Of Mice and Men in popular culture

Of Mice and Men is a novella by John Steinbeck, which tells the tragic story of George and Lennie, two displaced Anglo migrant farm workers in California during the Great Depression (1929-1939). The story is set on a ranch a few miles from Soledad in the Salinas Valley. Since its initial publication in 1937, it has been frequently referenced in popular culture.

A selected list:

Characters similar to George and Lennie have been popular since the publication of Of Mice and Men. Theatrical cartoon shorts of the 1940s and 1950s, particularly the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies cartoons released by Warner Bros., are particularly awash with Of Mice and Men parodies. The Of Mice and Men reference most often in the form of one character asking another, a la, Lennie, "which way did he go, George; which way did he go?" Tex Avery, who worked as a director on Warner-released cartoons during the 1930s and early 1940s, started the trend with Of Fox and Hounds (1940). The formula was so successful that it was utilized again and again in subsequent shorts, notably Robert McKimson's Cat-Tails for Two (1953) and Chuck Jones' The Abominable Snow Rabbit (1961). Even Avery himself used it again when he went on to direct several cartoons starring the George and Lennie dopplegangers George and Junior for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in the late 1940s. There is at least one Roger Ramjet episode which features a George/Lennie-based duo, the latter with lines like "tell me about the rabbits". The later Warner Bros. cartoon duo Pinky and the Brain (of Animaniacs fame) are also somewhat similar to Lennie and George, respectively. Pinky and the brain are also mice, an animal Lennie frequently kills.

The Histeria! episode "Writers of the Purple Prose" featured a sketch stating that Steinbeck supposedly had to rewrite the entire story after the first draft was eaten by his dog (played by Loud Kiddington's dog, Fetch). In the cover of the book shown in the sketch, Froggo and Lucky Bob are depicted as George and Lennie.

Another reference appears in the film Gremlins 2. Although it did not arise in the film two of the original mogwai that appear are called Lennie and George by the creators of the film, as they both were designed to physically resemble them.

The title "Of Mice and Men" is popular in scientific journals whenever discrepancies between animal models and human subjects arise. It rarely refers to the contents of Steinbeck's novel.

The-work in-progress names of the Transformers: Cybertron characters Crumplezone and Ransack were Lennie and George, which left an impact on the Japanese naming for the two - Landbullet and Gasket.

The title "Of Mice and Women" has also become popular for a variety of topics, from cure for breast cancer (developed with the help of experiments on mice) to female aggression.

In the 5th season of The Shield there is an episode entitled "Of Mice and Lem" foreshadowing events similar to those in the book. in the conclusion of the episode, the main character is dinkholed (hoodwinked) and is robbed.

On the Criterion Collection commentary track for Kevin Smith's "Chasing Amy", he makes an allusion to Ben Affleck as being similar to Lennie.

In the Stephen King serial novel The Green Mile, John Coffey (Played by Michael Clarke Duncan in the 1999 film) is similar to Lennie in that he is large, unintelligent, and innocent at heart. In both stories, mice fall into their care at some point.

In yet another Stephen King novel The Talisman, George and Lennie's relationship seems to be paralleled by Jack and Wolf's relationship. Wolf also crushes the hand of another character.

In one episode of the popular sitcom Friends, Joey is playing with a little chicken. Chandler alludes to Of Mice and Men by saying "Easy Lennie" to Joey.

In the Bonus Section of the DVD of March of the Penguins, the section describing the filming is titled Of Penguins and Men.

In an episode of Power Rangers In Space, Cassie is fast-talked into a date with a big guy named Lennie, with help from his smaller, smarter friend George.

In an episode of Lost (TV series), in a flashback, James "Sawyer" Ford is reading the book in a prison. While on the island, Sawyer quotes the book to Ben, an Other. Later, Ben quotes a different passage to Sawyer. After the references, the character who quoted it asked "don't you read?" - as the other character is staring at them, in confusion and disbelief, respectively.

The 2006 show, My Name is Earl, Jason Lee and Ethan Suplee star as brothers, Suplee is a dumb-witted gentle giant and Lee is the small yet wiser one who makes all of the decisions and watches after his brother.

In the 1994 movie In the Army Now starring Pauly Shore (Bones), Jack pleads to Bones just before he thinks he is about to die, "Tell me about the store again," an obvious parallel in both character and phrase to Steinbeck's "Tell me about the rabbits again, George."

In the SpongeBob episode, "Sleepy Time," a book is briefly shown labeled "Of Snails and Men," a reference to this book.

In an episode of CSI:NY, in which Gary Sinise stars, a primary suspect is auditioning for the part of George in the play adaptaion of Of Mice and Men.

In the mini Tenacious D movies located on the 'Tenacious D Masterworks' DVD (Episode 3 - Death of A Dream) Jack Black is about to break his guitar but before doing so he faces it towards the mountains and says "Now I'm going to tell you about the rabbits" in reference to the last scene of 'Of Mice And Men'

In the animated film, Shark Tale, there is a large, absentminded shark named Lennie, who must be watched after by his brother, making some reference to George and Lennie's relationship in "Of Mice and Men"

In the song “Cleanser” by Brand New, there are references to Of Mice and Men including starting the song with mention of the River in the beginning of the book, "the best best best best plans where both mice and men can go terribly wrong/ and probably will", making note of a lady who is vain (which would refer to Curly's wife), and the chorus has the line "Weighing the cost of the love you make/ Feeling the weight of the bones you break" which would be Curly's wife's wondering eye and Lennie killing her.

In Transformers the movie (1986). Grimlock ask to Kup "...Tell Grimlock about petro-rabbits"

On the King of the Hill episode "serPUNt," Bobby's pet snake goes down a sewer causing a panic. The snake is killed, but Hank tells his son Bobby that they let it loose on a farm. At the end of the episode, Bobby asks Hank to "tell me about the farm," in the same manner that Lennie asked George.