Pop References in the Classics Classroom
A Conversation Among the Eidolon Editors That Dates All of Us
Hey y’all! It’s me, Sarah (b. 1982, Managing Editor for Eidolon). I like to think I can be pretty hip in the classroom because I can relate classical material to pop culture. So like, for example, when describing Sappho’s performance context to students I like to say that her method of composing her own poems and then performing them while playing the lyre is not unlike going to a Jewel concert.
Donna (b. 1987, Editor-in-Chief): I remember Jewel! She was doing the blonde, country/pop singer/songwriter thing before Taylor Swift perfected the model.
Tori (b. 1992, Assistant Editor): Oh yeah, Jewel. She’s Canadian, right? She sings that song “Ironic.”
Yung In (b. 1992, Editor-at-Large): I’ve heard of Jewel but not her music. Isn’t she like a hippie or something?
Sarah: Ok, then. Should I just say Joan Baez instead, since she is more of a classic singer-songwriter?
Donna: I think you’re going in the wrong direction there.
Tori: I think I read about Joan Baez for a high school presentation I gave on Woodstock.
Yung In: I read in the Steve Jobs biography that he had a thing with this woman.
Sarah: So what I’m hearing is that Jewel works. And obviously today’s kids probably still read Harry Potter? Like, they all remember staying up til’ midnight for Book 7 and can sustain hours’ long conversations about the differences between the books and the movies? I mean, we have an entire special issue about HP with multiple pedagogy articles.
Donna: I refuse to believe that Harry Potter is old-school.
Tori: Of course. I stayed up until midnight for Books 5–7 and movies 4–7. I rewatched the first Harry Potter movie yesterday, in fact.
Yung In: Yes, in fact I always thought it was more of a my generation thing.
Sarah: Also the beacon scene in Agamemnon is just like literally what happens in Lord of the Rings and those movies were a cultural phenomenon; I feel like they just came out.
Donna: SUCH A GOOD COMPARISON. Hopefully the new Amazon version will retain this?
Tori: You mean like the giant eye? Saruman, right?
Yung In: My parents went to see the first movie without me because I was too young.
Sarah: And any mention of the second triumvirate requires an HBO’s Rome reference, and any discussion of Commodus means I should bring up Gladiator?
Donna: I’m the wrong person to talk to about this because one of my siblings was obsessed with Gladiator. Not saying which sibling.
Tori: ARE YOU NOT ENTERTAINED???
Yung In: I’ve watched both but I don’t know if I would have were I not a classicist.
Sarah: “We should totally stab Caesar!” RIGHT?!?
Donna: Brutus is just as cute as Caesar!
Tori: Four for you, Glen Coco!
Yung In: I can quote almost every line from this movie.
Sarah: “You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.”
Donna: Mandy Patinkin remains a treasure.
Tori: The Princess Bride, but I forget who said it, and the context.
Yung In: I do know The Princess Bride because I sometimes look up and watch vintage movies. And it stars young Claire Underwood!
Sarah: And if I’m teaching ancient medicine and we get to a part about dysentery (so, like, every other page) I can still quip “You have died of dysentery” and the students they will laugh so much in shared recognition of this reference.
Donna: Always caulk the wagon and float it across.
Tori: I know that this is from Oregon Trail, but I never got far enough to die of dysentery because I was too young to really understand how to play this game.
Yung In: Yes, we used to play The Oregon Trail all the time in the third grade.
Sarah: Wow, we are on a roll! Next you’ll affirm that “If you build it, they will come!” is still a good way to teach Future More Vivid clauses
Donna: I know this is from Field of Dreams but cannot support using this reference. Come on.
Tori: Is that from that movie about the guy who franchises McDonald’s?
Yung In: Is that from the bible?
Sarah: I can’t believe you don’t all get that reference. At least agree with me that “if I were a rich man. Dun-nuh-nuh-nah-nnh-nuh-nuh-nuh, Dun-nuh-nuh-nah-nnh-nuh-nuh-nuh” is like the only way to teach Future LESS Vivid you can’t take that one from me.
Donna: As a Jewish girl with a hardcore theater-geek sibling, I have a substantial part of the Fiddler on the Roof soundtrack memorized.
Tori: Gwen Stefani! It’s “If I was a rich girl,” though. And the grammar’s not right. Maybe not the best teaching example.
Yung In: Kanye?
Sarah: What about the fact that, when discussing generic multiplicity at the beginning of the Aeneid, I usually say “you got your peanut butter in my chocolate! You got your chocolate in my peanut butter!” That’s such a classic!
Donna: I assume this is a reference to something that I’m not getting. But it is indeed a good flavor combination?
Tori: Mmm chocolate and peanut butter.
