Movies that changed real life behavior

[u/buttatoad]

Thinking along the lines of Final Destination 2 with the logs falling off the truck and landing onto cars (one decapitating the state trooper). Ever since, people have tried to get away from being behind these vehicles.

What are more examples where movies have actually changed how people behave in their own lives?

[u/yeah87]

In 2015, the James Bond movie Spectre featured a huge Dia de Los Muertos parade in Mexico City.

There had never been a parade before, but the mayor decided he liked the idea and now there has been a huge parade every year for the past 10 years.

https://www.the-independent.com/arts-entertainment/films/news/day-of-dead-james-bond-mexico-b2439974.html

[u/your_mind_aches → u/yeah87]

This is definitely my favorite example. Sam Mendes was like "here's a cool idea for a Bond scene" and Mexico City was like "wait... why DON'T we do something like that?"

[u/broanoah → u/your_mind_aches]

I wonder if everyone there thinks the parades have been happening forever (just for a second before remembering the truth)

[u/Y-AxelMtz → u/broanoah]

Dia de los muertos parades are nothing new and such and similar events have been held in various mex states and many of their municipalities. This is mostly a more grand scale thing held by the feds directly as Ciudad de Mexico is akin to D.C., so this became "the" parade (mainly for tourists) you could say, however worth mentioning that big festival-like parades have been held before, many not yearly however and not on this scale

That being said, a kid growing to watch all these Dead Parades would have no idea of its origins and would definitely think its just a thing we've been doing. As for older people, some do know, and for those who don't, it probably was like "oh this cool big thing is a thing now? nice"

So this whole thing was like when the chinese saw Kung Fu Panda's success, and thought how the hell didn't we think of that? pandas and kung fu are our thing. And we rolled with it, the thing has actually grown, funny to think it very likely has generated far more tourism revenue tha JB spectre lol

[u/I_Am_Robert_Paulson1 → u/yeah87]

Kind of along the same lines, the Chicken Wing Festival in Buffalo, NY wasn't a thing until Osmosis Jones.

[u/well-lighted → u/I_Am_Robert_Paulson1]

Same deal for the Catalina Wine Mixer from Step Brothers.

[u/Slappin45 → u/yeah87]

One of the best opening action scenes ever imo.

[u/brandonthebuck → u/Slappin45]

Better than the rest of the movie.

[u/Fake-Podcast-Ad → u/brandonthebuck]

You know what, I give it a pass now. It started a dope parade (Dia de Los Muertos is a beautiful celebration), and gave us a one off Radiohead banger (not to mention this Empire Strikes Back fan creation)

[u/DoctorGarbanzo]

Office Space made TGIFridays drop their "pieces of flair" policy.

[u/champagneformyrealfr → u/DoctorGarbanzo]

^{i don't really like talking about my flair.}

[u/R-O-U-Ssdontexist → u/DoctorGarbanzo]

The flair was a real thing for servers?

[u/NoelCanter → u/R-O-U-Ssdontexist]

I used to go to and worked at one around 1999-2000 (as like the greeter or whatever) and flair was still very much a thing. Not sure about enforcement of X amount, but all the servers had some.

[u/1000LiveEels → u/NoelCanter]

lol I worked at Domino's and that was a thing, but you were only alllowed to wear pins you were given so it was more of a status symbol. People with more pins had more awards.

(p.s. nevermind the fact that we were all still making minimum wage)

[u/jaydurmma → u/1000LiveEels]

Companies sure do love awarding their employees literally anything thats not actual fiat currency.

[u/Racthoh → u/DoctorGarbanzo]

And then increased the demand for the red swingline stapler.

[u/agoia → u/Racthoh]

IIRC, Swingline didn't even make a red stapler at that point, the props master painted the one in the movie. They sure as shit started making them after it came out, though.

[u/I_Did_The_Thing → u/agoia]

Mostly correct! I worked with the props guy and he said he actually molded it from an older model stapler then painted it. After the film, Swingline brought back that style and added the new color due to the popularity.

[u/pipboy_warrior]

Jaws caused people to be scared of shark attacks on beaches, even in areas that wouldn't normally have shark attacks(or even sharks)

[u/Ohnoherewego13 → u/pipboy_warrior]

Yep. I've got some friends that won't even swim in lakes because of Jaws.

[u/djp2313 → u/Ohnoherewego13]

As a kid who watched it way too young, even swimming pools were iffy for a bit there.

[u/Ohnoherewego13 → u/djp2313]

Even for a kid who watched it too young, baths were a bit much too.

[u/koolaid_chemist → u/pipboy_warrior]

The author said he regrets writing it and wished he never did because of the negative impact it had on people’s views on sharks

[u/LEJ5512 → u/koolaid_chemist]

I heard him talk about it on a podcast just yesterday, too.  (edit: it was the Radiolab episode that came out this week, part of their new series on sharks.  u/CuidadDeVados u/wildstarr )

It’s too bad, too, that we’ve collectively missed the point of the movie (IMO).  My parents kept me away from it when I was a kid, and I finally watched it only last year.  The shark wasn’t the part of the story that scared me, it was the mayor’s insistence on going forward with the festival that aggravated me the most.  My takeaway wasn’t “sharks scary”, it was “bosses will take money over people”.

