this post was submitted on 17 Aug 2024
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The big ones that really cross at least a few age brackets, have wide general recognition and probably aren't going anywhere in the near future (I may take some liberties with what I consider to be a franchise) in no particular order-
Star wars
James Bond
Lord of the rings
Sherlock Holmes
Batman
Superman
Spiderman
Mission Impossible
Mario
Zelda
Pokemon
Indiana Jones
Back to the Future
The Karate Kid
A Nightmare on Elm Street
Friday the 13th
Child's Play
It
Rambo
Rocky
Jurassic Park
The Matrix
The Terminator
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
Transformers
The Simpsons
Barbie
GI Joe
He-Man/Masters of the universe
Mickey Mouse
Toy Story
Looney Tunes
King Kong
Godzilla
Planet of the Apes
Mad Max
The Muppets
The Godfather
Ghostbusters
Alien
Star Trek
Robocop
Frankenstein
Dracula
Tarzan
Conan the Barbarian
Jaws
Harry Potter
The Incredible Hulk
The Dollars Trilogy
Sesame Street
The Hannibal Lecter series
MASH
I think in general, most people have at least heard of these properties, would probably recognize at least a few of the main characters, objects, logos, memes, quotes, the theme song, etc. they've probably made some reference to them, and could give at least a vague explanation about what they're about or what the major themes are whether or not they've actually seen/read the source material
In general, I'm kind of counting a franchise as something that has had at least 3 major installments, iterations, episodes, series, remakes, reboots, etc. so a stand alone book, movie, etc. wouldn't count, nor would a book or movie and a sequel, a book and a movie adaptation, etc. A book, a movie adaptation, and a reboot movie would, a film trilogy would,a tv series would, a movie that's been rebooted/remade a couple times would.
Barbie feels like a weird one on this list to me, unlike GI Joe who's had pretty big movies and cartoons and such that make it pretty hard to argue that it's a franchise, most of Barbie's notoriety comes from the dolls themselves and I'd be kind of hesitant to label a line of toys as a franchise instead of a brand, sure there's been animated movies and video games and such, but none of them had really been particularly noteworthy. And I wouldn't feel quite right labeling, for example, Lego as a franchise despite having had pretty considerable success with movies and video games and such. But the character of Barbie, branding, marketing, etc. kind of puts her in the same league as Mickey mouse and I just felt like she belonged on the list.
Some of the classic characters - Frankenstein, Dracula, Sherlock Holmes, are arguably not really a franchise, there's not necessarily one company or person who owns their likeness and is marketing them, but they loom large enough in the public consciousness that I think they deserve to be mentioned in this list as well
I tried to keep this relatively universal, though I'm sure my biases as a cis straight white American millennial male showed through in places. There's a lot of franchises that form pillars of pop culture for specific demographics but not necessarily in general, and I tried to stay away from them, but a few of them just felt significant enough to me to warrant inclusion, in particular I kind of question how much general appeal He-Man has, for example, but I feel like if you say "He-Man" everyone has a mental image of the character seared into their brain (personally, I'm not sure I've ever even seen a whole episode of He-Man or really engaged with any masters of the universe media in general, but there he is in my brain and I don't really know how he got there)
As a 40+ year old white American, I agree with most of this list (I’d reduce “Hannibal Lecter series” down to just “Silence of the Lambs”), but if I were to ask my 6–12 year old kids about these, I feel like they wouldn’t know who 1/3rd of these are. I’d be curious to see if there was a common thread or set of threads between all of these that point to what traits our Western society value/avoid or what makes a successful franchise in the West.
