%% WHEN PLACING ENTRIES, PLEASE EXPLAIN WHY THE ENTRY WAS 1) MAINSTREAM, AND 2) OBSCURE. THERE MUST BE A DEMONSTRABLE LEVEL OF FAME ON ITS OWN LEGS OVER THAT AND ABOVE PERIPHERAL ELEMENTS (E.G. START OF FAMOUS ACTOR/ACTRESS ETCETERA). ENTRIES THAT CANNOT EXPLAIN THIS WILL BE AXED.
%%
%% ALSO, NO "SHOW OF HANDS" AND "WHO READS/SEES/PLAYS ". TRY AND DEMONSTRATE HOW WORK IS MAINSTREAM AND THEN OBSCURE IN NEUTRAL TERMS.

->''"A classic is something everyone wants to have read and nobody wants to read."''
-->-- '''Creator/MarkTwain'''

Mainstream Obscurity is what happens to a famous successful work intended for a wide general audience, that succeeds so well and becomes so known, that paradoxically, despite its fame, it remains relatively unknown to the general public. Sure it lands on every critic's top 10 list, has a fantastic word of mouth on many amateur review sites, and is one of the most truly well-known works in media, and some part of the media (the IconicOutfit, IconicItem, SignatureScene) is known by PopCulturalOsmosis. Thing is, these elements become so overexposed that a lot of people might ''think'' they've seen it, or [[CommonKnowledge might even feel they don't have to see it]], but individuals can't name things about it beyond these famous well-known aspects. A good example is a famous witticism that an intellectual is someone who can listen to Music/GioachinoRossini's ''William Tell Overture'' without thinking of ''Series/TheLoneRanger'' [[note]]on account of the fact that the finale of Rossini's overture became a StandardSnippet used by the famous TV show, becoming associated with TheWildWest despite the fact that it derives from an Italian opera about a Swiss rebel, which, being that it's an opera, has a smaller audience[[/note]].

When the work has become so famous that "everybody else knows about it", yet no one has actually read or been exposed to that work, that work is wallowing in Mainstream Obscurity. People, groups, art movements, and entire genres can also be swallowed by Mainstream Obscurity. A "famous author" can be widely read, best-selling but largely unread, widely quote-mined, or just well known for "being an author". Iconic movie stars have their image reproduced in so many other places that it is easy to recognize their faces or get what part of them is being parodied and alluded to, without having to ever watch any of the movies they starred in. If a character portrayed by an actor [[AdaptationDisplacement (or that version of a character, if an adaptation)]] becomes more famous than their portrayer, the actor's name may be completely unknown to all except trivia buffs and paradoxically lead to extreme typecasting to the extent that an actor can't escape being pigeonholed, [[AdamWesting or rather mine it for the rest of their life]]. Likewise, people can be widely aware of an artistic movement or genre, but unable to describe what it was about.

For this trope to hold meaning, a few conditions need to be met. It ''must'' be mainstream. Defining the mainstream is hard but a workable definition is that what is mainstream is the general knowledge and awareness in culture and society that people can have without having to go out of their way.

A work for general audiences appeals to people who may not have, for instance, played other games, known or seen or heard of other works in said genre or other works in the said franchise, and likewise never have read a comic book, or listened to albums and artists of the given music genre. Likewise, one should not assume that a work is more famous than it actually is. Some works are likely not intended for mainstream appeal or mainstream audiences in the first place.

For instance, works of philosophy, science, anthropology, and other social sciences, are not intended to be best-sellers, they are meant to be read and perused by peers and educated readers, and are likewise published in philosophical and scientific journals. Some scientists and philosophers owing to their great social and political influence end up becoming famous, their witticisms become proverbial in society by MemeticMutation and so become a "known name" to people outside their field, but the fact is their works were never reasonably and realistically expected to be read unhindered by the non-specialist. So for instance, while Darwin is a famous scientist, and one cannot call him obscure simply because the majority of people who know his name haven't read his works. It would only be obscure if he is unknown among scientists and biologists, which obviously is not true.

Works from obscure fields or appealing to a rarefied demographic such as exploitation films, children's cartoons, LeFilmArtistique are likewise not intended for mainstream appeal. The fact that some works become famous and known outside their intended audience is a case of coming [[OutOfTheGhetto out of the ghetto]] or having a MultipleDemographicAppeal rather than truly being obscure. Likewise, MediaNotes/SchoolStudyMedia features works and authors include bestselling authors from the 19th Century, and while many of them were once mainstream and obscure today, their appeal is strictly TrueArtIsAncient.

The reverse of FanMyopia. Often happens when a CultClassic becomes so well known for being a cult classic (due to PopculturalOsmosis) that the cult classic becomes mainstream. They may have started as an AcclaimedFlop. This can, of course, lead to AdaptationDisplacement and BeamMeUpScotty and also often results in CommonKnowledge. See also PraisingShowsYouDontWatch, where people, well, [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin do exactly that]]. Some of these can also be [[OvershadowedByControversy well-known for historical controversy]]. See also SmallReferencePools. Also see UnbuiltTrope where works which are well known and famous tend to surprise people who decide to actually learn about stuff, likewise, LostInImitation where certain works are adapted so often, and often based on certain well-known additions rather than the original work.

For the inverse, see ObscurePopularity, which is when the work has a large following despite being obscure beyond it. See also TheThemeParkVersion, which describes how certain events, people, and figures are {{Flanderiz|ation}}ed to a series of signs.

'''A Administrivia/{{No Recent Examples|please}} rule applies to this trope'''. Examples shouldn't be added until '''20 years''' after the work's initial release.
----
!!Examples:

[[foldercontrol]]

[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
* ''Anime/GraveOfTheFireflies'' is a famously brutal depiction of [[WarIsHell the horrors of war]], conveniently explaining [[AngstAversion why no one ever gets around to watching it]].
* Creator/OsamuTezuka is considered the "god of the manga." However there are many people (including anime fans) who know of his legacy and works, but have never read any of them; especially ''Manga/AstroBoy'', who is one of, if not the most recognizable manga characters of all time (and the first one to have a successful mainstream anime adaptation). Indeed, while Tezuka wrote many, many series over his life, chances are that aside from ''Astro Boy'', the only one you've probably heard of is ''Manga/KimbaTheWhiteLion'', and that's only because of the accusations of ''WesternAnimation/{{The Lion King|1994}}'' ripping it off.
** To a smaller degree, his ''Manga/{{Unico}}'' series might get an occasional mention from Gen X and Gen Y Americans and Canadians every once in a while, [[Anime/TheFantasticAdventuresOfUnico since]] the [[Anime/UnicoInTheIslandOfMagic films used to frequently air]] on Creator/DisneyChannel (then known as "The Disney Channel" when both movies were airing) during its infancy throughout the 1980s and has gained a cult following in the west. That same generation even ran a successful crowdfunded kickstarter on getting the [[LateExportForYou original Unico manga series an official English translation]] in [[TheNewTens the early 2010s]], due to having very fond memories of the Unico films (and it's even odds if anyone associates it with Tezuka).
* The anime adaptation of ''Manga/{{Akira}}'' ([[AdaptationDisplacement which is far better known than the manga]]) has been hailed as one of the greatest animated films of all time, made $49 million at the box office and is very iconic, but there are plenty of people (mostly those who weren't around for the initial release of the film) who are familiar with the major scenes and the memes they've spawned but have never actually watched the movie themselves and have no idea what the plot is about.
* ''Franchise/{{Digimon}}'' is well-known as ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'s'' [[DuelingWorks rival series]] [[note]]given the existence of ''Digimon'' virtual pet toys — think Tamagotchis — in 1997 before ''Pokémon'' had gotten popular, it's more likely that the marketing was simply done similarly to leech onto ''Pokémon'''s success[[/note]] — and that's about it. It's rather impressive to be able to even name one Digimon, much less several. [[note]]In case you're stuck in a conversation like this, important Digimon include Agumon, Palmon, Patamon, Biyomon, and Guilmon. If you need to recognize them, they look like a yellow-orange dinosaur, a plant thing, a rodent with bat wings for ears, a pink bird, and a red dinosaur.[[/note]] To add, ''Digimon'' itself is only seen as a "rival" of Pokémon in America. In Japan, the people know the two are completely different franchises with different focus despite both having {{Mon}}s.
** Within the ''Digimon'' franchise itself is [[Anime/DigimonTamers Renamon]], [[PopularWithFurries who is extremely popular in furry fanart]], but many of these fanartists [[FanworkOnlyFans haven't actually seen ''Tamers'' or even any ''Digimon'' series]].
* ''Manga/{{Bokurano}}'' is well known as "''Evangelion'' but even more depressing", along with being very philosophical, but few people have actually seen or read it.
* This trope even works in Japan: ''Anime/GhostInTheShell1995'' [[GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff was met with critical acclaim in Europe and the USA]], yet in Japan not so much. So it's no surprise that when Japanese actually talk about it, praising it about its greatness so they can associate with westerners, they might admit to having never actually seen the movie.
* ''VisualNovel/{{Air}}'': Everybody knows that [[ItWasHisSled Misuzu dies]], but not many have actually watched a single episode of the series or played the original VN, even after it was fan-translated.
** And while we're in the same universe, ''VisualNovel/{{Clannad}} ~After Story~''. How many people can mention anything other than [[spoiler:[[ItWasHisSled Nagisa's and Ushio's deaths]]]]?
** Detailed information about ''VisualNovel/{{Kanon}}'' doesn't come up very often either, outside of internet memes like the infamously-OffModel "am I kawaii uguu face" (which was actually the 2006 version edited to look like the lower-budget 2002 version). At least with the other two in the series (''AIR'' and ''CLANNAD''), people can name one or two plot points or characters, but they don't even know that "[[VerbalTic uguu]]" is actually from something.
* ''Manga/{{Monster}}'' is regarded as one of the best anime of all… but not watched by many.
* ''Anime/NowAndThenHereAndThere'' is mentioned a lot, but watched as much as ''Anime/GraveOfTheFireflies''. [[AngstAversion And for good reason.]]
* Unsurprisingly, ''Anime/{{Texhnolyze}}'' is so dark and depressing that only a handful of people ever bring themselves to watch it.
* Everyone knows the famous Falcon Punch scene from ''Anime/FZeroGPLegend'', but how many have actually watched the series? [[Creator/FourKidsEntertainment 4Kids]] acquiring, butchering, and dropping the series didn't help matters either.
* Within Belgium you have one based on ''Anime/BakuganBattleBrawlers''. Many people in Belgium have heard of it (though not necessarily liked it) and at least know that Bakugan is a game, but it is rare to find someone who has actually played it, let alone has the materials that are necessary to play with it. When a Belgian says that they exclude someone for not having a Bakugan they are simply searching for an excuse to exclude someone without outright telling the reason.
* ''Anime/WolfsRain'' is likely writer Keiko Nobumoto's most famous work after ''Anime/CowboyBebop'', but falls into the category of critically acclaimed and well-known but little seen outside of a small core of diehard fans due to its reputation for being [[MindScrew really cryptic]] and [[AngstAversion really, really sad]].
* ''Manga/{{Saikano}}'' is known for being depressing, but it isn't actually watched or read that often.
* ''Manga/ShadowStar'' has a bit of a reputation for its graphic violence and LoliconAndShotacon-ish elements, but the ''quality'' itself is rarely discussed, probably since there aren't a lot of people who have actually read it.
* ''Anime/HaibaneRenmei'' was a well-known anime during the 2000s and was frequently cited on "must watch" lists. However, few people that praise it actually got around to ''watching it''. Official streaming and home rereleases have helped this a bit though.
* ''Manga/PokemonAdventures'' is "the" ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'' manga to people, thanks to it being the longest-running one to have official translations in various countries. People know it's DarkerAndEdgier than the anime and the games and [[SignatureScene the scene where a Charmeleon slices an Arbok in half]] is always brought up as an example of its edgier nature, but much else evade even many hardcore ''Pokémon'' fans. It doesn't get discussed much even on ''Pokémon'' forums.
* ''Anime/CarnivalPhantasm'' ironically causes this towards ''VisualNovel/{{Tsukihime}}.'' At the time of release in 2011, ''Carnival Phantasm'' was a web original anime that was created as a celebration of the two popular Creator/TypeMoon Visual Novels set in the Franchise/{{Nasuverse}}: ''Tsukihime'' and ''VisualNovel/FateStayNight.'' Both series received equal billing at the time of release. Since then, however, Fate has grown into a CashCowFranchise, much to the consternation of fans of the other works in the Nasuverse. While Fate received new wildly popular anime [[Anime/FateStayNightUnlimitedBladeWorks adaptations]] that pushed the franchise's popularity to new heights, ''Tsukihime'' was left in the dust with both its reboot Visual Novel and ''VideoGame/MeltyBlood'' sequel undergoing massive delays (both of which have been released in 2021, over a decade after the reboot was announced). These days it's not uncommon for people's knowledge of ''Tsukihime'' to be limited to this specific series, and a popular meme was reacting to ''Tsukihime'' remake news by jokingly claiming that Neko-Arc (a gag character based on the main heroine) is "getting her own VN."
* ''Manga/PlatinumEnd'' was made by the creator of the acclaimed ''Manga/DeathNote'', but all most know about ''Platinum End'' is [[AudienceAlienatingEnding the infamous]] [[ItWasHisSled ending]] where [[spoiler:Shuji Nakaumi becomes God, commits suicide, and takes the whole universe with him]].
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Comic Books]]
* If you ask any random person on the street across the English-speaking world to name a superhero, most could identify Characters/{{Batman|TheCharacter}}, Characters/{{Superman|TheCharacter}} and [[Characters/MarvelComicsPeterParker Spider-Man]]. The fact that the latter belongs to a different company and universe (Creator/MarvelComics) was not a widely known fact (at least until the ''Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse''). Indeed, non-comic fans will often wonder why Batman can't team up with Spider-Man. A lot of superhero comics like ''Fantastic Four'', ''X-Men'', ''The Avengers'', ''Captain America'', ''Captain Marvel'' (the original, now ''Shazam''), ''The Flash'', ''Wonder Woman'', ''Buck Rogers'', ''Flash Gordon'', ''Judge Dredd''... are better known through their movie and TV series adaptations than the comics they originally appeared in. Most of the general audience - especially outside North America - knows up to nothing about these characters but: "yeah, they are superheroes who fight crime, I guess." Compare them to series like Superman, Batman, and Spider-Man, where a majority can at least tell you something about the characters or the backstory.
* ''ComicBook/SpiderMan'': ''ComicBook/AmazingFantasyNumber15'' featured the very first appearance of [[Characters/MarvelComicsPeterParker Spider-Man]] ever, and it's one of the three most famous comic book issues in the history of superhero comics. However, most people who've heard of it don't know that it contained several back-up one-shot stories apart from the Spider-Man adventure, and fewer have read any of them.
* If you name a female superhero, Characters/{{Wonder Woman|TheCharacter}} shows up often as an instant response, and most would know that she's Greek, has a Lasso of Truth, and flies an invisible plane (at least to those who remember the Creator/LyndaCarter [[Series/WonderWoman1975 TV show]]). Ask people about her RoguesGallery and supporting cast, however, and that number drops. People can name multiple aspects of that information for Batman and Superman thanks to the success of multiple iterations. Wonder Woman had one TV show devoted to her, then an appearance in ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague'' which streamlined her background (making [[EverybodyHatesHades Hades]] her ArchEnemy and not Ares) and largely used her as part of an ensemble cast of a SharedUniverse rather than a hero in her own right as did the Franchise/DCExtendedUniverse. [[note]] Although this is due to licensing issues. Prior to the early 2010s, the contract with the creator's estate forbade her and her supporting characters from being in any adaptation in which she wasn't a main character[[/note]] She finally got [[Film/WonderWoman2017 her own film]] in 2017.
* Relatedly, everyone has the same general concept for the storylines of the heroes but said the concept is [[TwoDecadesBehind stuck somewhere in the 1970s to 1980s]], and in the case of a large number of {{Retcon}}s, confusing even among comics fans.
* ''ComicBook/{{Superman}}'':
** Superman is arguably the most famous superhero around. Most of the traits people associate Superman with (godlike power, the Fortress of Solitude, the Phantom Zone, ComicBook/{{Supergirl}}, [[Characters/SupermanSupportingCast Krypto the Superdog]], Zod, the ComicBook/LegionOfSuperHeroes, multiple varieties of Kryptonite) were created during the Silver and Bronze Ages. The general public ignores that most of them were retconned out when DC rebooted Superman in 1985 and made their way back to the comics very slowly. Later additions to the mythos are mostly unknown by mostly everyone.
** They'll know that [[Characters/SupermanLoisLane Lois Lane]] is Clark Kent's friend and Superman's girlfriend who has no idea they're one and the same, unaware that they've been married for a long time in comics media, that she's fully aware of his secret identity, and that in ''ComicBook/DCRebirth'', they came back to the married (and with [[Characters/SupermanJonathanSamuelKent a child]]) status. In the introduction to ''[[ComicBook/TheDeathOfSuperman The Death and Return of Superman]]'' omnibus, Mike Carlin noted the easiest way to shut down reporters complaining that they were "stealing" Superman from the people was to respond [[ArmorPiercingQuestion "Well... when's the last time]] ''[[ArmorPiercingQuestion you]]'' [[ArmorPiercingQuestion bought a Superman comic?"]]
** Most people are aware of the existence of Characters/{{Supergirl|TheCharacter}}, and most of them know her name's Kara and she's Superman's cousin. Even before being given [[Series/Supergirl2015 her own show]] in 2015, she had shown up in a [[Film/Supergirl1984 live-action film]] as well as several animated features, [[Series/{{Smallville}} shows]], cartoons and video games. But ask them about her RoguesGallery, supporting cast, and relevant storylines, and they'll be hard-pressed to name one. They'll be unaware too that the character remained dead for eighteen years, during which DC tried and failed to replace her with [[SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute several non-Kryptonian Supergirls]].
** Despite Superman being the [[TropeCodifier superhero's superhero]] and at the worst of times, the third most popular superhero in the world behind Spider-Man and Batman, many of Superman's villains, with the obvious exception of Lex Luthor (and secondarily, Zod, Doomsday, and Darkseid), have seriously lagged behind in being recognizable and relatable to a general audience. You could probably have an in-depth conversation with any member of the general public about Batman's Arkham rogues and Spider-Man's villains but for Superman villains like Atomic Skull, Toyman, Parasite, Titano, Metallo, and Mr. Mxyzptlk? Some of these villains might be at the tips of some people's tongues due to past cartoons and TV shows but the severe lack of live cinematic representation for them has left them in an awkward spot where everybody knows who Batman, Superman, and Spider-Man are but you couldn't get most people to go in-depth on a conversation about Parasite, Toyman, or Atomic Skull the same way you could get people to have a lengthy conversation about the Joker, Green Goblin, Bane, Dr. Octopus, Riddler, Scarecrow, or the Sinister Six. And most people would probably be very hardpressed to understand why Superman's non-Lex or non-Doomsday villains are so important to his mythos, much less name memorable storylines they've been in.
* ''ComicBook/{{Batman}}'':
** Unless they've been in a coma for a decade or two, they'll know who Batman is. But you'd be hard-pressed to find someone outside the hardcore fandom who knows that [[ComicBook/BatmanGrantMorrison he now has a pre-teen son]] with the daughter of one of his enemies. Likewise, said enemy and daughter of said enemy, [[Characters/BatmanRasAlGhul Ra's]] and [[Characters/BatmanTaliaAlGhul Talia Al-Ghul]] are both relatively new characters and are still not widely used in mainstream adaptations. They were created in the early 1970s but were not adapted until ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'' in the early '90s. It took over another decade for them to show up in ''Film/TheDarkKnightTrilogy'' and they're radically different than their comic counterparts. They remain popular characters in adaptations aimed at existing comics fans but arguably the only comics-accurate versions of the characters in a mainstream adaptation is in the ''[[Franchise/BatmanArkhamSeries Arkham]]'' video game franchise.
** For example: Ask anyone on the street who Characters/{{Robin}} is, and if they know at all, it'll be Dick Grayson, who's been Characters/{{Nightwing|DickGrayson}} since 1984. They'll likely be completely unaware that there's been up to ''five'' Robins, depending on which comics you're talking about. They may also be unaware of the different identities each Robin has, and mention names like [[Characters/BatmanJasonTodd Red Hood]], ComicBook/RedRobin, and Spoiler to non-fans and they'll be stumped.
** Ask anyone on the street who Characters/{{Batgirl}} is and they'll name Barbara Gordon if they're able to answer the question at all. She's made appearances in live-action shows, movies, and cartoons. No one will know Barbara wasn't Batgirl for twenty-three years, and they'll be completely unaware of her successors [[ComicBook/Batgirl2000 Cassandra Cain]] and [[ComicBook/Batgirl2009 Stephanie Brown]], who have identities of their own (the former becoming Black Bat and then Orphan, the latter best known as the Spoiler). This is actually enforced by DC, who [[ComicBook/Batgirl2011 rebooted Barbara as Batgirl]] in order to make sure she's the "default" Batgirl in people's heads.
** Pretty much every ''Batman'' fan knows about ''ComicBook/ADeathInTheFamily'', the story that killed off the Jason Todd Robin; it's a consistent placer in "iconic ''Batman'' stories" lists, and the infamous vote-in campaign DC used to decide the outcome made mainstream news at the time and is still remembered. However, the specifics of what actually ''happened'' in the story besides "Joker beat Jason Todd to death with a crowbar" are considerably more bleary, starting with the fact that the above summary is, in fact, wrong: Joker smacked Jason a few times with a crowbar, but he also pistol-whipped him a few times, and Jason survived both and managed to cling to life until a bomb finished him off. It doesn't help that much of the story's third act is [[UnintentionalPeriodPiece rather dated]] and more than a bit absurd (Joker evades consequences for killing Jason by somehow ''becoming the Iranian ambassador''), and is usually skated over or rewritten in modern tellings. This has led to a lot of later callbacks to the story adding in ideas that were nowhere in the original, such as Jason always being a bad apple and dying for it, or Batman wilfully choosing not to kill the Joker as opposed to being prevented from doing so.
* ''ComicBook/GreenLantern'':
** He's known as a member of the Justice League and as "SpacePolice", but most people wouldn't know anything about his character and origins, including the fact that Green Lantern is not a superhero name, but a job title, that [[TheChosenMany there are multiple Green Lanterns of multiple species and multiple planets]], and that there are now lantern-themed characters for every color in the rainbow.
** It was particularly notable when the ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague'' TV show was launched in 2001 using John Stewart as the Green Lantern. Some were upset about them changing Green Lantern to a black man. People didn't know that the character was nearing 30 years old, having taken up the ring in the '70s. This, due to the popularity of the ''Justice League'' show, led to a large number of people confused by the ''Film/GreenLantern2011'' trailer, wanting to know why Green Lantern ''wasn't'' black!
** Likewise, Hal Jordan, the Green Lantern with the longest appearances in comics, is the "second Green Lantern". The first is Alan Scott, and the original Green Lantern had magic-based powers. Hal Jordan also disappeared from comics for nearly a decade with his replacement Kyle Rayner actually becoming "the" Green Lantern for many new readers. The failure of the ''Film/GreenLantern2011'' film means that Hal Jordan remains overshadowed in the popular imagination.
* If you ask a random person who the quintessential ''[[ComicBook/TheAvengers Avengers]]'' are, you'll probably be told [[Characters/MarvelComicsTonyStark Iron Man]], [[Characters/MarvelComicsThorOdinson Thor]], [[Characters/MarvelComicsSteveRogers Captain America]], and [[Characters/MarvelComicsBruceBanner The Incredible Hulk]].
** The problem is that the Avengers for a long time did not have a regular cast and roster. The first ten issues or so of the comics had repeated defections. The Hulk left the Avengers early and was a member of the team for exactly two issues, and unlike other team members did not rejoin for over 40 years after quitting (the team which Hulk had a longer membership in was ''ComicBook/TheDefenders'', which was finally made into an InNameOnly ''[[Series/TheDefenders2017 Netflix series]]''). ''Captain America'' wasn't a founding member of the team, he was thawed out of ice in a later issue, and joined the team after that, and for a long time, the two most common founding members were ''ComicBook/AntMan'' and ''[[Characters/AntManHeroes The Wasp]]'', who were not only AdaptedOut from ''Film/TheAvengers2012'' but when finally adapted were made into Scott Lang and Hope van Dyne, both of whom are {{Legacy Character}}s.
** A weird reversal of this occurred when ''Film/{{The Avengers|2012}}'' was released. A large number of fans believed that the film was odd for not featuring [[Characters/MarvelComicsLogan Wolverine]] or [[Characters/MarvelComicsPeterParker Spider-Man]], even saying it's not the Avengers without them. Despite the fact that they were largely the two Marvel heroes most recognizable to the general public, both of them had only been full-time Avengers since 2005, and in fact, a good 40 years of Avengers history barely included either of them (Spider-Man became a reserve member in the early '90s but was rarely used unless all team members were being called in).
