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13->''"Anyone who thinks one book has all the answers hasn't read enough books."''
14-->-- '''Noreen''', ''ComicBook/{{Saga}}''
15
16On the subject of contemporary music, film, television, and (to a lesser extent) sports, book, film and television characters can comfortably mention all kinds of people, expecting that most, or at least ''enough'', of the audience will know whom they're talking about. On most other matters, however, their world becomes very small; TV producers [[ViewersAreMorons fear any comment that might ever go over anyone's head]], and thus only the most obvious and world-renowned people and things are allowed a mention.
17
18It's worth noting that a major work of pop culture can completely turn one subject around and make it a free-for-all. For instance, before ''Franchise/JurassicPark'', many people had only heard of maybe three or four types of dinosaur. Afterwards everyone could suddenly discuss velociraptors and dilophosaurs as though they'd known about them since childhood. [[note]] Ironically, ''Velociraptor'' had indeed been around since their childhoods, and then some, [[OlderThanTheyThink its skeleton having first been discovered in Mongolia in the 1920s]]; but [[CreatorsCultureCarryover since it was an]] ''[[CreatorsCultureCarryover Asian]]'' [[CreatorsCultureCarryover dinosaur]], it went unnoticed in the West for decades except among paleontologists and hardcore dinosaur fans. [[/note]] Toronto's NBA franchise even named their team "Raptors", signaling that the species was there to stay on the pop-culture radar. The works of Creator/LeonardoDaVinci got a similar treatment thanks to Creator/DanBrown's ''Literature/TheDaVinciCode.''
19
20[[ValuesDissonance What is obscure varies depending on time and place.]] Shows from the '70s and '80s assume that people will know about figures like UsefulNotes/AugustoPinochet and UsefulNotes/LeonidBrezhnev, but one can't assume the same anymore, while references to certain American personalities in ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'' or ''WesternAnimation/RobotChicken'' will fly over the heads of viewers from elsewhere. Yet, while due to his antics, a lot of Americans probably know Rob Ford is the mayor of Toronto (or at least ''was'' until his death), they'd be hard pressed to name the Prime Minister of Canada (at least when it was Stephen Harper; Justin Trudeau, who took over in 2015, is pretty well-known to most Americans).
21
22One notable case where all these qualms about obscurity get thrown out the window is the CelebrityStar. It's much easier to get a guest who's "famous" than one who's ''actually'' well known. If a band makes an appearance, [[GushingAboutGuestStars most of the characters will suddenly become fans]], no matter how obscure or washed up the band really is -- which can also lead to such hilarious situations as the CityMouse suddenly liking CountryMusic or the wholesome, mostly white, DomCom family all loving a rapper who is not normally known for being family-friendly. Likewise, B- and C-list actors are all suddenly big stars when they walk onto a TV show and everyone will know them by their real names.
23
24Musical examples of these are often used as {{Standard Snippet}}s.
25
26A SuperTrope to NothingButHits, SmallTaxonomyPools, and GeekReferencePool.
27
28A SisterTrope to ParodyDisplacement, PublicMediumIgnorance, CulturalCrossReference, PopculturalOsmosis, EiffelTowerEffect, and JustForFun/EverybodyKnowsThat. Depending on how small the reference pool is, this can sometimes lead to certain works being a ShallowParody of the genre or medium they're referencing. Even the smallest reference pool will include at least one {{Household Name|s}}, aka a fictional work so well-known that it seems everyone knows about it.
29
30Contrast GeniusBonus.
31----
32!!Examples subpages:
33[[index]]
34* SmallReferencePools/AnimeAndManga
35* SmallReferencePools/{{Art}}
36* SmallReferencePools/ComicBooks
37* [[SmallReferencePools/LiveActionFilms Films — Live-Action]]
38* SmallReferencePools/{{Literature}}
39* SmallReferencePools/LiveActionTV
40* SmallReferencePools/{{Music}}
41* SmallReferencePools/ProWrestling
42* SmallReferencePools/{{Sports}}
43* SmallReferencePools/TabletopGames
44* SmallReferencePools/{{Theatre}}
45* SmallReferencePools/VideoGames
46* SmallReferencePools/WebOriginal
47* SmallReferencePools/WesternAnimation
48* SmallReferencePools/RealLife
49[[/index]]
50
51!!Other examples:
52[[foldercontrol]]
53
54[[folder:Films -- Animation]]
55* Animation? AllAnimationIsDisney.
56** Though when people think of specific animation clichés they're usually envisioning ''WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes'', ''Franchise/TomAndJerry'' and ''WesternAnimation/TexAveryMGMCartoons''.
57** Black-and-white animation will always be ''WesternAnimation/FelixTheCat'' or ''WesternAnimation/BettyBoop''. Never mind the fact that most cartoons from the 1900s throughout the 1930s were still in black-and-white.
