References to other works, including legends and religious texts, are present in all media under many forms. These are collectively known as "Shout-Outs".
Types of references
References by work
Sub-categories
- Actor Allusion: The work references one of the actor's other roles or the actor's personal life.
- Casting Gag: An actor appears to be deliberately cast as a character similar to another character they have played.
- Character Name Alias: A character uses the name of a fictional character as an alias.
- Corrupted Character Copy: A pastiche of a pre-existing character who is notably a worse person than the character they are based on.
- Cultural Cross-Reference: Making a reference to something popular in another country.
- Expy: An unambiguous and deliberate copy of another, older character.
- Halloween Cosplay: Rather than just making a generic costume, a character cosplays on Halloween.
- Homage: A typically drawn-out Shout-Out that is born out of love for the source material.
- I'm Mr. [Future Pop Culture Reference]: A time-traveler uses the name of a character from a future work of fiction as an alias while in the past.
- Knocking the Knockoff: A character derides a copy of themselves from a different work.
- Lampshaded the Obscure Reference: The work addresses that not many people will be familiar with what they are referencing.
- Literary Allusion Title: A work's title is a, sometimes rephrased, quote from another work.
- Parody: A mockery of some other artistic work, sometimes affectionate.
- Parody Episode: A show takes a break from its usual format to parody something else.
- Pop-Culture Pun Episode Title: May be a work that's part of pop culture that's referenced.
- Public Domain Character: A character is in the public domain, so any work can use the character without having to worry about copyright infringement lawsuits or paying royalties.
- Public Domain Soundtrack: A work uses music that is in the public domain.
- Quote-to-Quote Combat: Countering one quote with another.
- Real Song Theme Tune: The theme song wasn't written for the show and had actually existed prior to the work entering production.
- Reference Overdosed: A work loaded with Shout-Outs and homages.
- Sampling: Using part of someone else's music in your own.
- Sitcom Homage Episode: An episode of a series that is meant to be a homage to Sitcoms.
- Short-Lived, Big Impact: A person or thing that has only been around for a short time, but its impact can still be felt in modern life today.
- Shout-Out Theme Naming: A work's characters are named after another, older work's characters.
- Significant Monogram: The characters' initials have a symbolic meaning.
- Speaks in Shout-Outs: Most of a character's lines are references, shout-outs, or quotes from other works.
- Spoiling Shout-Out: A Shout-Out that makes references to a spoiler from what it's referencing.
- Standard Snippet: Pieces of a musical work that play primarily when a particular scene is shown.
- Suspiciously Similar Song: A song or piece of music that sounds like a copyright-friendly version of another song or piece of music.
- Take That!: A work insults another work or someone or something the creator dislikes.
- Titled After the Song: A work that is named after a song not originally written for it.
- Tribute to Fido: A character who's based on a Real Life pet.
- Trope Codifier: A work that defines how a trope is used.
- Tuckerization: Characters are named after real-life people involved with the production.
- Unusual Pop Culture Name: A character was named with an obvious pop culture reference (e.g. a fictional character) by their parents.
- Virtuous Character Copy: A pastiche of a pre-existing character who is notably a more noble person than the character they are based on.
- Whole Costume Reference: A character is wearing the wardrobe of another famous figure, but no one in-universe is aware of that.
- Whole-Plot Reference: A story whose entire plot is a complete reference or homage to another work.
Specific references
Music- Also sprach Zarathustra: "Also Sprach Zarathustra", aka "that tune from 2001: A Space Odyssey.
- Amazing Freaking Grace: "Amazing Grace".
- Happy Birthday to You!: The birthday song.
- Jeopardy! Thinking Music: Jeopardy!
- Michael Jackson's Thriller Parody: A spoof of the music video to the Michael Jackson song Thriller.
- Moonwalk Dance
- "Ode to Joy": From Ludwig van Beethoven's Ninth Symphony.
- "Ride of the Valkyries": The music from the beginning of the third act of Die Walküre, an opera by Richard Wagner.
- Sgt. Pepper's Shout-Out: A nod to the album cover of Sgt. Peppers' Lonely Hearts Club Band by The Beatles.
Names and titles
- Adam and/or Eve: The Bible.
- The Joy of X
- Name of Cain: The Bible.
- A Saint Named Mary: The Bible.
- Tannhäuser Gate: A quote by Blade Runner's Roy Batty (which itself was inspired by a legend about the German poet Tannhäuser).
- The Trope Formerly Known as X: The Artist Formerly Known As Prince, A Fan Nickname for Prince, a singer who changed his name to an unpronounceable love symbol.
Quotes
- Shout Out to Shakespeare:
- Alas, Poor Yorick: Hamlet.
- Good Night, Sweet Prince (Hamlet).
- As the Good Book Says...: The Bible again.
- Bigger Than Jesus: John Lennon (although he didn't actually say that)
- Chew Bubblegum: They Live!.
- I Love the Smell of X in the Morning: Apocalypse Now
- It Was a Dark and Stormy Night: Edward Bulwer-Lytton's Paul Clifford.
- Klaatu Barada Nikto: The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951).
- "The Name Is Bond, James Bond": James Bond.
- You Meddling Kids: Scooby-Doo.