** Likewise, many see the Avengers as the AlternateCompanyEquivalent to the Justice League, and ''the'' prominent super-team. In actual fact, ''ComicBook/FantasticFour'' is canonically the greatest team in the Franchise/MarvelUniverse and were originally intended to be the Marvel take on the Justice League. For most of its publication, ''The Avengers'' were far less popular and respected than the Fantastic Four and especially the ''ComicBook/XMen'' and the reason for its regular roster was that it was seen as a dumping ground for B and C-Listers who generally couldn't carry a book or title on their own. Where in the ''Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse'', Spider-Man wants to be an Avenger, in the original comics he wanted to join the Fantastic Four (rejected because [[Characters/FantasticFourTheFantasticFour Reed]] said they were a family first and team second) and his closest relationship with anyone in the Marvel Universe was [[Characters/FantasticFourTheFantasticFour Johnny Storm]]. Granted, this has shifted in later years where the Avengers have become the premier team in the Marvel Universe, but [[NewerThanTheyThink that wasn't until the early '00s]] and most heroes have been an Avenger at some point in their careers after Marvel started promoting them more (what with the X-Men and Fantastic Four's film rights having been tied to [[Creator/TwentiethCenturyStudios 20th Century Fox]] for many years).
* Speaking of [[Characters/MarvelComicsBruceBanner the Hulk]], the character had fallen into this for most of his early history, up until 1986. While he did have his own successful [[Series/TheIncredibleHulk1977 television series]] and became something of a counter-cultural icon during [[UsefulNotes/TheSixties the '60s]], [[http://ew.com/article/2013/01/10/peter-david-the-incredible-hulk/ according to]] Creator/PeterDavid, the comics themselves suffered from very low sales to the point that the editor Bob Harras told him that Hulk was the book nobody wanted to write and handed it over to David out of desperation. It wasn't until David's landmark run on the title that Hulk comics started selling really well. That said, there are still readers today who feel that Hulk works better as part of an ensemble and that the number of stories he can carry by himself is limited. Truth be told, it still ''does'' apply to the Hulk, as there's little knowledge of what his comics version is like outside the fandom. Most people don't know Bruce can turn into a variety of Hulks due to his [[SplitPersonality multiple personality disorder]], only one of which has the traditional HulkSpeak and childlike intellect (the Savage Hulk), that Bruce/Hulk has been married a few times, or that they've had two sons and a daughter (Skaar, Hiro-Kala, and Lyra, though Hiro-Kala isn't in any position to turn up easily). People who know the Hulk may not be able to mention one single villain from his RoguesGallery, or just the Abomination.
* The ''ComicBook/TeenTitans'' suffers from this, especially for modern audiences who are likely more exposed to the [[WesternAnimation/TeenTitans2003 2003 animated series]], or for ''really'' young audiences who only know the [[WesternAnimation/TeenTitansGo gag version of it]]. While it was one of the most successful and acclaimed comics of the '80s and has continued in some form to this day, the show was what introduced the team to modern audiences, and has been ingrained in the minds of many non-comic readers as the definitive source. There are several ways this shows:
** Ask any non-comic fan what the lineup of the Teen Titans is, and if they can name any, they'll say, Robin, [[Characters/TeenTitansStarfire Starfire]], [[Characters/TeenTitansNewTeenTitans Cyborg, Raven, and Beast Boy.]] In reality, this "core lineup" has never existed outside the animated series. In fact, [[OlderThanTheyThink the Teen Titans started in the '60s]] and the founders were Robin, [[ComicBook/TheFlash Kid Flash]], ComicBook/{{Aqua|man}}lad, and ComicBook/WonderGirl. Starfire, Cyborg, and Raven didn't even exist as characters yet at the time -- Beast Boy did, but he was with the Doom Patrol, and only teamed up with the Titans a couple of times (they asked if he wanted to be a member of the Titans, but he said no). Even during the '80s, which had all of those five as members, it never was limited to ''just'' those five. In fact, the membership could get quite expansive as new members would join and the lineup would shift a lot. While other members of the team did appear in the show, they were recurring/minor characters. The main reason why the main team was limited to those five in the show was to [[AdaptationDistillation avoid having too much to work within what is supposed to be children's television]].
*** Tellingly, even the 2003 comic revival meant to capitalize on the show's success and help introduce new readers to the Titans ''still'' didn't portray the lineup this way. Sure, it had Cyborg, Starfire, and Beast Boy, ''and'' Raven would join later, and it even had a Robin -- but that Robin was Tim Drake, not Dick Grayson. Furthermore, it also featured Wonder Girl II, Impulse (who quickly became Kid Flash II), and Superboy. Some may have been confused as to who these people were.
*** A hilarious illustration of this by audiences was during the Comicbook/New52 relaunch of the Teen Titans. Many fans introduced by the show complained that it had none of the "original" members when the founding lineup was Red Robin, Wonder Girl II, Kid Flash II, Bunker, Solstice, Skitter, and Superboy. The only original member of the Teen Titans that's part of the "classic" lineup is Robin I, who later became Nightwing during his time with the Teen Titans. (The above lineup shares ''none'' of its members with the original Titans, or even the New Teen Titans, but still.) While that wasn't the ''only'' issue people had, far from it, it still showed how much people knew about the comic books versus the show. Admittedly, it probably wasn't very smart of DC to advertise a "new jumping-on point" and then leave out the most recognizable members of the team...
** Terra is perhaps the most famous Teen Titan that isn't part of the "Big Five". They know she was a mole sent by Characters/{{Deathstroke}} to infiltrate the Teen Titans. They also know she's a TragicVillain who ultimately [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone regretted what she did]] and did a HeelFaceTurn before [[RedemptionEqualsDeath dying]]. Again, that's strictly a product of the show. While it's true that Terra was an agent sent by Deathstroke (or "Slade") to infiltrate the Teen Titans, and Beast Boy (known as Changeling during this time in the comics) fell in love with her in both versions, the differences are [[AdaptationalHeroism astounding]]. In the comics, she was ''irredeemably'' evil and a JerkWithAHeartOfJerk who wouldn't stop [[KickTheDog kicking the dog]], and her death in the comics wasn't a HeroicSacrifice, but rather a failed homicide when she tried to kill Deathstroke due to him "betraying" her[[note]]Jericho [[BodySurf briefly took over him]] to attack Terra[[/note]]. While the whole scenario was Terra's tragedy in the show, in the comics it was strictly portrayed as Beast Boy's tragedy, not hers. In fact, even ''Deathstroke'' was [[EvenEvilHasStandards scared of how evil she was]].
* The [[Characters/TheFlashBarryAllen Barry Allen]] version of ''ComicBook/TheFlash'' is widely credited with kicking off UsefulNotes/TheSilverAgeOfComicBooks in 1956, but for most of the ''actual'' Silver Age he was never a top seller -- throughout the 1960s all of the ''ComicBook/{{Superman}}'' stable outsold him by very heavy margins, with even the spinoff [[Characters/SupermanJimmyOlsen Jimmy Olsen]] and [[Characters/SupermanLoisLane Lois Lane]] titles selling nearly twice as many copies per year. Likewise while the Flash is ''the'' SuperSpeed hero and his RoguesGallery is the {{Trope Namer|s}} and TropeCodifier (i.e. his group of villains called themselves "the Central City rogues" and that led it to spread), a list of his villains (Captain Cold, Captain Boomerang, Weather Wizard, [[Characters/TheFlashRoguesGallery Gorilla Grodd]]) usually draws blank stares (though the Series/{{Arrowverse}} gave them a bit of a publicity bump). Compounding the issue is the ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague'' cartoon where the Flash is the LegacyCharacter [[Characters/TheFlashWallyWest Wally West]] and there are multiple people confused by why Flash has different names.
** The LegacyCharacter aspect especially seems to trip people, as almost nobody outside of comics fandom has heard of Jay Garrick, the ''original'' Flash, especially as he's often reworked or AdaptedOut in adaptations (or DemotedToExtra, in the case of the CW show). However, during the 2000s, ''Justice League'' using Wally West, in what was the Flash's first major showcase to the mainstream audience, Wally West became much better known, making it so if people knew any name, it was his (though chances are equally good they didn't realize he had a name at all, as the series only mentioned it or showed him unmasked once or twice). That was, anyway, until 2011-2020, as after reviving Barry Allen and appointing him the primary Flash again (after 20 years of Wally West fulfilling that role) following a ContinuityReboot that erased every other incarnation besides Barry, DC suddenly made efforts to adapt this version the Flash, causing it to become better known.
* ''ComicBook/XMen'':
** There's really no question that Wolverine is the most well-known X-Man. But most people do not know that he was not a founding member of the team, and that in fact the team was nearly fifteen years old before he became a part of it, or that he was introduced, not in any mutant-related story but in an issue of ''ComicBook/TheIncredibleHulk''.
** The idea that the X-Men are students being trained by Professor Xavier pretty much died in the late 70s when the team was separated from the Professor, learned to function as a team of adults without him, and later stated when he returned that they did not consider themselves to be students any longer. If you only saw the films, this might lead you to believe they transitioned into becoming teachers instead, but this did not happen until 1991 in the comics, over a decade after leaving the "student" label behind. Instead, the 80s introduced a new generation of students and called them ''ComicBook/TheNewMutants'' to distinguish them from the X-Men. For most of the 1980s, the X-Men weren't associated with the school at all, and when they were, it was as a "graduate" team.
** For your average person, if they know Magneto at all, they know him as the X-Men's greatest foe. They don't know that he has gone back and forth from villain to hero multiple times over the decades, and that he has, in fact, been a member of the team, even if this meant sometimes functioning as the TokenEvilTeammate. These days, he's part of the team's governing council and is used much more often as a sympathetic character than a villain.
*** On the other hand, those who do realize he was a team member believe that he and Charles Xavier were old friends and co-founded the school together. This is thanks to the movies popularizing this notion. Magneto and Xavier did know each other when they were younger and were friends for a brief while before realizing their views of human/mutant relations were irreconcilable, and went their separate ways many years before Xavier founded his school or went looking for students.
** Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch are often assumed to be associated with the X-Men. This is in large part due to them having been introduced in the early ''X-Men'' comics regularly being portrayed as such in animated adaptations and alternate universes (such as Age of Apocalypse, Ultimate Marvel, and 1602), their being Magneto's children being one of the most well-known facts about them, and the latter's most well-known story being ''House of M''. In practice, Pietro tends to have only irregular spells in X-titles (most notably ''X-Factor'') and Wanda almost never appears in them outside of broader Marvel Universe crossovers.
* Creator/MattGroening's ''ComicStrip/LifeInHell'' strip, an obscure precursor to his more famous offerings. Most ''[[WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons Simpsons]]'' fans know it exists, or can at least recognize the art style, but far fewer could name any characters or state what it's about. This is {{lampshade|Hanging}}d in one of the comics, where Groening meets a fan who claims to love all his work but doesn't even recognize ''Life in Hell''.
* Many of the iconic newspaper comic heroes of the 20th century, especially from non-English and non-American nations, fall into this category:
** ''ComicStrip/{{Becassine}}'': In the French-speaking world ''Bécassine'' is an icon, one of the oldest comics around. But even though she is easily recognizable in France, most people of later generations have likely never read any of her stories and she is unknown in the rest of the world.
** ''ComicStrip/KrazyKat'' is a cat who gets zipped with a brick by a mouse. Most comic book fans know this, but how many people have actually read these comics of an acquired taste?
** ''ComicStrip/LittleNemo'': Everyone knows the scene where his bed is flying through the night or that he falls out of bed in the final panel, but how many people beyond that have ever read the stories? In this case, the anime movie adaptation, and the NES game based on it (obscure in their own right) are both more well known than the comic.
** ''ComicStrip/LittleOrphanAnnie'' is a well-known early 20th-century comic strip with an iconic art style. Despite this everything anyone knows about it comes from [[Film/{{Annie1982}} the first film of the musical adaptation]].
* The phenomenon can also be spotted in comic strips that have ended when [[DiedDuringProduction the cartoonist died]] and are better known as publicity stills than for the comics themselves, which are only read by hardcore comics fans or older people who grew up with them. Examples are: ''ComicBook/TomPoes'', ''ComicStrip/{{Pogo}}'', ''ComicStrip/{{Nero}}'', ''ComicBook/CortoMaltese''...
* Non-{{Superhero}} comics from earlier eras have gotten hit hard by this. ''ComicStrip/LittleLulu'', [[ComicBook/DisneyDucksComicUniverse and the comics headlining Donald Duck and Uncle Scrooge]] in particular were at their prime some of the most beloved, critically-acclaimed and highest-selling comics of their time, to to the point where their writers (John Stanley and Creator/CarlBarks, respectively) became well known themselves in spite of never being credited. These comics have largely been faded out of American culture; Little Lulu isn't well-known amongst the general public, and Donald and Scrooge are more well known for their animated appearances than for their comics appearances. Critics of the medium still hold these comics in high regard, however.
* Creator/RobertCrumb is widely considered to be one of the most influential and important comic strip artists in the world and by far the only ''underground comics'' artist to still be a {{household name|s}}. That said, most of the general audience knows him more as that geeky DirtyOldMan in the hat and glasses, an image mostly derived from his comics. In the documentary ''Crumb'' (1994) the man himself is giving a slideshow explaining to a college audience the three things he is most famous for, all of them not indicative of the entire scope of his personality and oeuvre: ComicBook/FritzTheCat, the album cover of ''Music/CheapThrills'' and the ''Keep On Truckin'' emblem. Fritz the Cat is better known nowadays for Creator/RalphBakshi's film adaptation ''WesternAnimation/FritzTheCat'', which Crumb hated and caused him to kill Fritz off permanently in his next comic strip. ''Cheap Thrills'' has led him to be associated with the hippie culture, a subculture he never liked, especially not the music. And ''Keep On Truckin'' also gave him legal problems because tax administrators thought he held the copyright, which he didn't. Needless to say: all these three things are more indicative of Crumb's work in TheSixties than the more mature and personal, autobiographical work he has made since TheSeventies.
* Cartoonist Ronald Searle is best known for ''St. Trinians'', a cartoon series he only drew for four years in a versatile career that spanned more than half a century. Try to ask anyone what else he has done in his life and you probably get a blank stare.
* Most people in the USA may know that ''ComicBook/TheSmurfs'', ''Franchise/{{Tintin}}'', and ''ComicBook/{{Asterix}}'' are universally popular European comics, but know next to nothing about it.
* ''ComicBook/ArchieComics'' is an American icon and the characters are well-known in pop culture (especially the BettyAndVeronica dynamic). But how many people have read over five issues, excluding popular spinoffs like ''ComicBook/AfterlifeWithArchie'' or ''ComicBook/ArchieVsPredator''? The fact Reggie is often forgotten by people despite being one of the main five characters really shows people that genuinely read ''Archie''. This often leads to AdaptationDisplacement, resulting in people thinking the 1990s ''Series/SabrinaTheTeenageWitch'' was an original sitcom and not an ''Archie''-verse adaptation.
* Not too many people will think of ''ComicBook/TheWalkingDead'' comic book without immediately thinking of the show.
* Characters/BlackCanary has SuperScream powers and she's ComicBook/GreenArrow's love interest. Even many casual DC fans know her design and she's had appearances in various adaptations, but anything besides the basics tends to get mixed up. She's often mistaken for a [[NewerThanTheyThink relatively new character]] when she (or [[LegacyCharacter an incarnation of her]]) dates back to the 1940s. Even her name has this issue thanks to ''Arrow'' popularizing her as "Laurel" (which is her seldom-mentioned {{middle name|Basis}}) instead of the comic's "Dinah".
* ''ComicBook/{{Watchmen}}'' by Creator/AlanMoore and Dave Gibbons is interesting in that many people think that it's more mainstream and less obscure than it really is. While the original comic was a success, it never sold as well as ''ComicBook/BatmanTheDarkKnightReturns'' and for that matter Creator/JohnByrne's ''ComicBook/TheManOfSteel'' and it had far less of a cultural impact than ''ComicBook/TheDeathOfSuperman''. The adult content and lack of recognizable names, as well as the dependence on a certain familiarity with superhero concepts, gave it a unique niche that made it successful and influential on media creators but it never became a "brand" despite remaining in print since the '80s. Creator/ZackSnyder's film was likewise a commercial failure, albeit it still informs most people's ideas of ''Watchmen'' even if it made more than a few notable changes despite being generally faithful to the plot and look of the book.
* This is also true for most of Creator/AlanMoore's work. His works sell well and he's famous but they remain for the most part niche and cult works, better known by their movie adaptations. Even then, of the movies based on his works, only ''ComicBook/VForVendetta'' became a commercially successful adaptation, which was again very different in significant respects from his comic. His most famous period is still the DC Comics era, which was only a brief five-year stretch from his earlier career, and ''ComicBook/TheKillingJoke'' is his most influential work (inspiring Creator/TimBurton and Creator/ChristopherNolan) despite the fact that he wrote more stories on ComicBook/SwampThing and ComicBook/{{Superman}} than on Batman (that is to say, more than two).
* ''ComicBook/{{Spawn}}'' is probably the most famous modern superhero to not be from either of the Big Two, with a veritable heap of merchandise, two notable adaptations]], appearances in ''VideoGame/SoulCaliburII'' and ''VideoGame/MortalKombat11'', and a design that is incredibly iconic and very often mimicked or parodied. Whenever 1990s superheroes are discussed, Spawn is almost always one of the first names. Yet when you ask people anything about him (his real name, his origin, his powers, his villains, his big storylines), you tend to get a blank stare. At most, people might know Angela (because Marvel currently owns her) and Violator (who was in the movie), or be loosely aware that the stories deal with Hell, but that's about it. Many people are even surprised to hear that [[LongRunners the series is still going]], and it tends to only get attention for the occasional MilestoneCelebration. For instance, it surged to the top of the sales charts for its 300th issue... and the month before that, it had been in 327th place with 2,547 copies sold, which put it below obscure indie books that don't even have a page on this wiki, ''Franchise/MyLittlePony'' spinoffs, and the prior month's issue of ''ComicBook/BatmanLastKnightOnEarth''.
* Similar to ''Spawn'', you have Marvel's own supernatural hero, the ''ComicBook/GhostRider''. He has an extremely cool design and powers, is one of the best-remembered antiheroes, and had two films. However, almost nobody is familiar with his supporting cast, with the fact that there have been at least ''four'' other Ghost Riders other than Johnny Blaze (one of them female even), and it doesn't help that he lacks iconic-enough storylines and the backstories of the Ghost Riders themselves are inundated with multiple retcons and convoluted plots. People will be able to tell you that he's a skeleton on fire that can burn villains' souls with his stare... and that's the extent of it. This extends to his villains; people are familiar with [[Characters/MarvelComicsDemons Mephisto and Blackheart]], and then hardly anyone else. And the first is a villain shared with the Marvel Universe as a whole, to the point most people are familiar with Mephisto through his involvement in the infamous ''ComicBook/OneMoreDay'' with Spider-Man, rather than any actual storyline with Ghost Rider, while the second is probably better-known for popping up in ''VideoGame/MarvelVsCapcom'' (solely because Capcom liked his look) than any Ghost Rider storyline. One of the more telling cases of it is that even fairly experienced comic writers tend to [[DependingOnTheWriter get his powers wrong]]; in particular, the Penance Stare has a habit of being [[NoSell completely resisted]] by characters who really shouldn't be able to do so. Another telling fact is that a lot of his most known characteristics (the Penance Stare, the chain, the leather jacket) came from the Ghost Rider ''after'' Blaze, Dan Ketch.
* ''ComicBook/{{Nightwing}}'': Nightwing's alter ego Dick Grayson is an extremely famous and popular character, best known for [[FirstInstallmentWins being the original Robin]] and although Robin is what Dick is best known for, his Nightwing persona's still plenty popular enough and is a major TropeCodifier for SideKickGraduationsStick. Beyond that, most of the general public, despite having familiarity with Dick as Robin, don't really have too much knowledge of Dick's solo adventures as Nightwing and likely couldn't name a single one of his supporting characters aside from the occasional appearance by Bruce, Barbara or any given Robin showing up in his stories. And Nightwing's homegrown RoguesGallery simply hasn't been able to get to that same level of recognition as Batman's Arkham rogues either, with guys like Blockbuster, Brutale, Shrike, Raptor, or Lady Vic being largely unfamiliar to a mainstream public (hell, even among comic book fans, only Blockbuster would be regarded as anything more than CListFodder). It also doesn't help that in the rare cases a major Nightwing villain has some sort of media appearance, they're typically portrayed as [[RoguesGalleryTransplant fighting other heroes instead of Nightwing]].
* ''ComicBook/{{Deathstroke}}'': Deathstroke has gotten to be a pretty popular DC character, having reached a decent level of fame despite not having much live cinematic representation. Just about everyone knows him as being the ArchEnemy of the Teen Titans. He's achieved [[NeverLiveItDown infamy for sleeping with Terra]]. And he's built a notable reputation for himself as the guy who can sometimes effortlessly beat up entire teams of really powerful superheroes and supervillains alike. But beyond that, Slade's PopularityPower hasn't really rubbed off on his solo stories, with a mainstream audience not being too familiar with his adventures when he's not fighting Batman or the Teen Titans or the Justice League. And some of his supporting characters and villains like Red Lion, Possum, the Jackal, Janissary, Odysseus, Dr. Ikon, and Koschei the Deathless haven't been able to reach the same level of popularity or recognition that Deathstroke himself has reached. So depending on what stories he's in, Deathstroke's level of recognition can either rise or wane. In stories involving the Titans, Batman, the Justice League, or other famous heroes, Deathstroke will always be one of the most recognizable and memorable characters you'll see. But when it comes to his own solo adventures as an AntiHero, that's when a general audience will struggle to identify what's going on with Slade's day-to-day solo adventures or the original supporting characters and villains created for Deathstroke's comics.
* Speaking of Deathstroke, Marvel's {{ComicBook/Deadpool}} has surpassed him in popularity to such a degree that even Deadpool fans might not know who Deathstroke even is. It doesn't help that Deadpool has since far surpassed his relatively generic villain persona from the early 90s, and most people don't even know that he didn't develop his "merc-with-a-mouth" antihero reputation, as well as his fourth-wall breaking (his best known attribute), until much later.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Films -- Animation]]
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Coraline}}'' was a SleeperHit stop-motion animated movie based on a near equally popular best-selling [[Literature/{{Coraline}} children's novel]]. Many tend to know about the novel and its movie adaptation very well, and are quite popular and acclaimed within their respective fan circles. However, in a strange [[InvertedTrope inversion]] of this trope, mentioning that there is also [[VideoGame/{{Coraline}} a video game]] ''and'' a stage musical based on the story gets surprised reactions.
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Fantasia}}'': Adjusted for inflation, it's the fourth highest-grossing animated film ever (despite that its original 1940 release was a notorious flop), widely praised as a masterpiece of cinema and art, but due to it being an AnthologyFilm with little dialogue but ClassicalMusic, not many people today can actually name a segment from it aside from "the WesternAnimation/MickeyMouse part", "the one with the mushrooms", "the dancing hippos" and maybe "that scene with [[SatanicArchetype the devil guy]]" or "the centaurs". As a result, its unique nature makes it less accessible than its other Disney contemporaries, and while it still has many fans, they're usually major art and/or classical music enthusiasts rather than conventional viewers.
* ''Anime/SpiritedAway'' is widely regarded as a flawless, exceptional, almost untouchable masterwork of animation, and won the Academy Award for Best Animated Film in 2003. But despite this, similar to ''Fantasia'', there are many in the general public who haven't seen it. And even those who have seen it have found the story surprisingly difficult to follow and understand. The reason for the film's success is its uniquely surreal world design and challenging themes such as social alienation, loneliness, discrimination, slavery and the loss of identity, but these aspects simply don't appeal to mainstream audiences, who are more used to far more accessible and cheerful animated films by Disney, Pixar, [=DreamWorks=] Animation, etc.
** This somewhat applies to Creator/StudioGhibli in general. In fact, ''Anime/SpiritedAway'' itself is perhaps of their more ''accessible'' films, ironically enough. Barring the more obviously [[AnimationAgeGhetto kid-friendly movies]] such as ''Anime/MyNeighborTotoro'' or ''Anime/PonyoOnTheCliffByTheSea'', most general audiences are largely unfamiliar with their catalogue of films. Likely due to many of them (even ones that aren't [[WhatDoYouMeanItsNotForKids blatantly meant for adults]] such as ''Anime/PrincessMononoke'' or ''Anime/GraveOfTheFireflies'') often featuring themes, plotlines, and worlds that even grown adults could find uncomfortable and upsetting upon first viewing. Making their audience in the West to be largely comprised of otakus, animation connoisseurs, and movie buffs (of which, there is significant overlap), but rarely amongst the average moviegoing public.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
* Many MediaNotes/AcademyAward-nominated films are like this, particularly ones nominated for Best Picture. The titles and (usually) the premises become known in the American conscience when they're nominated, and yet, few people can say they've seen more than a couple, maybe even ''any''. This results in many people buzzing about films they have never seen, and probably never will, and this carries on into a new batch of films the following year as the previous winners and nominees are largely forgotten. ''Then'', a few years later, rarely anyone can even list the nominees, or who won and why in that particular year.