58* {{Anime}} films? ''Manga/{{Akira}}'', and anything by Creator/HayaoMiyazaki.
59* [[Creator/{{Disney}} The Walt Disney Company]]: [[WesternAnimation/MickeyMouse The Mickey Mouse Universe]], Franchise/WinnieThePooh, the Franchise/DisneyAnimatedCanon, and Creator/{{Pixar}}. Any live action projects in the 2000s or earlier were either ''Film/MaryPoppins'', ''Franchise/PiratesOfTheCaribbean'', or Creator/DisneyChannel schlock. Starting in the 2010s, any live action project they do is either ''[[Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse Marvel]]'', ''Franchise/StarWars'', or a [[Film/DisneyLiveActionRemakes remake of an animated film]] listed below.
60** Any references to the Franchise/DisneyAnimatedCanon will be limited to films made during Walt Disney's lifetime, the Renaissance Era films, and ''WesternAnimation/{{Frozen|2013}}''. Also, the company did nothing between ''WesternAnimation/{{Bambi}}'' and ''WesternAnimation/{{Cinderella}}'' and took a 22-year nap from ''WesternAnimation/{{The Jungle Book|1967}}'' to ''WesternAnimation/{{The Little Mermaid|1989}}''. And then they took another nap from ''[[WesternAnimation/TheLionKing1994 The Lion King]]'' to ''Frozen'', only to sleep on and off again before releasing movies like ''WesternAnimation/{{Moana}}'' and ''WesternAnimation/{{Encanto}}''. Maybe you'll see references to ''WesternAnimation/LiloAndStitch'', ''WesternAnimation/ThePrincessAndTheFrog'', or ''WesternAnimation/{{Tangled}}'' if you're lucky. Any movies released since the 2010s that aren't a [[Franchise/DisneyPrincess princess movie]] are automatically mistaken for Pixar movies.
61** Disney villains? You've got [[WesternAnimation/SnowWhiteAndTheSevenDwarfs the Evil Queen]], [[WesternAnimation/{{Cinderella}} Lady Tremaine]], [[WesternAnimation/AliceInWonderland the Queen of Hearts]], [[WesternAnimation/PeterPan Captain Hook]], [[WesternAnimation/SleepingBeauty Maleficent]], [[WesternAnimation/OneHundredAndOneDalmatians Cruella de Vil]], [[WesternAnimation/TheLittleMermaid1989 Ursula]], [[WesternAnimation/BeautyAndTheBeast Gaston]], [[WesternAnimation/{{Aladdin}} Jafar]], [[WesternAnimation/TheLionKing1994 Scar]], [[WesternAnimation/{{Hercules}} Hades]], [[WesternAnimation/ThePrincessAndTheFrog Dr. Facilier]], [[WesternAnimation/{{Tangled}} Mother Gothel]], and [[WesternAnimation/Frozen2013 Hans]]. If you can name anyone else, then you're definitely in geek territory. Even the ''Film/{{Descendants}}'' movies only feature children of villains everyone knows.
62* Creator/RalphBakshi: Made cartoons for adults full of gratuitous sex and drug use. Point of reference is still only ''WesternAnimation/FritzTheCat''.
63* Creator/DreamWorksAnimation only did CGI, forgetting they did [[WesternAnimation/ThePrinceOfEgypt four]] [[WesternAnimation/TheRoadToElDorado 2D]] [[WesternAnimation/SpiritStallionOfTheCimarron animated]] [[WesternAnimation/SinbadLegendOfTheSevenSeas films]] (and [[WesternAnimation/JosephKingOfDreams one]] DirectToVideo [=2D=] film). And good luck people citing works outside of ''Franchise/{{Shrek}}'', causing a slippery slope on mislabeling the company for only doing pop-culture reference-heavy works with DreamWorksFace.
64** Likewise, people tend to assume that films by Creator/IlluminationEntertainment (such as ''WesternAnimation/DespicableMe1'' or ''WesternAnimation/TheSecretLifeOfPets'') are either Pixar or [=DreamWorks=] properties.
65* When compared to Pixar, [=DreamWorks=], or even Illumination, people seem to forget that Creator/SonyPicturesAnimation exists. ''WesternAnimation/HotelTransylvania'', ''WesternAnimation/CloudyWithAChanceOfMeatballs'', maybe ''WesternAnimation/TheEmojiMovie'', and that's it.
66[[/folder]]
67
68[[folder:Science-Fiction]]
69* During time travel encounters, all events of historical importance after 1900 happened in America (or possibly Germany, but only if Nazis are involved). Before 1900 all events of historical importance, or at least those not in America, happened in England, Rome, or occasionally Greece. Every event of historical importance that took place in the U.S. between 1800 and 1900 took place in [[BigApplesauce one city]].