Yung In: Huh?
Sarah: Oh no, this is bad. Surely I can still make a Monica Lewinsky joke when I talk about the stain on the Aphrodite of Knidos? Please tell me there’s still money in that banana stand.
Donna: I get this reference but I think the obscure details of that scandal are now being wiped from our collective memory by our current President’s near-daily scandals of the same magnitude.
Tori: I basically learned about Monica Lewinsky this past year thanks to #MeToo.
Yung In: Of course! The Lewinsky Scandal was an important part of ancient history.
Sarah: “What have the Romans ever done for us?”!?!
Donna: No.
Tori: Yeah I’ve got nothing.
Yung In: Those people who insist that ancient Greece was superior?
Sarah: Ugh. I thought I was so hip but I’m not. It’s just a little too ironic. It’s like RAAAAAAAAAIN —
Donna: My high school English teacher used this song to teach us about irony and explained that none of the examples in it are actually ironic.
Tori: OH! That’s Jewel, isn’t it???
Yung In: No idea what this is.
Bonus section: what film or TV show do you most associate each celebrity with?
Sigourney Weaver: Ghostbusters (S), Alien (D), “Um, being tall” (T), Avatar (Y)
Kevin Costner: Dances with Wolves (S), “I don’t know, he’s sad and old in every movie he’s in” (D), “I don’t know this person” (T), “Who?” (Y)
Bruce Willis: Friends (S), Die Hard (D), Demi Moore’s ex. (T), Die Hard (Y)
Reese Witherspoon: Pleasantville (S), Election (D), Legally Blonde (T), Legally Blonde (Y)
Eddie Murphy: Trading Places (S), Dreamgirls (D), Dr. Doolittle (T), Shrek (Y)
Bill Murray: Ghostbusters (S), Groundhog Day (D), Caddyshack (T), Lost in Translation (Y)
Charlie Sheen: The Three Musketeers (S), TIGER BLOOD (D), Terrible person (T), Two and a Half Men (Y)
Rob Lowe: honestly Parks and Rec (S), just, like, being comically handsome? (D), I don’t know anything he’s done, but I know what he looks like (T), The West Wing (Y)
Tom Cruise: Mission Impossible (S), Top Gun (D), jumping on Oprah’s couch (T), Jerry Maguire (Y)
Susan Sarandon: Rocky Horror (S), being a Bernie Sanders superfan (D), Stepmom (T), Bernie or Bust and Enchanted (Y)
Meryl Streep: The River Wild (S), The Devil Wears Prada (D), The Post (T), The Devil Wears Prada, plus whatever she’s Oscar nominated for every year (Y)
Kevin Bacon: also The River Wild (S), Mystic River (D), Tremors (T), Hollow Man (Y)
Tom Hanks: Apollo 13 (S), Forrest Gump (D), You’ve Got Mail. Also America’s sweetheart (T), Forrest Gump, followed closely by Toy Story (Y)
John Travolta: Look Who’s Talking (S), Pulp Fiction (D), Grease (T), Grease (Y)
Whoopi Goldberg: ST:TNG (S), UGH (D), The View? (T), Ghost (Y)
Natalie Portman: The Phantom Menace (S), Black Swan (D), shaved head (T), Harvard (Y)
Julia Louis Dreyfus: Seinfeld, obvs (S), Obvs (D), Obvs. (T), Um I hate to say it, but Veep (Y)
Drew Barrymore: Boys on the Side (S), Charlie’s Angels (D), Never Been Kissed (T), 50 First Dates (Y)
Christian Bale: Little Women (S), The Dark Knight (D), Batman (T), The Dark Knight (Y)
Ben Affleck: Armageddon (S), the lesser Batman movies (D), Argo (T), Gone Girl (Y)
Matt Damon: Good Will Hunting (S), Jason Bourne (D), Also Bourne (T), Bourne and having to be rescued all the time (Y)
Robin Williams: Aladdin (S), same (D), Patch Adams (T), Jumanji (Y)
Jennifer Lopez: Anaconda (S), just her music? (D), Jenny from the Block (T), I’m Real and that pink diamond engagement to Ben Affleck (Y)
Donna Zuckerberg is Editor-in-Chief of Eidolon. Every so often she reminds her husband that she was born after the releases of the first Transformers movie and Legend of Zelda game, just to make him feel sad.
Sarah Scullin is Managing Editor for Eidolon. She has never been hip.
Tori Lee is Assistant Editor at Eidolon. She wasn’t allowed to see Titanic when it came out, because she was five, but she still had a crush on Leonardo DiCaprio.
Yung In Chae is Editor-at-Large of Eidolon. When Nirvana released “Smells Like Teen Spirit,” she wasn’t even a fetus.