* ''Film/BeingJohnMalkovich'' has an in-universe example with the titular actor ([[AdamWesting who plays himself]]). Everyone in the movie admires Creator/JohnMalkovich immensely, and they seem convinced that he's one of the world's greatest living actors. None of them can actually name a movie that Malkovich has been in ([[RunningGag except "that jewel thief movie," which Malkovich insists he wasn't in]]).
* ''Film/CitizenKane'' is probably most famous today for being regarded as one of the best, if not ''the'' best, films ever made. Everyone knows that it's about a businessman named Charles Foster Kane, the "Rosebud" scene, and that ItWasHisSled. They might also know that he runs for office at one point, and they might recognize that gif of him clapping. If they're a film buff, they're probably aware that Welles had a feud with William Randolph Hearst over whether Kane was based on him, which led to the film's AwardSnub. Past that? Not a whole lot. The names of characters besides Kane, the film's [[AnachronicOrder unusual structure]], and basic facts about the plot like what Kane's actual business was, tend to be far less known. One particular thing is that Kane actually ''owned'' Rosebud for decades until his death when many parodies or jokey summaries seem to think he pined for it his whole life and never got it back. A great example of this is in the [[CommonKnowledge commonly observed]] "PlotHole" of who actually heard Kane say "Rosebud" in the opening scene - something the movie actually does address toward the end but in a scene far less iconic than the movie's beginning.
* ''Film/DirtyHarry'' is often considered the one of the best gritty cop movie, and is so well known that to this day people make Dirty Harry references whenever Clint Eastwood's name is mentioned. Everyone knows that Eastwood played the role, and they know that he said: "[[Film/SuddenImpact Go ahead, make my day]]" when begging a perp to give him an excuse to shoot him. They're also familiar with his catchphrase "You feelin' lucky, punk?", even though [[BeamMeUpScotty that's not what he said, nor was it a catchphrase]]. They know he and his [[DaChief chief]] were constantly at odds, and...that's about it. Your average person could not name any of the films aside from the first one, the supporting cast, or even Harry's last name! (Callahan, for the record.)
* FilmNoir is well known. Few can even list some titles like ''Film/{{The Maltese Falcon|1941}}'', ''Film/TheBigSleep'' and ''Film/MurderMySweet''. But even these famous titles are little seen except by parody and they give a false impression of Noir Cinema since most of them were [[BMovie second-class movies]] and only a smaller number of them have a private detective as heroes (most of them have VillainProtagonist). In the case of ''The Maltese Falcon'', the final line, "The stuff that dreams are made of" has even been used in jewelry commercials, which considering the context of the original scene[[labelnote:spoilers from the film]]The Maltese Falcon is fake and when Bogart's Sam Spade says it's the stuff dreams are made of, he's noting that all dreams are as fake as that falcon[[/labelnote]], this is ComicallyMissingThePoint. For a bonus point, the "Stuff that dreams are made of" line originates from ''Theatre/TheTempest'' but in PopCulturalOsmosis, it is associated, as in the case of the Lone Ranger and Rossini, with the Maltese Falcon.
* More people probably know that Jason Voorhees wasn't the killer in ''Film/FridayThe13th1980'' because of that fact being referenced in the opening act of ''Film/{{Scream 1996}}'' than because they remember the plot from the original - assuming they actually saw the original in the first place.
* The ''Franchise/{{Godzilla}}'' films are a particularly good example of this. Due to pop culture status (as well as being one of the biggest movie franchises of all time), it's safe to assume that the majority of people actually know who Godzilla is. That being said, however, try asking someone who isn't a die-hard fan to name at least one Godzilla film and see what happens. Even fans of the genre might not realize that the original ''[[Film/Godzilla1954 Gojira]]'' was a dark somber allegory rather than a cheesy "monster on the loose" film, since its original American release as ''Godzilla'' (with Raymond Burr) was recut to be exactly that. A subtitled release of the film the Japanese saw back in the 1950s was not available to Americans until this century. It doesn't help that, due to Western media's overbearing popularity, not to mention accessibility, over Japanese productions, a lot of people are only familiar with the [[Film/{{Godzilla1998}} 1998 American remake]] (which, while mostly hated in its native country, [[GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff was actually quite successful in international markets]]) and have little to no idea that the franchise, in reality, originated from Japan and has had a firm fanbase way before that movie. This was mitigated ''a bit'' with the release of [[Film/{{Godzilla2014}} the 2014 American film]] -- at least in that more people ''know'' about its roots, not that they would actually want to watch any of the "shoddy Asian rubber monster movies". Even the 2014 film still receives the effect of this. For instance, plenty of people tend to complain about Godzilla's short appearances, which is actually as much as how he appeared in earlier films.
* Certain actors from MediaNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfHollywood were once so ubiquitous that they are little seen by the general public but remain famous on account of countless imitators of their voices, personas, and references to their famous roles:
** On an individual level, Creator/JamesDean's career. He's one of the most iconic actors of America, someone who codified the bad-boy teen hero seen in endless movies even to this day. But ironically, the people who tend to see his movies -- ''Film/RebelWithoutACause'', ''Film/EastOfEden'', or ''Film/{{Giant}}'' -- are actually quite old, and in some cases, of a much nerdier disposition (i.e. cinephiles) than the archetype Dean embodied and inspired (i.e. the BigManOnCampus cool kid).
** The Creator/MarxBrothers are famous for their dedicated fans and people who actually sat down and watched any of their movies. To the modern, general public Groucho's face may ring a bell, his and Harpo's names may too, but that's about it. Some of their scenes are well-known, like ''Why a duck?'', the mirror gag from ''Film/DuckSoup'', and the crowded stateroom scene in ''Film/ANightAtTheOpera'', but not everybody may be able to point to them as the originators. Some younger viewers may know them from being references in Creator/WoodyAllen movies -- Allen complained about this when he made ''Film/SweetAndLowdown'' and his lead actress Samantha Morton claimed not to know who Harpo Marx was.
** Can you describe what one of Creator/ShirleyTemple[='s=] films was about without saying something like, "Well, she sang 'Animals Crackers In My Soup' in some movie I don't know the name or plot of"?[[note]]That movie is ''Film/CurlyTop'', by the way.[[/note]] She is more recognizable as a 1930s Hollywood glamour icon than the number of people who saw her movies. Ironically enough, it's likely she is now more famous for her turn in Creator/JohnFord's ''Film/FortApache'' known among Western fans and movie-buffs who generally tend to deprecate her work as a FormerChildStar (whose UnfortunateImplications were mocked by Creator/{{Graham Greene|Author}}).
* ''Film/KingKong1933'' remains one of the most iconic and famous films ever made, but few people today have actually seen it, especially since the many remakes that followed have kind of worn off the novelty. However put certain images and SignatureScene together -- A giant chimp in Manhattan who climbs a tall building, beats his chest in defiance and fights off planes while holding a blonde girl in his fest, and dies by dropping off the tallest building in the world, which at the time it ''was'' the Empire State Building. Empire State no longer holds that honor but it remains an iconic building thanks to Kong and is still remembered for being "the tallest" at one point.
* ''Film/MidnightCowboy'' received much acclaim upon release, including the Academy Award for Best Picture, and is considered to be such an iconic and classic piece of film the United States government has it preserved (among with many others) in the National Film Registry. Its biggest impact upon the greater public? Being the source of the quote "Hey, I'm walkin' here!". Even then, the average person has no idea the quote even came from a film, only knowing it as a StockPhrase associated with [[BrooklynRage stereotypical New Yorkers]]. It's also known by a lesser number of people as an example of a movie released with the former [[MediaNotes/MediaClassifications X rating]], who then assume it must have been earned through being exceptionally lurid and/or pornographic. In reality, the film's content isn't anything more extreme than what falls under an R rating, the X rating being [[RatedMForMoney requested by the distributor]] due to the LGBT themes.
* ''Film/PlacesInTheHeart'' -- a.k.a. the movie that won Creator/SallyField the Best Actress Oscar in 1985 is far less famous today than her embarrassing Oscar acceptance speech, which thanks to BeamMeUpScotty is remembered as "You really like me!" (And who remembers the ''first'' film that won her the same honor, 1979's ''Film/NormaRae''? The reason her second win got such an effusive reaction out of her was that she finally felt taken seriously as an actress after starting her career in ''Series/{{Gidget}}'' and ''Series/TheFlyingNun''.)
* ''Film/Plan9FromOuterSpace'' is the most famous cinematic example of SoBadItsGood. Yet more people are familiar with it thanks to Creator/TimBurton's ''Film/EdWood'' than those who've actually seen it. Outside the USA, most people who saw ''Ed Wood'' are probably not even aware Creator/EdWood was a real person [[RealityIsUnrealistic and his films were really that badly made]]!
* ''Film/TheRockyHorrorPictureShow''. American pop culture status has made it so that mainstream audiences are somewhat familiar with the basics of the film. And everyone knows it's the uncrowned ''queen'' of CultClassic films. That, and, playing the Time Warp every Halloween helps. However, again, ask someone who isn't a fan of what the plot of the movie is. Most likely, the answer you'll get is, "Creator/TimCurry in drag." The AudienceParticipation within the film also counts. Sure, people in general know you're supposed to use props and yell certain lines when watching the movie. But ask anyone who isn't a die-hard fan what you're supposed to say and when!
* ''Film/ScentOfAWoman'' is best known for having won Creator/AlPacino his only Oscar, and is seen as controversial due to being seen as a ConsolationAward or as [[AwardSnub snubbing]] the likes of Creator/DenzelWashington and Creator/RobertDowneyJr It's also known less for the content of the film itself and more for the "HOO-HA" VerbalTic that the central character utters, something that later became synonymous with Pacino's many late-period bombastic performances.
* This applies to famous comedians from MediaNotes/TheSilentAgeOfHollywood, many of whom originated iconic bits of slapsticks and visual gags that ''still'' get laughs decades and a century after they are introduced. These gags are reused in countless movies and TV shows, but few have seen the originals:
** Everybody is able to recognize Creator/CharlieChaplin and knows he starred in slapstick movies. But for modern audiences: how many people have actually ever watched and enjoyed any of his films compared to his international fame? Let alone those who know he didn't really look like the Tramp in real life. (Creator/RobertDowneyJr, who played him in the 1992 {{Biopic}} ''Film/{{Chaplin}}'', was surprisingly similar-looking at that point!)
** Creator/BusterKeaton: He is most famous today for the landmark gag in ''Film/SteamboatBillJr'' in which the front of a house's facade falls on him, but his character survives because he neatly fits into a small opening. This gag is repeated countless times and still shows up in visual comedy but his films like ''Film/TheGeneral'' are more obscure, to say nothing of later work like ''Film/TheCameraman''.
** The scene in ''Film/SafetyLast'' where Creator/HaroldLloyd is hanging from a clock is far more famous than the rest of this film, let alone Lloyd himself. Only a few genuine trivia buffs can tell that Clark Kent's famous look was based on Lloyd's "glasses persona".
* ''Film/SinginInTheRain'' is one of the most famous and iconic {{musical}}s of all time, and it's frequently cited as one of the greatest American films of the 20th century--yet relatively few people born after around 1980 have actually ''seen'' it. Case in point: everybody knows that it's a famous musical, and everybody knows that there's a scene where Creator/GeneKelly and Creator/DebbieReynolds, um...[[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin sing in the rain]]. But significantly fewer people could describe the ''plot''. If you're actually curious: it's about a silent film star and a chorus girl in 1920s Hollywood who fall in love while trying to make their first talkie musical.
* How many people have actually seen ''Film/SoylentGreen''? But [[ItWasHisSled everyone knows that it's made of people]].
* ''Film/{{Spartacus}}'' is an epic to out-epic all other epics - starring some of the greatest actors of its time, directed by the legendary Creator/StanleyKubrick, and clocking in at well over three hours. And yet, it lives on in the public consciousness almost exclusively for the famous IAmSpartacus scene having been referenced and/or parodied mutliple times across various pop culture in the decades since its release. The average person under retirement age is likely to recognise "I am Spartacus" and basically nothing else.
* Creator/ConradVeidt originated multiple tropes and lent his face to some of the most memorable villains in popular culture, but few people apart from film buffs and goths have actually watched his films, particularly outside his silent horror ones. Yet everyone knows who [[UsefulNotes/GrandVizierJafar Jafar]] and [[Characters/BatmanTheJoker The Joker]] are, and has seen characters that [[LooksLikeCesare look like Cesare]]. Yep, they're all him.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Literature -- Prose Fiction]]
* ''Literature/AChristmasCarol'' is well-known in the public consciousness because of [[YetAnotherChristmasCarol all of the homages, retellings, adaptations and parodies of the story over the years]]. Yet few people know anything more than the basic plot structure of "[[TheGrinch Scrooge hates Christmas]]," "Scrooge meets three ghosts," and "[[ItWasHisSled Scrooge has]] a HeelFaceTurn." Most people couldn't tell you who Jacob Marley was, who Scrooge's lost lover was, [[FreudianExcuse why Scrooge hates Christmas so much]], or how class warfare was written into the story. Ask most people what the central theme is, and it'll probably be "Christmas is awesome" instead of "the rich ought to use their money to help the poor".[[note]]If education system in your country has "obligatory reads", there is a good chance you've read it somewhere late in the Elementary, though.[[/note]]
* ''Literature/TheThreeMusketeers'', despite AdaptationOverdosed - or maybe because of it - is barely known in the original format. Come on, ask a random person who the three musketeers even are - and you will be lucky if they will know Athos and Porthos[[note]]Aramis is the third one[[/note]], or, predictably, list D'Artagnan as one of them. Short from "One for all, all for one" and maybe that UsefulNotes/CardinalRichelieu is in it (just as predictably mislabeled as the BigBad), you will be hard-pressed to get even the basic premise of the plot from people.
* ''Literature/WarAndPeace'' is very well known primarily for two things: first, for being an absolute masterpiece, and second, for being a {{doorstopper}} over half a million words long. The sheer length scares people away from reading it, though it was a major bestseller in its day, and among Creator/LeoTolstoy scholars is actually not considered among his best work.
* ''Literature/{{Lolita}}'' by Creator/VladimirNabokov is a virtual household name. However, [[IAmNotShazam her name isn't actually Lolita in the story]]. It's a nickname for Dolores (Haze) given by the pedophile VillainProtagonist, and not even her predominately used one. Her other nicknames include Dolly and Lo. The book doesn't really live up to its scandalous reputation, either, being that it's a richly written, highly allusive novel about the clash between decadent Europe and modern America.
* Creator/TheBeatGeneration -- Creator/JackKerouac, Creator/AllenGinsberg, Creator/WilliamSBurroughs, Neal Cassady -- a rebellious band of teens overturning TheFifties with works like ''Literature/OnTheRoad'', ''Literature/NakedLunch'' or ''Literature/Howl1955'', inspiring many rock musicians of TheSixties. Certainly, more people know the origin of Music/SteelyDan's name than have actually [[Literature/NakedLunch seen it in Burroughs's book.]] These guys are often pictured wearing black turtlenecks and CoolShades and playing bongo drums but this is, in fact, a visual stereotype of a "beatnik" that most of the Beats would never have taken any part in. The actual characteristic Beat "uniform" would more aptly be blue jeans and a plain white t-shirt! [[note]]This was a pretty punk outfit by the standards of the day; at the time, t-shirts were still considered an ''undergarment'' for more respectable men's shirts.[[/note]] Likewise, the Beats were not all as rebellious as advertised.
* ''Literature/GulliversTravels'': Everybody knows the scenes where Gulliver visits Lilliput, which is often reproduced as children's literature or adapted as a cartoon for all ages. The remaining three sections are obscure, mostly because they can't be watered down for kids and are more obvious as a satire that appeals to older readers.
* ''Literature/DonQuixote'' by Cervantes. Although a household name, ''the'' classic novel of all time, and the source of the iconic windmill scene. It tends to be more talked about than reading, even among literary scholars...unless you went to school in a Hispanic country where the book is taught to you...maybe even several times through your school career.
** Creator/JorgeLuisBorges wrote a short story ''Pierre Menard, author of Don Quixote,'' where the narrator reflects that in philosophy, every theory that intends to describe to the world, over the years become CondemnedByHistory. In the literature, says Menard, this decline is even worse, and puts ''"Don Quixote"'' as an example: At the time it was published a book full of SugarWiki/FunnyMoments, but now, (three centuries after its publication) is used to invoke PatrioticFervor, to stroke the ego of the GrammarNazi, and to buy deluxe editions as ConspicuousConsumption. Menard concludes that glory attracts MisaimedFandom and worse, FanDumb.
* ''Literature/BenHur: A Tale of the Christ'' by Lew Wallace. Yes, the [[AdaptationDisplacement films were based on a book]]. No, the book is a well-researched but original work of historical fiction, and the title character Judah Ben-Hur was not based on a real person of that era. [[PopculturalOsmosis Everyone knows]] there was a rather brutal chariot race near the end, but that's often as far as it goes. As for actually ''reading'' the book or even ''knowing'' about it... that's rather less common. And the classic films themselves possess a similar Mainstream Obscurity to ''Film/{{Casablanca}}'' or ''Film/CitizenKane'' -- many people just know that the [[Film/BenHur1959 1959 film]] has Creator/CharltonHeston, a chariot race and is long as hell.
* ''Literature/ArabianNights''. Made even worse by the fact that many old translations were heavily {{bowdlerise}}d. And well-known tales like "Literature/{{Aladdin}}" and "Literature/AliBabaAndTheFortyThieves"? Yeah, they weren't originally part of the work but were added by European translators. So think twice if you think you know ''Literature/ArabianNights'' or if it is as popular or beloved among Arabic-speaking peoples as it is in the West (they generally look down on it, preferring poetry first and foremost, thank you very much).
* Franchise/{{Zorro}} presents an interesting case. In the book ''The History of Mystery'' by Max Allan Collins, Collins asserts, on page 51, that Johnston [=McCulley=]'s Zorro rivals Edgar Rice Burroughs' Tarzan for influence. While one can easily find Burroughs novels in mainstream bookstores today, Johnston [=McCulley=]'s work has fallen out of print. This seems baffling, considering that values dissonance would seem to apply less to Zorro, given that having a Latino (albeit a ''white'' Latino) protagonist who seeks retribution for injustice against Native Americans seems progressive. It also seems baffling considering that in the last twenty years, Zorro has had two feature films in theaters, as well as a few TV series, while other properties set in the Old West such as ''The Lone Ranger'' and ''Hopalong Cassidy'' have remained cinematically inert.[[note]]Also note that Zorro's adventures take place even earlier in history than those of ''Hopalong Cassidy'' or ''The Lone Ranger''.[[/note]] Also, Zorro costumes still remain quite common for children. Despite all of that, Johnston [=McCulley=]'s books are now rarely in print.
* The ''Literature/SherlockHolmes'' stories. Plenty of people have read them, but far, far more people are aware of him than have read any of them, or get the wrong impressions from adaptations and sundry works that make him a Victorian superhero. The original Sherlock was a SmallStepsHero who largely tackled small cases rather than solving murder mysteries. Someone like UsefulNotes/JackTheRipper is far above his pay grade. Likewise, TheWatson is the true protagonist of the books, not Sherlock, and the original Holmes was an asexual cocaine addict. Not to mention, nearly every element that people associate with Holmes, such as his trademark Deerstalker cap and Inverness cape, his gourd calabash pipe, and Watson's status as a clumsy, cowardly [[TheLoad load]], all come from adaptations of the character, likely the old 3's and 40s films starring Creator/BasilRathbone.
** These days the character of Professor Moriarty is remembered as Holme's arch-nemesis, a status he never had in the stories. He was mentioned as being "the Napoleon of crime" and that he was as brilliant as Holmes, from the other side, but he only appeared in two stories (his first appearance was also the appearance of his death, while his second was set earlier and is his only appearance within a mystery). It is true that he was behind some crimes that Holmes never learned about, but nowhere is he described as "Holme's arch-enemy", "greatest enemy" or "the only one Holmes could never defeat" or any other superlatives applied to him.
** On average, most people think of Holmes and Watson both as being somewhere in their forties, maybe even fifties, for a bulk of their stories, and think of Watson as a short, plump man with a large moustache. Some adaptations have even given Watson a predilection for constantly eating, or constantly being hungry, or always on a diet to lose some of his extra weight. These people would be shocked to learn that Holmes and Watson were in their mid- to late twenties when first introduced (though they age throughout the years the stories cover, and are approaching, or over, 60 in "His Last Bow") and that Watson is neither short nor overweight, but is probably the ''more'' conventionally attractive of the two. Where his weight issues came from in later adaptations is a mystery worthy of Holmes himself.
* ''Literature/TwentyThousandLeaguesUnderTheSea''. Most people know it's about a guy named Captain Nemo who goes around in a submarine and meets/fights a giant octopus. Few could tell you who the narrator and his two friends are, or that Nemo himself is a Sikh.
* ''Literature/TheStrangeCaseOfDrJekyllAndMrHyde'' by Creator/RobertLouisStevenson. Most people know the names and the basic premise, and [[JekyllAndHyde the expression for dramatic personality shift that it spawned.]] There have been over a hundred full adaptations made, as well as countless references in popular culture, usually involving people quaffing potions and becoming monsters. And how many people know that, unlike in any adaptation in any medium, whether serious or {{parod|y}}ic, Jekyll and Hyde being two sides of the same man was a [[TheReveal surprise ending?]] This was, reportedly, the basis for the [[LostEpisode now-lost]] film ''The Janus Head'', starring Creator/ConradVeidt. The film kept the story intact but changed the characters' names, so nobody in the audience even realized it was a ''Jekyll and Hyde'' adaptation until the end, thus preserving TheReveal.
* ''Literature/LesMiserables'' is far better known as a musical, and a vast number of people wrongly think that it is set during UsefulNotes/TheFrenchRevolution. It's actually set during the June Uprising of 1832, which ironically would itself be completely forgotten today if not for the actual readers of ''Les Misérables''.
* ''Literature/{{Dracula}}'': Obvious, a seminal classic of horror, launching an enduring sub-genre, spawning hundreds of adaptations and [[OurVampiresAreDifferent imitators]], and subject to a century's worth of concentrated AdaptationDisplacement and {{Flanderization}}. Everyone ''knows'' {{Dracula}} and yet few read it or appreciate its UnbuiltTrope, namely that it suffers from ProtagonistTitleFallacy. The true hero is Mina Harker, not the vampire.
* ''Literature/{{Frankenstein}}; or, The Modern Prometheus''. Although [[MediaNotes/SchoolStudyMedia the book is sometimes read in schools]], most people know so little about the original story that they [[IAmNotShazam confuse the names of the creator and the creature.]] Many people would be surprised to learn that Frankenstein's monster is actually a genius, or that the original text is much more tragedy than horror, or -- most startlingly of all -- that there is no [[TheIgor Igor.]]
* ''Literature/FutilityOrTheWreckOfTheTitan'': Everyone knows that it's the book that predicted the ''RMS Titanic'' disaster, something marketing has capitalized on heavily (note that its cover features the ''Titan'' with its stern raised up in the air, much like ''Titanic'' when it sank), but few know that the actual ''plot'' is largely about the ship's lookout (one of the few survivors) dealing with the aftermath of the sinking, including the mother of a girl he saved suing him and his superiors drugging him to make sure he can't reveal that they invalidated their insurance policy with reckless sailing.
* Few novels are namedropped in political discussions as often as ''Literature/NineteenEightyFour''. According to [[http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2009/mar/05/uk-reading-habits-1984 one survey,]] it's also the novel most Brits lie about having read.
* ''Literature/ConanTheBarbarian''. Thanks to various movies, TV shows, comic books, video games, Creator/FrankFrazetta paintings, [[Literature/{{Discworld}} Terry Pratchett fans]], and countless parodies, everyone knows who Conan is. His name has become synonymous with the big, burly, not-too-bright BarbarianHero who carries a CoolSword and runs around in a LoinCloth. Relatively few of those people have heard of Creator/RobertEHoward, let alone read any of the 21 short stories and novellas featuring his most famous character (who's [[DeadUnicornTrope actually a broodingly philosophical and extremely crafty polymath]]). Even among the few who ''have'' read Conan stories, many of them are more familiar with the {{Bowdleri|se}}zed versions by Creator/LSpragueDeCamp and the later ExpandedUniverse books written by [[Literature/TheWheelOfTime Robert Jordan]] than they are with Howard's originals. Most people who haven't instantly think of the film. Conan himself was also never a particularly popular character during the time when his stories were written; it wasn't until the 60s when the stories were reprinted and sold with Frazetta's famous artwork that he really became a breakout star.
* Played straight with Creator/IanFleming's novels and short stories featuring Literature/JamesBond; everyone is familiar with the [[BadassInANiceSuit suave superspy]], but comparatively few have actually read any of the original series of books. Averted with the movies, as the great majority of moviegoers have seen at least one of the ''Bond'' films at some point during the last 50 years. Even for the people who haven't read the books or seen the films, "James Bond" is still synonymous with "sexy British spy who wears a tuxedo and sleeps with countless beautiful women".
