Intertextual Reference Guide to Netflix's ASoUE Season 1
Jan 25, 2017 15:34:24 GMT -5
Liam R. Findlay, Cafe SalMONAlla, and 6 more like this
Post by Poe's Coats Host Toast on Jan 25, 2017 15:34:24 GMT -5
This article is part of this month's 667er--this forum's own online zine--which you can read here (Edition 24). We decided that this article might benefit from having its own thread for people to discuss (I could've well missed out on some references) and for later visitors to discover.
Albert Einstein (Living Philosophies)
- Referenced by Violet and Klaus at the beginning when they are on briny beach. The full quote goes (Klaus on only recites the first two sentences): "The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and science. He to whom the emotion is a stranger, who can no longer pause to wonder and stand wrapped in awe, is as good as dead —his eyes are closed. The insight into the mystery of life, coupled though it be with fear, has also given rise to religion. To know what is impenetrable to us really exists, manifesting itself as the highest wisdom and the most radiant beauty, which our dull faculties can comprehend only in their most primitive forms—this knowledge, this feeling is at the center of true religiousness."
James Brown - "Superbad"
Violet: “What is that thing James Brown said?”
Klaus: “I got something that makes me want to shout. I got something that tells me what it’s all about… I’m superbad.”
E. A. Poe's The Raven / Lemony Snicket's The Vile Village
Edgar and Albert Poe are bickering over what kind of meal their mother is serving--raven or crow. This is a nod to E. A. Poe's The Raven, and also possibly a foreshadowing to the crows in TVV (which we'll see in season two).
(Part Two)
Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin: The Physiology of Taste: Or, Meditations on Transcendental Gastronomy (1825 treatise on food)
- Quoted by Lemony Snicket when the Baudelaires serve pasta puttanesca to Olaf and his troupe; The quote is: "To invite people to dine with us is to make ourselves responsible for their well-being for as long as they are under our roofs."
Lemony Snicket's When Did You See Her Last?
- The book's title is said by Olaf mockingly when Violet and Klaus realize that Sunny is missing.
Thurgood Marshall (Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the U.S., and the first African-American justice)
Ida B. Wells (African-American journalist, newspaper editor, suffragist, sociologist, feminist, as well as an early leader in the Civil Rights Movement)
- Referenced in Part Two by Lemony Snicket, when commenting on Klaus Baudelaire's attempt to convince the audience of Violet's signature being invalid: "As you can well imagine, Klaus’ legal argument had all the apocryphal insight of Thurgood Marshall and the moral aplomb of Ida B. Wells. A phrase which here means ‘It was thoroughly impressive and utterly convincing.’"
The Dawn Patrol (1938, starr. Errol Flynn)
- Violet Baudelaire names it her favourite movie when asked by Monty, who tells her it was her father's favourite too.
Alexandre Scriabin
early Sonic Youth
- The only music that soothes the Dissonant Tortoises (at around the 10:20 mark). Handler has previously mentioned his love for Scriabin, and how he listened to his music when writing ASoUE.
Lemony Snicket's All the Wrong Questions
"That's the wrong question."
Friedrich W. Murnau (German film director)
- The cinema the Baudelaires, Monty, and Stefano go to (at 31min mark) is named after this German film director of the silent era, who directed Nosferatu (1922) and The Last Laugh (1924), among others.
(Part Two)
Williams Shakespeare's 'Hamlet' - 'To be, or not to be' soliloquy
- Quoted by Olaf at the beginning of Part Two: "For in that sleep what dreams may come"
Minotaur (Greek mythology)
- Briefly mentioned by Lemony Snicket when talking about Dr. Montgomery's labyrinth
Raymond Ditmars (American herpetologist, writer, public speaker and pioneering natural history filmmaker) (1876-1942)
- The name can be seen written on a sign stuck to a teepee in Monty's Reptile Room at around the 29:20 mark (during the Baudelaires' explanation of how Olaf murdered Monty).
The Shining (dir. Stanley Kubrick)
- A possible reference with Monty's maze, where, in an inversion of a scene in The Shining, the children are chasing a murderous villain.