70* When it comes to science-fiction writers, you can count on just about everyone having heard of one man: Creator/RayBradbury, author of ''Literature/Fahrenheit451'' and ''Literature/TheMartianChronicles'', a collection of short stories that has been adapted into several other media. Creator/IsaacAsimov is another very well-known author by the general public, but mostly due his creation of the [[ThreeLawsCompliant Three Laws of Robotics]], while maybe not able to name any of his books. Arthur C. Clarke tends to be less well-known, even though he helped to write the screenplay for ''Film/TwoThousandOneASpaceOdyssey'' -- a film that most people know through at least PopCulturalOsmosis. Hardcore ''Franchise/StarWars'' fans usually are familiar with Timothy Zahn, Kevin J. Anderson, Steve Perry, and perhaps Alan Dean Foster.
71* You can expect people to have heard of Creator/HGWells, although most would be hard-pressed to name any of his works that aren't ''Literature/TheWarOfTheWorlds'' or ''Literature/TheTimeMachine''. (Many aren't aware he wrote ''Literature/TheInvisibleMan'' or ''Literature/TheIslandOfDoctorMoreau'', even though [[AdaptationDisplacement those two have become much more popular as movies]].).
72* The only ''Franchise/StarWars'' aliens people remember are Jawas, Sand People[[note]] more properly known as Kumumgah, or Tusken Raiders [[/note]], Wookiees, Hutts, and Ewoks. Most people will know ''of'' a species, but can't name it: "whatever Greedo was"[[note]] Rodian [[/note]] or "whatever Admiral Ackbar was"[[note]] Mon Calamari[[/note]]. There are also "those pig-man guards"[[note]] Gamorreans[[/note]] and "that white-faced dude with the tentacle-head" [[note]] Bib Fortuna, a Twilek[[/note]]. Yoda doesn't seem to be thought of as an alien, possibly because his species doesn't have a name or because people think of him as just "a little old green guy." The more knowledgeable ''Star Wars'' buffs will also be able to mention Bith, Aqualish, Trandoshans, Ugnaughts, Kowakians, Ortolans, Pa'lowick, and Sullustans - all of whom had prominent roles in the 1977-1983 movies. If you're thinking of the prequels, then you'll probably know about Gungans and [[BuffySpeak "that Jewish hummingbird-warthog thing"]]. [[note]] Watto, a Toydarian. He actually says the name of his species in Phantom Menace, but with his gravy-thick accent, it's easy to miss [[/note]]
73* Only ''Star Wars'' planets: Tatooine, Alderaan (which was only briefly seen and then got blown up, so it barely counts), Yavin 4, Hoth, Dagobah, Jakku, Bespin, Crait, Endor (only hardcore fans will ever properly call it "Sanctuary Moon"), Naboo, Coruscant, Kamino, Geonosis, Utapau, Mustafar, Exegol. What about Kessel, Ord Mantell, Taanab, etc.? Won't get mentioned, even though [[AllThereInTheScript they're outright spoken in the movies' dialogue]] (go back and check). True ''Star Wars'' buffs can name several dozen planets, or even more. Curiously, only rarely will anyone remember Kashyyyk or Nal Hutta, even though Wookiees and Hutts are two of the most well-known ''Star Wars'' aliens.
74* The only works in the SpaceWestern genre are ''Series/{{Firefly}}'', ''Manga/{{Trigun}}'' and ''Anime/CowboyBebop''.
75* The only ''Franchise/StarTrek'' characters are Kirk, Spock, Scotty, Khan, Picard, Worf, Q, and Data. Geordie, Wesley, and Seven of Nine might get mentioned if they're lucky. And Khan is only remembered for [[MemeticMutation that time Kirk]] [[LargeHam shouted his name]].
76** To millions, while the show was on the air, ''Star Trek'' was "that show about the guy with the pointed ears." Many probably still think of it that way. They're also likely to know [[http://memory-alpha.wikia.com/wiki/Vulcan_salute?file=Spock_performing_Vulcan_salute.jpg this]] (and maybe even that [[https://thegrio.com/2012/04/04/twitpic-of-president-obama-with-star-trek-actress-nichelle-nichols-goes-viral/ this happened]]), but that's all.
77* The only ''Star Trek'' aliens are Vulcans, Klingons, the Borg, and Tribbles - plus maybe "those helmet-headed guys with big noses."[[note]] Ferengi [[/note]]. You will also ''occasionally'' hear the Romulans referenced, but they aren't nearly as entrenched in pop culture as the aforementioned races. Orion Slave Girls never get mentioned, even though they're the {{Trope Namer|s}} for GreenSkinnedSpaceBabe.
78[[/folder]]
79
80[[folder:Opera]]
81* This applies to both opera singers and operas themselves.
82* Even though there are many famous singers in opera, the general public may know only of the late Luciano Pavarotti after his version of "Nessun dorma" from ''Theatre/{{Turandot}}'' was used as the theme song for BBC's TV coverage of the FIFA World Cup in Italy in 1990.