- You Talkin' to Me?: Taxi Driver.
Stock Parodies and Stock Shout Outs
- Alice Allusion: In fiction, a good number of characters named "Alice" are named after the title character of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There by Lewis Carroll.
- Angels Pose: Charlie's Angels.
- Blood Bath: Almost always used to reference the Trope Maker, Countess Elizabeth Bathory, and characters taking such a bath are usually also named after her.
- Bond Gun Barrel: A nod to the gun barrel sequence that appeared in many a James Bond movie.
- Borrowin' Samedi: Character channeling Baron Samedi, a loa of magic and death in Haitian Voudoun.
- "The Breakfast Club" Poster Homage: The Breakfast Club
- The Burlesque of Venus: Sandro Botticelli's The Birth of Venus
- Canines Gambling in a Card Game: Cassius Marcellus Coolidge's Dogs Playing Poker
- Charlie Chaplin Shout-Out
- Chess with Death: The Seventh Seal.
- Crying Indian: A Public Service Announcement from the Keep America Beautiful organization.
- Disneyesque: General art style and tone meant to be evocative of the Disney Animated Canon.
- Dr. Fakenstein: A mad scientist's name is a play on Victor Frankenstein from the novel Frankenstein.
- Dystopian Oz: Land of Oz.
- The Expy With No Name: A character who is a copy of The Man With No Name from the Dollars Trilogy.
- "The Graduate" Homage Shot: The Graduate.
- The Great Whodini
- Hockey Mask and Chainsaw: A homage to slasher films that does not come from any specific work, but fuses iconic elements of Friday the 13th and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.
- Icarus Allusion: Greek Mythology.
- Iwo Jima Pose: The flag planting during the Battle of Iwo Jima
◊ during World War II.
- King Kong Copy: King Kong
- Knuckle Tattoos: The Night of the Hunter.
- Kubrick Stare: An expression seen in some movies directed by Stanley Kubrick.
- "Last Supper" Steal: Characters posed as in Leonardo da Vinci's The Last Supper.
- "Lion King" Lift: The Lion King (1994).
- Long John Shout Out: Treasure Island.
- Looks Like Cesare: The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, although, due to Parody Displacement, people may tell you otherwise.
- Looks Like Orlok: Nosferatu, which in turn was loosely based on old folklore accounts.
- The Ludovico Technique: A Clockwork Orange
- Mission: Impossible Cable Drop: Mission: Impossible (1996).
- Mock Headroom: Parodies of Max Headroom.
- Monty Hall Problem: A puzzle based on Let's Make a Deal.
- "Nighthawks" Shot: Scenes referencing Edward Hopper's Nighthawks - either the entire painting or only the setting.
- Oceanic Airlines: Lost
- Opening Scroll: The into-the-screen variation references Star Wars.
- Pietà Plagiarism: the Pietà , a sculpture by Michelangelo.
- Riding the Bomb: Dr. Strangelove .
- "Risky Business" Dance: Risky Business.
- Rooftop Concert: Typically done in Homage to The Beatles' final live performance.
- Scandalgate: Watergate
- Sherlock Homage
- Sistine Steal: Michelangelo Buonarroti's painting The Creation of Adam, which can be found in the Sistine Chapel's celing.
- Spaghetti Kiss: The Movie of Ward Greene's Lady and the Tramp.
- "Staying Alive" Dance Pose: Saturday Night Fever.
- Theatre Phantom:
- "The Scream" Parody: The Scream, a painting by Edvard Munch.
- Thinker Pose: The Thinker, a sculpture by Auguste Rodin.
- Three Stooges Shout-Out
- Tuxedo and Martini: James Bond.
- The V-J Day Kiss: Reenactment of the famous photo of a sailor and a nurse kissing in celebration of American victory in World War II.
- Xenomorph Xerox: An imitation of the Xenomorph from the Alien films.
Trope Namers
Here on TV Tropes, we too like to make Shout-Outs. The following is a list of tropes which are named after Stock Shout-Outs.
- Down the Rabbit Hole: The eponymous Alice travels to a bizarro world down a rabbit hole.
- Luke, I Am Your Father: Star Wars (although that's not the actual quote)
- The Mad Hatter: The eponymous hatter in Alice in Wonderland.
- Star-Crossed Lovers: Two lovers coming from opposing sides of a conflict, like Romeo and Juliet, who were described as such in the prologue.
- The Bard on Board: A play by William Shakespeare.
- Charlie and the Chocolate Parody: The 1971 film of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.
- Gift of the Magi Plot: The Gift of the Magi by O. Henry.
- How the Character Stole Christmas: How the Grinch Stole Christmas! by Dr. Seuss.
- It's a Wonderful Plot: It's a Wonderful Life.
- Jurassic Farce: Jurassic Park, usually the first installment of the film series.
- May the Farce Be with You: Star Wars. Usually either A New Hope or the original trilogy.
- Off to See the Wizard: Usually based on The Wonderful Wizard of Oz or the 1939 film adaptation.
- Raiders of the Lost Parody: Indiana Jones. Usually Raiders of the Lost Ark.
- Spoofy-Doo: Scooby-Doo.
- Where No Parody Has Gone Before: Star Trek.
- Yet Another Christmas Carol: A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens.
