Romanticism and Popular Culture

This evolving bibliography collects media that represent Romantic-era works and historical figures in fictional contexts. We welcome feedback and additions from the RC community.

Television

The Mentalist Season 6, Episode 4: "Red Listed"

Director:

Eric Laneuville

Publication Information:

Primrose Hill Productions, Warner Bros. Television

Date:

2013

In Season 6 of The Mentalist Patrick Jane discovers a conspiracy of corrupt police officers and law enforcement named after William Blake that call themselves "The Blake Association." -Wikipedia

The Orville poster
The Orville

Director:

James L. Conway

Date:

2017

In season 1, episode 4 of the sci-fi comedy series The Orville (2017-), Dr. Claire Finn (played by Penny Johnson Jerald) quotes Ralph Waldo Emerson ("If the stars should appear..."), to which Captain Ed Mercer responds "Shakespeare?" When Finn corrects Mercer, he responds "Ralph Waldo Lord Ralph Waldo Keats David Thoreau, yes."

Simpsons season 11 poster
The Simpsons

Date:

1999

In the Simpsons season 11, episode 2 (1999) episode entitled "Brother's Little Helper," Mrs. Krabappel asks Bart Simpson's fourth-grade class "who would like to read ''The Daffodils'' by Wordsworth?," and Sherri responds with ''I wandered lonely as a cloud that floats on high o'er vales and hills."

 

The Simpsons Season 5
The Simpsons, Season 5, episode 8

Director:

Jeffrey Lynch

Date:

1993

In season 5, episode 8 of The Simpsons ("Boy-Scoutz 'n the Hood"), Homer misquotes Coleridge's "Rime of the Ancient Mariner": "Don't you know the poem? 'Water water everywhere / So let's all have a drink?'"

The X-Files season 2, episode 18, “Fearful Symmetry”

Director:

James Whitmore Jr.

Date:

1995

The X-Files season 2, episode 18 is entitled “Fearful Symmetry.”

The X-Files season 5, episode 5 “The Post-Modern Prometheus”

Director:

Chris Carter

Date:

1997

The X-Files season 5, episode 5 is entitled “The Post-Modern Prometheus” and contains references to Frankenstein (both the novel and the 1931 film version)

True Detective Season 1 Episode 3: "The Locked Room"

Director:

Cary Joji Fukunaga

Date:

2014

Rust Cohle (Matthew McConaughey) references Keatsian negative capability: “You just look at somebody and think like they think, negative capability. I mean, I guess it's a skill. Most times, you don't even need that. You just look them in the eyes. The whole story is right there.”

Twin Peaks Season 2, Episode 16: "The Condemned Woman"

Director:

Lesli Linka Glatter

Publication Information:

Created by David Lynch & Mark Frost, Lynch/Frost Productions

Date:

1991

Shelley's poem "Love's Philosophy" appears frequently in the second season of the mystery television series Twin Peaks, including this episode.

Twin Peaks Season 2, Episode 19: "Variations on Relations"

Director:

Jonathan Sanger

Publication Information:

Created by David Lynch & Mark Frost, Lynch/Frost Productions

Date:

1991

Shelley's poem "Love's Philosophy" appears frequently in the second season of the mystery television series Twin Peaks, including this episode. -Wikipedia

Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt poster
Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt

Director:

Beth McCarthy-Miller

Date:

2015

In season 3, episode 8 of the television show Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, "Kimmy Does a Puzzle!," the character Artie Goodman (played by Peter Riegert) says "drinking seawater makes people hallucinate. Haven't you ever read 'Rime of the Ancient Mariner?,'" to which Titus Andromedon (played by Tituss Burgess) replies "Sir, you should be able to tell that I have not."

Watchmen cover
Watchmen

Date:

2019

In season 1, episode 3 of the HBO series Watchmen (based on the 1986-1987 graphic novel of the same name by Alan Moore, Dave Gibbons, and John Higgins), two characters (Laurie Blake and Dale Petey) view a massive clock, called the Millennium Clock, from an airplane window. According to Petey the builder of the massive clock, Lady Trieu, recited the lines "look on my Works, ye Mighty, and Despair!" from Percy Shelley's "Ozymandias" at its groundbreaking.

Wonder Showzen

Date:

2005

Wonder Showzen includes a character named Wordsworth voiced by John Lee.

Zastrozzi: A Romance

Director:

David G. Hopkins

Date:

1986

Zastrozzi: A Romance: 1986 TV movie starring Geoff Francis, Mark McGann, and Tilda Swinton; “An adaptation of Shelley's Gothic novel, presented as a contemporary romance.”

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