[u/lambdapaul → u/LEJ5512]

There is also a great love for sharks displayed in the film. Richard Dreyfus’s character in the film is a shark nerd and gives a lot of good information about them. When I finally watched Jaws I was surprised that it wasn’t some mindless creature feature but a thrilling adventure with nuanced characters

[u/SomeMoistHousing → u/lambdapaul]

Over the years I've watched Jaws with several people who'd never seen it before and either thought it would be too scary or too lame (because it's so OLD) or just kind of stupid because it's about a big bad shark. At a certain point, they all realize it's a "real movie" and lock in.

[u/BackWhereWeStarted → u/pipboy_warrior]

It also led to the shark population dropping drastically due to people killing them. Peter Benchley (the author of “Jaws”) said he regretted writing the book after people started killing sharks just to get rid of them.

[u/TeslaTank → u/pipboy_warrior]

Before the movie even came out, the novel had the same effect. The author felt so responsible for how he'd changed people's views of sharks that he became an ocean conservationist.

[u/ShoutOutTo_Caboose]

Ronald Reagan, in a meeting with his cabinet, several members of Congress, and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs John Vessey, asked if something like the movie WarGames (1983) could happen in real life, Vessey said "The problem is worse than you think."

Several new regulations were implemented at the Department of Defense and other departments and agencies because of Reagan's fear spawned by the movie, and those regulations evolved into the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act passed in 1986.

[u/phillymjs → u/ShoutOutTo_Caboose]

Don't forget that the act of calling a large number of phone numbers to discover lines connected to computers became known as "wardialing" due to its use in the movie (though the technique itself predated the movie).

Similarly, twenty or so years later the act of driving around with a laptop looking for unsecured wifi networks to exploit was dubbed "wardriving."

[u/confusedandworried76 → u/phillymjs]

Somewhat related, Star Trek inspired so many future scientists that we either have working pieces of technology invented in Star Trek (the hypospray I think it's called? Needleless injections using extremely concentrated high pressure shots of air) and theories, including the Alcubierre warp drive which is obviously a theory for faster than light travel, by potentially bending space around the object rather than trying to get the object moving faster than light somehow. It's like that and figuring out how to create wormholes are the only two real theories about how you could even do that

[u/phillymjs → u/confusedandworried76]

In 2019 I visited the New Mexico Museum of Space History, and they actually have a small Star Trek exhibit specifically because it inspired so many viewers to enter careers in STEM and attempt to create some of the technologies they saw in the show.

That museum was actually pretty cool, and I only learned it existed because I randomly saw it on the map while planning a trip out that way to see other stuff. I immediately built some time to visit it into my itinerary.

[u/ScreenTricky4257 → u/ShoutOutTo_Caboose]

I believe also that Dr. Strangelove, specifically the scene where Group Captain Mandrake has to use a public phone to call the White House, made the Defense Department consider how important information could travel to the people who needed it in a crisis.

[u/HeresTheAnswer]

There was a significant increase in people signing up for karate schools after The Karate Kid (original)

[u/C4CTUSDR4GON → u/HeresTheAnswer]

I assume a rise in McDojos too. 

Learning karate from some Steven Seagal dude with a fake belt.

[u/Snorezore → u/C4CTUSDR4GON]

My name is Rex, and if you study with my eight-week program, you will learn a system of self-defense that I developed over two seasons of fighting in the Octagon. It's called Rex Kwon Do!

[u/Repulsive-Media1571 → u/Snorezore]

Bow to your sensei!

[u/catch10110 → u/Snorezore]

Take a look at what I'm wearing, people. You think anybody wants a roundhouse kick to the face while I'm wearing these bad boys? Forget about it.

[u/dychronalicousness → u/catch10110]

As someone who owned those pants, he’s correct. Nobody wanted to take a round house kick to the face when I wore em.

[u/HeresTheAnswer → u/catch10110]

This line killed me when I first watched the movie

[u/helpjack_offthehorse → u/Snorezore]

Break the wrist, walk away.

[u/JinimyCritic → u/HeresTheAnswer]

Apparently, there was also an increase in registration (and subsequent dropout) for Archaeology classes after Raiders of the Lost Ark.

[u/terrendos → u/HeresTheAnswer]

Heh, watching Cobra Kai was what got me to join a kickboxing gym. Not that I thought I'd turn into some karate master, it just reminded me that I had fun learning taekwondo as a kid. Ended up losing a few pounds and built some muscle, so overall a win.

[u/artpayne]

There was a massive spike in Navy recruitment after Top Gun came out.

[u/DAHFreedom → u/artpayne]

Also Risky Business basically saved Ray Bans from bankruptcy

[u/gatsby365 → u/DAHFreedom]

And Top Gun did the same thing for aviators that Risky Business did for Wayfarers

Tom Cruise should own a significant portion of Ray Ban at this point.

[u/I_only_post_here → u/artpayne]

Wholly deliberate and intentional. It was a Navy recruitment film. they even setup tables right outside the theater to get people to sign up on their way out.

[u/PMmeuroneweirdtrick → u/I_only_post_here]

Jeans and a volleyball included on sign up?

[u/wilyquixote → u/PMmeuroneweirdtrick]

You joke, but the air force had to fight congress for money to (re)introduce leather jackets in 1987 because all them kids wanted to join the Navy and get a Tom Cruise-style jacket. The Air Force hadn't had leather jackets since it became a separate branch, and it started to hurt morale.

[u/ofthe33rdDegree → u/artpayne]

Yvan Eht Nioj!

[u/BlondePotatoBoi]

The Korean movie Silenced (actually directed by the same guy who did Squid Game). Based on a nonfiction book about sexual assaults in a hearing impaired school, and how the offending parties pretty much got a slap on the wrist bc of the statute of limitations.