Herman Melville: Moby Dick (1851 novel)
- Directly referenced by the taxi driver who is also named Ishmael
Chartreuse (French liqueur)
- On Josephine's map of the Lachrymose Lake there is a "Chartreuse Island"
Tito Puente
- Sunny prefers the music of Tito Puente to the sound of a rattle. (He is once more referenced by Sunny in TMM:Part Two.)
Thornton Wilder: Our Town (1938 metatheatrical three-act play)
- Aunt Josephine warns the Baudelaires: "You never know what can happen in a small town... You ever read Thornton Wilder?"
(Part Two)
Lemony Snicket's All the Wrong Questions
Violet: "Remember what mother said? Do the scary thing first..."
Klaus: "...and get scared afterwards."
The Shining (1980, dir. Stanley Kubrick)
- Capt. Sham says "Heeere's Shammy".
Haruki Murakami: Kafka on the Shore (2002)
Violet: "What's that thing Haruki Murakami said?"
Klaus: "When you walk out of the storm, you won't be the same person who walked in."
Violet: "Before that part."
Klaus: "You won't even be sure, in fact, whether the storm is really over."
Hänsel & Gretel (Grimm fairy tale)
Little Red Riding Hood (Grimm fairy tale)
Henry David Thoreau: Walden (1854 novel)
- Referenced in Lemony Snickets "out of the woods" speech
Pink Floyd's The Wall (1982, dir. Alan Parker)
- Mrs. Baudelaire wouldn't let Klaus watch this movie.
Lemony Snicket's All The Wrong Questions
- Lemony Snicket says, "Violet was asking the wrong question..."
F. Scott Fitzgerald: The Great Gatsby (1925)
- Klaus mentions that there is a sign shaped like eyeglasses ("It represents the eyes of God judging the world as a moral wasteland")
(Part Two)
Lemony Snicket: Who Could That Be At This Hour?
- The inscription Violet and Sunny discover in the Verified F Dictionary is the same line said by Dashiell Qwerty in ATWQ?1: "In every library there is a single book that can answer the question that burns like a fire in the mind."
Samuel Beckett: The Unnamable (1953 novel)
Violet: "What's that thing Samuel Beckett said?"
Klaus: "I can't go on. I'll go on."
This is the novel's last two sentences.
Intertextual References in Netflix's ASoUE
THE BAD BEGINNING
Albert Einstein (Living Philosophies)
- Referenced by Violet and Klaus at the beginning when they are on briny beach. The full quote goes (Klaus on only recites the first two sentences): "The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and science. He to whom the emotion is a stranger, who can no longer pause to wonder and stand wrapped in awe, is as good as dead —his eyes are closed. The insight into the mystery of life, coupled though it be with fear, has also given rise to religion. To know what is impenetrable to us really exists, manifesting itself as the highest wisdom and the most radiant beauty, which our dull faculties can comprehend only in their most primitive forms—this knowledge, this feeling is at the center of true religiousness."
James Brown - "Superbad"
Violet: “What is that thing James Brown said?”
Klaus: “I got something that makes me want to shout. I got something that tells me what it’s all about… I’m superbad.”
E. A. Poe's The Raven / Lemony Snicket's The Vile Village
Edgar and Albert Poe are bickering over what kind of meal their mother is serving--raven or crow. This is a nod to E. A. Poe's The Raven, and also possibly a foreshadowing to the crows in TVV (which we'll see in season two).
(Part Two)
Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin: The Physiology of Taste: Or, Meditations on Transcendental Gastronomy (1825 treatise on food)
- Quoted by Lemony Snicket when the Baudelaires serve pasta puttanesca to Olaf and his troupe; The quote is: "To invite people to dine with us is to make ourselves responsible for their well-being for as long as they are under our roofs."
Lemony Snicket's When Did You See Her Last?
- The book's title is said by Olaf mockingly when Violet and Klaus realize that Sunny is missing.
Thurgood Marshall (Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the U.S., and the first African-American justice)
Ida B. Wells (African-American journalist, newspaper editor, suffragist, sociologist, feminist, as well as an early leader in the Civil Rights Movement)
- Referenced in Part Two by Lemony Snicket, when commenting on Klaus Baudelaire's attempt to convince the audience of Violet's signature being invalid: "As you can well imagine, Klaus’ legal argument had all the apocryphal insight of Thurgood Marshall and the moral aplomb of Ida B. Wells. A phrase which here means ‘It was thoroughly impressive and utterly convincing.’"