83* Most people who know of American soprano Renée Fleming may remember her from her being the first opera singer to perform The Star-Spangled Banner at the Super Bowl 2014.
84* Plácido Domingo is remembered by the general public perhaps most for his recording of "Perhaps Love" with country singer John Denver.
85* When people think of opera, one of the first things they think of is a fat lady in Viking armour, straight from Wagner's ''Die Walküre".
86* It's either that or Rossini's ''The Barber of Seville'', notably "Largo al factotum".
87* The general public definitely knows about the Flower Duet (Sous le dôme épais) from Léo Delibes' ''Lakmé'' from its media use. In the UK, it was most popularly heard in a British Airways ad. The Flower Duet has also been used in films such as ''Film/{{The Hunger}}'', ''Film/{{Piranha 3D}}'', and ''Film/MeetTheParents''.
88* "Music/RideOfTheValkyries" from Music/RichardWagner's ''Die Walküre'' is most commonly associated with ''Film/ApocalypseNow'' & ''WesternAnimation/WhatsOperaDoc''.
89* Likewise, "Nessun dorma" is popularly associated with the fifth ''Film/MissionImpossibleRogueNation''.
90* "Il dolce suono" from Donizetti's ''Lucia di Lammermoor'' is commonly associated with ''Film/{{The Fifth Element}}''.
91* Most people who know about Verdi's ''Theatre/{{La Traviata}}'' have heard it in ''Film/{{Pretty Woman}}''.
92[[/folder]]
93
94[[folder:Webcomics]]
95* The only webcomics that exist are ''Webcomic/{{xkcd}}'' and ''Webcomic/PennyArcade''. ''Webcomic/BrawlInTheFamily'' may get a mention, but ''only'' for spawning the "Too bad, Waluigi time!" meme.
96* ''Webcomic/ManlyGuysDoingManlyThings'': Referenced [[http://thepunchlineismachismo.com/archives/comic/trick-or-treat-have-a-comic-no-one-will-get here.]] Commander Badass is considering his Halloween costume options, but doesn't think enough people will recognise Tywin Lannister to make it worth shaving his head. This comic was made about a year before ''Series/GameOfThrones'' started, when ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'' was just another middling-successful fantasy novel series. Also, Book!Tywin shaves his head.
97[[/folder]]
98
99[[folder:Web Original]]
100* WebVideo/RedLetterMedia is just [[VillainProtagonist Mr. Plinkett]] doing 60+ minute long reviews. ''WebVideo/HalfInTheBag'' and ''Best of the Worst'' don't exist. And ''Film/ThePhantomMenace'' was the only movie Plinkett reviewed.
101* [[WebAnimation/Supermarioglitchy4sSuperMario64Bloopers SMG4]] is the only ''VideoGame/SuperMario64'' machinima creator. Most of the other machinimists featured in his videos are believed to be {{original character}}s.
102** [=SMG4=] and ''WebAnimation/TeamFabulous2'' are the only ''VideoGame/GarrysMod'' machinimas. Sometimes [=STBlackST=]'s ''Unusual Troubles'' series gets grouped into this list as well.
103* At least in the west, [[Creator/{{Nijisanji}} Vox Akuma]], [[WebAnimation/{{Hololive}} Yukoku Roberu]], and [[WebVideo/{{Shxtou}} Shoto]] are the only male [[VirtualYouTuber Virtual YouTubers]].
104* ''WebAnimation/BattleForDreamIsland'' and ''WebAnimation/InanimateInsanity'' are the only ObjectShows that exist. This also extends to [[WebAnimation/BattleForBFDI both]] [[WebAnimation/InanimateInsanityInvitational of]] their sequel series.
105* Vinny and Joel are the only streamers associated with ''WebVideo/{{Vinesauce}}''.
106* Cinemassacre is just Creator/JamesRolfe bashing video games, mainly ones made by [[Creator/LJNToys LJN]], as ''WebVideo/TheAngryVideoGameNerd''. ''WebVideo/YouKnowWhatsBullshit'' and ''WebVideo/BoardJames'' don't exist.
107[[/folder]]
108
109[[folder:Other]]
110* Dance:
111** This mostly shows up on a cultural level: people will be aware of the dance styles of the culture they grew up in, and that's it.
112** For Americans, dance is the waltz, the tango (only because it was once banned for obscenity; when was the last time you saw anyone outside of fiction literally tangoing?), ballet (which began and ended with Tchaikovsky), and maybe hip-hop/street dance. In areas with a large Latin American population, there may be awareness of dances like salsa, samba, and rhumba as well.
113*** And there will never be a mention that most of those are styles and/or families of dance, not individual dances themselves.
114** This has improved somewhat largely due to shows such as ''Series/SoYouThinkYouCanDance'' and ''Series/DancingWithTheStars'', and movies like ''Take the Lead'' and the ''Film/StepUp'' franchise.