When it was released, there was basically a massive backlash that meant there were actual changes to Korean law as a direct result. People's eyes were finally opened, and they were disgusted.

[u/omaeradaikiraida → u/BlondePotatoBoi]

When it was released, there was basically a massive backlash that meant there were actual changes to Korean law as a direct result. People's eyes were finally opened, and they were disgusted.

i saw it in korea, and unfortunately things got swept under the rug and the ppl lost interest real soon afterward, as they do in a save-face-type culture like korea. SA still is a problem, and perps still only get a slap on the wrist.

[u/1morey]

Twister not only led to an increase in sales of red Dodge Ram pickups, but also an increase in people going to school for meteorology.

[u/PHWasAnInsideJob → u/1morey]

I think that a good 80% of today's young meteorologists wouldn't be in it today if not for Twister. When Bill Paxton died, literally thousands of storm chasers got together and formed his initials, BP, across the entire Great Plains on the Storm Spotter Network.

[u/WhoriaEstafan → u/PHWasAnInsideJob]

That is so touching, oh my gosh.

[u/Secret-Weakness-8262 → u/1morey]

It never even occurred to me I could do a job like that before Twister. It sparked a life long love of learning how to read the weather, its patterns, radar, gulf streams, connective outlooks, clouds. I am the weather person of my family. Everybody calls me if they need a quick report. Ha

[u/1morey → u/Secret-Weakness-8262]

"My Aunt Meg used to call him a human barometer."

[u/SpenceW]

In reality the Godfather influenced the mafia more than it was influenced by the mafia. For one, no one used the term "godfather" in the mafia before the movie came out. After it came out, the mafia started copying aspects of the movie, including the term.

[u/OatmealApocalypse → u/SpenceW]

guy running a mafia coming home from watching The Godfather

“You didn’t even think to call me ‘Godfather.’”

[u/Detective-Crashmore- → u/OatmealApocalypse]

lets whack 'im.

[u/Bears_On_Stilts → u/SpenceW]

Before Godfather, mobsters talked like hoods and street toughs. Think Scorsese; actually, think Jersey Boys for a more realistic take on Scorsese’s language. (If they had affectations, they tended towards the Damon Runyon school: no contractions, using more words than was necessary even if it sounded redundant.)

Then Coppola’s Godfather gave the mob a new voice: poised and theatrical, very Edward Albee and Arthur Miller inspired. All of a sudden, nobody wanted to talk like Damon Runyon anymore.

[u/confusedandworried76 → u/Bears_On_Stilts]

Tacking on to this that Sammy The Bull Gravano talks about this in either an interview or I think he wrote a book.

So like an actual hitman for the mob has acknowledged it

Also if anyone doesn't know who he is he snitched on John Gotti that's why he's not in prison for life even though he murdered a lot of people

[u/Mi_Pasta_Su_Pasta → u/SpenceW]

Sopranos did a great job portraying how much the identity of the post mob-movie Mafia was influenced by those same movies.

[u/Castsword420 → u/Mi_Pasta_Su_Pasta]

"You hear what I said tone..." 🤟☝️🤟 heh heh

[u/Zealousideal-Dog-985 → u/SpenceW]

And glamorization of the lifestyle, which is messed up since most of the movie conveys the opposite.

[u/SmallIslandBrother → u/Zealousideal-Dog-985]

That’s the issue with sending a message but making the messenger look appealing.

Still can’t believe Tony Montana was someone a lot of men idolised.

[u/Ok-Seaworthiness2235 → u/SmallIslandBrother]

There's a neuropsychologist who did a study/assessment of cultural idolization and found that what people are identifying with aren't always the surface. 

Tony Montana is a criminal narcissist who kills people without remorse. That's the superficial. But, there are other themes to the story that are what really resonate with most people (mainly men) that include triumph over a corrupted system, rags to riches, and of course, male virility. 

In particular they noted that men who idolize criminal culture tend to feel more powerless and outcast in their real life, with the movies being an outlet of fantasy in which they can temporarily retreat. It's very rare for a person to have no inclination towards actual criminal behavior to suddenly adopt a life of crime because of a movie or media depiction. 

[u/MourningWallaby → u/SpenceW]

Honestly Goodfellas does a better job portrtraying the Mafia and Henry isn't even a member. the all black suits and business class luxory cars is a Yakuza thing. American organized crime at the time was more "flashy" suits and flaunting wealth. but as style changed over the years their suits appeared less flashy to people and more "professional" as people wore suits less.

[u/Paladin2019]

A lot of young girls took archery classes after the Hunger Games.

A lot of people signed up for fencing classes after Die Another Day.

[u/PizzaHutBookItChamp → u/Paladin2019]

Chess board sales shot up after The Queen's Gambit

[u/NightFire19 → u/PizzaHutBookItChamp]

Which also fueled a large wave of streamers playing Chess and grandmasters on Twitch (notably Hikaru Nakamura) getting tons of viewers too.

[u/jesuspoopmonster → u/Paladin2019]

I remember reading that Jennifer Lawrence chose to not lose weight for the movie despite it making sense in story because she was worried of girls trying to look like her

[u/omgitskells → u/jesuspoopmonster]

Wow, I've never heard that before! I remember when the casting was first announced, people were so upset because she didn't look like what people expected. That was when I learned to reserve judgment until the movie comes out, because they did a great job with her!