* ''Literature/CatchTwentyTwo'' is much better known for the [[Catch22Dilemma term it coined]] than for the novel itself.
* ''Literature/TheCatcherInTheRye''. It doesn't help that the novel became more famous (or infamous) for its association with John Hinckley Junior and Mark David Chapman than for any actual content in the novel. It's truly a shame because many people who have actually read the book have found it life-changing, thanks to its rather philosophical meditations & ruminations on childhood innocence. It's not just a "dirty" book.
* Sax Rohmer and Doctor Literature/FuManchu, in that cultural sensitivity has hindered keeping the books in print, though Zebra, Dover, and Titan have made efforts, references to a "Fu Manchu" mustache still occur. Asian-American civic groups have kept the 1960s Doctor Fu Manchu films off broadcast television, and for the most part, nobody's missing much.
* The Christmas 2012 issue of ''Magazine/TheEconomist'' described ''Literature/LeGrandMeaulnes'' by Henri Alain-Fournier as "the most influential unread novel". (This would apply mainly in the Anglosphere and most certainly not in France).
* Literally everyone knows who Creator/StephenKing is. His name has become synonymous with "horror author". But how many people aside from horror lovers or his central readership can name any of his titles apart from, maybe, ''Literature/PetSematary'', ''Literature/TheStand'' and ''Literature/{{It}}''? How many people assume he writes only horror, and [[SplatterHorror extreme horror]] at that (his works are far more literary horror when they are horror at all)? How many know that several decidedly non-horror films like ''Film/StandByMe'', ''Film/TheShawshankRedemption'' and ''Film/TheGreenMile'' are based on his works?
* Many more people have watched the movies based on ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'' and now ''Literature/TheHobbit'' than have ever read the original CultClassic books. Even within the overall fandom, there are many things that seem to be widely known [[PraisingShowsYouDontWatch less by actually reading the books and more by hearing things from wikis and Youtube videos]], which leads to a lot of CommonKnowledge or [[EnsembleDarkhorse bigging up of characters and elements]] with [[OneSceneWonder minimal actual presence]].
* There is an in-universe example in the ''{{Literature/Hyperion}}'' series. Martin Silenus wrote a poetry book that became extremely popular and sold three billion copies. Yet another serious poetry work of his -- according to him ''and'' the publisher, [[MagnumOpusDissonance a much better one]] -- only sold twenty-four thousand (in a society with a population over a hundred billion). His publisher explains that there are fewer people reading books ''at all'' than the number of books sold -- but it simply became a fashion to have it at home. Lampshading the trope, she even calls it the "Literature/PilgrimsProgress Effect."
* While "Kafkaesque" is a popular adjective, most people haven't read Creator/FranzKafka's stories or know much about his writing except that [[Literature/TheMetamorphosis someone turns into a cockroach.]]
* Creator/JamesFenimoreCooper was the first American writer to achieve massive commercial success abroad and to exert an influence on the leading writers of his day. ''Literature/TheSpy'' is considered the first substantial novel of American literature and ''Literature/TheLeatherstockingTales'' are considered classics that for instance shaped TheWestern. Yet all the average American reader today will remember is that Creator/MarkTwain lambasted him in a polemic essay, but never read one of Cooper's books, let alone checked if Twain's sweeping claims are factually correct or not.
* The Shadow knows...but virtually no one knows ''Radio/TheShadow''. These days, it's a rare bird indeed who has experienced the original Walter Gibson novels, or ''any'' of the character's numerous radio, comic book, and film adaptations (even the Alec Baldwin joint was ill-attended).
* Pity ''Literature/UncleTomsCabin''. It was the second best-selling book of the 19th century in the U.S.[[note]]trailing only Literature/TheBible[[/note]], but is now known only as of the origin of the slur "Uncle Tom", which has little to do with the anti-slavery novel and everything to do with the pro-slavery [[MinstrelShows minstrel parodies]] of it.
* ''Literature/TheWarOfTheWorlds'': Everyone knows that the aliens are downright unstoppable by normal means but [[ItWasHisSled get sick and die]]. Few know that the novel was written in, and set in, VictorianLondon in the late 19th century and that the bulk of the novel is actually a realistic account of a city and its people attacked by aliens. Thanks to later adaptations which gave it a SettingUpdate, many assume that it was written in TheFifties or originated as pulp fiction when it was actually quite respectable and valued by readers across genres in its day and age. Also, what many miss is that the aliens are not unstoppable because they are invincible, but because the technology at the time was not advanced enough to fight them effectively (one of the tripods gets smashed by pure chance by artillery in the book).
* ''Literature/TheColorPurple'' has won several awards and has a {{memetic|Mutation}} reputation especially amongst black Americans, yet the actual book itself doesn't get discussed much besides everyone knowing it's a tearjerker. Due to AdaptationDisplacement with its more family-friendly [[Film/TheColorPurple1985 1980s film]], most don't realize that the original book is actually a quite adult story with ''heavy'' QueerRomance elements.
* ''Literature/TheElricSaga'' is one of the most influential works in Fantasy history, and yet it seems to be utterly obscure among most of the modern fantasy fandom, with even only moderately successful recent series having bigger fandoms and being more widely known. That the series has been damn near plagiarized by many much more famous works seems to be unknown to all but Michael Moorcock himself; How many know that the forces of Chaos in ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000'' are based almost wholly on those in the Elric stories, to the extent that even the 8-pointed star of Chaos originates from the Elric stories? No to mention the fact that quite possibly every single soul-stealing sword is just a less interesting copy of Stormbringer...
* ''Literature/WutheringHeights'' is generally known just as the tragic love story between the brooding Heathcliff and the doomed Cathy, set amid the wild and windy Yorkshire moors. Pop culture rarely remembers that Heathcliff is largely a VillainProtagonist, more a brutal deconstruction of the ByronicHero than a straight example. Or that Cathy is no [[BroodingBoyGentleGirl gentle girl to his brooding boy]], but just as wild, fierce, and cruel as he is. Or that they never roam the moors together as young adult lovers, but only while [[NotBloodSiblings growing up together]] as children. Or, least of all, Cathy dies less than halfway through the book and the second half revolves around a second generation of young people, whom an older Heathcliff abuses.
* There are a lot of fans of the general [[CosmicHorrorStory style of horror]] Creator/HPLovecraft pioneered, but most peoples' knowledge ends with knowing the names of a few of his more famous monsters, like Cthulhu, the Deep Ones, and Shoggoths, and that many of his works contain blatant and extreme racism to the point where many think it permeates his entire bibliography (It doesn't). Ask many fans of Lovecraftian horror about the Dreamlands, the Cats of Ulthar, [[Literature/CoolAir the air-conditioning zombie]], and other more obscure elements of his work, and you'll get a lot of blank stares.
* ''Literature/TheBlueLagoon'', a timeless literary gem by Creator/HenryDeVereStacpoole, despite inspiring three screen adaptations and a stage rendition before them, remains unfairly obscure beyond devoted literary circles. The enchanting tale of survival, innocence, and love unfolds on a remote Pacific island where young protagonists Dick and Emmeline forge an unbreakable bond. While the screen adaptations and stage rendition attempted to immortalize the story, they struggled to achieve widespread recognition. Nevertheless, the novel's profound impact on readers endures, making it an enduring testament to the power of storytelling and the human spirit, awaiting discovery and appreciation by future generations beyond the confines of literary circles.
* Due to [[MobySchtick how often it's been parodied on TV and such]], anyone can tell you a few things about ''Literature/MobyDick'': it's that book about Captain Ahab trying to hunt a whale, you can call the narrator Ishmael, and it's incredibly long. Not many people have read the book itself, with aspects like the constant {{Ho Yay}} and who the other members of Ahab's crew were coming as a surprise to those who do. You'd also be lucky to find ''anyone'' who can name one of Creator/HermanMelville's other works.
* ''Literature/OliverTwist'' is definitely a recognizable name, being a Creator/CharlesDickens novel. Most people know the story is about an orphan in an abusive home and can tell you that [[SignatureLine he said "please, sir, I want some more"]], but who were any of the other characters and how does the plot go?
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Literature -- Other]]
* ''Theatre/{{Hamlet}}'' is one of Shakespeare's best-known plays, and many people will probably be able to quote a couple of scenes, like "To be or not to be" or AlasPoorYorick. But most will never have read the play or seen it performed on stage. They just know that [[EverybodysDeadDave everyone dies]], and it had something to do with Yorick. This can be extended to ''all'' Shakespeare plays, though a few of them (including ''Hamlet'') are often taught at schools in English-speaking countries (frequently accompanied by field trips to see them performed). The most blatant Shakespeare example is actually ''Theatre/RomeoAndJuliet''. It seems to be remembered by pop culture as a tragic tale of true love, and the "Wherefore art thou Romeo" scene, but otherwise you'd be hard-pressed to find someone who knows the plot in any kind of detail.
* Everyone knows about Sun Tzu's ''Literature/{{The Art of War|SunTzu}}'', which could arguably be the most well-known military book ever, mostly after it was discovered and adopted by corporate schools and businessmen and repurposed as a self-help book. But they almost certainly haven't read it in full, and probably don't even know that it's very short and reads mostly [[WarriorPoet like a poem]].
* Likewise, Clausewitz' ''On War'' and Guderian's ''Achtung - Panzer!'' are known for just two things. That they are [[BigBookOfWar important works about military strategy and tactics]] and that they were written by Germans. In the case of "On War", maybe someone will be able to recall its most famous quote -- ''War is the continuation of politics by other means''.
* ''Literature/TheCanterburyTales'' by Geoffrey Chaucer, though it's pretty common reading in colleges, although even there, a few of the Tales tend to be skipped since for logical reasons, it is incomplete and only a few of the tales are even really good (and some of them are anti-semitic).
* ''Literature/ParadiseLost''. Most people know the name and can quote "Better to reign in Hell than serve in Heaven," though they don't know from the context that it's not supposed to be taken at face value, especially since Satan doesn't really ''reign'' anywhere. Hell is his prison, not his palace.
* Even among communists, Creator/KarlMarx was hardly widely read. Anti-Communists frequently act as if ''Das Kapital'' (it is famous for its German title as opposed to "Capital", its English title) is the Bible for Commies. In truth, the most widely read work of Marx is ''The Communist Manifesto'' precisely because it is short, and it was a summary intended for general readers and so simplifies Marx's complex ideas. ''Das Kapital'' is an incomplete work, only the first volume was published in Marx's lifetime, and it's a 500+ page book of dense economic theory full of tables and formulae, not amazing socio-economic rhetoric.
* Creator/NiccoloMachiavelli. Everyone has heard of him, or at least the adjective that he spawned. Few have actually read the treatise that earned him his reputation, ''Literature/ThePrince'', and fewer have read any of his other stuff.
* Creator/DanteAlighieri's ''Literature/TheDivineComedy'' is known for its basic plot structure, and for its first episode ''Inferno'', which overshadows ''Purgatorio'' and ''Paradiso'' [[note]]A quick way to find out if somebody's read it: ask them how many [[UsefulNotes/ThePope Popes]] there are in Hell[[/note]]. Even most people who have read ''Inferno'' never bother to read the other two books. Bonus points if they know it's 'Inferno' written by Dante, and not just ''Dante's Inferno''. More points to people who are aware that it isn't official church canon; then again, it ''is'' the (co-){{Trope Namer|s}} for WordOfDante.
* Classical authors, and any work by them that you can name. Many people know the plot of Creator/{{Homer}}'s ''Literature/TheOdyssey'', but few have actually read a translation of the epic poem. You [[ItWasHisSled probably already know]] what manner of [[ChildSupplantsParent nasty surprise]] awaited ''Theatre/OedipusRex'', but how many know the rest of the story, or even the name of the [[Creator/{{Sophocles}} author]]? Homer's ''Literature/{{Iliad}}'', Creator/{{Virgil}}'s ''Literature/{{Aeneid}}'', Creator/{{Ovid}}'s ''Literature/{{Metamorphoses}}'' -- all famous works, but few get further than the names. Only one classical author comes anywhere near managing to avoid this trope -- our old friend and [[TropeNamers multiple trope namer]] Creator/{{Aesop}}, whose [[Literature/AesopsFables fables]], {{Bowdlerise}}d as they might be, are still read to kids all over the world. The Coen Brothers managed to adapt ''Literature/TheOdyssey'' into ''Film/OBrotherWhereArtThou'' without ever reading it.
* It should be noted that in most of Europe (meaning France, Belgium, and Germany, for instance) Latin works avert this due to being taught in Latin classes, which are popular with students seeking higher forms of language education. With Greek works however it is [[PlayingWithATrope played straight]], while they get passing reference in Latin and some excerpts are read in their translated forms they are only feverishly analyzed and studied in Greek lessons, which scare most people off due to the foreign alphabet.
* ''Myth/{{Faust}}'' isn't a straight example, being derived from German folk legends, with no definitive, seminal work moving it into the literary canon. However, most subsequent works did derive from the plays by Marlowe (''Theatre/TheTragicalHistoryOfDoctorFaustus'', 1604) and Creator/JohannWolfgangVonGoethe (''Theatre/{{Faust}}'', 1808/1832), and, more importantly for this trope, the majority of people know ''Faust'' entirely through PopculturalOsmosis, and few have read any of the source material. Unless you're German. Unlike most classic works on this page, Goethe's ''Faust'' is the one book everyone has to read in school in Germany. Even if it's just a few passages. Bonus points for the fact that the younger generation[[note]]save for Germany as above[[/note]] [[PopCulturalOsmosisFailure is more likely to link the name]] [[Creator/LaurenFaust Faust]] with various WesternAnimation series of the 2000s and TheNewTens.
* ''The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'' by Edward Gibbon. It is a rather hefty beast, running to six volumes. Historians ''do'' read it, as it is still considered authoritative in many respects, and also because it is the earliest such work to actually reference and cite sources. We tropers tend to pick up the title through PopCulturalOsmosis, amplified by the fact that every title with "decline and fall" or "rise and fall" is, ultimately, a ShoutOut to it.
* Creator/StephenHawking's ''A Brief History of Time'' has sold more than 9 million copies and is probably the first thing people think of when anyone mentions Stephen Hawking (aside from his voice), but is often cited as an example of an "unread bestseller". Hawking mentions this in his 2013 autobiography ''My Brief History'', stating that "It has been suggested that many people bought the book to display on the bookcase or on the coffee table, without having actually read it". Those who have read the book tend to mock others for making a big deal since it is indeed a "brief" history, a short book on physics for the general reader, with highly simplified language free of jargon, and many simple analogies.
* Creator/HunterSThompson is the first name that anyone thinks of when the term "Gonzo journalism" is thrown about, and "Fear and Loathing in X" has become a veritable pop-culture snowclone, but you'd be hard-pressed to find many who've read the book in question (there's also an element of AdaptationDisplacement at play here) or any of his other works. In fact, many so-called "fans" of Thompson like him more for the fact that he was a CoolOldGuy who liked to smoke, drink, take drugs and shoot his gun a lot, rather than having read any of his novels.
* In the same vein there is Creator/WilliamSBurroughs. Loved by many {{Rock}} and PunkRock fans for being an open heroin user, yet most have never been able to get past a few more pages of ''Literature/NakedLunch'' and are thus unaware that even Burroughs himself wasn't always that positive about being addicted to heroin.
* Creator/OscarWilde is best known for being jailed for being gay and a lot of witty sayings. His work? Not that famous to most people, who seldom read it. Even ''Theatre/TheImportanceOfBeingEarnest'', which still turns up quite frequently in stage and screen adaptations, is little known, and most know the gimmick of ''Literature/ThePictureOfDorianGray''.
* Creator/GeorgeBernardShaw: A man with a beard who liked to take RefugeInAudacity. Does anyone know or attend any of his plays? That is, besides ''Theatre/{{Pygmalion}}'', and that one probably mostly due to [[Film/MyFairLady film adaptation]] which has arguably itself moved into this.
* Creator/SamuelBeckett is known for ''Theatre/WaitingForGodot'' and most people know two characters wait for Godot, who never arrives. His other plays are not as well known, and the novels, which are what defined his literary career...well, they tend to make ''Creator/JamesJoyce'' look accessible.
* Many fairy tales also fall into this trope. Most people know only the classic stories and not the more obscure tales by Creator/TheBrothersGrimm, Literature/ArabianNights, Creator/CharlesPerrault, Creator/HansChristianAndersen, and/or Creator/JosephJacobs. Even the more iconic stories are better known in {{bowdlerise}}d versions, made popular by Creator/WaltDisney and ''Franchise/{{Shrek}}'', which often have little to do with the originals. The general public has never read the entire collected fairy tales of these authors from the first page until the last and would probably be amazed that a lot of these stories aren't exactly that child-friendly due to ValuesDissonance.
* UsefulNotes/{{Nostradamus}}' ''Prophecies'': Many people have heard of Nostradamus and know he predicted future events, but the amount of people who've actually tried to ''read'' his "Prophecies" (even in translation) is much, much lower. Anyone who ever did quickly comes to the conclusion that none of it is as clear, accurate, and specific as his reputation pretends it to be.
* Most people have heard of Creator/EdgarAllanPoe, a.k.a. the guy who invented the gothic horror genre. Not so many have actually read any of his works. Even fewer know of his poetry (except ''Literature/TheRaven''), parodies, detective stories[[note]]the precursor to Literature/SherlockHolmes[[/note]], or fondness for cryptography.
* Creator/RosemaryWells is known as the creator of ''Literature/MaxAndRuby''. But not that many people have read the original book versions or read other books written or illustrated by Wells.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
* ''{{Series/Benson}}'' was a spin-off of one of the most renowned sitcoms of the 1970s (''{{Series/Soap}}''), and starred Robert Guillaume, an actor nearly anyone over the age of 45 will recognize. It was a regular Emmy nominee, with Guillaume winning once for Outstanding Lead Actor, and ran for five seasons. It's barely remembered in any capacity, other than perhaps to be mentioned as the sitcom that gave Creator/JerrySeinfeld his start, as well as featuring two future ''Franchise/StarTrek'' actors in very different roles from how Trekkies know them.
* ''{{Series/Cheers}}'' was and still is considered to be one of the best sitcoms ever made. However, aside from the much-lauded pilot, the iconic finale, and a few episodes, most notably the episode about Cliff appearing on ''Jeopardy'', you will very seldom hear a lot of discussion about the show anymore. The show's fanbase isn't quite as active as many other sitcom fanbases like ''{{Series/Seinfeld}}'' (itself quite suffering from this), ''{{Series/Friends}}'', or even ''Cheers''' own spinoff ''{{Series/Frasier}}''. In fact, one could suggest that ''Frasier'' has supplanted ''Cheers'' in popularity and iconic status, as there are likely a number of people (especially from younger generations) who are unaware the two series are related.
* This is true of virtually the entire Creator/JossWhedon ''oeuvre'': his film of ''Film/{{The Avengers|2012}}'' was his very first work to achieve mainstream popular success. The foremost example is ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'': Because of its attractive star and support from critics, it's not exactly ignored by the press. The name also makes it very memorable. Finally, there's generally a lack of A) canonical vampire slayers and B) female leads in genre programs, so Buffy the character usually finds a niche in pop culture conversations. However, the show ''itself'' was never highly watched in its prime. People also don't remember some of the highlights of Whedon's early career, such as writing a good deal of the dialogue for ''WesternAnimation/ToyStory1''. And practically no one has ever heard of his father and grandfather, even though they were also television writers (and the grandfather actually wrote for ''Series/LeaveItToBeaver''!).
** Ironically, the above also applies to [[Film/BuffyTheVampireSlayer the 1992 film]] that introduced the world to the Buffy character in the first place. There are probably plenty of non-''Buffy'' fans who are ''vaguely'' aware of its existence, having ''maybe'' seen it in a video store once or twice...but they couldn't mention anyone who was in it, despite one of those people being Creator/LukePerry. Or another one of those people being Creator/PaulReubens. Or [[RetroactiveRecognition two more of those people]] being ''Creator/BenAffleck'' and ''Creator/HilarySwank''!
* There are very few people who have seen acclaimed shows like ''Series/TheWire'' in full, yet because it is the general opinion of critics, they immediately proclaim them "the greatest TV show ever made" after watching the first few episodes. This is silly, given that it's a very slow-burning show which takes several episodes to get going. In general, shows on {{Creator/HBO}} and Creator/{{Showtime}} tend to have this problem, in part because they are higher tier networks that people have to pay extra for, thus meaning that most people can't see them legally unless they watch them on DVD or even digitally (either via downloading or streaming).
* This often occurs with certain episodes of some TV shows, many people have probably seen these shows since they often relive in syndication and on TV Land long after cancellation, but not necessarily episodes often cited as classics.
** Most people could probably say that "Lucy Does a TV Commercial" is commonly considered the best ''Series/ILoveLucy'' episode, but not anything beyond about it besides the [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin obvious said in the title]].
** Similarly ''Series/TheMaryTylerMooreShow'' episode "Chuckles Bites The Dust" has often been cited as one of if not ''the'' funniest TV episode of all time...but how many who are aware of that "fact" have even seen it or any episode of the show? In a similar vein, the show's theme song and opening sequence are far more recognizable than anything about the actual show.
** Even the case for more recent shows. Everyone who was born before or during ''Series/{{Seinfeld}}'' was on the air has seen an episode in syndication at least once, but that's not necessarily "The Soup Nazi". However, everyone can state the basic premise of the episode or quote the character's famous catchphrase. The character is so well-remembered that many believe he was a prominent recurring character. He appeared exactly twice; the episode above and the series finale, which brought back as many popular one-shot characters as it could fit.
** Continuing with the topic of ''Seinfeld'', as years have gone by, the show has become much more famous for its [[MemeticMutation many memes and catchphrases]] than for the actual plots and writing. Among millennials and Gen Z especially, it is quite possible to be very familiar with the characters and the jokes without being able to name more than a handful of episodes.
** ''Series/{{Ellen}}'' is almost always thought of as "that show where the lead character came out". If you were very young or not yet born in the '90s, you might be forgiven for assuming it was, from beginning to end, a series about a woman coming to terms with her sexuality, when in fact for three seasons it was a somewhat run-of-the-mill Seinfeldian "comedian gets a sitcom"-type show, and it wasn't until the fourth season when the scripts started dropping broad hints about the character's sexuality. She finally came out in the third-to-last episode of Season Four, then spent exactly one season focusing on her being an out lesbian before the series was canceled.
* Everyone knows ''Series/TwinPeaks'' was weird and focused on the question of who killed someone named Laura Palmer, but not much beyond that is remembered. This may be for the best, since it prevents [[ItWasHisSled the killer's identity from becoming common knowledge]], allowing new viewers to properly experience the mystery for themselves. And it actually got terrific ratings in its day, and its third season "The Return" is seen as a fitting GrandFinale.
* ''Series/ThePrisoner1967'' was the show with the guy and the giant balloon, right? And he had, like, a jacket, and he was [[YouAreNumberSix a number]] or something?
* ''Series/MontyPythonsFlyingCircus'': most people know Creator/MontyPython only for their films and in that case solely for ''Film/MontyPythonAndTheHolyGrail''. The amount of people who actually watched the TV series is far lower. It's safe to say that although Monty Python has a small, but dedicated geeky fan base the general public has probably only watched about half an episode of the in total four seasons before deciding it's too weird or they just didn't get it. Probably more people are familiar with their most popular and accessible individual sketches, like the ''Dead Parrot'', ''Lumberjack Song'', ''Nudge Nudge'' and ''The Ministry Of Silly Walks'', which are frequently compiled out of context -- and often heavily edited -- on UsefulNotes/{{DVD}}s or web video channels than the more obscure ReferenceOverdosed AntiHumor sketches.
** Similarly Creator/JohnCleese, Creator/EricIdle and ''maybe'' Creator/MichaelPalin are the only Pythons most people can recognize by face and name. The others' faces will ring a bell if you've watched any of their episodes or films, but only dedicated fans will be able to name them. Graham Chapman is likely remembered by most solely as King Arthur in the aforementioned film, mainly because of how memetic so many of his scenes from that film have become. Terry Jones would be lucky to be remembered by ''anyone'' outside of the most dedicated Python fans. Creator/TerryGilliam is known almost solely for his directing career, but in his case it's somewhat more fair because he did not spend much time in front of the camera, even as a member of the troupe, and when he did, he tended to have his face covered. His iconic animations are also remembered, but few aside from fans realize he is the man behind them.
** There are also many (primarily non-British) people who have never seen the TV show ''or'' the films and are (passingly) aware of the Python phenomenon as merely a crude pastiche of countercultural DerangedAnimation and quirky humor that only nerds could possibly understand. Many assume it's all completely incomprehensible and don't bother to even watch it.
* Everybody in the world knows who the ''Franchise/PowerRangers'' are, but [[FirstInstallmentWins the only incarnation]] everyone can identify is ''Series/MightyMorphinPowerRangers'', to the point that if you mention "Power Rangers" to somebody it will probably be the first thing that comes to mind. But with that being said, it's extremely difficult to find non-fans who can name any of the other seasons. And while most people will recognize the color-coded ranger characters, far fewer will be able to know the human identities behind them.
