Culture & entertainment
Discover facts about culture & entertainment. Small discoveries that change the way you see familiar things.
Culture & entertainment
How Jaws emptied beaches in 1975
Because why swim in the ocean when a mechanical rubber fish can convince you death is imminent? Steven Spielberg's thriller caused an actual, measurable drop…
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The cinema sitting 4,000 meters above sea level
Sitting comfortably at an absurd 4,000 meters above sea level, a cinema in Tibet holds the world record. If the plot of the film doesn't leave you completely…
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Why Ireland banned Monty Python's Life of Brian
Blasphemy laws are the enemy of good satire. A famous British comedy troupe's film about a reluctant messiah named Brian infuriated religious boards so deeply…
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The Karate Kid sparked a dojo boom
In the 1980s, every kid suddenly believed they could win a tournament by aggressively waxing a car. The film caused martial arts enrollments to multiply…
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How The Hunger Games sparked an archery boom
Forget firearms; dystopian teenage rebellion required a bow. Following the 2012 release, archery ranges across the United States reported a staggering spike…
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Malaysia banned a comedy about a brainwashed model
Taking an absurd comedy incredibly seriously, the Malaysian censorship board outlawed a 2001 film. They were deeply unamused that the entire plot revolved…
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Moviegoers once tossed peanut shells on the floor
Before popcorn dominated the scene, peanuts were the reigning champion of cinematic snacks. Patrons would furiously crack shells during silent films and…
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Top Gun sent Navy applications soaring
Turns out, all the US military needed to recruit young men was a shirtless volleyball montage. After the 1986 release, recruitment booths set up directly…
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When Project X parties left the screen
Showing teenagers that throwing a neighborhood-destroying party makes you a legend was a terrible societal move. Real-world copycat parties erupted globally,…
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Why the USSR pulled an American farmers' film
The USSR originally loved an American movie about impoverished farmers, hoping it would prove the evils of capitalism. They quickly pulled it from theaters…
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When Hollywood wasn't allowed to let villains win
For over thirty years, cinematic crime absolutely could not pay. Moral panic dictated that if a character committed a crime, they had to be violently killed…
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How Free Willy helped return a real orca to the wild
Sometimes audience guilt actually works. The massive public outcry after watching a fictional boy save a captive orca led to a multimillion-dollar campaign…
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The movie theater where texting was encouraged
In a spectacularly misguided attempt to court teenagers, a major theater chain proposed opening auditoriums where texting was fully allowed. The immediate,…
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How a movie helped unseal JFK records
Oliver Stone's deeply paranoid 1991 film about a presidential assassination caused such a relentless public uproar that the US Congress literally passed a new…
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The Paris cinema where every seat was a bed
Why accidentally fall asleep in a chair when you can do it on purpose? A Parisian theater fully committed to the lazy aesthetic by removing standard rows and…
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When movie theaters battled giant feathered hats
In the 1910s, women's fashion involved spectacularly massive hats decorated with entire taxidermied birds. Cinema managers had to deploy passive-aggressive…
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The Exorcist sparked a wave of exorcism fears
The Catholic Church suddenly found itself very busy in the 1970s. After audiences watched a teenager spider-walk down the stairs, local parishes were…
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When police raided cinemas for movie reels
In the 1970s, some extreme Italian cinema was deemed so deeply offensive that international vice squads didn't just ban it; they raided theaters. Police…
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Keanu Reeves once played bass in Dogstar
When you're already traveling through time in a phone booth, why not start a rock band? In the 1990s, at the absolute height of his early Hollywood fame,…
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Mark Wahlberg refused a Yankees cap for The Departed
Sometimes hometown loyalty completely ruins a costume designer's day. While filming Martin Scorsese's The Departed, Boston native Mark Wahlberg was asked to…
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Only one person dies in the original First Blood
Despite becoming the global mascot for hyper-violent, machine-gun-toting cinematic carnage, the original John Rambo was a massive pacifist. In the 1982 film…
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Where Tarantino wrote Pulp Fiction
You don't need a fancy Beverly Hills writing room to craft an Oscar-winning screenplay; you just need a lot of hash. Quentin Tarantino spent several months in…
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The real Soup Nazi banned Seinfeld's writers
Writing a culturally iconic episode based on a real, aggressive person comes with real-world consequences. The famous "Soup Nazi" character was based on an…
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Batman’s animated shadows started on black paper
Why bother painting shadows when you can just start in the dark? To capture the incredibly moody, film noir aesthetic of Gotham City, the creators of the…
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