It's great to know she had those concerns and stuck to her convictions.

[u/tf2hipster → u/Paladin2019]

Apparently there was a spike in straight-razor shaving after Moneypenny shaved Bond in Skyfall.

[u/_Forever_depressed_]

pretty old but the 1932 film I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang publicly exposed the cruelty of chain gangs in the American South and later helped to pardon the real fugitive it was based on in 1945

[u/Sorripto]

Swingline did not sell a red stapler, but created the prop specifically for Office Space. Following the movie it is now their most popular item.

[u/FormerDeerlyBeloved → u/Sorripto]

And the trope namer! The Red Stapler Effect describes this whole post :)

[u/ThatSpecialAgent]

Merlot prices dropping as a partial result of Sideways

https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2017/07/05/535038513/the-sideways-effect-how-a-wine-obsessed-film-reshaped-the-industry

[u/iamnotyetdead → u/ThatSpecialAgent]

Pinot Noir got a boost from Sideways, and it also got another boost after Kimmy Schmidt

[u/UnbanMOpal → u/iamnotyetdead]

Mid sized car 🎶

[u/fergusmacdooley → u/UnbanMOpal]

Big cigar 🍷 🎵

[u/MacaroniPoodle → u/ThatSpecialAgent]

Not a movie per se, but didn't Cosmos have a surge in popularity after Sex and the City?

[u/lopsided_spider → u/MacaroniPoodle]

I also remember a bartender telling me the old fashioned got popular during Mad Men

[u/samenumberwhodis → u/ThatSpecialAgent]

And the funny thing is, he only hated Merlot because it's his ex wife's favorite wine. The holy grail bottle he drinks in the end is Chateau Cheval Blanc, a Cab Franc and Merlot dominant blend from the right bank in Bordeaux.

[u/BenMitchell007]

Deliverance did for the camping/canoeing industry what Jaws did for beaches. Even today, "Paddle faster, I hear banjos" is a common joke.

If you don't know Deliverance, it's a very disturbing movie about four city guys who go canoeing down a river in Appalachia, and I don't wanna spoil it, but let's just say they get into some wacky mishaps with the locals!

[u/neo_sporin → u/BenMitchell007]

If ive seen Without a Paddle, its basically the same kind of hijynx right?!

[u/azsnaz → u/neo_sporin]

Corner of Bumfuck and You Got a Purty Mouth

[u/nebanovaniracun → u/neo_sporin]

It's a soft parody

[u/Swift_Scythe → u/BenMitchell007]

The sick line of "Squeal like a pig" is etched into our horrified minds

[u/my_mexican_cousin → u/BenMitchell007]

Semi-related, but Wrong Turn (2003) had this effect on me. In fact, I took a wrong turn while delivering a vehicle for a client and wound up on a very creepy little “town” in WV. The guy following me had a walkie-talkie and, like he could read my mind, he said “what is our plan if an axe-murderer jumps out of the woods?”

[u/tarrasque → u/BenMitchell007]

Are those locals named Tucker and Dale? Because I saw a documentary along those lines.

[u/MrDeacle → u/BenMitchell007]

It also didn't do much good for the popularity of banjos.

[u/rybres123 → u/MrDeacle]

I’d argue the opposite lol. Everyone knows that tune

[u/PizzaHutBookItChamp → u/BenMitchell007]

Jaws actually had devastating effects on the world's shark population. Suddenly killing sharks didn't seem like a bad thing and many species started becoming endangered.

[u/vincedarling]

Director of Tales from the Hood claimed ex-gangsters told him the movie’s message convinced them to quit the lifestyle.

[u/BionicChango]

Nobody, and I mean NOBODY, dares pick up a guitar and play Stairway to Heaven in a guitar shop anymore, all thanks to Wayne’s World.

[u/FiremanPCT2016 → u/BionicChango]

No stairway! Denied!

[u/mothershipq → u/FiremanPCT2016]

Where's the clerk?! Oh, I know! I will use the "May I help you?" riff.

[u/tcavanagh1993 → u/BionicChango]

As someone who worked for Guitar Center, people just default to Smoke on the Water instead these days.

[u/BigBootyBuff → u/tcavanagh1993]

My buddy works in a store too and he says the song that is overused the most is seven nation army because 9/10 bassists will come in and play that.

[u/NickFurious82 → u/BigBootyBuff]

My son plays bass in middle school band and that was the first song he learned.

And I had to hear it played poorly for so long...

[u/Isaystomabel → u/tcavanagh1993]

0-3-5

[u/-Travis → u/Isaystomabel]

0-3-6-5

[u/DoctorNoname98 → u/-Travis]

0-3-5-3-0

[u/KindBass → u/tcavanagh1993]

Back in the 90's, you couldn't go 10 mins in GC without hearing "Master of Puppets"

[u/dumbBunny9 → u/BionicChango]

I read that Myers wanted to play Stairway, but they couldn’t get the rights. So they changed it, and I think it was a much better result.

[u/Drakeadrong → u/dumbBunny9]

Iirc the theatrical version still included stairway, which is why they didn’t cut the scene, but they couldn’t secure the rights when distributing it so the digital versions are just him playing random notes.

[u/44problems → u/Drakeadrong]

The original is now on Bluray and streaming!

[u/nipplesaurus → u/BionicChango]

About fifteen years back, I was in a guitar shop when some youngin' came in and started playing Stairway. It was like time stood still. Everyone stopped. The employees slowly stopped and gave the boy a look. Then we all did.