* ''Series/That70sShow'': Although it still is a CultClassic, mainstream audiences probably know it better as the show that Creator/AshtonKutcher, Creator/MilaKunis, and "that girl from ''Series/OrangeIsTheNewBlack''" (Creator/LauraPrepon) were on before becoming more famous.
* ''Series/TheMickeyMouseClub'' is overall mostly known for the theme song and its "Mouseketeers". The '90s version is only known to the mainstream for Music/BritneySpears, Music/JustinTimberlake, and Music/ChristinaAguilera appearing on the show [[RetroactiveRecognition before they became household names]]. (It isn't nearly as well known that Creator/RyanGosling was on the show as it is with the former three). Amusingly, not only were none of the original cast members (the show actually premiered in the very late '80s), but the first three weren't even the first pop stars who had their careers launched by the program. ("The Party", anyone?) The 1950s original? Good luck finding anyone under the age of 65 who remembers it for anything other than Annette Funicello boob jokes.
* ''Series/{{Ultraman}}'': In the west, the eponymous hero is a decently well-known character with a recognizable appearance and a reputation for battling giant monsters and being very popular in Japan. Other than that, people really don't seem to know anything about him and the ''Franchise/UltraSeries''. Even on this very wiki, people will call every different ''Franchise/UltraSeries'' and every individual Ultra hero just "Ultraman" under the assumption that there was a single long-running show in the 60s and 70s[[note]]Due to FirstInstallmentWins, good luck finding anyone aware that the ''Ultra Series'' is still alive and well today[[/note]] featuring different versions of the same character.
* Anything related to ''Series/DoctorWho'' prior to its revival in 2005. More people know it for scaring kids enough to make them hide behind the sofa despite its cheesy special effects than for its plotlines or most of its characters, and it's rare for a pre-revival Doctor that isn't Creator/TomBaker's (the Fourth, who ''did'' have the longest tenure) to be referenced. Additionally, there are a number of individual stories that suffer from this. For instance, more people can tell you that "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS6E7TheWarGames The War Games]]" introduced the Time Lords in its final episode than can describe the plot of the first nine episodes of the story leading up to it.
* ''Series/DegrassiTheNextGeneration''. Most people will be aware of it because it was Music/{{Drake}}'s show before he became a famous rapper. Not a lot of people outside the core demographic will be able to tell you about the show.
* The PBS show ''Series/{{ZOOM}}'' is pretty well known, but neither incarnation received any official release. The original version hasn’t been broadcast since the early 80s and only recently have any full episodes appeared online. The revival hasn’t been broadcast on PBS in almost a decade and a half; most episodes didn’t appear online in their entirety until about 8 years after it went off the air. On top of that, most episodes only aired around 10 times (due to PBS phasing out older seasons for whatever reason), making the episodes that are still missing very hard to find.
* Look through the series that dominated the Emmys during their day. Some are still well-remembered like ''Series/{{MASH}}'', ''Series/AllInTheFamily'', ''Series/{{Friends}}'', etc., but for the most part, your average Emmy-nominated series from the 60s, 70s, 80s and even 90s are hardly even remembered to ''exist'', never mind any specifics about them.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Music]]
* ClassicalMusic generally suffers from this. The composers have become proverbial household names, their famous works are reduced to a few famous pieces that are repurposed as ad-jingles, ringtones, or StandardSnippet and are often known or heard via ParodyDisplacement and PopCulturalOsmosis.
** Music/JohannSebastianBach is widely seen as a high point of classical music, but the most recognized work by him is the opening tunes of Music/ToccataAndFugueInDMinor. Among aficionados, the authorship is still up for debate to be attributed to him on that piece. Bach also wrote the chorale setting usually known in English as "Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring," though most people don't even recognize the fact that it comes from a longer sacred cantata.
** The ''Adagio for Strings'' by Music/SamuelBarber is widely used in films, including ''Film/{{Platoon}}'' and ''Film/TheElephantMan'', to the point where people don't think of it as a stand-alone concert piece. Most of Barber's other works are not very well known today outside of musical circles.
** Despite being a prolific composer of symphonies, chamber music, and choral works, the only music of Music/JohannesBrahms most people know is his lullaby (''Wiegenlied'').
** Music/WolfgangAmadeusMozart has a huge body of work, but is mostly reduced to the first few notes of "Eine Kleine Nachtmusik", the "Requiem", the "Queen of the Night" aria from ''Theatre/TheMagicFlute'', his 40th Symphony, his 25th Symphony, and Rondo Alla Turca. To most people, he is just a ChildProdigy in a wig. And ''Film/{{Amadeus}}'' hasn't done his reputation much good either. The general public nowadays has the impression he was a cross between a genius and a ManChild with an obnoxious laugh who spoke with a very thick American accent.
** Most people can recognize the first few notes of "Für Elise" and his Music/OdeToJoy from the Ninth Symphony, plus the first few notes of the Fifth Symphony, but have never heard the rest of the music that follows. Everyone knows Beethoven's grumpy face and knows he was deaf.
** Music/AntonioVivaldi is best known for ''The Four Seasons'', but usually only the opening movements of ''Spring''. That he wrote other music too is unknown.
** ''Nessun Dorma" from ''Theatre/{{Turandot}}'' by Music/GiacomoPuccini is among the most played works of music in film and in public events, but few have seen or heard the complete opera.
** ''Music/AlsoSprachZarathustra'' by Music/RichardStrauss is best known for the "Sunrise" segment, famously used in ''Film/TwoThousandOneASpaceOdyssey'' and by Wrestling/RicFlair, but the rest of the score is unknown.
** Music/EdvardGrieg's score for ''Theatre/PeerGynt'' is often reduced to simply the "Morning Mood", "Aase's Death", "Anitra's Dance" and "In the Hall of the Mountain King". That the work has more pieces than that is usually not known, let alone that he composed other stuff too. On the flip side, his music is far more famous and reproduced more often than Creator/HenrikIbsen's masterpiece, so there's that.
** Music/IgorStravinsky is well known as one of the most famous, important, influential, and versatile classical composers of the 20th century. Despite that he is just known for snippets from ''Theatre/TheFirebird'' and ''Theatre/TheRiteOfSpring'' and in the case of the latter only for the huge riot that broke out during the premier in 1913. That he also composed less brutal music is mostly unknown, let alone that the majority of his oeuvre was in fact quite accessible neoclassical music.
** Music/RichardWagner. You definitely know "Ride of the Valkyries" from ''Theatre/DieWalkuere'' and the "Bridal Chorus" from ''Theatre/{{Lohengrin}}'' (though probably without the words), and you might know "The Pilgrims' Chorus" from ''Theatre/{{Tannhauser}}'' (though it isn't performed in one chunk like that in the opera) or the "Liebestod" from ''Theatre/TristanUndIsolde'', but that will be about it. He wrote 113 compositions, including 13 operas (most of which were rather too long, making their Mainstream Obscurity understandable).
--> ''Wagner has great moments but dull quarter hours'' -- Music/GioachinoRossini
*** What little most people know of Wagner's music is because it's been used in other places--''Film/ApocalypseNow'' and the ''WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes'' cartoon "WesternAnimation/WhatsOperaDoc" for "Music/RideOfTheValkyries", and weddings for the bridal chorus from ''Theatre/Lohengrin''. Check out the Classics section of StandardSnippet for these and other bits of Wagner that you never knew you knew.
*** "Liebestod" is an example on its own. It is one of the more famous bits of Wagner, a notable finale and dramatic death scene from someone who put a lot into his dramatic deaths. It is a true test of both the musical director and the female lead to be able to do it justice. Now, how does the tune go?
** Music/MauriceRavel: Known for solely the "Boléro", which is almost a BlackSheepHit, as the rest of his oeuvre sounds different.
** Camille Saint Saëns: Apart from "Danse Macabre" and "Carnival Of The Animals" it almost seems as if he didn't do anything else in his life.
** Music/ErikSatie: Hailed as one of the great innovators of classical music, yet apart from "Trois Gymnopédies", which can be heard on soundtracks once in a while, his music isn't that well known to the general public.
** Music/EdwardElgar: In the UK he is known for the "Land Of Hope And Glory" march from "Pomp & Circumstance", which is still played annually to bring up PatrioticFervor during the Last Night of the Proms and other official UK national manifestations. In the US he is known for the same melody but associated with college graduations and [[Wrestling/RandySavage Macho Men]]. So it's safe to say that that one section of the entire "Pomp & Circumstance" march is more well-known than anything else he ever did. "Nimrod" from the ''Enigma Variations'' is also a standard snippet, but it's open to question how many people actually recognise it as his.
** Music/GustavHolst: "The Planets" is one of the most popular musical works of all time and has been plagiarized so often by other composers, especially on movie soundtracks that depict science fiction or battles that most people probably assume he stole it from them instead of the other way around. It's also his only famous work, more well-known than the composer itself.
*** Within "The Planets" itself, everybody knows how Mars and Jupiter go, and there must presumably be another five, but...
** Music/AaronCopland is one of America's most celebrated composers, yet only "Simple Gifts" (from ''Theatre/AppalachianSpring''), "Hoedown" (from ''Theatre/{{Rodeo}}'' and his "Fanfare For The Common Man" may ring a bell when played on a CD.
** ''Theatre/SwanLake'' by Music/PyotrIlyichTchaikovsky: the first name people think of when it comes to ballet, [[note]]even before ''Black Swan'',[[/note]] but that's often as far as it goes. Music-wise, the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lnLb43meASw Overture]], the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CShopT9QUzw Waltz]], and the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dIC0nm4nrI8 Cygnets Dance]] get out in the public consciousness somewhat, but that's out of a running time of around two hours. Comparatively few people have seen the entire ballet (even on TV), or are aware of its characters, plot [[Music/PyotrIlyichTchaikovsky or composer]].
** As for some of Tchaikovsky's other works, you'd likely recognize the swooning string lines from his ''Romeo and Juliet Fantasy-Overture'' and the rousing finale of the ''1812 Overture'' (a melody which first shows up early in the piece), but those are mere snippets of pieces which both stretch well over fifteen minutes. And many Americans also run the risk of attributing the latter as a piece written about their own War of 1812 and not Napoleon's Russian invasion, despite the liberal use of the French national anthem and Russian folk tunes to symbolize the warring armies.
* ''Music/PetSounds'', despite frequently being cited as one of the greatest albums of all time, is generally unknown outside hardcore Music/BeachBoys fans, music fans in general, or musicians. It sold poorly on release (at least in the US, it did much better in the UK) and was overshadowed by ''Music/SgtPeppersLonelyHeartsClubBand'' released a year later, and so despite the album being frequently cited by many musicians as a major influence, most people only know the Beach Boys as a poppy surf band. Ask anyone on the street to name a song by them and you'll likely hear "Surfin' U.S.A.", "I Get Around", or maybe "Good Vibrations" before you hear "God Only Knows" or "Wouldn't It Be Nice".
* Music/BobMarley is known for popularizing {{reggae}} and Jamaican culture as well, but... a very known misconception on the Internet is that [[AllAnimationIsDisney he wrote or performed every traditional reggae music ever]] recorded in the 20th century. Yes, [[NewerThanTheyThink even reggae music recorded after 1981]], like [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-JhwxTen6yA this song]] ''recorded in 1993''.
* {{Jazz}}: Many jazz icons are well known, but when it comes to attributing individual works to them most people are unable to name one. Even in Music/LouisArmstrong's case, they'll probably name "Hello Dolly" and "What A Wonderful World", which are just songs, not jazz compositions, and Armstrong is well known for his distinctive singing voice and not as a trumpeter which is what his work in Jazz is based on.
** Music/MilesDavis is ''that guy in the Cool Hat, CoolShades who faced his audience backward during concerts''. Some may be able to name ''Music/KindOfBlue'' or ''Music/BitchesBrew'', but that's about all most people know about this iconic jazz legend.
** Dizzy Gillespie's face with the bulbous lips when he played the trumpet is more iconic than the number of people who can identify his name, let alone one track by him.
** Music/GlennMiller: One of the most famous big band leaders of all time, yet apart from "In the Mood" and "Moonlight Serenade" most people wouldn't recognize much of his work, and if they know about him, it's for his mysterious disappearance.
* Music/SteveVai is probably the most well-known example in rock, since he is constantly cited as one of the best guitarists ever, and yet none of his songs or albums are well known by anyone who hasn't specifically looked them up. Not far behind is Joe Satriani, often compared to Vai, whose album ''Surfing With The Alien'' is more famous, yet is not known for any particular tracks.
** Vai and Satriani ''are'' well-known as sidemen and band members, Vai as a member of [[Music/VanHalen David Lee Roth's]] band from 1986-88 and as a one-time member of Music/{{Whitesnake}}, and Satriani as a sideman for Music/MickJagger and as a member of Music/{{Chickenfoot}}. Then again, Chickenfoot is probably best known as that supergroup with Joe Satriani in it, so we're right back to where we started.
* {{Music/Swans}} were merely a cult band for a while. But in 2012 when ''The Seer'' was released to great acclaim and in 2014 when ''To Be Kind'' hit #37 on the album charts, they became shorthand for "that one obscure rock group with Gira and stuff".
* Many of the most critically hailed rock and pop albums of all time are mostly known either for their cover artwork, their name, or the one hit song on the record:
** Most people recognize ''Music/TheVelvetUndergroundAndNico'' for its Creator/AndyWarhol banana cover, but only rock fans can name any of its tracks ("I'm Waiting For The Man" is the only track to get airplay despite not being single). Thanks to covers such as Music/{{REM}}'s versions of "There She Goes Again" and "Femme Fatale" and Japan's version of "All Tomorrow's Parties", tracks from the album are known by people who were already fans of those bands before they checked out the Velvets.
** The cover of ''Music/NeverMindTheBollocksHeresTheSexPistols'' is ''the'' iconic image of punk but any tracks other than "Anarchy in the UK", "God Save the Queen" and "Pretty Vacant" are fairly obscure. "Holidays In The Sun" was a single at the time but has not managed to get the airplay the others did, even after their renewed popularity. Outside PunkRock circles, most people who know next to nothing about the genre have all heard of the Sex Pistols and will likely namedrop them if they have to talk about punk music. Yet in many cases, it will be wrong assumptions. For instance: nobody within the Sex Pistols ever wore a punk mohawk or had a safety pin through his nose, yet many people assume they did, because, hey they are punkers right? Johnny Rotten once said, "I don't know why everybody thought we wore leather jackets, we couldn't afford 'em."
** Music/{{Radiohead}}'s ''Music/OKComputer'' has been named the best album of the '90s, but, again, few people can name a single track from it except "Karma Police", "Paranoid Android" and "No Surprises"". It remains fashionable to list ''Music/KidA'' as one of the best albums of the 2000s, yet nobody comments on that many of the tracks, though in fairness, the latter album had no singles released for it.
** Not just individual albums, but the whole of a band's oeuvre can suffer from this. Music/JethroTull for example. Epically long and prolific career, but known only for (a) the image of Ian Anderson playing the flute standing on one leg, and (b) the opening guitar riff from ''[[Music/AqualungJethroTullAlbum Aqualung]]'', and (c) ''Living in the Past'' -- a song which the band have often said that they are sick and tired of and regret having written, exactly because it's all many people ever think of when thinking of Tull (made worse by the fact that they already [[CreatorBacklash wrote the song off]] when it became a hit several years after it was recorded).
** Music/PinkFloyd's ''Music/TheDarkSideOfTheMoon'' is one of the most well-known rock albums ever made, and a common candidate for Pink Floyd's best album, with its cover in particular being one of the most widely-parodied out there and practically a cultural shorthand for "classic rock fan and/or stoner." It's even inspired famous conspiracy theories, such as that it syncs up to ''Film/TheWizardOfOz.'' Yet most people would have a harder time naming a specific song on the album, outside of maybe the OneWomanWail of "Great Gig in the Sky"; "Money" was the most commercially successful song on the album and only charted to #13. When people think of great Pink Floyd songs, they're far more likely to think of tracks from ''Wish You Were Here'' or ''The Wall'', neither of which have achieved the same level of cultural penetration. Part of it is that many of the songs on the album are decidedly radio-unfriendly and meant to work as part of the album as a whole, with many instrumental pieces or deliberately unpleasant or dissonant elements (the opening song, "Speak to Me", is a sound collage that spends a chunk of time in silence).
** Music/DavidBowie's ''Music/AladdinSane'' was a commercial success and a fan-favorite, and it bears one of the most famous album covers of its era, but despite that, few people outside of dyed-in-the-wool Bowie fans are familiar with the actual contents of the record. Most laypeople won't be able to name a cut from it other than "The Jean Genie", and even then it's overshadowed in popularity by Bowie's other GlamRock hits. Part of this is due to it sitting in the shadow of [[Music/TheRiseAndFallOfZiggyStardustAndTheSpidersFromMars its far more famous predecessor]], while another part is due to its GenreRoulette approach making it a harder sell than Bowie's other albums, which tend to be more consistent in style.
* Almost everyone will at least recognize one of Music/{{ACDC}}'s {{Standard Snippet}}s (the opening riffs of "Back in Black", "Highway to Hell" and "Thunderstruck" in particular) when they hear it. ''Back in Black'' is the ''second-highest selling album '''of all time''''' (behind ''only'' Music/MichaelJackson's ''Thriller''), putting [[FanNickname Akka Dakka]] in contention for the title of "most-successful band ever", but most non-Australians under the age of 25 would only know them from ''Film/IronMan'' and ''WesternAnimation/{{Megamind}}''.
* Music/RichardThompson, with or without Linda, is a world-renowned guitarist and always has several albums on best-of lists, but few people can name any of his songs. He has been called "the best guitarist nobody has heard of".
* Music/{{Slayer}}: "The most talked-about band that no one actually listens to." ''Music/ReignInBlood'' is hailed as their best, but how many people outside the metalhead community have ever tried to listen or analyze it?
** Similarly, Music/AnalCunt are a band well known for their (jokingly) obscene titles and noisy screaming (ironically more well-known than many legitimate grindcore artists), but very few people have bought one of their albums.
* You know the EpicRiff from "Smoke on the Water" from ''Music/{{Machine Head|Album}}''? If you know anything at all about music or have ever heard anyone learning the guitar, [[VideoGame/RockBand or even]] just [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iBUvyrmEupM play rhythm games]], you know that riff. However, Music/DeepPurple is surprisingly obscure nowadays for such a prolific and popular band. And the riff itself is lifted from a Gil Evans jazz piece.
* Music/MarilynManson is known mostly because of how offended the collective MoralGuardians of TheNineties were at his very existence. A lot of people will know his cover of "Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)" and his song ""The Beautiful People", but nobody will know that ''The Beautiful People'' is from a concept album, ''Music/AntichristSuperstar'', that there were two more after that, that they tell a continuous story when listened to in reverse from release order, or who the protagonists of those albums are. Even less will know about Manson battling depression and suicidal thoughts for most of his life, his history of self-harm, or his relationship problems.
* The song "Linus and Lucy" (the unofficial theme for the ''ComicStrip/{{Peanuts}}'' animated specials) actually has a jazz section in the middle that most people never noticed (and it is a shock when people learn to play it).
* Music/LeonardCohen's name comes up frequently as one of the top songwriters of the past 50 years. But ask the average person on the street if they can name even one song he wrote; don't be surprised if the responses are mostly blank stares. There is a good chance your average person would at least ''recognize'' "Hallelujah" if played it due to its frequent covers or uses in TV shows and film, though they might not be aware it's by him. The most famous cover version of it -- by Music/JeffBuckley on his album ''Music/{{Grace}}'' -- is in itself a cover of Music/JohnCale (ex Music/VelvetUnderground)'s own cover arrangement from one of his solo albums, a fact which very few know about, even though Cale's version was featured in ''WesternAnimation/Shrek1'' (as done by Rufus Wainwright).
* The most popular bands in metal (Music/SystemOfADown, Music/{{Megadeth}}, Music/IronMaiden, Music/{{Slipknot}}, Music/{{Metallica}} (possibly ''the'' biggest metal band), etc.) are generally able to be named by the average person. However, it's rare to find a non-metal or non-rock fan who's ''actually'' listened to them.
* Music/CannibalCorpse. There are few people out there who haven't heard their name before, but the average music fan's knowledge of them is ignorance at its finest. It's not uncommon to hear fans of mainstream metal call them out as noisy trash, meaning that despite being the most famous name in death metal by far, only those ''who actually like death metal'' know anything about their actual music rather than just their controversial cover art.
** Their current singer George "Corpsegrinder" Fisher is one of the most famous people in death metal music, if partially due to his huge neck. What most non-fans don't know is that he was not their original singer or songwriter; Chris Barnes was. In fact, Barnes was responsible for the band's most famous and controversial material, so it's entirely possible that the average person associates Corpsegrinder with songs that weren't even his!
* Music/FrankZappa: An instantly recognizable rock musician, down to his mustache, and widely hailed as an innovative and creative musical artist, whose scope goes well beyond the narrow boundaries of rock alone, with influences from {{Jazz}}, ClassicalMusic, {{Doowop}} and WorldMusic. That said, he is still mostly ignored, overlooked or misunderstood by the general public, rock fans, and critics. The number of people who actually listened to his work, let alone enjoyed it, is staggeringly low. Mostly because he never received much airplay on radio and TV and never had any real hits, besides "Bobby Brown Goes Down" from "Music/SheikYerbouti" in Europe, which was a number 1 hit in Norway at the time. His biggest hit in the USA was "Valley Girl" (1982) [[note]] from ''Music/ShipArrivingTooLateToSaveADrowningWitch'' [[/note]], which even led to the ValleyGirl phenomenon, much to Zappa's hatred. When "Valley Girl" became an unexpected national phenomenon with a lot of MisaimedFandom from people who didn't get that it was meant as a {{Satire}} Zappa [[CreatorBacklash regretted ever recording it. He never released it on single nor performed it live]]. None of these two songs give a good scope of Zappa's iconoclastic style as they are both pretty straightforward novelty songs. Even among those who actually like Zappa, there are still fans who only like a couple of his albums, and [[BrokenBase downright dismiss some parts of his gigantic and versatile oeuvre]]. Or they only know him for [[WhoNamesTheirKidDude naming two of his children "Dweezil" and "Moon Unit"]].[[note]]The third one is named "Ahmet", which merely creates name-ethnicity dissonance rather than being outright bizarre.[[/note]]
* Music/HankWilliams: the most important and influential country musician before Music/JohnnyCash, but how many music fans are familiar with his work? Magazine/TimeMagazine even put a compilation album by him, ''Music/TurnBackTheYearsTheEssentialHankWilliamsCollection'' in their ''All-Time 100 Albums'' list, which praises the most essential and timeless music albums of all time. Yet outside the USA and country music fan circles most people don't know anything about his work, mention the name "Hank Williams" and people will probably think you're talking about his son, Hank Williams Jr. Who is himself an example of this, despite a long career of his own he's best known for being the guy from the ''[[UsefulNotes/{{NFL}} Monday Night Football]]'' song.[[note]]Or for losing that gig after making some ''really'' ignorant comments about UsefulNotes/BarackObama.[[/note]]
* Music/CaroleKing: This artist has the best-selling solo album by a solo artist on her name [[note]] after Music/MichaelJackson's ''Music/{{Thriller}}'' [[/note]]. King's ''Music/{{Tapestry}}'' has been bought by millions of people, praised by critics, yet has never reached the same amount of mainstream notability other famous albums did. Nowadays most people born after 1980 have probably never even ''heard'' of Carole King!
* Music/CaptainBeefheart: One of the most influential alternative musicians of all time, widely praised as one of the great innovators and frequently namedropped, covered, and respected by the biggest names in {{Indie}}, PunkRock, NewWaveMusic, {{Grunge}}, AvantGardeMusic or AlternativeRock. Yet he is virtually unknown to the general audience. Most people who listen to his music find it too dissonant to listen to. Even his fans won't listen much more than a few times a year to stuff like ''Music/TroutMaskReplica''.
* Many artists who are generally seen as groundbreaking, innovative or important and pop up in a lot of historical chronicles and/or Top 100 lists are sometimes only music critics' darlings and virtually unknown or nothing more than a name to other listeners: Music/TheResidents, Music/SonicYouth, Music/{{MC5}}, Music/TheloniousMonk, Music/LeeScratchPerry, King Tubby, Music/JohnZorn, Music/JoniMitchell, Music/BonnieRaitt, Music/TheElectricPrunes, Music/{{Can}}, Music/{{Neu}}, Music/OsMutantes, Music/JJCale, Music/JohnCale, Music/VelvetUnderground, Holger Czukay, David Sylvian, Jah Wobble, Music/MrBungle, Music/PublicImageLtd,...
** Even with pop music acts this can be the case. Most people are only familiar with the pop music they grew up with during their childhood, teenage years, and perhaps college period. As they grow older and don't quite listen to much hit parade music anymore they may be aware of the newer pop stars, but more because of their coverage in the popular press. At this moment, for instance, people can be aware of Music/{{Madonna}}, Music/JustinBieber, Music/{{Rihanna}}, or Music/BritneySpears more because they frequently make headlines, without actually having heard one note of their music.