115* Wine:
116** For those special occasions, it's always a bottle of ''champagne'' (which technically must always be French, even though people seem to think it exists in all countries). Nobody ever thinks of Spanish ''cava'' or Italian ''spumante'' when discussing sparkling wine.
117** When demonstrating that you can pick the perfect wine to pair with your meal, it's always Bordeaux or Chianti. Ironically, these are both red wines and thus pair best with red meat, which is eaten less often than white meat these days.
118** Red or white. The most common red wine is probably Merlot, while the most famous white wine (as well as arguably the most famous wine in the world) is Chardonnay. If you're a Californian, you might mention Zinfandel and White Zinfandel, respectively.
119** A specific example comes from the film adaptation of ''Literature/TheSilenceOfTheLambs''; in the novel, Hannibal Lecter ate the census taker's liver with fava beans and a nice ''Amarone'', but the movie script changed the wine to Chianti, assuming that most of the target audience wouldn't know what Amarone was.
120* Harold Ross, founder of ''Magazine/TheNewYorker'' magazine, would write "Who he?" on the copy whenever one of his writers used a name without explaining who the person was. He said that there were only two names you can assume everybody knows: Literature/SherlockHolmes and Harry Houdini.
121* In [[http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200806/college this article]], a teacher of English at a 'college of last resort' mentions that the only movie he can count on every one of his students being familiar with is ''The Wizard of Oz''.
122* Pirates come in three flavors: Blackbeard, Black Bart, and [[Franchise/PiratesOfTheCaribbean Captain Jack Sparrow]]. They [[ThePiratesWhoDontDoAnything don't do anything remotely related to piracy]] for the most part. Hardly surprising on Black Bart's part since he was a [[http://www.blackbart.com/ Stagecoach Robber]]. Although most people are probably referring to the actual pirate [[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bartholomew_Roberts Bartholomew “Black Bart” Roberts]].
123* People refer to any WireFu-heavy fight sequence in a film as being in the style of ''Film/TheMatrix'' or ''Film/CrouchingTigerHiddenDragon''. They weren't the only ones, or the first ones, or even the best ones, fight-wise.
124* The only operating system is Windows, or Mac OS X. Go a bit further and you'll find GNU, though people will call it "Linux" and "open source". Even within that community, other historical and important operating systems (Genera, [=TENEX=], [=ITS=], [=WAITS=]) are forgotten in favor of UNIX. Which is hilariously wrong, since Linux is an OS kernel, and very few run GNU/HURD (the actual GNU kernel). For that matter, did you forget [=VMS=]? [=CP/M=]? Or the [=BSD=]s? Given that [=ITS=] was limited to PDP-6 and PDP-10 computers in MIT, it's not surprising that it's largely forgotten. Unix could and does run on a greater variety of systems than the Lisp machines for Genera or the mainframe-class PDP machines that [=TENEX=], [=ITS=] and [=WAITS=] could run on. Also, you can add Multics and OS/360 to important historical operating systems that are forgotten within most communities.
125** Furthermore, the only Linux distribution is Ubuntu. Anything else is considered too geeky even in a geeky show.
126* The only way to crack into a computer is by guessing the password. Buffer overflows and SQL injections don't exist.
127* The only nuclear meltdown ever was Chernobyl. Despite this, it is still used to argue against nuclear power, because its infamy means everyone assumes a ton of people died all at once, or that such failures are endemic to nuclear power rather than just to how the Soviets tended to handle such things.
128** In the new tens, Fukushima equaled nuclear power plant failure, which is even more unfair because it wasn't human error that caused that.
129** Americans will also mention Three Mile Island, though it was relatively tame in comparison. Most people mentioning it seem to think it was a Chernobyl-sized disaster.
130* Hurricanes? Well, we've got Katrina, Sandy, Harvey, Irma, Maria, and, err... that's about it. And far as typhoons are concerned, only Haiyan exists in worldwide consciousness.
131* Ask someone outside of Japan to name a Creator/{{Sanrio}} character. No doubt they'll say Hello Kitty, maybe Keroppi, Badzt Maru and My Melody if you're lucky, ignoring more recent characters like Cinnamon (who always tops popularity polls in Japan) or Gudetama, although younger people might bring up ''Anime/{{Aggretsuko}}'' and Kuromi.
132* The only earthquake in history was the one in Haiti.
133** Or, if you know that tsunamis come from earthquakes, you can add the Indian Ocean and Japan earthquakes.
134** Or that one in San Francisco? A long time ago? (1906 to be precise)
135** Loma Prieta 1989 (the World Series one) and Oakland 1994 might be mentioned, especially in works set in that area.
136** Possibly the one along the New Madrid fault line in 1812, but only if you're in the American Midwest.
137* The only volcanoes to have erupted are Mount Saint Helens and possibly Vesuvius.