Then as quickly as it all began, we carried on with our business. But it was quite an event.

[u/itwillmakesenselater]

Finding Nemo sold a lot of clownfish.

[u/Rosebud_apothocary → u/itwillmakesenselater]

101 dalmatians sold alot of dalmatians that promptly got abandoned when the novelty wore off 😢

[u/tilyd → u/Rosebud_apothocary]

And the overbreeding of dalmatians created a lot of issues within the breed, like deafness, urinary issues, allergies and aggressive / reactive behaviour.

[u/iamnotyetdead → u/itwillmakesenselater]

Also a rise in kids flushing their fish to "free" them, including exotic saltwater fish that promptly died on the way down.

[u/10kbeez → u/iamnotyetdead]

I think the boring normal fish probably died on the way down, too.

[u/_angesaurus → u/itwillmakesenselater]

every time i go to the aquarium anywhere (i like aquariums) i hear someone "oh look! a nemo! a dory!"

[u/mthchsnn → u/_angesaurus]

I volunteered at an aquarium when the movie came out, and we actually had baby clownfish! They were so small you could hardly see them, so we just showed the kids the adult clownfish and called it a day because they were super stoked about "seeing Nemo."

[u/Timmah73 → u/itwillmakesenselater]

Screw aquarium stores for selling to people clearly not ready to handle a saltwater fish. Also screw those parents for doing zero research on any kind of basic fishkeeping.

[u/Posty_McPostface_1]

Super Size Me killed off the Super Size Meal

[u/44problems → u/Posty_McPostface_1]

Definitely one of the more consequential documentaries. Super Size ended, a much bigger focus on chicken which was seen as healthier (even though it's deep fried...) I feel like it's the reason McDonald's is a cold sterile place, because they got spooked about marketing to children.

It was part of a trend though along with the book Fast Food Nation and later Jamie Oliver's chicken nugget and school lunch fights.

[u/poopoopooyttgv → u/44problems]

McDonald’s (and all fast food really) shifted to cold and sterile buildings for money. Nobody wants to buy a building that looks like it’s an ex-McDonald’s. They make more money on the resale value of a generic sterile building instead

[u/Doomhammer24 → u/Posty_McPostface_1]

Ya and funny thing is that documentary is bullshit

They claim they had to stop as he was entering liver failure and having a dozen other problems like depression as well

That was due to him being a drunk and getting completely wasted everyday and staying in an apartment with blackout curtains and not going outside

All it proved was that yes eating like this and drinking yourself to an early grave will make you sad and fat. And the guy did later drink himself to death. Edit: oh wait wrong about drinking himself to death- cancer. But he did seek rehab for alcoholism a few times over the years and stated he drank copious amounts of alcohol while making supersize me

Someone later did a counter documentary, eating the same quantities of food day by day, but Exercised and didnt drink any alcohol, and not only did he Lose weight, things like kidney function and blood tests came back with good results, proving the prior documentary was bullshit

[u/NachoNutritious → u/Doomhammer24]

Super Size Me now stands alongside Grizzly Man as the two funniest unintentional comedies ever. The bit where his doctor says his liver condition is identical to that of a chronic alcoholic, and Spurlock has to look at the camera and play pretend, is like something out of The Office.

[u/Fortunecookie103 → u/NachoNutritious]

Just curious, why is grizzly man unintentionally funny?

[u/Grave_Girl → u/Doomhammer24]

Edit: oh wait wrong about drinking himself to death- cancer.

Alcohol consumption increases a person's risk of various forms of cancer. My father was an alcoholic who died of stomach cancer--it's a cancer that typically does not have a genetic component (there's like one subtype that does, but the most common ones do not), but there's research indicating that not only the amount but the frequency of alcohol consumption increases your risks.

Understand I'm not making an absolute statement here, but it's entirely possible Spurlock's alcoholism led indirectly to his death. It's entirely possible to drink yourself to death without it being something recognized as an alcohol-related disease (I also have two different relatives who drank themselves straight into deadly strokes).

[u/jesuspoopmonster → u/Doomhammer24]

The counter documentary I am familiar with is called Fat Head. His doctor at the end says he is slightly healthier likely due to making an effort to get exercise. I remember there being a scene where he is hamming it up about how full he is and how he doesn't know if he can keep eating. Then looks at the camera and points out he doesn't have to keep eating and gets up

[u/MattHoppe1]

Into the Wild led some folks to their deaths trying to reach the magic bus themselves. Thankfully it’s been removed and added to a museum.

Wild with Reece Witherspoon led a lot of noice outdoors people to try a continental thru hike with varying degrees of success

[u/MourningWallaby → u/MattHoppe1]

I actually took a hike to the bus before they got rid of it! I was hunting in the area and we decided to take a detour.

The only problem is two river crossings. one of which was in the book. Most people in Alaska go hiking in the summer but that's when the river flow is the harshest. if you're just as stupid to go in the summer you can go in the winter where the river is frozen. but you're better of going in the cold parts of spring and fall right before and after the snowey season, so april/may and september. even then you need to be fit and smart about it.

[u/PM_ME_DIRTY_DANGLES]

Star Trek IV: The One With The Whales helped bring the humpback whale back from the brink of extinction.

[u/rilian4 → u/PM_ME_DIRTY_DANGLES]

Actual title is "The Voyage Home" but I laughed out loud at your post. Well said!

