For example: Jaws crashed the shark population and Sideways changed the popularity of 2 different Wines.
(Personal case, but i think i am not alone) I have been interested in science since Carl Sagan’s Cosmos, i was a kid when it aired.
For me it’s Bill Nye the Science Guy.
Beekman’s world was on around the same time. I used to love watching them both, although I don’t remember much of either of them
Also, does anyone remember Mr. Wizard?
Silent Spring
Carson’s most direct legacy in the environmental movement was the campaign to ban the use of DDT in the United States, and related efforts to ban or limit its use throughout the world. The 1967 formation of the Environmental Defense Fund was the first major milestone in the campaign against DDT. The organization brought lawsuits against the government to “establish a citizen’s right to a clean environment”, and the arguments against DDT largely mirrored Carson’s. By 1972, the Environmental Defense Fund and other activist groups had succeeded in securing a phase-out of DDT use in the United States, except in emergency cases.
The works of Aristotle; there is probably no more influential set of works that will ever exist.
The translation of his works, into “modern” European languages (Latin, French etc…) can be credibly argued was the beginning of the Renaissance; which lead to the Scientific Revolution and The Enlightenment.
The Islamic Golden Age also has roots in Aristotle’s work, his and other ancient scholars writings were translated into Arabic; enriching the thought of the many great philosophers of Arabic world. Which (among other things) gave us the basis for modern mathematics.
Charles Darwin, On The Origin of Species.
both good and bad, that one. Lots of good for understanding life on earth (us included), lots of bad for how humans started treating skin color.
Origin of species wasn’t published until 1859…
A good couple hundred years after the Atlantic slave trade started. People were already using skin color as a basis for atrocities. The first formal racial classification of people was done in 1684.
Removed by mod
Patterson-Gimlin-Film maybe. I see this image everywhere!
The Avesta, we’ve been telling stories about the duality of the universe, good and evil, ever since. Apparently can’t get enough of that shit.
Avesta definitely inspired the Hebrew bible, which in turn inspired Christianity and then Islam. So it can be arguably be the most influential piece of media ever created.
Some of the early science fiction novels had real impact by providing plausible guiding lights for actual scientists about which directions to go in their pursuit of technological advancements. It’s been said that the first step in innovation is imagination, not actual scientific progress.
Arthur C. Clarke wrote Islands in the Sky about what could happen if artificial satellites became a real thing.
Prophetic.
Shrek
Shrek is Love.
Shrek is Life.
…it’s never Ogre.
For context, the animated family movie genre was on a trajectory for much deeper and more thoughtful movies, if a bit darker that would appeal more to adults. Then Shrek hit the scene with a banger soundtrack, subversive comedy, and some really good dunking on Disney. Shrek then absolutely shrekked the box office and ever since then basically every animated film has been chasing the bar that Shrek set
There’s also an argument to be made that Shrek indirectly lead to the massive western market for anime as adults seek prestige animated films that aren’t being produced in the US
The Hindenburg crash. If it weren’t for the newsreel, it would have been a unique airship crash and the airships would have continued to fly. But because it was shown in every theater as a newsreel for months, the interest in airship travel tanked and fleets were dismantled. It was actually a safe form of travel for the time. While tragic, only 35 people actually died, which is peanuts to a large air liner crash.
And 62 of the 97 survived. It blew my mind to learn that.
I remember reading that most airships at the time used helium, but due to the war Germany had to use hydrogen instead. This is what made the hindenburg explode.
If they had used helium there wouldn’t have been any issue.
At the time the US was really the only country with helium and we wouldn’t sell it to them.
I will never forgive them for what they stole from us
It’s actually crazy to me that cruise ships exist but cruise zeppelins don’t. You are telling me me there isn’t a market for a treetop rainforest cruise because of a crash from almost 100 years ago but people will still fly on a 737???
A cruise zeppelin could only work as an extreme luxury thing. A ship can carry tons of stuff, but a zeppelin is pretty limited, especially compared to the size of one.
For sure, it would be stupid expensive, it still surprises me that it nobody has tried it.
How about war of the worlds radio broadcast?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_War_of_the_Worlds_(1938_radio_drama)
From Hell (2001) popularized drinking absinthe, and twisted the traditional way of drinking it. (The sugar is not traditionally set alight). Not 100% sure of this, might be that Moulin Rouge which was released around the same time also had an impact.
I think this is more interesting limiting it to fictional pieces or work, as many of the non-fiction examples were written to have a real world impact.
Also one I didn’t see was The China Syndrome. If you’re unfamiliar it was a drama about a nuclear incident, but happened to release just days before the Three Mile Incident. Meaning it was a one-two punch to the nuclear industry and something people point to about nuclear energy stalling in the US.
Here in Québec, there is a song by Gilles Vigneault that someone became what we use to sing happy birthday to someone. Beautiful song, great guy who, at around 95 years old , had his music removed from Spotify because they gave millions to Joe Rogan.
Some of the all-time most influential include:
- Capital - Karl Marx
The masterwork of Karl Marx, and one of the most widely cited economic books in history. Capital was a direct influence on much of the developments of the 20th and 21st centuries.
- Manifesto of the Communist Party - Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels
While not as theoretically deep and important as Capital, the manifesto isn’t more broadly known for no reason. As a work of agitation and propaganda, the manifesto was a major force for spreading communist ideas.
- What is to be Done? - Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov “Lenin”
This is the work that cemented Lenin as a critical organizer in the Russian labor movement, amidst all of the many socialist thinkers at the time. Lenin gave an analysis of the various movements at the time, such as Economism, and put forth the necessity of an All-Russian newspaper to connect the working masses from local struggles to the entire struggle.
- Imperialism, the Current Highest Stage of Capitalism - Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov “Lenin”
This is perhaps Lenin’s most relevant work today, and has guided how communists view the evolution of capitalism since the time of Marx and Engels. Lenin didn’t merely say “imperialism bad,” he analyzed a concrete material process that capitalism necessarily evolves into, a stage in capitalism that has lasted to today.
- The State and Revolution - Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov “Lenin”
Also critically important from Lenin, where he took a firm stance against the social democratic line of reformism and instead restored Marxism’s revolutionary aspect. Using the works of Marx and Engels, Lenin analyzed the class character of states, and elaborated on the economic basis of the withering of the state.
- Marxism and the National Question - Iosif Dzhugashvili “Stalin”
This is the work that put Stalin on the map in the Marxist movement, period. As an ethnic Georgian, Stalin was a national minority in the Russian Empire. This work was so influential that it shifted Lenin’s opinion on the national question, and caused Trotsky to suspect that Stalin never wrote it to begin with because of how high quality it was, with Stalin not writing much in the way of new theory since.
This is where Mao made the case for a peasant revolution in China. Prior to Mao, many communists lacked a belief in the peasantry as a primary engine of revolution, merely believing the peasantry could be supportive of the proletariat but not the primary engine.
Whether you agree with these works or not, what cannot be denied is the sheer influence of these works, and the cascading impact they have had on the struggles of today. They shaped the 20th century and are still shaping the 21st.
What can I say, I’m a commie 👻
True, but it’s really hard to find a more influential writer of the modern era than Marx. Each of those books had a significant influence on the past hundred years. Even if I do wish Proudhon and Kropotkin had been more influential
