Red Scare Canon — Cultural References from the Subreddit

Jacksonville (place) 1 — Florida city mentioned as feeling real and like a working city, contrasted positively with Orlando.

Thierry Mugler (person) 1 — Fashion designer who created costumes for the 1985 Comédie-Française production of Macbeth.

Comédie-Française (place) 1 — French theater company that produced Macbeth in 1985 with costumes by Thierry Mugler.

Nick Champa (person) 1 — 27-year-old gay TikTok celebrity and former failed actor who underwent extensive plastic surgery

Laguna Beach: The Real Orange County (film) 1 — MTV reality show from 2004-2006 featured in a list of notable 2000s MTV programming

The Hills (film) 1 — MTV reality show from 2006-2010 featured in a list of notable 2000s MTV programming

Stewart Lee (person) 1 — Stand-up comedian whose work was enjoyed by the poster as a teenager

Gérard Depardieu (person) 1 — French actor who appeared in a film with Robert De Niro featuring explicit scenes

Joseph Dirt (film) 1 — Comedy film mentioned in a satirical conspiracy theory post referencing David Spade

Burlington, Vermont (place) 1 — City where Bernie Sanders served as mayor in the 1980s and hosted a public access TV show interviewing local residents

IBM Cognos (place) 1 — Corporate business intelligence software mentioned as emblematic of meaningless white-collar work

Charles C. Mann (person) 1 — Author of 1491, a pop history book about pre-Columbian Native American civilizations

Associated Press (place) 1 — One of the three major news agencies that provides news reports to most outlets worldwide

Agence France-Presse (place) 1 — One of the three major news agencies that provides news reports to most outlets worldwide

Mike Recine (person) 1 — Comedian who commented negatively on Dasha Nekrasova during her breakup

r/place (place) 1 — Reddit's collaborative pixel art canvas event that displaced Ukrainian war coverage from trending topics.

Labatt Blue (album) 1 — Canadian beer brand consumed by a user in honor of their grandfather who worked at Ford and watched NASCAR.

World Cup (concept) 1 — International football tournament where Brazil's losses, particularly the 7-1 defeat to Germany in 2014, are considered ...

The Comeback (film) 1 — An underrated HBO series starring Lisa Kudrow that few people seem to have seen.

Synthwave (concept) 1 — A music and aesthetic genre associated with 1980s nostalgia, criticized as 'soy nostalgia' alongside purple lasers, neon...

Tron (film) 1 — A 1980s film referenced in criticism of excessive 80s nostalgia aesthetic.

The New World (film) 1 — A Terrence Malick film whose visual style is compared to Scorsese's new work.

Steven Van Zandt (person) 1 — Actor and musician who attended the Scorsese film premiere at Lincoln Center.

Mayim Bialik (person) 1 — Actress criticized for ignoring her children's developmental delays and not teaching them manners based on her intuition...

Moroccanoil (place) 1 — Israeli company that sponsors the Eurovision contest, mentioned in context of political controversy

Pawnee National Grassland (place) 1 — American public land where someone walks around with a black powder pistol, cited as example of extensive public land ho...

Hampton Inn (place) 1 — Hotel chain where Jay Leno allegedly fell down a hill near Pittsburgh

MBA (concept) 1 — Graduate business degree whose proliferation from the 1970s-90s is blamed for degrading job markets through prioritizing...

GiveSendGo (place) 1 — Fundraising platform hosting Luigi Mangione's legal defense fund

J. Crew (concept) 1 — American clothing brand whose 1990s aesthetic is described as an aspirational anti-fashion choice with age

Issey Miyake (person) 1 — Japanese fashion designer whose diffusion lines are mentioned as something the author no longer checks for

America's Most Wanted (film) 1 — Crime TV program referenced as an earlier form of true crime media that maintained distance from events

Alexander Hamilton (person) 1 — American founding father who is the subject of Lin-Manuel Miranda's musical criticized for historical omissions

Kafka on the Shore (book) 1 — Novel by Haruki Murakami that a woman claimed she had to put down because she couldn't read anything written from a male...

GPT3 (concept) 1 — AI language model discussed as replacing search engines for younger generations, representing a shift from careful brows...

Puerto Vallarta (place) 1 — Mexican city referenced in a satirical jazz narrative as the location where a fictional bassist overdosed on heroin.

Platonic Beauty (concept) 1 — A philosophical concept referring to the ideal, perfect form of beauty that certain individuals are described as embodyi...

Tiesto (person) 1 — A popular DJ and music producer referenced in the context of a cam girl client discussing EDC and electronic music.

EDC (place) 1 — Electric Daisy Carnival, a major electronic dance music festival discussed in the context of sexting work.

Beatlemania (concept) 1 — The intense fan frenzy surrounding The Beatles, used as a comparison point for contemporary Taylor Swift fandom.

Montgomery (place) 1 — City in Alabama cited as an example of regional American diversity.

Laredo (place) 1 — Texas border city mentioned as an example of distinct regional American character.

Fed Square (place) 1 — Federation Square in Melbourne, Australia, where Taylor Swift's concert was streamed publicly, typically reserved for sp...

Orthodoxy (concept) 1 — Eastern Orthodox Christianity, criticized as a convert religion driven by aesthetics and romanticized views of Eastern E...

Danny Masterson (person) 1 — Actor convicted of sexual assault, mentioned as a celebrity who faced prosecution rather than fleeing.

Nice guy to bitter misogynist pipeline (concept) 1 — Phenomenon of men transitioning from being friendly/accommodating to resentful of women after repeated romantic rejectio...

Cornwall (place) 1 — Region in the UK that a poster is planning to visit on their solo trip

Peacocking (concept) 1 — Pickup artist technique of wearing flashy or unusual clothing to attract attention from potential romantic partners

Halcyon Digest (album) 1 — Album title cited as an example of quality album naming from the past, contrasted with contemporary Gen Z album titles

Turn On the Bright Lights (album) 1 — Album title cited as an example of quality album naming from the past, contrasted with contemporary Gen Z album titles