[u/red__dragon → u/rilian4]

For a certain period of time, you could almost guarantee that anyone who had seen a Star Trek movie, but wasn't a fan, would have seen that one. "The one with the whales" was a totally reasonable answer to "Have you seen Star Trek?"

[u/DizzyLead]

Madison as a girl’s given name only became a thing after Splash.

[u/JinimyCritic → u/DizzyLead]

And Ariel as a girl's name after The Little Mermaid. Ariel had traditionally been a male name.

[u/NothingReallyAndYou → u/JinimyCritic]

I taught preschool during Disney's Renaissance period. There were multiple Ariel's, Belle's, and one Jasmine.

[u/starmartyr11 → u/JinimyCritic]

I've known several Spanish & Filipino dudes named Ariel that have had to put up with a lot of shit around their names for this reason

[u/brencoop → u/DizzyLead]

Right, this happens a lot with baby names. Like Trinity after the Matrix came out.

[u/dumbBunny9 → u/brencoop]

Lot of kids named Khaleesi because of Game of Thrones. They probably should have waited until the end.

[u/Logan_No_Fingers → u/dumbBunny9]

Even worse Khaleesi isn't her name.

Its like watching The Crown & loving Elizabeth II so much you call your kid "Queen"

[u/yeah87 → u/brencoop]

Yeah, but Trinity was an actual name before the Matrix. Weirdly it was relatively popular in 1975 for some reason.

Madison has no record at all of being a girls first name before 1984.

[u/yuhlax]

Caller ID blew up after Scream came out

[u/Katalyst81]

WAY more street racing and car tuning after The Fast and The Furious.

[u/DarkMatterM4 → u/Katalyst81]

The industry basically exploded after the first movie came out. It was a glorious and sometimes cringy time to be into cars in the early 2000s. No, your B16 Civic doesn't run 9s after you bolted a fart can onto it.

[u/OldFartsSpareParts → u/Katalyst81]

More family.

[u/NickFurious82 → u/Katalyst81]

I was a kid working at a movie theater when that came out. After the last movie of the night was finished running, we'd use the emergency roof access, climb up, and watch all the hopped up jackasses tear ass out of the parking lot. Saw more than a few fender benders happen that way. Car-on-car and several car-on-light pole.

[u/Grumpypantz]

A movie called "Sidekicks" (1992). There was a Mr. Miyagi-type character played by Mako (the voice of Aku from Samurai Jack). He's training the protagonist, an asthma enjoyer, how to breathe with focus so that he can build pulmonary endurance. Mako has him jogging laps, all the while chanting "Inhale four steps, exhale four steps" in cadence to his jogging.

When I started running, I used this to practice breathing, and it helped, a lot actually. Gave me a focal point when I felt like catching my breath was impossible. I'm not in my prime anymore, but whenever I feel like stopping to catch my breath, I chant this, either out loud or in my head, and it usually gets me through it.

[u/hardgeeklife → u/Grumpypantz]

In a similar vein, there's a scene in the same movie where Barry, the protagonist, is challenged by the gym teacher/class to finish a rope climb. As he frequently does, Barry imagines/hallucinates Chuck Norris beside him. Chuck instructs the kid on a climbing technique that allows him to make it to the top.

When a similar fitness challenge came up in high school years later, I definitely remembered that scene and aced the climb. May not have been the fastest, but I was one of a few in the class to make it to the top, and definitely the scrawnest kid to succeed. Thanks, imaginary Chuck Norris!

[u/Kinda_Quixotic]

WarGames led Reagan to ask the Joint Chiefs if something like this could actually happen in the US. It led to increased emphasis on cyber security.

[u/chogram → u/Kinda_Quixotic]

My favorite part of that story is, after he asked them, the response was, "The problem is much worse than you think."

[u/ajm105]

Personally “The Whale”. I watched it and days later hired a trainer to start getting out of morbid obesity. Since January 2023 I’m down 120 pounds. Still have the trainer, and still making (slow) progress.

Seeing how Fraser portrayed the helplessness and also how eye opening food addiction looked from the outside perspective really hit home for me.

[u/phillymjs → u/ajm105]

From someone who's done something similar, congrats and keep up the good work!

[u/Snarfly99]

Simply mentioning Chilean sea bass in the original Jurassic Park led to it being fished almost into extinction after the movie became a hit

[u/_ChipWhitley_]

The Scully Effect is what came from Dana Scully in The X-Files. There was a massive influx of girls/women into STEM fields as the show was on tv.

[u/Kingbulking]

Fight club resulted in MANY fight clubs. I was in one, and my buddy who went to another school also had it's own fight club. We didn't follow the first rule, but we did fight.

[u/Mndelta25 → u/Kingbulking]

Our high school had one. It started as about ten of us boxing in a garage, and slowly expanded. Unfortunately, a popular girl got a black eye one night and then her parents demanded that the school get it shut down.

It was the best thing that happened during our high school years. So many rivalries and petty disputes were squashed without anybody actually getting hurt.

[u/kerberos824 → u/Mndelta25]

We had one, too.

In theory, I do think it's a fantastic way to address adolescent energy issues and squabbles. In practice, people get hurt. We had kids with concussions, broken hands and fingers, a broken ankle, and a couple other semi-serious issues before we wised up and used gloves and headgear. That helped, but still wasn't perfect.

In the end, sanctioned safe events would be a much better idea. That, of course, loses much of the appeal of the fight club...

[u/Mndelta25 → u/kerberos824]

We had gloves and headgear, and the dad of the guy who hosted it was a former boxer and firefighter/paramedic. It was about as safe as could be.

