parents, Yanus and Mavi, as an American Gothic pastiche.
[[/folder]]

* As part of the long running "If NormanRockwell depicted the 20th century" series, ''Magazine/{{Mad}}'' magazine printed a parody of the picture titled "American Gaythic," featuring two men.
** ''Magazine/{{Mad}}'' also parodied this on the cover of an issue using ''Series/TheXFiles'' characters [[http://www.robertoparada.com/gallery3/xfiles.html Scully & Mulder]].

* A ''SaturdayNightLive'' sketch with host AnneHathaway shows the couple's "outtakes" of the famous pose.

* ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'' features a parody of this painting (there's one in the inn in Vengeance Landing, and I'm pretty sure some other Forsaken towns might have one too), where the couple is replaced by a pair of equally dour-looking undeads.
** All undead look dour. They're ''undead''.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'' episode "Artist Unknown," Squidward Tentacles is revealed to have made a version of the painting, with the two figures drawn in his likeness.
** In fact, all of Squidward's art is just his face drawn in various degrees of abstractness.

* An old issue of the official ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' magazine, ''{{Dragon}}'', had a version of this on the cover, with the subjects holding D20s in their outstretched palms.

* Postcards replacing the couple with sitting US Presidents and Presidential nominees (and their spouses) are often popular products, for instance [[RonaldReagan Ronald]] and Nancy Reagan or [[BillClinton Bill]] and Hillary Clinton.

* The picture is also parodied in the film poster for the 1988 slasher film ''American Gothic'' starring Yvonne De Carlo and Rod Steiger.

* AmandaPalmer and NeilGaiman posed for a parody photograph of the painting with Palmer holding a floor cleaner and Gaiman holding a BBQ fork. [[http://www.apexbookcompany.com/blog/2009/04/ten-days-of-amanda-palmer-day-1/ The photo]] was taken by Kyle Cassidy.

* The second disc of the Beavis and Butthead ''Mike Judge Collection Volume 1'' has a cover depicting Beavis and Butthead as the characters in American Gothic.

** ''Magazine/{{Mad}}'' also parodied this on the cover of an issue using ''Series/{{The X-Files}}'' characters [[http://www.robertoparada.com/gallery3/xfiles.html Scully & Mulder]].

Incidentally, the "Gothic" refers to the architectural style of the window behind the couple.

* In the ''Series/DoctorWho'' episode "Gridlock", The couple in the Motorway at the start of the episode are based on the farming couple in the American Gothic, both having identical hairstyles, glasses and fashions.

* In ''KingdomOfLoathing'', one monster in the Haunted Gallery is "a guy with a pitchfork, and his wife."
* ''WorldOfWarcraft'' features a parody of this painting (there's one in the inn in Vengeance Landing, and I'm pretty sure some other Forsaken towns might have one too), where the couple is replaced by a pair of equally dour-looking undeads.