In A Bug’s Life, the circus ringmaster is a flea. It’s a flea circus.
Admittedly I had heard the term “flea circus” my entire life but only this morning looked up what it actually was. I mean it’s pretty straightforward, a bunch of fleas made to look like they’re in a circus, but I was missing the history and context.
I often wonder how non Americans deal with the omnipresence of American media, all the cultural references and intertextuality that doesn’t necessarily carry over to other cultures. It’s why I can’t get into anime (among other reasons). All the stuff that I’m sure a Japanese person would find clever or topical just goes over my head.
That same disconnect even happens within the US. Most media is produced in Southern California, so a lot of stuff from climate to government to gastronomy to slang terms just get shoved incongruously where it doesn’t belong. For me this comes up most when talking about state government. In California you go to the Department of Motor Vehicles to get your driver’s license, but it’s not called that in all states. In Texas it’s the Department of Public Safety, but even native Texans will call it the DMV because that’s what it’s called on TV. It’s such a little example but it still bothers me. And I can only imagine it gets worse as the cultural divide widens. At least it’s a phenomenon with enough recognition to merit its own article on TV Tropes.
The same phenomenon has been identified even in the UK where cultural divides and differences are present in media and often discussed in terms of accuracy or inaccuracy. Their use and abuse.
I can only imagine in a place like the US, which is on such a different scale, that the problem is going to be even wider, more pervasive due to the dominance of the media, and more infuriating given some of the passionate views people have on their home territory.
english judges depicted banging gavels is one that annoys me a bit. relevant to the topic, i never got the pun in world war z until i realised it’s the american zee. but missing ‘phil banks’ from fresh prince of bel air was my own fault
It’s Z for zombie. Works whether you say zee or zed, or is ther something else I’m missing? Never read the book or seen the movie.
I took it as a play on world war three