9 Best Pop Culture References In Riverdale
9 Best Pop Culture References In Riverdale
Contents
Riverdale never leaves an opportunity to make a clever reference, but some of the sharpest nods are about pop culture
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Riverdale is a mine of pop culture references. While Riverdale astutely assembles a few references to the Archie comics it’s based on, many fans have also come to enjoy the other comments to several hit tv shows and movies (like The Bachelorette or Blue Jasmine) as it helps to keep it modern and relatable.
The pop-culture references aren’t always in the form of comments either. Some hardcore horror fans and cinephiles have also picked up on some movie easter eggs in the props and the settings. However, there were some that stood out more than others.
9 Breakfast At Tiffany’s/In Cold Blood
Out of all the characters in Riverdale, Veronica is usually the one who can come up with the most creative insults. Veronica has had several shady burns on Riverdale, and one of her very best ones is where she criticizes the atmosphere of her new hometown.
In season 1 episode “The River’s Edge,” she tells her new classmates how she is “I’m Breakfast at Tiffany’s, and this town is so In Cold Blood.” Both the titles are books by Truman Capote but the chilling, dark mood of In Cold Blood is a direct contrast to the glamour and liveliness of Breakfast at Tiffany’s. When Veronica makes her entrance at school in pearls and Chanel, a similar contrast is played up between Veronica and Riverdale’s quaint and rather grimy aesthetic since the events of In Cold Blood also unraveled in a small town.
8 Carrie
Riverdale’s season 2 episode “A Night To Remember” has an ongoing reference to Carrie since Kevin directed the school production of Carrie: The Musical. Since Riverdale has supernatural elements and is a teen drama with frequent musical episodes, a Carrie production sits exactly right with the show’s tenor.
While Cheryl played Carrie and even channeled her famous prom look with a long pink gown, Archie played Tommy, Betty played Sue, Veronica played Chris, and Betty’s mom, Alice, played Carrie’s mother.
7 Blue Jasmine
Veronica is easily the smartest in her class in Riverdale and when she calls herself the “Blue Jasmine of Riverdale High,” in episode 1, “The River’s Edge” it comes across as a casually self-deprecating joke. But it also goes to show that she’s more self-aware than her monied peers, and she doesn’t validate her self-worth with her wealth.
Blue Jasmine is a story about a wealthy socialite who loses her fortune after her husband’s fall from grace and has to learn to live modestly. Veronica’s reference is apt considering her family reputation was ruined by Hiram’s actions like Jasmine’s husband does in the film.
6 Alfred Hitchcock
Alfred Hitchcock was famous for casting blonde stars in leading roles and some of his most iconic mystery/thrillers have had blonde actors in a starring role, from Psycho to The Birds. In season 1 episode 4, titled “The Last Picture Show” Jughead refers to Betty as “our friendly neighborhood Hitchcock blonde.”
This reference is actually more accurate than it sounds. The women in Hitchcok’s movies often find themselves in dangerous and mysterious situations, whether it is because they confront murderous men, creepy motel owners, or even deadly birds. In Riverdale, Jughead’s joke is almost like a premonition as season 2 and season 5 saw the Black Hood and The Trash Bag killer target her.
5 A Nightmare On Elm Street
With Riverdale always experimenting with new genres, it doesn’t come as much of a surprise that there are some pop culture references to the horror genre. If fans look into Betty and Archie’s homes, they will discover that their houses are located on a road called Elm Street, which is a nod to the widely popular slasher franchise, A Nightmare on Elm Street.
Fans have noted that Betty’s house, especially her front door and porch, is very similar to that of Nancy Thompson’s home from A Nightmare On Elm Street. As Nancy also lived across the street from her boyfriend, many fans have also discussed how there is a similarity between her and Betty here too as Archie (who has been her boyfriend in the comics) lives next door.
4 Agatha Christie
Riverdale has some of the best literary references and most of them are by Jughead. He has referenced Agatha Christie more than once on the show. One of the more iconic lines involving the infamous author was included in the season 4 episode”To Die For,” where Jughead says, “Life isn’t an Agatha Christie novel. It’s a lot messier.”
His reference actually works on many levels because it’s a joke as well as an apt observation. Christie’s novels deal with a lot of grimy subjects, but Jughead wants to convey that real life is even messier than a whodunit that unravels in an English countryside, so it’s a joke as well as a subtle exaggeration.
3 Psycho
It’s no coincidence that a murdered man’s license plate bears the same exact numbers as that of Marion Crane’s car (Janet Leigh) in Psycho. When Alice kills a man in her home in season 2 episode “The Wicked and the Divine”, Betty and Jughead take his car to a swamp to dump it, and the slow-motion sinking of the car has been filmed exactly like the shot from Psycho where Marion’s car goes down.
Marion had stolen cash from her boss in the film and the car in Riverdale was also stolen by the man named Dwayne who gets murdered, so the connection is undeniable.
2 Black Mirror
One of the best references on Riverdale is definitely season 1’s nod to “San Junipero,” the most famous Black Mirror episode. Joaquin, a South Side Serpent member is seen getting on a bus headed to San Junipero (“Anatomy of a Murder”). While San Junipero is a physical location on Riverdale, in Black Mirror it’s a distant parallel realm.
While Kevin and Joaquin don’t get to have a happy ending that Black Mirror’s Kelly and Yorkie do, it’s possible that the Riverdale showrunners wanted to end the tragic storyline on a note of hope by using the San Junipero reference.
1 Batman
Riverdale’s Batman reference was quite impressively incorporated and loyalists of the DC superhero comics would probably immediately identify the nod. In the season 4 episode “Judgement Night,” Jughead’s father FP carried Jughead’s bruised, lifeless body from the woods much like how Batman carried Robin’s corpse after the Boy Wonder was killed off in the four-issue storyline, A Death In The Family.
Batman and Robin shared a parent-child dynamic in certain storylines so the allusion definitely works, and the reference comes across as well-scripted.
Link Source : https://screenrant.com/riverdale-best-pop-culture-movie-comic-references-easter-eggs/
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