138** The one volcano in Iceland that no one is (or ever will be) able to pronounce or spell correctly.
139** The Pelé Mountain in La Réunion. Because a whole city being wiped out in relatively-modern times is scary.
140** Krakatoa, which is west of Java.
141** It may be acknowledged that there are active volcanoes in Hawaii, but their individual names probably won't be mentioned.
142** For a while in the 90s, they trusted people to be familiar with Mount Pinatubo, but not so much anymore.
143* All pistols are either Glocks or "Colt .45s", all shotguns are just "shotguns", all submachine guns are Uzis, all rifles are AK-47s, all mounted machine guns are either miniguns or ".50 cals", and all explosives are "Bazookas". This even happens with people who ''do'' know a thing or two about guns - any M4 seen without the distinctive carry handle and/or an aftermarket front sight will be immediately assumed to be an [=HK416=], for instance.
144* The only school shootings to ever happen were Columbine, Virginia Tech, Sandy Hook, and Stoneman Douglas. Teenage shootings also apparently began in the late 1990s; no one remembers, say, the [=McDonald's=] massacre in San Ysidro, California, in 1984. Only white kids do school shootings, by the way.[[note]]Jeffrey Weise (Ojibwa) was the shooter at [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Lake_shootings Red Lake]]; Jaylen Fryberg (Tulalip) was the shooter at [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marysville_Pilchuck_High_School_shooting Maryville Pilchuck]]. ''Series/ThePath'' described the Marysville shooter as a white supremacist targeting black kids; Fryberg's victims were not black and the shooting was not racially motivated.[[/note]][[note]]In the 1960s, school shootings were associated with black and Hispanic kids, related to "racial unrest"; police roamed high school hallways even where nothing had happened. It was when white kids in suburban schools started doing it that it became national news.[[/note]]
145* Most people know that not all roses are red, and are aware of white, pink, orange, and other varieties. But few realize that the archetypal rose form, with a whorl of petals that completely surround the interior part, is found among just a couple varieties, most notably the Hybrid Tea. Of the hundreds of rose species and cultivars that exist, nearly all look like "standard" flowers with open petals, and not like a "real rose".
146* Martial arts? You'll be hard-pressed to find people who know that it isn't just East Asian stuff or that the West has more than, say, boxing, wrestling, maybe krav maga... and even for the "famous" East Asian styles, most will just say "karate" or "kung fu", neglecting that these are broad categories with sub-styles that can vary quite drastically from one to another, such as the acrobatic-and-kick-centric changquan vs the close-in wing chun. UsefulNotes/MixedMartialArts has only slightly broadened the pool, partly because so few of the more obscure styles' practitioners either make it big or bother making appearances at all.
147* [[OurCryptidsAreMoreMysterious Cryptids]] in fiction will usually be [[BigfootSasquatchAndYeti Bigfoot, Yeti]], the [[StockNessMonster Loch Ness monster]], and {{Chupacabra}}. If you're lucky you might get TheMothman. [[GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff Japanese works are more likely to depict]] TheFlatwoodsMonster.
148* A famous missing person, especially for a throwaway gag? Amelia Earhart, Jimmy Hoffa, or Anastasia Romanova (even though [[DatedHistory her body was found]].) If you're feeling a little more adventurous, add D. B. Cooper and maybe Percy Fawcett.
149* Creator/LennyBruce: He is perhaps the only comedian who is more famous and respected for fighting against censorship and freedom of speech than actual jokes. Most documentaries focus more on this aspect of his life too.
150* Discussed in religious terms by Irish comedian Dara O'Briain in one of his stand-up routines; he discusses how after making jokes about Catholics and Protestants in many of his routines, he'd be approached by religious people who'd lambast him for being "too scared" to instead make jokes about Muslims. O'Briain pointed out that the actual reason was that not only did he not actually know anything about Muslims, but most of his intended audience probably didn't either, so even if he were to research and write a devastating take-down of Islam, most of his audience wouldn't get it.
151* Ask a person for a stock list of constellations. It will usually come in two flavors: it's either the zodiacs, or the usual common ones like Orion, Ursa Major/Minor[[note]]and/or the Big and Little Dippers[[/note]] and the [[DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment zodiacs]]. As for ''recognizing'' constellations, Orion and Ursa Major are the only ones to ring a bell.
152* As far as stars go, most people know the North Star and that's about it. Most people don't even know its actual name is Polaris. Many have heard of Sirius but will think ''that's'' another name for the Pole Star (tip: it isn't.) Alpha Centauri is reasonably well-known, mostly because it's the closest to us. Don't expect anyone to know that Alpha Centauri is actually three stars (or two if you're only counting the binary pair).
153* In fiction, the entire science of cryptography consists of: TheBookCipher, code books (usually [[Series/AlloAllo ridiculously funny]]) and for the [[Literature/SherlockHolmes ambitious]], substitution ciphers (which are always cracked by frequency analysis). If [[UsefulNotes/{{Alchemy}} alchemists]] appear, there might be a highly obscure [[SpySpeak allusion cipher]]. PGP? Who's heard of it?
