Once I finished Great Expectations, I noticed it had a habit (like most other classics) to pop up everywhere. And I mean everywhere. Dickens probably had no clue that Great Expectations references would be around 142 years later. Oh, but it is. I was watching P.S. I Love You with some friends and in the movie Holly tells her friends, after the sudden death of her husband, she’ll become “the Miss Havisham of the Lower East Side. Never leave my apartment 'til I'm old. Sit in my wedding dress. With an old piece of wedding cake."
Okay. I had to stop for a moment and go, “Was that a Great Expectations reference?” And this was just the beginning.
After that I started wondering how many Great Expectations references there are. The truth is that there are more than I can count. I’ve seen most of these things and never pieced it together until now. When I discovered what things had references to Great Expectations in it my jaw dropped. It’s in stuff I watch, read, and listen to. I may not be able to look at them the same way again.
They are in Supernatural (third season, if you were wondering), web videos (Sassy Gay Friend, anyone?), and Chowder, a cartoon my sister watches. I had to have my sister explain this since I can’t sit through an episode of it, but basically a character had a fiancé who didn’t show up, so she takes an apprentice who she teaches to avoid/hate men. It has Great Expectations written all over it.
Alanis Morissette also has a song about Estella on her Jagged Little Pill album called “All I Really Want”. I’ve had this song on my iPod for who-knows-how long, probably listened to it while reading the book, and never pieced it together. Morisssette sings, “I'm like Estella, I like to reel it in and then spit it out.”
Great Expectations has inspired operas, movies, TV shows, and rides at Disneyland Paris. As hard as this is to admit, I don’t think we’re ever going to be able to escape the classics. They’re all around us, whether we notice them or not.
7 comments:
This is so, so true! I believe that Charles Dickens books are more often referred to in modern pop culture than other classic novels written by other authors. Many of his works, such as Oliver Twist, are referred to and made into movies by major companies such as Disney and are the base for TV series and shows. I did a little research and BBC Radio did a popular parody combining Great Expectations and Oliver Twist. The fact that references to Great Expectations are in modern movies and shows such as P.S. I Love You and Supernatural should really excite and motivate us as students while studying this popular classic.
Ah, I'm so glad you're noticing this stuff! I find the more I read, the more I'm able to piece together references I never really "got" and sometimes glossed over, and the classics seem to pop up in modern culture more than we often realize.
I think that's why they're considered the classics. It doesn't matter how old they get, people will always be able to relate to novels like Great Expectations because we still make the same mistakes we made 200 years ago.
It seems crazy that this book shows up in so many places! I think it's one of the easiest classics to relate to. While I found it to be difficult to understand Dickens sometimes, his wording and parallels stuck with me more than anything I've read. I became attached to this book, and the characters in it. It's an easy book to become attached to, which is probably why it's remained so popular.
I think it's extrememly interesting and rewarding to see these connections between the world of "then" and the modern world. One of my favorite books, Jane Eyre, is actually referenced in another book, Beastly.(Not a classic by any means but still interesting.)It kind of makes you wonder if they will still be referenced 70 odd years from now. I sure hope so.
I agree! And while I haven't noticed any Great Expectations references (yet), Shakespearean ones are all over the place. I think that the characters in Great Expectations are truely timeless- in the way that their mistakes, actions, and feelings will always be a part of human nature- and so they will always be relevant and relateable.
I noticed the same thing! I was watching P.S. I Love You also and caught the little Great Expecations refrence. Movies, books, and songs become alot more interesting when you actually get the joke or refrence. Probley also contributes to my nerdy sense of humor. :)
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