For example: Jaws crashed the shark population and Sideways changed the popularity of 2 different Wines.
The first weekend of Pokemon Go was the closest we ever got to world peace.
and then it was used to train the war machine.
Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring was a hugely influential…
wait is that Maven?? (famous) maven???
I Will NOT REVEAL MY SECRETS TO YOU!!! GRRR YOU ARE MY ENEMY
PPAP because now everytime I have a pen, and I have apple, I say apple pen… and when I have a pen, and I have pineapple, its pineapple pen. Penpineappleapplepen
I would argue that Rainman (1988) being a lot of people’s first introduction to autism propped up the autistic savant trope
Hackers (1995) did not reflect reality at all, and entirely made up a look, sound and feel of hacker culture for the film. Tech press largely panned it as rediculous, unrealistic and innaccurate, but hacker culture actually morphed into something close to what was depicted in that film because it’s honestly way cooler and way better than what the actual hacker culture was at the time
Others have already pointed out really good examples like Upton Sinclair’s book The Jungle which spawned a lot of food safety laws, or Wargames (1983) basically prompting the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act
Edit to add: I also remembered another very influenctial author at the turn of the century was Henry George who wrote a now under-discussed book called Progress and Poverty which is widely credited for triggering the beginning of the Progressive Era
In a similar vein, Charles Darwin’s [On the Origin of Species])https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On_the_Origin_of_Species) basically kicked off the entire field of biology with the scientific theory of evolution
Surprised the Crying Indian American TV ad isn’t in here. I have a giggle when I see someone on here outraged that they saw someone toss trash out their car window. That was SOP until the Crying Indian. I can’t think of a PSA in my lifetime that made such a dramatic impact.
While not a piece of media exactly, reporting on the Tylenol Murders changed packaging almost overnight. Used to be you could pull anything off the shelf, open it and close it, no one would be the wiser. I remember as a kid suddenly encountering all the things suddenly having tamper-proof packaging. It was truly wild to my young brain.
The 95 Thesen by Martin Luther sparked the Protestant Reformation. That’s an impact that cannot be understated.
Torah, Bible, and Quran, unfortunately.
It doesn’t get brought up much anymore, but Roots.
Wasn’t that our take a look in a book visor boi
I got the privilege of watching this on VHS in boarding school, And I was like holy shit. Isn’t that lavar?
What were the impacts of Roots? I remember watching it in middle school for one of our history classes and I can appreciate that it gave me perspective on what slavery looked like but that was decades after its release that I saw it
Jennifer Lopez’s green Versace dress was the reason Google Images was created:
Youtube was apparently originally started as a personals service, but pivoted to video hosting due to Janet Jackson’s “Wardrobe Malfunction.”
The Jungle was a book about the meat packing industry in 1906. It detailed horrific treatment of the animals and disgusting unsanitary treatment of the meat products.
It led to public outrage and caused the Meat Inspection Act to be passed in the same year. That Act laid the foundation for modern health inspections in food facilities.
Notably it was only the poor treatment of the food that pissed people off. Sinclair meant to create sympathy for exploited workers, but no one actually cared about that part.
And Fast Food Nation turned me off meat for 6 months.
From Hell (2001) popularized drinking absinthe, and twisted the traditional way of drinking it. (The sugar is not traditionally set alight). Not 100% sure of this, might be that Moulin Rouge which was released around the same time also had an impact.
Janet Jackson’s nipple slip was a major contributor to the creation of YouTube.
Ronnie James Dio and his devil horns hand gesture. It became a symbol for rock and metal music, but people often use it as well for other meanings too.
I think this is more interesting limiting it to fictional pieces or work, as many of the non-fiction examples were written to have a real world impact.
Also one I didn’t see was The China Syndrome. If you’re unfamiliar it was a drama about a nuclear incident, but happened to release just days before the Three Mile Incident. Meaning it was a one-two punch to the nuclear industry and something people point to about nuclear energy stalling in the US.
Here in Québec, there is a song by Gilles Vigneault that somehow became what we use to sing happy birthday to someone. Beautiful song, great guy who, at around 95 years old , had his music removed from Spotify because they gave millions to Joe Rogan.