154* Male WholesomeCrossdresser characters? [[VideoGame/GuiltyGear Bridget]] and [[Literature/FateApocrypha Astolfo]] are the only such characters ever made.
155* Yoga in its entirety consists of holding three poses (only a real show-off would ever call them asanas): Lotus, Dancer, and Downward Facing Dog.
156[[/folder]]
157
158!!Exceptions:
159
160[[folder:Card Games]]
161* The card game ''TabletopGame/MagicTheGathering'' does this as well. They tend to use obscure but real mythical creatures, and the original sets, before the storyline became coherent and unique to the sets, would borrow liberally from odd sources.
162[[/folder]]
163
164[[folder:Comedy]]
165* Creator/DennisMiller is famous for constantly bringing up obscure references, so much so that a website was created to decipher his comments on ''Series/MondayNightFootball'' for the average football fan.
166* Creator/PattonOswalt likes to lampshade the obscure references in his stand-up, by effecting an even nerdier voice than usual, and mentioning something even more obscure.
167* Creator/{{David Mitchell|Actor}} argues against using small reference pools in [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QjG9JcyLYbw_from=TL&videos=xPYn-uLmsHM=sub this video]], pointing out that many people, especially teenagers, are more likely to just Google the reference than to feel excluded for not getting it.
168[[/folder]]
169
170[[folder:Comic Books]]
171* Creator/NeilGaiman's ''ComicBook/{{The Sandman|1989}}'' references a great deal. For example, the second volume mentions Parliament's War, Fiddler's Green, etc.
172* Creator/AlanMoore and Kevin O' Neill's ''ComicBook/TheLeagueOfExtraordinaryGentlemen'' is definitely a subversion. Sure, three of the original five league members are well known, but the two most important include the fairly obscure (and frequently misspelled) Allan Quatermain and a lesser known character from the novel ''Literature/{{Dracula}}''. Beyond the League, the references get incredibly obscure.
173** ''The Black Dossier'' is nye literature code without some sort of cypher key to understand what he's talking about.
174** By the time of Century, the first issue its really light on this. But the second issue, being set on 1969, with a lot of series and film characters on the background and as characters... it's reference porn all the way.
175[[/folder]]
176
177[[folder:Comic Strips]]
178* ''ComicStrip/DykesToWatchOutFor'' is festooned with literary, cultural, and historical allusions of all kinds (not solely LGBT culture, either).
179* Linus Van Pelt of ''ComicStrip/{{Peanuts}}'' was fond of [[AsTheGoodBookSays quoting Bible passages]], often from fairly obscure books of both the Old and New Testaments. And there is his immortal quoting of the Gospel of Luke in ''A Charlie Brown Christmas'', but that had always been well-known to Christians. And cartoonist Charles Schulz, a big sports fan, frequently mentioned famous athletes of the day, most of whom are all but forgotten today (French-Canadian hockey player Maurice Richard, for instance).
180* ''ComicStrip/CalvinAndHobbes'' usually tried to steer clear of cultural references, but Calvin once compared the experience of walking through the snowy woods to ''Film/DoctorZhivago'' (an Academy Award-winning movie, to be sure, but one that most people have not seen since the 1960s). Another strip had Calvin waxing sarcastic about middle-aged pop stars endorsing soft drinks; this was fairly common in the early '90s (Ray Charles, Music/EltonJohn), but many current viewers may not remember those commercials. Hobbes also once called Calvin out for misspelling the word "Weltanschauung."
181* Lasagna was not widely known west of the Hudson River or to non-Italian-Americans until it was revealed to be ComicStrip/{{Garfield}}'s favorite food. One strip even had Jon Arbuckle name-dropping various Italian cheeses as he prepared Garfield's meal: ''ricotta'', ''mozzarella'', parmesan (''parmagiana'' in Italian).
182[[/folder]]
183
184[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
185* In ''Film/{{Super}},'' when Libby lists superheroes with {{Kid Sidekick}}s, she rather surprisingly mentions the original Human Torch and Toro between Batman/Robin and Flash/Kid Flash.
186[[/folder]]
187
188[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
189* Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000 averts this trope. Nothing is too obscure to reference; their official Youtube channel is working on producing annotated versions of each episode to explain the references, and the explanations make you realize just how obscure they get. The writers' philosophy was, "The ''right'' people will get it."
190** A good example is how they were constantly referencing ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'', which isn't an aversion of this trope nowadays, but certainly was before the movies came out.
191** Probably the farthest they ever pushed this was the line "Look out Mike, she's got your computer!", which was a reference to the time head writer Mike Nelson's ex-girlfriend stole his computer. [[ExaggeratedTrope This joke was made when Mike wasn't even a cast member on the show yet]].