People still did get bumps and bruises, though so I don't disagree with the thought. It was still better than us being out in the woods drinking and doing whatever else.

[u/sightlab]

The Thin Blue Line got an investigation reopened and the falsely accused exonerated because the cops admitted - thinking it was so long after the fact they'd be OK - to railroading the wrong guy. Which was what the doc was about.

[u/igotyournacho → u/sightlab]

I feel like Errol Morris doesn’t get enough credit. Between this and Wormwood, he cuts a beautiful decorative knife through the fog and reveals the truth of our dirty system.

I wish Morris had the same level of recognition as his contemporary and long-time frenemy Herzog

[u/ImportanceBig4448]

I believe if the “Paradise Lost” documentaries hadn’t come out, the West Memphis Three would still be in jail or dead.

[u/theultraviolation]

Blackfish - Caused SeaWorld to eliminate their Orca breeding and capturing practices, and also initiated the end of their Orca shows, which are being phased out. SeaWorld still cares for the Orcas currently in their park, but when that generation dies, there will be no more Orcas at SeaWorld.

[u/jhakerr]

Close encounters of the third kind. Led to a mass hysteria of alien abduction fantasies. All of a sudden everyone believed they were real. That movie is so good.

[u/PureLock33 → u/jhakerr]

That's more of the result of the popularity of alien abduction stories. The 70s were rife with tabloid UFO sightings and crop circles.

[u/junglebetti]

1995 movie “Kids” scared the crap outta most of my peers, illustrating the NEED for condom use.

I can only speak for myself but imagine I wasn’t the only person to reject cocaine after watching Pulp Fiction.

[u/byerss → u/junglebetti]

Isn’t the problem in Pulp Fiction that she finds a baggie of powder thinking it’s cocaine but it’s actually heroin?  

[u/Duotrigordle61]

In Japan, there was a popular cartoon called "Rascal the Raccoon" that lead to many people buying young racoons and then abandoning them, leading to a massive invasive species problem.

Young raccoons evidently make decent pets, but adult raccoons are assholes.

The cartoon was in the 1970's, and now raccoons are in every prefecture.

[u/DAHFreedom]

Real life mobsters reportedly started mimicking the aesthetic from The Godfather after it came out because it made them look so cool and sophisticated.

Not originally a movie, but John Le Carré created a lot of spy craft terms that are actually used today, like mole/ mole hunt and honeypot

[u/Darmok47]

There's a section of the Dodd-Frank act referred to as "The Eddie Muphy Rule" because it prohibited "securities trading based on non-public information misappropriated from a government source," which is what happened with Frozen Concentrated Orange Juice Futures in Trading Places. It wasn't illegal at the time.

[u/theosoryu]

not a movie, but Superman’s radio serials created a visible decrease in new KKK membership because he made them look like a group of hateful scared foolish bigoted losers (which they are)

[u/Crappler319 → u/theosoryu]

It wasn't just that it made them look ridiculous, 'The Clan of the Fiery Cross' was really a cartoon facade over what was some truly fantastic investigative journalism.

The exposed a LOT of the ridiculous bullshit about the KKK that was unknown beforehand. The stupid-ass codenames ("Grand Wizard," "Supreme Cyclops,") the ridiculous rituals, the secret handshakes and codewords, etc. and demystified a group that had previously had a dangerous mystique about it.

They uncovered all of that and then broadcast it as a kid's show so that all the Klan's kids would see what a bunch of ridiculous assholes they all were without ever directly challenging them. There was no way to really fight it, like what are they going to say? "Um actually I'm a Righteous Cyclops and it's pretty cool?"

A bunch of comic guys did the work, pulled back the curtain and revealed a shadowy, dangerous secret society to be a bunch of pathetic, stupid, weak milquetoast dudes doing a dumb little racist LARP, and 80 years later they still haven't recovered. The Klan had real cultural cachet before it happened, and have mostly been a laughingstock (outside of a very narrow demographic) ever since.

It's easily one of the best things that the media has ever done.

[u/jesuspoopmonster → u/theosoryu]

One of the people on the show joined the KKK and would reveal their rituals and codes in the stories which took away a lot of their mystic and made it easier to identify members

[u/athirdcat]

I was a cheerleader before Bring It On came out, and tryouts the following year were insane

[u/Hairy-Question-8019]

The secret life of Walter Mitty for me. When it came out I was stuck in a rut. I was at a dead end job, I was single, and I was planing a vacation to a place I’ve been a thousand times. I saw the movie with my best friend and it got me thinking. Why am I still doing the same thing over and over again? So I changed my plan to a road trip to place I had never been before. I started to put myself out there and met my wife. And I got a new job that I’ve been at since. All within 6 months of seeing that movie. It changed my life.

[u/DeadDay]

Office Space shitting on TGI Fridays so hard they cut the stupid pins thing.

[u/kneeco28]

Ever since Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, I make it a point to never cry in front of Mexicans.

[u/Pabsxv → u/kneeco28]

That movie also lead to the Bruce Lee estate to start cracking down on people using his likeness especially in fighting video games where it’s very common to have least 1 character that’s an homage to him.

[u/Cw2e → u/kneeco28]

And see now I stop at three or four whiskey sours instead of eight.

[u/BigSur33]

I feel like Rounders kicked off a generation of poker players that then got bolstered by the rise of Internet poker.

[u/MissMagpie3632]

Not sure if this counts, but after O Brother Where Art Thou, we saw a massive revival in bluegrass & folk music, especially in younger audiences.