I'm 17, and either dislike or don't know most of them. Here's my thoughts on most of them, if anybody's curious:
Star wars - don't like it
James Bond - never seen it
Lord of the rings - never seen ir
Sherlock Holmes - don't like it
Batman - hate it
Superman - never seen it
Spiderman - don't like it
Mission Impossible -never seen of it
Mario - played and enjoyed Mario kart, that's about it
Zelda - never seen it
Pokemon - never seen it
Indiana Jones - don't like it
Back to the Future - I saw it but don't really remember anything from it, mostly forgettable
The Karate Kid - I watched it when I was too young to care, but I think I'd like it if I watched it now
A Nightmare on Elm Street - liked it
Friday the 13th - I know it, but can't remember if I've seen it
Child's Play - watched one of them, got bored halfway through
It - liked it
Rambo - liked it
Rocky - never seen it
Jurassic Park - seen it, no strong feelings
The Matrix - got bored by the 30 minute mark and turned it off
The Terminator - never seen it
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - don't like it
Transformers - never seen (or played?) it
The Simpsons - seen most of it, love some of it
Barbie - heard the song, nothing more
GI Joe - not a clue who/what that is
He-Man/Masters of the universe - as above
Mickey Mouse - I sometimes watched Mickey mouse club house before school, but wasn't a huge fan
Toy Story - I watched (and liked) the first two
Looney Tunes - liked it
King Kong - I've heard of it but don't know if it's a toy or a tv show or what
Godzilla - I saw one of the sequels and enjoyed it
Planet of the Apes - never seen it
Mad Max - never seen it, but I live in Australia and like the outback, so this gets quoted at me at least monthly
The Muppets - I think the Muppets had a cameo in toy story or something, but I don't really know much about it
The Godfather - I really really tried to watch and enjoy this earlier this year. I turned my phone off so I wouldn't get distracted, I sat down, I ordered a pizza, I did my very best to watch and enjoy it, but I was so mind numbingly bored by the hour and a half mark that I gave up
Ghostbusters - I think I've seen bits and pieces
Alien - no, but I have seen ET
Star Trek - I don't know or care what the difference is between this and star war
Robocop - I watched one of them on late night tv a few years ago, when I was around half the age it was classified for. Barely remember it
Frankenstein - never seen (or read?) it
Dracula - never seen
Tarzan - never seen
Conan the Barbarian - never even heard of it
Jaws - I saw one
Harry Potter - hate it
The Incredible Hulk - hate ir
The Dollars Trilogy - not a clue who or what this is
Sesame Street - don't like it
The Hannibal Lecter series - don't know who or what this is
MASH - I'm pretty sure this was always on after the Simpsons finished at 7, and everybody loves Raymond was on before. I didn't like either of them. But then again, I was 5 or 6 and only interested in the Simpsons and nothing else, so I probably wasn't the target audience
Are you on rumspringa or do you guys have internet now?
I take it this is a reference to... Something, but I can't figure it out. What?
Rumspringa is a rite of passage for the Amish, I think they’re saying you’re disconnected from society, though that kind of gets at what I was saying about my kids. Younger generations are more connected now than any previous generation, but they just don’t care as much about what the older generations were into. While you’re aware of most of the big franchises through cultural osmosis, like what the original commenter was saying, it’s not a priority. For me and my generation that feels odd I think, at least growing up for me I went through a period of trying to get exposed to those big cultural landmarks, music, movies, tv, and books. I assumed those things must’ve gotten popular with the older cool kids for a reason, so I wanted to experience it for myself, if just to be able to understand the odd reference when it came up.
They probably haven't seen a lot of them and may not recognize the names off the top of their head, but I have a hunch that if/when they do see them, damn each and every one is going to give them a couple little aha moments where they recognize that something else they've seen has parodied or referenced these movies, or that it's where a meme comes from.
And I'd agree that Silence of the Lambs is probably the most important of the series by a longshot, but one book and a movie adaptation does not a franchise make in my mind and I think that Hannibal Lecter is a big enough character in the public mind (because the Silence of the Lambs movie) that the series as a whole kind of gets a pass
I'm of an age where I agree with almost everything on this list. I don't know that It deserves a place though, and despite extensive media consumption I've never heard of The Dollars Trilogy or Child's Play.
Child's play- Chucky the killer doll
Dollars Trilogy - A Fistfull of Dollars, For a Few Dollars More, and The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly. I did kind of waffle on this one a bit, but I ultimately decided to include it if for no other reason than because whether youve actually seen it or even realize it you probably have The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly's theme song seared into your head as pretty much the western movie song.
I don't know if they meet your criteria for a franchise, but any forum based website (including Reddit, Lemmy, etc) always ends up with at least 1 office, friends, or IT crowd reference somewhere in the thread. They're definitely essential pop culture pillars, even if they don't qualify as franchises
I've still never seen any of them though
I think by the definition I gave they'd qualify as a franchise, although for those 3 properties it kind of feels a little wrong to me and maybe I need to rethink my definition a little because they're kind of self-contained shows, they don't really branch out into anything larger than themselves.
Personally I think the IT crowds appeal is somewhat limited, at least in the US (it may have more widespread appeal in its native UK, I genuinely don't know,) to sort of the nerd/techy demographic. The lines certainly get blurry because nerdy types have a lot of influence on how memes spread, but I don't know that it has the same impact on pop culture in general as the other two.
I'm also not certain how much staying power friends has outside of the people who were watching it or at least remember it being on when it first aired. I'm not exactly plugged into what gen z and alpha are watching, but i don't think I hear it come up amongst them very often, and I'm not even sure younger millennials care for it all that much.
The office I think has probably cemented it's place in pop culture whether we consider it a franchise or not. Which is kind of a shame for me personally, because I could never get into it.
The IT Crowd is boosted by having a quote that's genuinely a best first-response to IT problems.