192[[/folder]]
193
194[[folder:Music]]
195* Music/TheyMightBeGiants have tried to rectify the situation singing the praises of Belgian painter James Ensor and the sorely underrated President UsefulNotes/JamesKPolk, among others.
196* "Those Endearing Young Charms" will never be played correctly, due to [[WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes a stick of dynamite being placed under the right key of the ninth note]].
197* The 1975 Music/AliceCooper song "Department of Youth" does a bit of name-dropping, with Donny Osmond and UsefulNotes/DwightDEisenhower both mentioned (Eisenhower undoubtedly familiar to most grade-school kids, and the Osmonds fairly commonly known), but also Protestant preacher (and former baseball player) Billy Sunday and short-story writer Creator/DamonRunyon, neither of whom most kids are likely to know. Lampshaded within the song when Alice goes "And we never hoid'a..."
198[[/folder]]
199
200[[folder:Philosophy]]
201* Pythagoras, the ancient Greek mathematical theorist, is pretty well known to some Baby Boomers who remember his appearance in the WesternAnimation/{{Classic Disney Short|s}} ''Donald Duck in Mathmagic Land''. And they might also recall from that cartoon that the pentagram was originally the symbol of the Pythagorean secret society, ''not'' [[EveryoneIsSatanInHell a sign of Satan]].
202[[/folder]]
203
204[[folder:Radio]]
205* BBC Radio show ''Round Britain Quiz'' is almost an inversion of this trope. It's a highbrow panel game for some very well-read intellectuals, except when it comes to anything that's recent, science-/engineering-based, or American. Then it switches to ''Huge'' Reference Pools -- some people who know everything about classical literature or classical music (to take some recent examples) are clueless on questions about Elton John or Pink Floyd, or don't know which city is 'Motown'.
206[[/folder]]
207
208[[folder:Video Games]]
209* ''VideoGame/TalesOfSymphonia'' has the angel Remiel, a somewhat obscure apocryphal angel, appropriately responsible for sending visions and prophecy. Some sources also make him responsible for those who will be resurrected. Both are appropriate for his place within the early game journey of rebirth.
210* While not the ''smallest'' reference pool, in ''VideoGame/TheSecretWorld'', they mention Vivaldi as a composer.
211[[/folder]]
212
213[[folder:Visual Novels]]
214* ''VisualNovel/SteinsGate'' goes as far as making [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Titor a ten-year-old Internet hoax]] a major plot point.
215[[/folder]]
216
217[[folder:Webcomics]]
218* Thanks partly to the influence of Gary Larson's ''ComicStrip/TheFarSide'', many DadaComics avert this trope, sometimes bordering on ViewersAreGeniuses. One instance in which this trope caught up was a panel in which one cowboy offered another a latte. In the days before Starbucks, many audience members were convinced that "latte" meant gay sex; others knew that it was a type of coffee but didn't know the word was Italian, assumed it was French, and pronounced it "lat."
219* The names of ''Webcomic/TheOrderOfTheStick'' books often reference works of literature, at least one of which is well outside the norm: War and [=XPs=] (Tolstoy's ''Literature/WarAndPeace''), ''Start of Darkness'' (Conrad's ''Literature/HeartOfDarkness'') and ''On the Origins of [=PCs=]'' (Darwin's ''On the Origin of Species'') Strips have also referenced the novel ''Literature/{{Dune}}'', the musical ''Film/MeetMeInStLouis'', and hinged several key character moments on a game of ''TabletopGame/{{Go}}''.
220* ''Webcomic/IrregularWebcomic'' lives on averting this trope. Obscure mathematical jokes abound. Luckily for the majority of his readers, the extensive annotations underneath each strip explain the mathematical or scientific principle in question, often a whole lot better than your math teacher or textbook will. Extensive and accurate historical and literary jokes are also common. ''Irregular Webcomic'' doesn't sacrifice humor for "get out of my head" moments.
221* In ''Webcomic/NipAndTuck'', [[http://www.rhjunior.com/nip-and-tuck-0664/ Ms. Ruth assumes she hit on this]] when she compares Nip and Eric's characters in a movie they're working on to [[Literature/LesMiserables Jean Valjean and Javert]] and gets no reaction -- and finds they just don't think it's a good analogy.
222* ''{{Webcomic/xkcd}}'' often has strips with jokes on the subjects of advanced mathematics and physics, computer coding, and various other obscure references. It's gotten to the point that there's [[https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/Main_Page a whole wiki]] to explain every strip.
223[[/folder]]
224
225[[folder:Web Original]]
226* Podcast/RiffTrax follows the example of ''Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000'' in Live-Action TV above, and even directly references the "The right people will get it" philosophy at one point (following a fairly obvious joke about Creator/DanielRadcliffe's performance in ''Theatre/{{Equus}}'').
227[[/folder]]

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