* This tends to happen on music forums with a very eclectic user base. A perfect example is [=RateYourMusic=]: an album in an obscure or niche genre can have tens of thousands of ratings and people regularly mentioning it as a classic, but other members of the forum might have never heard it even if they see it discussed. Albums like ''None So Vile'' by Cryptopsy can be ranked in the top 500 albums of all time despite being very extreme and uncommercial.
* While Music/DaveBrubeck may be well known for his composition "Take Five" (actually by Paul Desmond), much of his other work is not well known outside of jazz circles. Brubeck composed more mainstream jazz pieces in addition to his wild-metered signature piece.
* Music/TheGratefulDead: If you have to name a cult rock band they are perhaps the best example, due to their fanbase even having a special nickname ("Deadheads") and many of them religiously attending their concerts. They are also most people's idea of ''hippie music''. Yet, when all of that is said and done: how many songs or albums can you name by this group (''aside'' from [[BlackSheepHit "Touch of Grey"]])? That's right, the Grateful Dead are nowadays actually more famous as an iconic hippie band, ''stoner'' band, and/or concert experience than for their songs or albums.
* Music/LouReed's album ''Music/MetalMachineMusic'' is notorious among rock fans, but the amount of people who actually listened to it, let alone from beginning to end, is practically nil. And not surprising, really: It's a double LP with nothing but guitar feedback and continuous droning.
* Music/JohnLennon's first solo album with Music/YokoOno, ''Music/UnfinishedMusicNo1TwoVirgins'', is probably better known for the cover than the content on the record. Back in 1968 many people listened to it once, then never played it again. It's nothing but an [[LeaveTheCameraRunning uninterrupted recording]] of them talking and making noise. But at least this album has some notability, while the two experimental follow-ups ''Music/UnfinishedMusicNo2LifeWithTheLions'' and ''Music/WeddingAlbum'' are almost entirely forgotten. Snippets of recordings are sometimes used in documentaries about Lennon and Yoko, but that's about it.
** The same goes for Music/YokoOno herself. She is the most recognizable AvantGardeMusic and performance artist in the world, but almost nobody has listened to any of her albums. And if they did they usually didn't like it.
* Music/TheFugs are one of the better-known counterculture bands of TheSixties, notorious for their RefugeInAudacity lyrics which even got them shadowed by the F.B.I., yet to the average music fan, they are fairly obscure nowadays.
* Hell, take any famous easy-listening melody that you frequently hear on the radio, in advertising spots, movies or TV series and chances are that most people will instantly recognize the melody and sing along to it, but won't be able to tell you who wrote it, who sang it and/or what the title is. In some cases, they are quick to associate it with the film, commercial or TV series they saw it in and assume it was specifically written for the occasion.
* ''Music/{{Shaman}}'' is Santana's most successful album of the new millennium, but aside from "The Game of Love" and "Why Don't You & I" (and don't expect people to remember the Chad Kroeger version), good luck finding anybody's who's actually taken the time to listen to the album. Heck, the same problem exists with ''Music/{{Supernatural}}''; aside from the #1 mega-hit "Smooth" nobody can name any other songs on the album (including its ''other'' #1 "Maria Maria")
* Anyone who has [[RecycledTrailerMusic spent any amount of time watching movie trailers]] can recognize [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GXFSK0ogeg4 "O Fortuna,"]] the StandardSnippet of the Music/CarminaBurana. The vast majority of these people will not know that said snippet is actually just the first ([[BookEnds and last]]) movement of 25. The full version is made up of medieval poetry in German and Latin.
* The Roots are among the most acclaimed and respected hip hop groups in existence and have also been Creator/JimmyFallon's house band since 2009. Yet, aside from "The Seed (2.0)" and the Grammy-winning "You Got Me", you're unlikely to find a non-fan who's familiar with any of their music. WebVideo/ToddInTheShadows, in fact, described them as "a group people say they like but don't actually listen to."
* Creator/AlJolson was one of the most famous and popular singers of the first half of the 20th century, but today he is only remembered for appearing in ''Film/TheJazzSinger'', the first "talkie" ever made, and being the best example of a {{Blackface}} singer.
* Music/RaviShankar: The world's most famous and recognizable Indian musician. Most people will know him through his association with Music/TheBeatles but are unaware that he already had a long career before he met them and/or that he didn't simply vanish from existence after the 1960s were over. Classic movie fans know him for his work as a composer on Creator/SatyajitRay's films.
* Music/TechN9ne has a dedicated and outspoken fan base, that tends to congregate in certain corners of the internet and make themselves known. He's sold two million albums but released a total of 16, but only one song of his has ever charted on the Hot 100 (only briefly, and only because it featured 2 Chainz and B.o.B). Chances are if someone has heard his music, it's probably through one of the many [[SongAssociation movies, TV shows, and video games his music has been featured in]].
* Music/ElP has been a longstanding figure in underground hip-hop whose various projects have all been highly celebrated and whose rapping and production work are both held in high regard, while Definitive Jux (which he ran) was home to numerous other major figures in the underground, namely Music/DelThaFunkeeHomosapien, Music/AesopRock, Music/{{Cage}}, Cannibal Ox, and Mr. Lif. However, as far as the mainstream is concerned, he's one half of Music/RunTheJewels and nothing else.[[note]]Def Jux has been on hiatus as far as new signings and releases have been concerned since 2010, so they can be forgiven for forgetting about it, but he is still a very significant figure in the underground as a whole.[[/note]]
* Music/{{Weezer}}'s second album'' Music/{{Pinkerton}}''. When it was released in 1996, it was widely considered to not only be [[SophomoreSlump inferior to their debut]] but also one of the worst albums of that year, ''period''. However, over time [[VindicatedByHistory it grew to be considered]] their best work. Its release got a ''perfect 100'' score on Metacritic. That being said, however, it still managed to reach platinum status twenty years after its release, and you'd be hard-pressed to find a non-fan who can name one song off the album. Not helped by the fact that its lead single "El Scorcho" actually got [[BannedInChina banned from many radio stations and MTV]]. Its only other single, "The Good Life", actually did get some recognition in TheNewTens for [[SongAssociation being featured]] in ''VideoGame/WatchDogs''. But still, few people talk about any specific songs on the album when compared to how much they talk about the album itself.
* Music/LanaDelRey is known primarily as a celebrity and cultural icon rather than a singer. That, and her remixed "Summertime Sadness" radio hit.
* Music/{{Bjork}} is well-known to the public for [[CloudCuckoolander being weird]], being from UsefulNotes/{{Iceland}}, her infamous swan dress, and maybe "the Ricardo López incident". That's it. You'd be hard-pressed to find someone who can name one song from her (except ''maybe'' "It's Oh So Quiet", which is both a BlackSheepHit and a CoverVersion), let alone a genuine fan of her music. In fact, she's only had two songs enter the ''Hot 100'', and both of them fizzled out in the 80 range.
* The only thing most people know about girl group G.R.L. (aside from ''maybe'' their feature on Music/{{Pitbull}}'s "Wild Wild Love") is that one of its members committed suicide.
* Rock and roll singer Music/TheBigBopper is remembered for exactly two things: his hit "Chantilly Lace" and dying in the same plane crash that killed Music/BuddyHolly and Music/RitchieValens.
* In the early 2010s, Music/{{Skrillex}} became somewhat iconic on the internet, particularly in meme culture, as the face of modern EDM (particularly dubstep). However, his mainstream success has always been very scant, and his only major hits came with the Music/JustinBieber collab "Where Are U Now" and the Film/SuicideSquad2016 song "Purple Lamborghini" Compare that to [=DJs=] like Music/DavidGuetta, Music/CalvinHarris, Music/{{Zedd}}, Music/DJSnake, and Music/TheChainsmokers, whose songs dominated the charts throughout the 2010s, but never received the same type of attention as Skrillex did for his image and persona.
* On that same note, Music/{{Deadmau5}}. He's very well-known to the public for his iconic mask, being Canadian, and well, being a DJ. Most people, however, can't even name one of his songs.
* Music/{{Nero}} is seen as the EnsembleDarkhorse of {{dubstep}}. Not bad, considering that their album never charted on the ''Billboard'' 200.
* Music/{{Avicii}} is one of the biggest EDM names in the world, but mainstream audiences will be hard-pressed to name a song of his that isn't "Wake Me Up", with "The Nights" and "Levels" being ''possible'' exceptions.
* The Music/WuTangClan is a unique kind of band where the general public is more likely to be familiar with their logo and for being influential to HipHop than they are with any of their songs. Many people don't realize that RZA (better known today as a director) and Method Man (better known as an actor) are members.
* Music/{{Kiss}}, aside from the fact they wear weird makeup, have a guy with an OverlyLongTongue, and have a few songs like "Rock 'N' Roll All Nite" and "Shout It Out Loud." People also don't much remember that their career went through a non-makeup phase between 1983 and 1996, during which they had at least a handful of radio hits. Amusingly, their 1980 concept album ''Music/MusicFromTheElder'' is so obscure that the band members themselves can't remember how to play it!
** KISS is so affected by this that most of what people think they know about the band is actually false. Gene Simmons is often thought to be the frontman. He actually shares duties with Paul Stanley, though Simmons is more outspoken off-stage. Few people remember that they made a film (''Film/KissMeetsThePhantomOfThePark'') or that there were more members than just Stanley, Simmons, Ace Frehley, and Peter Criss. Some believe that they were, or at least pretended to be, Satan worshipers, a rumor starting that their name was even an acronym for "Knights in Satan's Service" (the band members have routinely said the name isn't an acronym for anything). Finally, KISS is often thought of as a "heavy metal" band, when in fact their music could be, at best, considered "hard rock", and often included soft, gentle songs like "Beth" or "Forever".
* Derek Taylor is a deceptively influential figure among guitarists whose approach to tapping and legato (accomplished through what he refers to as the "Spock technique") has been copied by many, many players over the years. However, most guitarists using his techniques would be hard-pressed to name anything that he released even though they're familiar with his approach.
* Music/HollywoodUndead is very well-known for their creepy masks, the fact that they combine [[RapMetal rap with metal]], being a Website/MySpace band, and for making party tracks. But not too many people can actually name any of their songs, nor will they know about their [[MoodWhiplash serious tracks in their later albums]] that go hand-in-hand with the party tracks. The fact is, they haven't had any hit on any format, but are still well-known for their appearances.
* The Music/EaglesOfDeathMetal are best known in the mainstream for being the band playing at the Bataclan Theatre in Paris on at the time of the November 13, 2015, terrorist attacks, or for being a backing band on some songs from Music/{{Kesha}}'s album ''Rainbow''. Far fewer people will be familiar with their music.
* Great White -- best known for being the band playing from the dead Rhode Island nightclub fire.
* Despite being a highly prolific producer, British musician Mark Ronson is known outside his home country for one thing: being the actual lead artist on the 2015 megahit "Uptown Funk!", which is almost universally associated first and foremost with its far more well-known guest star Music/BrunoMars.
* Music/DestinysChild was massive back in their late-'90s to early-'00s prime, but nowadays they are known solely for being Music/{{Beyonce}}'s former band. Even people who do remember their music won't be able to name its other members (even Music/KellyRowland, who had a successful career of her own.)
* Music/ConwayTwitty was one of the most enduring figures in CountryMusic in TheSeventies and TheEighties, with a huge catalog of 40 #1 hits (second only to Music/GeorgeStrait). But could anyone in the modern-day say anything about him other than "that guy that they kept doing {{Cutaway Gag}}s to on ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy''" or possibly "that guy with the really deep voice who sang '[[IntercourseWithYou I'd Love to Lay You Down]]'"?
* Nitty Gritty Dirt Band is one of the longest-lasting CountryMusic bands, having performed without interruption since 1966, with multiple albums and awards to their name. But could your average person name any song of theirs besides "Fishin' in the Dark" (except maybe "Mr. Bojangles" or "An American Dream", both of which were big pop hits that predated their full-on transition to a country band), or even name one of the band's many members? Some people may not even know anything about them except that time UsefulNotes/GeorgeWBush mangled their name and the lyrics to "Stand a Little Rain" at an awards ceremony (as referenced by Creator/DaveBarry).
* Music/WillieNelson is an American cultural icon widely known for his hippie appearance, distinctive vocals, and predilection for marijuana. However, the only songs of his most people can name (assuming they can name any) are "Always on My Mind", a polished pop ballad that's something of a BlackSheepHit, and SignatureSong "On the Road Again." Almost no one outside of hardcore country fans has heard the landmark '70s albums like ''Phases and Stages'', ''Shotgun Willie'', and ''Red Headed Stranger'' that made him an outlaw legend. Younger people mainly know him as the country music singer that [[TheStoner really loves weed]].
* Music/FloRida is one of the best-selling rappers of all time (even outselling icons such as Music/TupacShakur and Music/SnoopDogg) thanks to his top 40 hit songs about partying in clubs like "Right Round", "Low", and "Club Can't Handle Me", but you'd be hard-pressed to find someone who's actually listened to an album from beginning to end (none of which have sold better than gold) or someone who can name any songs besides his hits. The same deal can be said for fellow-Miami rapper Music/{{Pitbull}}, really. This most likely stems due to the fact that most of their major hits have choruses performed by the featured artists rather than themselves, with only a couple of exceptions such as "I Know You Want Me (Calle Ocho)", "Whistle", and "My House". Their brand of hip house and pop rap having fallen out of style by the late 2010s hasn't helped.
* Music/{{Motorhead}} is very well-known across the world, even to non-metal listeners, for its frontman Lemmy, who had a well-documented appearance and [[SexDrugsAndRockAndRoll lifestyle]], having themes about sex, drugs, and gambling, their song called "Ace of Spades", being influential to the metal in general, and Lemmy ultimately dying at 70. That being said, considerably fewer people have actually listened to their music or can name any other song of theirs besides "Spades" or their Wrestling/TripleH entrance themes, even if they know about the band. As an example of this, the band is often thought of as being "[[IAmTheBand Lemmy + 2]]", as if the other two were throwaways. While it was true that he was the only original member, [[LongRunnerLineup the final lineup was stable for over twenty years]].
* Music/{{Vocaloid}}:
** Ask anyone in the anime circuit who Music/HatsuneMiku is and they'll be able to recognize her and her design in a heartbeat. They may even know some of the more popular songs from the circuit or some of the other non-Miku Vocaloid characters, especially thanks to the influence of things like the ''[[VideoGame/HatsuneMikuProjectDIVA Project DIVA]]'' series. Now ask them to name the people who actually ''made'' the songs. Chances are, they'll at most know the song by the Vocaloid providing the vocals (e.g. "a Miku song"), and only people within the fanbase or devoted fans of specific musicians will know who were the actual people responsible for composing them. (In fact, there are many cases of more casual listeners who listen to the music and are active fans of the characters but don't bother to look into it.) This extends so far that many people outside the active fanbase (including active ''DIVA'' players who don't have exposure outside the game) aren't aware that the vast majority of Vocaloid music isn't commissioned by a company and is mainly just indie music by individual people that happened to get popular on the Internet.
** ''Music/EvilliousChronicles'' is well-known for the "Story of Evil" arc, beginning with the song "Daughter of Evil," and maybe you'll know that that arc was part of a "Seven Deadly Sins" series... but far fewer people know that the roles the Vocaloids play in these songs became established characters and it was actually the first "Vocaloid-based original canon" that led to [[FollowTheLeader others]] like ''Anime/BlackRockShooter,'' ''Franchise/ShuuenNoShioriProject,'' and ''Literature/KagerouDaze.'' In fact, "Story of Evil" is a very minor part of a sprawling canon, though merchandise, adaptations, and eventually the GrandFinale noticed that [[FirstInstallmentWins it was much more well-known than the rest]] and gave Riliane (who? Oh, right, "Daughter of Evil Rin") and her story arc a big shot of WolverinePublicity.
* This is the reason why GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff is known as "Music/{{Rammstein}} is popular in America" in the German version of this wiki. The band has sparked multiple controversies in its home country that brought it into the mainstream despite most people only know a few songs. So when an American metalhead brings up Rammstein to a German, they're either talking to a metalhead who thinks ItsPopularNowItSucks, or a non-metalhead who doesn't get why people keep asking about this mainstream band in particular.
* While everyone on the planet knows who Music/{{Eminem}} is and what he looks like, as well as being able to name one of his hit songs, few people who aren't into rap music have actually taken the time to listen to a full album from him. Whenever you encounter people discussing his lyrics or rapping ability in-depth, it's almost always amongst people in the hip-hop fandom; if someone knows him for any reason other than his music, it's likely for being everywhere in the late 1990s and early 2000s due to the controversy his lyrical content stirred up. This sometimes results in very strange outcomes, like segments of his self-proclaimed fandom who don't realise he's [[PissTakeRap a comedy rapper]], or fans who claim he's better than other rappers because he [[CowboyBebopAtHisComputer doesn't rap about drugs]].
* Music/FrankSinatra. One of the most celebrated artists of the twentieth century, virtually everyone knows who Ol' Blue Eyes is, what his voice was like, the fact that he was a member of the Creator/RatPack, etc., but comparatively far, far fewer people have actually listened to an album or could name a song of his that isn't "My Way" and maybe one or two others.
* Music/BowlingForSoup is a decently recognizable band thanks to their part in the early to mid-2000s PopPunk scene and their involvement in various children's media from that decade like performing the themes to ''WesternAnimation/JimmyNeutronBoyGenius'' and ''WesternAnimation/PhineasAndFerb''. Despite this, very few people have actually listened to anything from them besides "1985", or possibly "High School Never Ends" and "Girl All The Bad Guys Want"; only one of their albums was even certified.
* {{Music/Madness|Band}} is a very good example of this. Ask anyone in the US if they've heard of Madness, and they'll say no. Ask them if they remember "Our House" and they'll always say yes. It doesn't help that that song was in heavy rotation on MTV back in the day, and the only song of theirs that got popular over here. ("It Must Be Love" charted too but that seems to be VindicatedByHistory.)
* Music/LeylandKirby's musical project ''Everywhere at the End of Time'' received acclaim in the late 2010s and early 2020s for, essentially, being a musical representation of how dementia feels and how heartbreaking it is to experience. Most who are interested in it will have heard the [[FirstInstallmentWins first track]] on it, too. However, the utter despair of the album series' theme, the way that the music quickly degenerates into little more than discordant, loud droning sounds after the first hour or so, and the sheer length of it (''six and a half hours'') make it ''very'' mentally taxing and time-consuming to get through. No wonder most people haven't listened to it past the first few tracks.
* Post-Rock is well-known as a genre of music, with artists like Music/SigurRos and Music/TalkTalk receiving rave reviews from critics and sporting a strong following. Now, how many of their songs can you name? And for the latter, the early New Wave hits before the GenreShift don't count.
** It gets even more extreme with underground post-rock. If you go on sites like /mu/ and RateYourMusic, you would expect that Music/GodspeedYouBlackEmperor, Music/{{Slint}}, Music/{{Mogwai}}, and Music/{{Tortoise}} were million-selling musical titans. The truth is that they're virtually unknown by the general public.
* The name of the genre "Screamo" is an example of this combined with PublicMediumIgnorance. Many people will use the term to refer to any rock or metal music with screaming, often including genres which have nothing to do with screamo like Melodic Metalcore or even mainstream emo pop-punk. In all likelihood, most people using the word like this have never heard ''any'' screamo at all. Even the most popular screamo bands like Orchid or City of Caterpillar only manage sales and concert tickets in the ''hundreds'' and are only known in their local punk scenes or online, if at all.
* Music/LinguaIgnota is among the most famous contemporary experimental musicians, receiving a perfect score from WebVideo/TheNeedleDrop and getting covered in Pichfork and even the Guardian. At the same time, few people know anything about her except for fans of goth and noise music.
* Music/{{Merzbow}} is more infamous than famous for his very extreme Harsh Noise, with his album ''Pulse Demon'' in particular reaching near-memetic status because of its unbelievable loudness. It's no surprise that [[CaptainObvious he's never had anything resembling a hit]].
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Mythology and Religion]]
* UsefulNotes/{{Christianity}}:
** A lot of quotes are attributed to ''Literature/TheBible'' that are actually by others. Many people think certain sayings, such as "[[Creator/BenjaminFranklin The Lord helps those who help themselves]]," "[[UsefulNotes/MahatmaGandhi Love the sinner, hate the sin]]," or "Cleanliness is next to Godliness" are Biblical, [[BeamMeUpScotty when they really aren't]]. Others are in the Bible but frequently misquoted--a big one is "Money is the root of all evil," which is actually "''Love of'' money is the root of ''all kinds'' evil."
** A lot of concepts that are considered "Biblical" are actually taken from ''Literature/ParadiseLost'' or ''Literature/TheDivineComedy.'' For example, nowhere in the Bible does it say that Satan's name is Lucifer. In fact, the few references to Lucifer are far removed from any references to the Devil. There's even a case to be made that there is no one creature called "the Devil" or "the Evil One" (terms that likely are used collectively) and that "Satan" is a term meaning "adversary" rather than a proper name. The Satan of Job's story, for example, is able to attend a conference in Heaven, which would be impossible if most of what we know of him were true.
** On a similar topic, nowhere in the story of the Fall of Adam and Eve does it state that the fruit they ate was an apple or that the snake that convinced them to eat was Satan in disguise. It describes the snake as "the craftiest of God's creatures", implying that this snake is...a snake.
** A common way of telling the story of Eve eating the fruit is that the snake found her alone and convinced her to eat, and she later convinced Adam. The fact is that Adam is present in this story. He just doesn't speak. The Bible says the woman picked some fruits, and gave some to the man, who was with her, and both of them ate of it.
** Most people could probably summarize pretty well the first two books of the Bible -- in other words, from Creation to Moses coming down from Mount Sinai with the Ten Commandments. What happens for the rest of the Old Testament, when exactly does Christianity cut off from Judaism... that part is much less well known.
** And about that Creation story: most people don't tend to know off the top of their head that there are two accounts of creation, and that in the second, the animals were paraded before Adam to see which one would be the best "helper" for him. When he rejected them all, only then did God create Eve.
** Most English-speaking Christians don't know that Noah's "two animals of each kind" were [[https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis%207&version=NRSVCE actually fourteen in one (canonical) verse]].[[note]]Though that fourteen was only for the birds and the "clean" animals; the unclean had to make do with only two.[[/note]]
** Many people are vaguely familiar with the account of [[Literature/BookOfJob Job]], but most of them think he was tested by God to see if he would stay faithful. He was actually tested by ''Satan'', who was trying to claim that humans only served God for selfish reasons.
*** Another thing people don't know, or at least don't want to acknowledge about Job, is that the "Satan" in this book is actually "ha-Satan", or "the adversary", and is less "fallen angel and worker of iniquity on Earth" and more "prosecuting attorney". The traditional view of Satan, that he was cast from Heaven, in no way lines up with the Satan of this story, who attends a meeting in Heaven, seemingly as a matter of course. Some scholars believe this character is an angel whose job is to put humanity to the test.
** Stuff like the Ten Commandments, and other parts of the Book, as well as the Christ-Narrative, told in ''Literature/TheFourGospels'' and which parable and episode come from which is a little obscure. Then there's the issue of translations since the most widely known version of the Bible in the English-speaking world is the King James Bible, which modern Biblical scholars consider inexact as a translation, albeit accomplished as a work of literature and important for the influence on the English language.
** Have you ever heard of St. Evagrius Ponticus? No, you haven't? Well, have you ever heard of the SevenDeadlySins? If yes, then you would be pleased to know Evagrius is the guy who came up with it.
** Public knowledge of practices of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and other branches of Mormonism in general fall under this. The association of the faith with polygamy is a good example, as the largest branches of the faith (the Utah based Church and the Missouri based Community of Christ) both abandoned the practice at various points in the 1800s.[[note]]The Community of Christ (then known as the Reformed Church) abandoned the practice at the point it split from the mainline religion in the 1840s. After a severe campaign of oppression from the US Government, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints would abandoned the practice in two stages by outlawing new polygamists relationships within the United states in the "Manifesto" in the late 1800s, and a few years later announcing the end of polygamy church-wide in a second Manifesto which also proclaimed the faith would excommunicate anybody who attempted to practice polygamy going onwards.[[/note]] Only various splinter groups such as the Fundamentalist church have continued the practice of polygamy, but the main branches of the faith excommunicate anybody attempting to practice polygamy. However, it still causes a lot of painful eyerolls for members of the mainstream faith when the news reports on arrests of Fundamentalist leaders as "Mormon Prophet ARRESTED" over stock footage of Temple Square, or podcaster Creator/JoeRogan asking why people haven't stormed the Salt Lake City headquarters of the mainstream faith to stop crimes actually committed by the [[MistakenIdentity Fundamentalists]], and other similar misconceptions.