_________________________________________________________
THE REPTILE ROOM
THE REPTILE ROOM
The Dawn Patrol (1938, starr. Errol Flynn)
- Violet Baudelaire names it her favourite movie when asked by Monty, who tells her it was her father's favourite too.
Alexandre Scriabin
early Sonic Youth
- The only music that soothes the Dissonant Tortoises (at around the 10:20 mark). Handler has previously mentioned his love for Scriabin, and how he listened to his music when writing ASoUE.
Lemony Snicket's All the Wrong Questions
"That's the wrong question."
Friedrich W. Murnau (German film director)
- The cinema the Baudelaires, Monty, and Stefano go to (at 31min mark) is named after this German film director of the silent era, who directed Nosferatu (1922) and The Last Laugh (1924), among others.
(Part Two)
Williams Shakespeare's 'Hamlet' - 'To be, or not to be' soliloquy
- Quoted by Olaf at the beginning of Part Two: "For in that sleep what dreams may come"
Minotaur (Greek mythology)
- Briefly mentioned by Lemony Snicket when talking about Dr. Montgomery's labyrinth
Raymond Ditmars (American herpetologist, writer, public speaker and pioneering natural history filmmaker) (1876-1942)
- The name can be seen written on a sign stuck to a teepee in Monty's Reptile Room at around the 29:20 mark (during the Baudelaires' explanation of how Olaf murdered Monty).
The Shining (dir. Stanley Kubrick)
- A possible reference with Monty's maze, where, in an inversion of a scene in The Shining, the children are chasing a murderous villain.
_________________________________________________________
THE WIDE WINDOW
THE WIDE WINDOW
Herman Melville: Moby Dick (1851 novel)
- Directly referenced by the taxi driver who is also named Ishmael
Chartreuse (French liqueur)
- On Josephine's map of the Lachrymose Lake there is a "Chartreuse Island"
Tito Puente
- Sunny prefers the music of Tito Puente to the sound of a rattle. (He is once more referenced by Sunny in TMM:Part Two.)
Thornton Wilder: Our Town (1938 metatheatrical three-act play)
- Aunt Josephine warns the Baudelaires: "You never know what can happen in a small town... You ever read Thornton Wilder?"
(Part Two)
Lemony Snicket's All the Wrong Questions
Violet: "Remember what mother said? Do the scary thing first..."
Klaus: "...and get scared afterwards."
The Shining (1980, dir. Stanley Kubrick)
- Capt. Sham says "Heeere's Shammy".
Haruki Murakami: Kafka on the Shore (2002)
Violet: "What's that thing Haruki Murakami said?"
Klaus: "When you walk out of the storm, you won't be the same person who walked in."
Violet: "Before that part."
Klaus: "You won't even be sure, in fact, whether the storm is really over."
_________________________________________________________
THE MISERABLE MILL
THE MISERABLE MILL
Hänsel & Gretel (Grimm fairy tale)
Little Red Riding Hood (Grimm fairy tale)
Henry David Thoreau: Walden (1854 novel)
- Referenced in Lemony Snickets "out of the woods" speech
Pink Floyd's The Wall (1982, dir. Alan Parker)
- Mrs. Baudelaire wouldn't let Klaus watch this movie.
Lemony Snicket's All The Wrong Questions
- Lemony Snicket says, "Violet was asking the wrong question..."
F. Scott Fitzgerald: The Great Gatsby (1925)
- Klaus mentions that there is a sign shaped like eyeglasses ("It represents the eyes of God judging the world as a moral wasteland")
(Part Two)
Lemony Snicket: Who Could That Be At This Hour?
- The inscription Violet and Sunny discover in the Verified F Dictionary is the same line said by Dashiell Qwerty in ATWQ?1: "In every library there is a single book that can answer the question that burns like a fire in the mind."
Samuel Beckett: The Unnamable (1953 novel)
Violet: "What's that thing Samuel Beckett said?"
Klaus: "I can't go on. I'll go on."
This is the novel's last two sentences.