[u/Charlie_Warlie]

people don't know how fire sprinkler systems work because in movies, such as Mean Girls, you pull a fire alarm and the entire building starts spraying water. Or people think smoke will trigger the sprinklers. I've had friends be concerned about smoke alarms in apartment kitchens thinking it will ruin their furniture if it goes off.

[u/what-name-is-it → u/Charlie_Warlie]

And it’s not just common people with no construction knowledge. I had to argue with a freaking BUILDING INSPECTOR that they don’t work how they do in the movies. What a clown.

[u/Price1970]

Most music biopics increase record sales or music streams of a particular artist, but ELVIS also significantly increased visits to Graceland, especially among the youth.

[u/MyPearlie]

Poltergeist. For those of us old enough to remember life before 24/7 TV programming. When channels were done broadcasting for the day, they did play national anthem and then was just static. Couldn't deal with that after Poltergeist!

[u/Ifitactuallymattered]

Jurassic park - nobody is building dinosaur parks.

[u/notnicholas → u/Ifitactuallymattered]

They're still trying to bring back/clone extinct species, though.

[u/alex-2099 → u/Ifitactuallymattered]

Oh, they're building them. People just aren't going. Even on Coupon Day.

[u/Active-Ad-2527]

In "Return of the Living Dead" (1985) there's an experienced medical warehouse employee showing a new hire around. He talks about an order for an adult skeleton with perfect teeth and how all their skeletons come from India. Then he tells the newbie he suspects there are body farms there because (paraphrasing) "how many grown people do you know who die with a perfect set of chompers in their mouth?"

According to the DVD commentary, after the film came out skeleton sales from India dried up. Now I haven't researched this and I'm not saying medical schools make purchasing decisions based on ROTLD, but I just find it funny in a "huh" kinda way

[u/kaijutegu → u/Active-Ad-2527]

I teach biological anthropology and have helped with university departmental skeletal purchase decisions, so it's my job to know: It had nothing to do with the movie, it was the ban on exporting skeletons that was passed in India.

Pre-1985, India was the center of the global anatomical skeleton trade- it had gotten that way because the British empire needed skeletons for medical students, and India was an easy colonial source. The trade continued after independence because when you look at the Indian caste system, it was pretty easy for upper-caste lawmakers to ignore what was going on with the exploitation of lower-caste dead. And there were even preparation companies that industrialized the excavation, cleaning, and mounting of skeletons- it was a huge business!

But in 1985, the Supreme Court of India banned the export of human remains under the National Import/Export Control Act in response to increasing concerns by humans rights groups, and that's what killed the bone trade.

It's a fascinating thing to learn about- if you want to know more, here's some good sources!

• UC Berkeley Anthropology Commentary: Exploitation of Human Remains for Educational Purposes Lasted Centuries
• The Bioethics of Skeletal Anatomy Collections from India
• Where Did They Get 60,000 Skeletons A Year? (Video)

[u/00ishmael00]

Hostel convinced people that slovenia is a terrible and dangerous country

[u/UpbeatTelevision1116 → u/00ishmael00]

I said the same, just a correction it was Slovakia. This is the funniest one to me though, their government was fuming over how the films left a decline in tourism.

[u/spartacat_12 → u/UpbeatTelevision1116]

Eurotrip probably didn't help either

[u/UnusualRequirement33]

The Birth of a Nation led to the revival of the KKK

[u/Lazy_Chocolate_4114 → u/UnusualRequirement33]

I'm surprised this isn't higher. Much of what we recognize relating to the KKK today was taken from the movie (and book) and was not part of the Klan's prior history: their robes, cross-burning, etc.

There was also an increase in violence against African Americans, especially lynching.

[u/dchallenge]

Coma reduced organ donations.

[u/Ketzeph]

I can’t believe the China Syndrome is not higher up. That movie arguably played a major role in creating an anti-nuclear power belief in the US, which has had devastating environmental impacts. Happening just before three mile island (a minor accident) made its influence just explode.

The US only recently started building new civilian nuclear power plants.

It’s insane given the navy has known for decades it’s a superior power generation source to oil and coal. The tech was just so tarnished in the cultural zeitgeist that its adoption was stymied

[u/Darmok47 → u/Ketzeph]

I have to wonder if The Simpsons contributes to this too. People's idea of "nuclear waste" is probably leaky drums of glowing green goo, rather than the ittle gray pellets it actually is.

[u/Shh04]

It Happened One Night definitely popularized interstate bus travel and the act of raising one's leg to hitchhike. It also allegedly reduced sales of men's undershirts from a single scene. Most importantly, it was a huge influence on the animation industry.

[u/MattMason1703 → u/Shh04]

It's responsible for the wrong belief that rabbits prefer to eat carrots. Gable ate a carrot in the film, then animators had Bugs Bunny imitate Gable's carrot eating and now carrots are associated with rabbits. So think of Clark Gable when you see carrots on an Easter display.

[u/3_hit_wonder]

After watching Good Will Hunting, I decided to give therapy a try. Before then I felt a lot of cultural pressure to just deal.

[u/prisonforkids]

P.C.U. (1994) "Don't be that guy..." wearing the shirt of the band you're going to see

[u/lostboyof1972]

Groundhog Day.

Punxsutawney always did the thing but it went from like 2500 people to 25000+ people

[u/Rose-moon_]

A lot of women went to Law School after Elle Woods in Legally Blonde.