*** Also in general the misunderstanding that Mormonism in is in fact a segment of Christianity at all, as the misconception the faith worships its founder Joseph Smith and not Christ is still very prevalent. Or the lack of recognition that the main church is named The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and not "the Mormon Church" as well.[[note]]Even the other common nickname for the faith "the LDS Church" is actively discouraged from use.[[/note]] Add in some narmy anti-Mormon literature promoting even more misconceptions, and its become a running in-joke that people outside the faith believe "[[HornsOfVillainy Mormons have horns]]."[[note]]Of course the rare works from outside the religion which get the church's history and beliefs right can receive praise, with the portrayal of the Church in ''VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas'' of particular note. Although often disliked within the faith for their satirical and disrespectful tone, many Latter Day Saints will also begrudgingly admit ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'' and ''Theatre/TheBookOfMormon'' are a case of ShownTheirWork, since they at least parody actual aspects of the Church's beliefs and history. Footage from ''South Park'' was even used by the Church's own ''Meet The Mormons'' film.[[/note]]
*** Outside of the infamous Fundamentalist sects, many within the mainstream faith are ignorant of other Mormonism groups such as the Community of Christ to begin with. Most members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints have their first encounter with members of the Community of Christ at historic/tourist sites, as the Community of Christ owns various historic locations important to both faiths in Ohio, Illinois and Missouri; but the centrality of the Community of Christ in the Midwest means they are almost completely absent from Utah, the state most famously associated with Mormonism.
* The myth of ''Myth/{{Lilith}}'' is one story that makes an inordinate amount of appearances in pop culture, especially as Adam's supposed first wife. However, this tale of her comes from a little-known book called the ''[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alphabet_of_Sirach Alphabet of Sirach]]'' - which was a ''[[PoesLaw satirical]]'' work.
* For UsefulNotes/{{Judaism}}, there's Literature/{{the Talmud}}, a text that everyone is aware of but almost no one has actually read. Then again, just because this particular collection of jurisprudence is concerned with religious rather than secular law doesn't make it ''not'' a bunch of legal briefs.
* UsefulNotes/{{Islam}}:
** In a lot of countries, especially nations like India, and parts of the West, it's quite a surprise that Islam ''is'' an Abrahamic religion and that Muslims consider Biblical patriarchs and figures like Noah, Abraham, Jacob, Moses, David, and Jesus their prophets. This is because, on account of colonialism and the historical lack of deeply-rooted Muslim community in the West, Islam is considered [[{{Orientalism}} an Eastern religion]] within Asia and Europe, while Christianity, and to a lesser extent Judaism, are considered Western religions, and the origin of Islam tends to blur those distinctions.
** It's common to assume that Literature/{{the Quran}} is to Muslims what the Bible is to Christians or believe that Islam is similar to Christianity in practice and institutions. In actual practice, Islam in multiple societies tends to be far looser in doctrine and practice, having little in the way of organization and centralization common even in Protestant sects. As such there are not many Muslim adherents who have read their Holy Book all the way through.
** In the case of the Quran, one must make a distinction between reading the Quran and ''understanding'' the Quran. You see, the Quran is conventionally read in Arabic, even in Muslim-majority countries where Arabic is not the local tongue. In Afghanistan in particular, this issue is compounded by the problem of widespread illiteracy. In rural Afghanistan, you can expect to find that the mullahs -- that is, the people who are supposed to be interpreting the Quran for the local people -- are illiterate themselves. For the curious, the three largest Muslim-majority nations (UsefulNotes/{{Indonesia}}, UsefulNotes/{{Pakistan}}, and UsefulNotes/{{Bangladesh}}) and the nation with the largest Muslim population by far among non-majority nations (UsefulNotes/{{India}}) are not Arabic and do not have Arabic-speaking Muslims.
** The hadiths (sayings attributed to the Prophet Muhammad, transmitted through his family, friends, and wise men) are even more obscure than the Quran outside of the Muslim community itself, even though they essentially shaped up the faith as it is. Many infamous things that Islam tends to get associated with nowadays (e.g. ban of physical representations of the Prophet, iconoclasm, full-body covering for women) actually came from the hadiths, not the Quran.
* UsefulNotes/{{Hinduism}} is one of the world's largest practicing religions, and the only classical polytheistic religion still being practiced uninterruptedly (as opposed to Graeco-Roman and Norse paganism), having adherents that are more than a billion worldwide. Yet most in the West know very little about the religion, or its famous epics, and the few times Indian religion is represented in Western media, it's either in the context of British colonialist fiction (which is swallowed uncritically by Western Anglophilia) or something like ''Film/IndianaJonesAndTheTempleOfDoom'' which is entirely inaccurate from beginning to end, or it's conflated with UsefulNotes/{{Buddhism}} which has far less in common with it than say, Christianity has with Judaism.
* UsefulNotes/{{Satanism}} is a religion/practice that everyone knows about but very few (outside of the UsefulNotes/NeoPaganism and UsefulNotes/{{Wicca}} communities, which get confused for and conflated with Satanism by the general public) know what it actually is or stands for. Special mentions go to those who believe Satanists worship Satan, are all goth, and/or associate it with ''Dungeons & Dragons''.
** The modern Satanic Temple is generally believed by Christians (and anyone else familiar with the concepts but who has done no research) to be a religion that literally worships Satan in place of God, and who participate in barbaric rituals like sacrificing live animals, casting spells and curses (again, confusing it with the Christian view of witchcraft) and possibly even murdering other humans. The Satanic Temple is actually a non-theistic religion who uses Satan only as a metaphor for rebellion against religions they see as oppressive, primarily Christianity. They have no rituals and do not believe in magic. They are against cruelty to animals and their fellow humans. In fact, the Seven Tenets of Satanism are basically a list of how to get along with everyone for a more productive society. The first one is "One should strive to act with compassion and empathy toward all creatures in accordance with reason."
** As mentioned, Neo-Paganism, subfaiths, Wicca, and witchcraft (all of which can and often do overlap but don't necessarily) all suffer the same fate, though to a lesser degree in that fewer people are familiar with Neo-Paganism. Wicca + witchcraft plays this entirely straight, given that most people's associations with both come from ''Buffy''.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Professional Wrestling]]
* This is quite common in professional wrestling. Since the industry's mainstream popularity has declined sharply since the Wrestling/MondayNightWars ended in the early 2000s, a lot of people are ''aware'' of the big names in wrestling (i.e. Wrestling/HulkHogan, Wrestling/RandySavage, Wrestling/AndreTheGiant, Wrestling/StoneColdSteveAustin, [[Wrestling/DwayneJohnson The Rock]], Wrestling/{{Goldberg}}, Wrestling/TheUndertaker, Wrestling/JohnCena) but have never actually seen them wrestle a match, and probably couldn't sum up any storylines that they've been involved in. And The Rock, or rather Dwayne Johnson, is better known to general audiences as one of Hollywood's most prolific actors than as the People's Champion, even though his wrestling career is why he's famous in the first place.
* Wrestling/ChrisBenoit is a household name to wrestling fans yet the only thing mainstream audiences know about him is his PaterFamilicide. It doesn't help younger fans that Wrestling/{{WWE}} has done all they can to [[UnPerson erase him from history]].
* Wrestling/{{WCW}} was once on par with WWE (then WWF) on the mainstream pro wrestling scene, but then they went out of business in 2001. While some things about it are common knowledge, such as Hulk Hogan's FaceHeelTurn, the Wrestling/NewWorldOrder storyline, a few high-profile matches, and the catastrophic mismanagement that caused it to go out of business in the first place, there probably aren't very many people born after the mid-1990s who have actually watched a WCW match. (Though this has changed somewhat with the introduction of the WWE Network, which in the U.S. has been absorbed into [=NBC's=] Peacock streaming service, and has a large portion of the WCW video library available on demand.)
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Radio]]
* ''Radio/TheGoonShow'' is ''hugely'' influential; it launched the careers of Creator/PeterSellers and Creator/SpikeMilligan, inspired most of the Creator/MontyPython team and their contemporaries, and codified many of the "zany SketchShow" tropes. But does anyone actually listen to it much these days?
* So many people have heard of Creator/RushLimbaugh, and yet so few Americans outside his target audience have listened to him that when a website listed "the ten most racist things Rush Limbaugh has said", half of the quotes were made up, so few questioned its authenticity. Actually, much has been said about "racist, sexist, fascist, right-wing talk radio" by people who never listen to it.
* ''Radio/TheWarOfTheWorlds'' by Creator/OrsonWelles is known for the famous panic attack that convinced people of New Jersey that a real alien invasion was imminent. Not many have actually heard the broadcast or appreciated how radical and revolutionary its use of sound and narrative is, or that it's a fairly faithful adaptation of Creator/HGWells' book.
[[/folder]]

%%[[folder:Sports]]
%%[[/folder]]

[[folder:Tabletop and Card Games]]
* The mere concept of TabletopRPG vs. general public. At best, you can get answers somewhere around the lines of "fantasy game of pretend", but any sort of more detailed answers are far and between. General confusion with video games is also to be expected.
* ''TabletopGame/CallOfCthulhu'' is essentially the tabletop cultural shorthand for TotalPartyKill, so the relative dearth of people that have actually played it is possibly more a matter of intentionally avoiding it than anything else.
* Many gamers have heard of "Friend Computer" and "Commie Mutant Traitors," but few of them have actually played ''{{TabletopGame/Paranoia}}''.
* For the public at large, ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' and ''TabletopGame/MagicTheGathering.'' Everyone's heard of them, but non-gamers are unlikely to know anything about how the games are played and probably couldn't identify which one is which--even though the only thing the two have in common is that they're both fantasy-centric.
* ''TabletopGame/{{Rifts}}'' has been dubbed "the most popular game that no one plays." It has an interesting world and cool artwork, so lots of gamers own a few of the books, but Creator/PalladiumBooks' Metaversal System is generally considered rather clunky, so few people actually play it.
* TabletopGame/{{Monopoly}} is argubly the most famous board game in existence, and probably the first thing that comes to mind when the average person thinks "board game." However, many aspects of the game, such as auctioning off any property that a player lands on but doesn't want to buy, are virtually unknown, and others, such as winning a pile of money by landing on Free Parking, are actually [[PopularGameVariant common house rules]] rather than official rules of the game. And very few people know that it was originally invented as a condemnation, not a celebration, of capitalism.
* ''TabletopGame/{{FATAL}}'' is nigh-on universally regarded as the worst tabletop RPG ever created, and most people passingly familiar with the medium can list off some of its more infamous features (or at least, have heard the phrase "roll for anal circumference" at some point). Of course, given this reputation, vanishingly few people have read the rulebook or tried the game out, with most knowing it primarily from the 2003 [=RPGnet=] review that brought it to public attention. This is furthered by the fact that two of the most common points about it are its LoadsAndLoadsOfRules and ludicrously extensive character creation, both of which make it difficult for anyone looking for a BileFascination thrill to get far.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Toys]]
* While it's popular with kids and has a sizeable adult fanbase, go up to any fan of ''other'' girls' series who whine about MoeAnthropomorphism, {{High School AU}}s, or [[WorldOfPun puns]] infecting their series with [[WesternAnimation/EquestriaGirls spin]][[Toys/DCSuperHeroGirls offs]], and ask them if they've ever actually seen ''Toys/MonsterHigh'' -- whether it's generation 1, generation 2, generation 3, retconned material, or even the Lisi Harrison books -- or even read the back of a doll box. The answer is usually no.
* ''Franchise/MyLittlePony'' has been one of the most popular toy lines since the early 1980s; however most adults would be hard-pressed to remember a single pony that doesn't come from ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic''[[note]]with the [[EnsembleDarkhorse likely exception]] of Minty, Wind Whistler, and Fizzy[[/note]]. This is because the series had lots of characters but, up until G4, they never tried to focus on any one character. Take, for example, Firefly. She is likely the most well-known G1-G3 pony but only appeared in one rarely aired ''WesternAnimation/{{My Little Pony TV Special|s}}'' and the obscure British ''ComicBook/MyLittlePony'' comics. In late ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyG3'' the "Core 7" was created but this only lasted a little over a year before ''Friendship is Magic'' came out. This lack of focusing on characterization led to the belief that the series is nothing but interchangeably cutesy ponies.
* ''Literature/RaggedyAnn'' was one of the earliest big merchandising successes, dating back to 1915, and has had numerous adaptations throughout the numerous decades that followed, including storybooks, animated shorts by the Fleischer brothers, [[WesternAnimation/RaggedyAnnAndAndyAMusicalAdventure a feature-length animated movie]] which featured the voice of Creator/DidiConn, a stage musical, animated TV specials produced by Creator/ChuckJones, and a short-lived animated TV series. However, most people under a certain age only know of the dolls, and maybe the aforementioned movie as well. It doesn't help that the property is also associated with things such as the Annabelle doll (a supposedly haunted Raggedy Ann doll that inspired a series of films).
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Video Games]]
* Creator/{{Sega}} suffered from this for a while, as their attempts to counter Nintendo's monopoly in the US with the Platform/SegaMasterSystem failed (as compared to [[GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff Europe and South America, where they had much more success]]). Even the Platform/SegaGenesis struggled for a time until ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog1'' debuted in 1991. Sega then suffered from this again with the Platform/SegaSaturn as Sega fumbled repeatedly with everything from marketing to distribution; many of the greatest games on the Saturn (such as the first game in the ''Videogame/SakuraWars'' series) never reached North America thanks to Bernie Stolar's "no 2D" policies. The Platform/SegaDreamcast only ran from 1998 to early 2001, but conversely many of its' games are still well-remembered and the console has a devoted cult following. Even today, many people only know about Sega for ''Sonic'', the Genesis, the [=Dreamcast=], and the ''VideoGame/LikeADragon'' series than anything else they've worked on outside of those.
* ''VideoGame/{{OutRun}}'' is [[PacManFever frequently referenced in American cartoons as the ONE racing game]] and has influenced many future racing games, but very few people nowadays aside from the retro gaming community know what it is, let alone played it.
* ''VideoGame/StoryOfSeasons'' fans are quick to cite ''VideoGame/HarvestMoon64'' as the best game in the franchise, and as one of the better games on the Nintendo 64, but few fans have actually played it. Most fans began around ''[[VideoGame/HarvestMoonBackToNature Friends of Mineral Town]]'' or later. It took a long time for the game to be released on Virtual Console and it is an expensive Nintendo 64 title, so KeepCirculatingTheTapes was a problem for fans who wanted to play it.
** With the release of ''VideoGame/StardewValley'', you can find a whole lot of people with opinions and "familiarity" with the ''Harvest Moon'' franchise solely via the homage-imitation that ''Stardew Valley'' is, assuming it's just identical in terms of gameplay.
* ''Videogame/ZeroWing'' entered the mainstream because of its hilariously bad translation of the intro...but very few people know anything about the actual gameplay, or have ever played the game itself.
* ''VideoGame/PanzerDragoon'' at least was this. It was visible on many top 100 games lists and is considered to be the best game on the Sega Saturn, but many have not played it. It helps that only 10,000 copies were printed in the US, making it a hard find even then (although to be fair it fared better in Europe and Japan).
* ''Franchise/AceAttorney'' has a large fanbase, but to the general public it's only known for [[IconicCharacterForgottenTitle Phoenix Wright]] and the '''''Objection!''''' {{meme}}. Good luck finding someone who isn't a fan that can name any character besides Phoenix Wright, or knows anything about the gameplay.
* Platform exclusives get this big time:
** ''VideoGame/GoldenEye1997'' is considered a landmark first-person shooter released on the Nintendo 64 console and often shows up on the best-of lists. Yet most people who play FPS games are more familiar with other landmarks like ''VideoGame/{{Doom}}'' or ''VideoGame/HalfLife'' than that game. Not helping is that while ''Doom'' and ''Half-Life'' are still very accessible via digital distribution platforms, the only legal way to play the original ''[=GoldenEye=] 007'' until January 2023[[note]]where it was ported to Nintendo Switch and Xbox Series X|S[[/note]] was to [[KeepCirculatingTheTapes buy an N64 and a copy of the game second-hand.]] (A remaster of the game ''was'' planned at one point, but was ScrewedByTheLawyers.)
** ''VideoGame/{{Crysis}}'' is famous for its [[SceneryPorn insanely detailed graphics]], equally infamous for the [[CrackIsCheaper insanely expensive PCs needed to run them]], and that's about it. Conversations about ''Crysis'' that don't involve its graphics are rare, and ''Crysis'' is the go-to example to use for the "[[MemeticMutation PC Master Race]]" in a forum argument. It's been described as "the only game that gets talked about more than it gets played".
** The ''VideoGame/SystemShock'' series is considered one of the best horror-themed shooters to be released on the PC. However, almost nobody had ever played the series prior to its rerelease on Steam and GOG in 2013. There are many reasons to why the series didn't achieve mainstream success from its PC exclusivity to its [[KeepCirculatingTheTapes lack of physical copies]] since 2001 to simply being a very unforgiving and obtuse game in general. In fact, most are more familiar with its {{Spiritual Successor}}s ''VideoGame/{{Bioshock}}'' (i.e. ''System Shock'' [-UNDER THE SEA-]) and ''VideoGame/DeadSpace'', which were released on both PC and Consoles.
* ''VideoGame/ChronoTrigger'' is one of the most beloved games on the [=SNES=], as well as one of the most highly acclaimed [=RPGs=] of all time. While it sold an at-the-time respectable 300,000 copies in the [=US=], its commercial success and mainstream recognition (read: recognition among casual gamers) aren't anywhere near its popularity with hardcore gamers and old-school [=JRPG=] fans (ironically, the easy-to-learn mechanics and tightly-written story make it one of the more accessible old-school [=RPGs=] out there for casual players).
* Capcom's ''VideoGame/{{Darkstalkers}}'' has a cult following over the years, but is solely known for Morrigan Aensland, the [[SexGod sexier-than-sex succubus]] who has [[SirCameosALot appeared in more crossover games than her own]]. Good luck finding someone who can name any other characters besides maybe Lilith, her {{moe}} sister or Felicia, a near-nude CatGirl. Possibly Hsien-Ko as well due to her appearance in ''VideoGame/MarvelVsCapcom3'', and Jedah for appearing in ''VideoGame/MarvelVsCapcomInfinite''. They probably won't know anything about the gameplay either. For non-fighting game enthusiasts, the series is BestKnownForTheFanservice and not much else.
* The BulletHell genre is well-known for its displays of beautiful enemy-projectile art, and the notorious lengths to which {{Final Boss}}es, {{True Final Boss}}es, and {{Superboss}}es will go on the hardest difficulties to push the player and the hardware to their limits; just look up videos of ''Franchise/TouhouProject'' or Creator/{{CAVE}} {{Final Boss}}es on Website/{{YouTube}} and you'll find some videos with hit counts of at least 7 digits showcasing the hardest bosses in various games. Perhaps because of [[ItsHardSoItSucks the sheer intimidation factor]], comparatively few are willing to actually ''play'' the games and get familiar with each game's specific quirks and gimmicks.
* ''Franchise/TouhouProject'' also has the added honor of its characters and music being mainstream while the games themselves remain in obscurity, at least outside Japan. With the sheer amount of fan content (fanart, remixes, fanime, etc) it's almost impossible not to have encountered it at least once, knowingly or not. Those who do realize that the fanart and remixes are derivative works [[FandomEnragingMisconception tend to assume that it's from an anime.]] Even amongst those who count themselves as fans, it's not uncommon for someone to have never actually played the games.
* ''Franchise/SuperMarioBros''
** The ''VideoGame/MarioAndSonicAtTheOlympicGames'' and ''VideoGame/NewSuperMarioBros'' series sell better than "core" ''[[Franchise/SuperMarioBros Super Mario]]'' and ''Franchise/SonicTheHedgehog'' games, but you wouldn't know it from how gamers discuss them. The ''Olympic'' spinoff only gets discussed in passing or for laughs, while most discussions on the ''NSMB'' series come down to complaints that it's too stagnant or that it's inferior to the 3D ''Mario'' games like ''VideoGame/SuperMarioGalaxy'' or ''VideoGame/SuperMarioOdyssey''.
** Wario is well known by the general public thanks to being a playable character in games such as ''VideoGame/MarioParty'' or ''VideoGame/MarioKart'', which are selling even better than mainline Mario games. Despite this, Wario's ''actual'' games, the ''VideoGame/WarioLand'' and ''VideoGame/WarioWare'' series are relatively niche.
* ''Franchise/{{Castlevania}}'' is an incredibly well-known franchise, with an [[WesternAnimation/Castlevania2017 acclaimed adaptation]] and an influence such that it helped name [[{{Metroidvania}} a subgenre]], with the original NES trilogy being probably the most well-known games on the console not made by Nintendo or Capcom. However, it's also never been a particularly strong seller. Only three games in the franchise have ever sold more than one million copies, and the highest of the bunch, ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaLordsOfShadow'', only ends up at 1.5 million and is also a ContinuityReboot and not particularly popular in the fanbase. Though many people do know about the franchise, and certain details and characters from it, like the Belmonts, Dracula, Alucard, and Death, comparatively few have actually played any of its games, especially not to completion.
* Due to its PeripheryHatedom by ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'' fans, ''VideoGame/YokaiWatch'' has a comparable reputation to ''Digimon''. Everyone knows it's a CashCowFranchise {{mon}} series that rivals ''Pokémon'' ([[AmericansHateTingle mainly in Japan]]), but that's about it. You'll be hard-pressed to find non-fans who can name any {{youkai}} besides Jibanyan and Whisper or discuss what the plot is. To the mainstream, ''Yo-Kai Watch'' never evolved past [[FirstInstallmentWins the original series]], despite the fact ''Anime/YokaiWatchShadowside'' and ''VideoGame/YokaiWatch4'' revamped the cast and gave the characters new designs.
* While the ''Franchise/{{Persona}}'' series was never really mainstream outside of gaming circles to begin with, the inclusion of Joker from ''VideoGame/Persona5'' in ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBrosUltimate'' somewhat places the franchise in this territory; due to the ''Smash Bros.'' series being a household name to the point that even non-gamers have at least heard of it, many people have pointed out that millions of people who have never heard of the ''Persona'' games will now know Joker solely because of his inclusion in the game. Amongst gaming and RPG fans, however, the later 3 ''Persona'' games are well known and held as amongst the best JRPG games one can play, while the first two games are known for simply starting the franchise and mostly played by those just wanting a classic take on ''Persona''.
** Meanwhile, ''Persona'''s [[Franchise/ShinMegamiTensei parent series]] is often only known among ''Persona'' fans as... [[ShapedLikeItself Persona's parent series]]. For those that do know about ''Shin Megami Tensei'', they generally only know about its MoralitySystem, that most games in the series are set AfterTheEnd, [[ItWasHisSled that the Abrahamic God features as the Final Boss of multiple installments,]] or just that it's generally NintendoHard and quite [[DarkerAndEdgier "edgy."]] As far as actually playing it is concerned, it's very niche. (Most likely due to the aforementioned reputation of difficulty.)
*** Really, the most people know about mainline ''SMT'' is from the widely popular "Featuring Dante from the ''VideoGame/DevilMayCry'' Series" tagline that was added on some versions of ''SMT III: Nocturne'' to promote the crossover. While the [[MemeticMutation meme]] and Dante himself are hallmarks on the web, a lot of people have forgotten what game Dante was actually being featured ''in'', much less what it was about.
* ''VideoGame/DeadOrAlive'' has the ''Xtreme'' BeachEpisode spinoff games that are well known for the fanservice and being controversial because of the fanservice. What one can actually do in the game besides look at hot girls isn't really known, as people on the web are either too embarrassed to own it or feel content with just ogling the girls through screenshots and clips.
* Creator/{{SNK}} in general, while not having the same popularity as Nintendo and Sega during the 90s, was nonetheless seen by hardcore gamers as ''the'' rival to Capcom and a giant in the arcade and home console industries, until the fall of their original incarnation at the TurnOfTheMillennium. Thanks to various buyouts and rebrandings, they've continued to make new games to varying degrees of frequency but didn't enjoy as much recognition worldwide to the point that their mascot Terry Bogard's inclusion in ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBrosUltimate'' was mostly seen as a complete surprise, leading the game's director Masahiro Sakurai to explain the Neo-Geo's history to new players viewing Terry's gameplay showcase. Otherwise, the most people know about this game is that it stars MsFanservice Mai Shiranui, who remains beloved on the internet due to being a popular choice for cosplayers and artists to draw.
* The first two games in the ''VideoGame/{{Fallout}}'' series qualify. The fan base now primarily consists of people who only know this series from the third game onward. Even before the third game came out, a lot of people knew the series primarily from setting details like its RaygunGothic aesthetics, bottlecap currency, Nuka-Cola, and mutants. (Funnily, Nuka-Cola isn't given any noteworthy spotlight in either of the first two games; it's pretty easy to go a whole playthrough without seeing anyone mention it.). ''VideoGame/FalloutTactics'' goes as far as it had been [[BroadStrokes de-canonised]] by Bethesda, solely due to its obscurity to the general public - and if people heard about it at all, they will only be aware it's "that one where you are a member of the Brotherhood of Steel", but no idea how different it is in play or what's the plot even about.
** Directly related with earlier ''Fallout'' case would be ''VideoGame/{{Wasteland}}''. People will know that it's a GenrePopularizer and the first [=cRPG=] to be set in post-apo and maybe even that due to copyright issues, Black Isle made Fallout instead of simply ''Wasteland 2''. Some more avid fans of ''Fallouts'' might also be familiar with the references made to ''Wasteland'' in the first game. But playing it, hell, even managing to boot it (at least before a version for modern OS was released)? Forget it. General public? Never even heard about the game in the first place.
** The relative obscurity of the first two ''Fallouts'' goes so far, Brian Fargo had to address it directly in marketing campaign for ''VideoGame/Wasteland2'' - not only ''Wasteland'' isn't derivative of ''Fallout'', but Interplay made ''Fallout 1'' and ''2''. While the commercial was humorous, it's based on an actual conversation Fargo had when trying to find a publisher for ''Wasteland 2'':
--->'''Brian Fargo:''' ... and that's why we made ''Fallout'' instead.\\
'''Publisher:''' Interplay made ''VideoGame/Fallout3''? I loved that game\\
'''Brian Fargo:''' No... we made ''Fallout [[VideoGame/FallOut1 1]]'' and ''[[VideoGame/Fallout2 2]]''.\\
'''Publisher:''' There was a ''Fallout 1'' and ''2''?
* A lot of people are familiar with ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaCDIGames'', given how much they were used for YouTubePoop or just general BileFascination-focused content. It's harder finding people who can tell you what the games looked like outside of cutscenes or how they played, and harder still to find someone who can remember any cutscenes besides the opening and ending ones of ''Wand of Gamelon'' and ''Faces of Evil'', or [[OneSceneWonder Morshu's appearance]] in the latter. And chances are, the only thing people can tell you about ''Zelda's Adventure'' is that it existed. If they're more familiar with the other games, ''maybe'' they'll remember it starred Zelda, had a top-down perspective, and used live-action cutscenes instead of animated ones, and nothing else. This makes sense, considering that Nintendo has gone out of their way to bury them, both copies of the games and the system they were released for are very hard to find, and even emulating them is nigh-impossible. Unofficial PC ports of the former two games were eventually produced, but they were taken down quickly by their creator fearing legal action from Nintendo.
* The ''VideoGame/{{Ys}}'' series is one of the oldest, most long-running and most-distinguished series of [=JRPGs=] ever made, with ''VideoGame/YsIAncientYsVanishedOmen'' being released in 1987 and is still ongoing with countless ports, remakes, and a prequel, ''Ys Origin''. But until the Platform/Playstation2 port of ''VideoGame/YsVITheArkOfNapishtim'' was released in 2005, the games were practically unknown in the West. Only 3 prior games (the Platform/SegaMasterSystem port of ''Ys I,'' the Platform/TurboGrafx16 port of the first game and ''[[VideoGame/YsIIAncientYsVanishedTheFinalChapter Ys II]]'' compiled and ''Ys III'' on the [[Platform/SuperNintendoEntertainmentSystem SNES]], Platform/SegaGenesis and [=TurboGrafx=]) had been released in English at all before ''Napishtim'', none of which had particularly set the sales charts on fire, leaving the series only known to die-hard import and fan-translation fans for 14 years. While it's somewhat better-known now, it's still considered a CultClassic series, despite a long and storied pedigree that puts it in the same conversation as the likes of ''Franchise/FinalFantasy, VideoGame/DragonQuest'' and particularly ''Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda,'' which ''Ys'' was once considered a serious rival to in the field of {{Action RPG}}s.
* As of the late 2010s, ''[[VideoGame/DokiDokiPanic Yume Kōjō: Doki Doki Panic]]'' has become this. It is no longer obscure information that ''VideoGame/SuperMarioBros2'' is a DolledUpInstallment of ''Panic'', to the point that those who still think otherwise have become a source of mockery; but good luck finding someone who has actually played the original game[[labelnote:note 1]]The UsefulNotes/{{emulation}} community is a good place to start[[/labelnote]], what with being Famicom Disk System-exclusive[[labelnote:note 2]]An add-on to the Famicom--itself the Japanese version of the [[Platform/NintendoEntertainmentSystem NES]]--that was [[NoExportForYou never released outside Japan]][[/labelnote]] and all.
* Many people know Creator/CyberConnect2 for their anime fighters, and assume that they exclusively work on ''Naruto'' games, especially with how well their ''Ultimate Ninja'' games perform. But if you were to ask people about their other works ''without'' looking it up online, chances are you'll be met with confusion (and possibly the occasional ''VideoGame/AsurasWrath'' and ''Franchise/DotHack''). The fact that their older library never see any rereleases of any kind does not do them any favors.
* Due to the characters of ''VisualNovel/OneKagayakuKisetsuE'' appearing in ''VideoGame/EternalFighterZero'', many have heard of ''One'', but very few have actually played this visual novel. It doesn't help that the non-hentai OVA is universally despised.
* Similarly, ''MOON'', starring ''VideoGame/EternalFighterZero'''s Ikumi Amasawa, is the one EFZ-related visual novel that doesn't have an anime adaptation (or TV Tropes page, for that matter). It's easy to see why - ''MOON'' is an HGame so dark, disgusting, and graphic that no one ever gets around to playing it. An anime perhaps could be done, but it would take dedication and no regards for censors.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Web Original]]
* The RulesOfTheInternet. Everyone knows about RuleThirtyFour and most people know about RuleSixtyThree, but very few people know [[Website/FourChan the other 75 rules]], with the possible exception of [[FightClubbing Rules 1 and 2]] depending on age.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Western Animation]]
* VoiceActors. Everyone remembers their voices, and some may know their names but they are otherwise obscure personalities.
* With the disappearance of nearly all western animation from North American television that's older than the late 1990s or early 2000s, a great many classics, like ''WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes'', ''Franchise/TomAndJerry'' and the ''WesternAnimation/ClassicDisneyShorts'', have fallen into this. The former two still air on channels dedicated to legacy programming like Creator/{{Boomerang}}, but they still fall into this because: A) Boomerang is on a high cable package that many households wouldn't have (especially since an increasing number of households are ditching cable services altogether), and B) the airing times are inconsistent and usually during hours when children are either asleep or in school. [[note]]They used to air on Creator/CartoonNetwork off and on until 2017 but, after 2004 (before then, they aired in primetime too), they aired almost ''exclusively'' when kids are at school with no weekend slots aside from ''Looney Tunes'' from 2011-2014 where it aired at 6 AM, a time slot where most children are still asleep. By 2015, they had incredibly inconsistent timeslots with ''Looney Tunes'' or ''Tom and Jerry'' airing any given week only to be gone by the next. Currently, they air on Creator/{{Boomerang}} (a network that even many cable subscribers don't have, meaning they don't get much exposure despite being AdoredByTheNetwork) and Creator/MeTV's ''Series/ToonInWithMe'' block (which only airs on weekdays at 7 AM, when children are either asleep or getting ready for school)[[/note]] This makes it harder for modern children to familiarize themselves by watching them on TV. And with them hidden so deep away on streaming services that you need to actively hunt for them to find them, few kids today will have watched them directly, only seeing them on merchandise, reboots, or as references by newer media.
** Most people know that ''WesternAnimation/SteamboatWillie'' is WesternAnimation/MickeyMouse's first sound cartoon and the film that launched the Creator/{{Disney}} empire. The opening SignatureScene of Mickey whistling and steering the boat is considered one of the most iconic scenes in the history of animation and has since become the ident for Walt Disney Feature Animation early in the 21st century, but how many are familiar with the rest of the plot? Funnily enough, when the cartoon finally went into the public domain in 2024, many modern viewers watched it for the first time out of curiosity and were surprised by the amount of cartoon animal cruelty involved to the point it became [[MemeticPsychopath memetic]].[[note]]Nothing graphic happens, Mickey plays a bunch of animals like instruments (playing a duck like a trumpet, pulling piglet tails and then poking their mother's nipples, pulling on a cat's tail and swinging the cat away, etc.) Then at the end of the short he throws a potato at a parrot laughing at him.[[/note]]
* While the original ''Looney Tunes'', ''Tom and Jerry'', and ''Classic Disney Shorts'' are harder to stumble upon nowadays, especially among children, they've at least become {{Cash Cow Franchise}}s big enough for people to be more familiar with their lore and characters. Unfortunately, this isn't the case for nearly every other classic cartoon character that isn't as iconic as the aforementioned three, dooming them to fall victim to this trope:
** ''WesternAnimation/BettyBoop'' is more known today for appearing on merchandise than for appearing in short films. Ask anyone what Betty ever did in her cartoons, besides saying "boop-boop-be-doop" and getting stalked by horny old geezers, and you'll get a blank stare.
** ''WesternAnimation/CasperTheFriendlyGhost'' is a friendly ghost who doesn't want to scare others... and that's about it. Ditto ''ComicBook/RichieRich'' who is known... for being rich.
** ''WesternAnimation/FelixTheCat'': One of the oldest, most iconic, and enduring cartoon characters of all time. Yet, how many people under 30 have ever seen one of his cartoons of the silent era? Apart from that: how many people could actually tell you anything about Felix's personality, or his supporting cast? The reason the series even remains known is simply by the power of inertia since the series is so firmly rooted in the public consciousness and animation culture.
** ''WesternAnimation/TheFlintstones'': Everyone can recognize this Stone Age family, and most people can also recognize the Rubbles (sometimes also the Great Gazoo). Most people also know Fred's catchphrase, "Yabba Dabba Doo!" But with the show being off the air for years, how many younger people have watched a single episode of the show, or can name any of the secondary characters? Nowadays, they're mostly known for their breakfast cereals (Fruity Pebbles and Cocoa Pebbles), children's vitamins, or for the fact that shows like ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' wouldn't exist without it. To a lesser extent, there's also their infamous cigarette commercial from the 50s pushing Winston cigarettes.
*** ''WesternAnimation/TheJetsons'' fall into this similarly. Everyone can recognize the family of the future, and most people can also recognize their household robot Rosie (sometimes also George's boss, Mr. Spacely). But how many have actually watched a single episode of the show, or can name any of the secondary characters?
** ''ComicStrip/{{Popeye}}'': People know that Popeye is strong, eats spinach, has a girlfriend named Olive Oyl, and an archenemy named Bluto. They may also know that he has a friend named Wimpy who loves hamburgers and an adopted son named Swee'pea. They may not know that [[AdaptationDisplacement he originated in a comic strip]], nor that he starred in over 200 short cartoons from the 1930s to the 1950s, much less be able to name any of them or tell you what happens in them outside of "he gets into fights, gets his butt kicked, [[PowerUpFood eats spinach]], gets a HeroicSecondWind and wins".
** ''WesternAnimation/WoodyWoodpecker'': Everyone recognizes the character and can mimic his SignatureLaugh, but actually being able to name any of the side characters or stories is less easy. Many kids today seem to know him more from his association with the Ride/UniversalStudios theme parks than from having watched his short films (though he is ''not'' subject to this in [[GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff Brazil, where he is that country's equivalent to]] ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants''). It doesn't really help that unlike many other characters from MediaNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfAnimation, only one of his cartoons is in the PublicDomain.
** ''WesternAnimation/{{Droopy}}'' is often considered one of the most iconic cartoon dogs, but ask anyone what Droopy ever did in his cartoons besides saying all his catchphrases and you'll probably get a blank stare. Nowadays, he's better known for being "that sad dog that [[SirCameosALot keeps appearing]] in modern ''Tom and Jerry'' productions" than for his own cartoons.
** ''WesternAnimation/YogiBear'': He is a bear who is smarter than the average bear, has a friend named Boo Boo, and steals ''pick-a-nick'' baskets. That's about all the general public of today knows about these cartoons, and they know even less (if anything) about his fellow Creator/HannaBarbera TV stars of TheSixties onward such as ''[[WesternAnimation/TheHuckleberryHoundShow Huckleberry Hound]]'', ''WesternAnimation/QuickDrawMcGraw'', etc, who are far more obscure to younger audiences than Yogi. Not that there haven't been efforts to combat this; a [[Film/YogiBear 2010 film adaptation of Yogi Bear]] did modestly well, and while Yogi is the star of ''WesternAnimation/{{Jellystone}}'', that show seems determined to feature as many Hanna-Barbera characters as possible.
** ''WesternAnimation/ThePinkPanther'': Once a very famous cartoon character thanks to the film franchise around Inspector Clouseau, but since no new movies in this vein are made and the old Pink Panther cartoons aren't shown on TV anymore (neither is his short-lived 1993 reboot nor the 2010 reboot), he is probably better known as some vague advertising character or for his CharacterSignatureSong.
** ''WesternAnimation/MrMagoo'' is referenced in fiction a lot as the butt of practically every blind joke. The fact that he's an old, visually challenged man is the only thing modern audiences know about him.
* In general, most older video game adaptations seem to be better known for their SoBadItsGood and WatchItForTheMeme status rather than having any genuine fans actually engaged in the show.
** The number of people who've actually watched ''WesternAnimation/DonkeyKongCountry'' for its plot likely pales in comparison to the number of people who know about the show due to its FountainOfMemes status, courtesy of its bizarre animation, zany quotes, and surprisingly catchy songs.
** ''WesternAnimation/AdventuresOfSonicTheHedgehog'' and ''Series/TheSuperMarioBrosSuperShow'' (and by extension, ''WesternAnimation/TheAdventuresOfSuperMarioBros3'' and ''WesternAnimation/SuperMarioWorld1991'') are in a spate of being exclusively [[WatchItForTheMeme known for being YouTube Poop fodder.]]
** While people are generally aware that ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfZelda1989'' cartoon exists, most wouldn't be able to tell you much of anything about it beyond [[WellExcuseMePrincess Link's infamous catchphrase]].
** People who know about ''WesternAnimation/CaptainNTheGameMaster'' typically know it's about an Earth kid getting [[TrappedInAnotherWorld sucked into a world]] where all his favorite NES games are real, and that it's full of wacky inaccuracies and creative liberties in characterization and designs (green Mega Man, the hero of ''VideoGame/KidIcarus1986'' being named "Kid Icarus" instead of Pit, "Metroid" being the name of a planet instead of a species, and ''everything'' about the show's take on Simon Belmont), and... that's it.
* ''WesternAnimation/AmericanDad'' has been running for two decades, gets consistently high ratings on television, and is one of the more recognizable adult animated series out there. But while most people have heard of ''American Dad!'', very few are dedicated fans of it and if asked, most non-fans couldn't tell you anything about the characters (apart from maybe Roger the alien) or what the episodes are about. It's mainly just known for being Creator/SethMacFarlane's other long-running adult animated show that's not ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy''.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Other]]
* You could find fifty people with opinions about ''Roe v. Wade'' strong enough to provoke violence before you met a single one who'd actually read it. Or know what the ruling was actually about besides just "abortion". Or that there was a companion decision the same day called ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doe_v._Bolton Doe v. Bolton]]'' which was just as influential if not more so.[[labelnote:Summary]]''Roe'' codified the framework in which States could restrict abortions, (the viability principle and the trimester rule); '''''Doe''''' said that health factors (physical, emotional, psychological, familial, and age-related) ''trumped'' those restrictions.[[/labelnote]]
* Almost every single journal article about autism references Leo Kanner's original description of autism. Many of them go on to summarize his paper with comments that make it obvious that they haven't read it, such as claiming that he described low-functioning autism (in reality, his subjects showed a wide range of ability, with one being clearly high functioning). Hans Asperger's article gets this a bit too since no one seems to notice that modern criteria for UsefulNotes/AspergerSyndrome are noticeably different from his conception of the condition.
* Unless you're talking to an actual Constitutional Law scholar, odds are that most people who talk about the Constitution and what different Amendments mean in different contexts have not actually read the entire document or can tell you what all the different Amendments are. This is also true for many European constitutions; you'd be lucky to find an average person on a German street who knows at least 3 articles on the ''Grundgesetz'' (the first and most important of them being "Human dignity is untouchable.")
* Among language-learning circles, this trope tends to go for languages without a large speaker pool but that are tied to an oppressed or otherwise romanticized population. On language-learning websites, many users have languages like Basque, Irish, Ainu, Catalan, Icelandic, and Navajo in their "wanted" lists, or claim a low degree of proficiency, but never get any further because it's so difficult to find materials and, well, they don't really care that much.\\
Navajo has less to do with the Navajo being romanticized—they're not, they essentially have no real presence to the rest of the world's consciousness[[note]][[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Code_talker#Navajo_code_talkers aside from being a super-complex Allied code in]] UsefulNotes/WorldWarII[[/note]]—and more to do with Navajo being a sampler of "weird" linguistic features. Learning Navajo is linguistics on [[Franchise/{{Halo}} Legendary]], so people pursue knowledge of it for the sake of bragging rights.[[note]]It has [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Split_ergativity split ergativity]], a very complicated verb-aspect system, and inflects its verbs relating to motion according to 11 noun-classes deriving mostly from shape. It's also a tonal language with some extremely unusual consonants—the same ones as Tlingit, whose sounds were borrowed for [[ConLang Klingon]] precisely because they don't show up in most human languages. ''And'' there are about two textbooks, which you either have to order online or buy ''on'' the Navajo Rez, or in a few places nearby.[[/note]]
* There are many celebrities out there who often appear in tabloids, media, and TV shows, and whose faces and names will be recognized by many, despite most people not being able to actually explain ''why'' they are exactly famous. Socialites like Zsa Zsa Gabor, Creator/ParisHilton and people who became well known due to just ''appearing'' a lot in the media without actually doing something for it are a good example. But the phenomenon can also be observed with other celebrities. Often people will recognize somebody and want an autograph or take a picture with him, despite the fact that they don't really know ''who'' this person is or ''what'' he is famous for. They just know him from ''somewhere''. In some cases, they even confuse them with other celebrities. Creator/JeffGoldblum has discussed this on occasion, noting that he is frequently mistaken for Creator/HaroldRamis (who died in 2014) or asked if he's "still doing that acting thing" in TheNewTens.
* Creator/SalvadorDali once told a reporter that he didn't really feel like "the most famous painter in the world", because most people who encountered him did recognize him, but weren't sure "whether he was a singer, a film star, a madman or an author."
* Creator/HarryHoudini is still relevant in modern popular culture thanks to his name being synonymous with "escape". For example, ''VideoGame/BioShock'' has a type of enemy called "Houdini Splicer" known for [[TeleportSpam being hard to catch]] and ThisVeryWiki use him as the TropeNamer for KarmaHoudini and more...Despite this, very few people know anything about his life and stage performances beyond that point.
* Similar to Dalí, Creator/PabloPicasso is universally recognized as a quintessential visual artist, his name used as a byword to describe someone's artistic talents (''Why you're a regular Picasso!''). Yet, hardly any ordinary person would be able to name or specifically recognize a single painting by him.
* Creator/FridaKahlo is a known face in the feminist movement and hailed as an example of an early feminist artist, but all the people who praise her and reference her have no idea of what her works were, they seem to only recognize her face... but most of her works were self-portraits anyway. Most notably is her image being used as an example of feminism when her most famous work is her journal rather than her paintings and said journal is stuffed with declarations of her love towards the painter Diego Rivera and all the drama that ensued from it, and it reads more like the diary of a lovestruck teenager. Think about it. The most famous work of a feminist painter is the diary filled with her destructive relationship with a cheating man. But wait, there's more--Frida Kahlo is hailed as a feminist icon because she used to cheat on Diego Rivera and she would also get drunk and smoke, therefore all her feminist cred is based on her habits and none on her work.
* If you follow the news regularly, there are many people whom you might recognize as "a politician", but if they're not the head of state, it can often be tough to recall precisely who they are and what their official function is. For example, the only member of UsefulNotes/BarackObama's second-term cabinet that most people can name is John Kerry, and most people only knew about him beforehand because he ran against UsefulNotes/GeorgeWBush in the 2004 presidential election.
* Anna Nicole Smith ''[[WhatCouldHaveBeen could have]]'' been an exception to the "socialite" stereotype above. Many forget that she was famous from the very beginning of her career, and ''not'' for showing up in the tabloids for no reason. She was Miss May for ''Magazine/{{Playboy}}'' in 1992 and Playmate of the Year after that, and then became a model for Guess Jeans - despite being [[StatuesqueStunner nearly 6 feet tall]] and [[BigBeautifulWoman weighing 150 pounds]] (making her the single tallest and heaviest Playmate in the magazine's 60+ -year history), and thus anathema to the "waif" models so popular in the 1990s. These were noteworthy accomplishments, relatively small though they were. But then her (much older) husband died, and [[OvershadowedByControversy the court battle for his estate overshadowed everything else]]... and ''then'' came the grotesque weight gain and the reality show...
* Creator/LennyBruce is universally acknowledged as the ''ur''-figure of modern stand-up comedy. Every comedian points to him as the original "transgressive," anything-goes humorist whose seminal routines begat Creator/RichardPryor, Creator/GeorgeCarlin, Creator/SteveMartin, Creator/AndyKaufman, and everything else that differentiates modern stand-up from the days of Creator/BobHope & Danny Thomas.
* ''La muette de Portici'' is one of the most recognizable operas in Belgium ever due to its influence on the Belgian fight for independence. During the 20th and 21st centuries it was rarely performed there. Now everyone knows what it accomplished, but no one can tell what was in the opera, to begin with.
* {{Pinball}} as a whole. Everybody can recognize a pinball machine, with its iconic shape. Everybody can recognize the classic bells and chimes they emit.[[note]]The classic ones, anyway--machines made from 1980 and onwards have digitally recorded sound.[[/note]] Everybody knows that when the ball comes back down, you push a button to engage a flipper to send the ball back up so it can bounce around things. But ask a random person on the street to name even one machine, and chances are they cannot. Sometimes, you'll get ''Pinball/TheAddamsFamily''. On rare occasions, you'll get ''Pinball/Terminator2JudgmentDay'' or ''Pinball/JurassicParkDataEast''. If anyone can name anything past that, then they're either 1) a pinball fan, 2) a trivia person, 3) saw a machine when younger and remembered it fondly, or 4) stumbled across a machine by accident and remembered its name. Because of the near extinction of arcades, pinball is notoriously difficult to find--even veterans who have been playing pinball for decades have trouble knowing where to find them--and so most people are unaware that pinball machines are still being designed and manufactured today, and by at least five companies.[[note]]Creator/{{Stern}}, Creator/JerseyJackPinball, Heighway, Spooky Pinball, and Dutch Pinball, with several startups with their first games in development.[[/note]]
* Non-American media and media in another language tends to be under-reported simply because GlobalIgnorance filters everything by the perceptions and received ideas of {{Eagleland}}, who define the "global mainstream" rather than the regional and local mainstream of various nations:
** The English language is spoken by at least 460 million people (as a first language; people who speak it as a ''second'' language are much more numerous). The population of China, and so the population of Mandarin speakers, is more than a billion, and yet Chinese-language media and general Chinese culture are far more obscure globally than even Japanese-language media (whose population is barely a tenth of China's and is aging and shrinking moreover), to say nothing of Western media.
** UsefulNotes/{{Bollywood}} is one of the world's biggest movie industries and produces more movies on a yearly basis than Hollywood does, and one of its big stars, Creator/ShahRukhKhan, is the eighth highest-paid actor in the world and listed by Newsweek as one of the fifty most powerful people in the world, and he is famous across India, which has a population of 1 billion-plus (three times that of the USA's population), yet he's still obscure by global standards compared to, say, the up-and-coming cast of the latest Spider-Man movie.
* Plenty of 2D Japanese series, be it through manga, anime, games, or books, tend to have fiercely loyal fanbases and equally iconic character designs. While these characters may show up in mainstream every once in a while, expect them to not have any information beyond being "anime" characters, even when the closest thing to "anime" some might have gone as far as a promo video or cutscene.
* Most people in the United States can't really think of anything that UsefulNotes/MillardFillmore accomplished as president. As a result, he has become very well known for the fact that he's not well known for anything else, other than having an… [[InherentlyFunnyWords interesting name]]. This really goes for all the U.S. presidents other than the ones of recent memory and the big names ([[UsefulNotes/GeorgeWashington Washington]], [[UsefulNotes/ThomasJefferson Jefferson]], [[UsefulNotes/AbrahamLincoln Lincoln]], [[UsefulNotes/TheodoreRoosevelt Theodore]] and UsefulNotes/FranklinDRoosevelt, [[UsefulNotes/JohnFKennedy Kennedy]], etc.) If you're not a history buff, you probably don't know anything about, say, UsefulNotes/ZacharyTaylor, UsefulNotes/FranklinPierce, or UsefulNotes/ChesterAArthur other than "He used to be President."
* Creator/BenjaminFranklin is absolutely a household name and is known as one of the United States' founding fathers, but most people would be hard-pressed to come up with any specifics other than "He's on the $100 bill", "He flew a kite in a thunderstorm and discovered electricity", and "He wanted the turkey to be the national bird instead of the eagle." More than a few people, especially non-Americans, mistake him for a former president. The same goes for UsefulNotes/AlexanderHamilton, who's mostly known as the guy on the $10 and for getting killed in a duel. He also wasn't a President (and wasn't even eligible for the ballot because he wasn't born on U.S. soil), but earned his spot on the $10 by being the first Secretary of the Treasury and the guy that created the Federal Reserve Bank.
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