Of Mice and Men in popular culture

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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.

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?". On at least one occasion, a giant grabs Bugs Bunny, saying, "I wanna hug him and squeeze him and call him George" with Mel Blanc doing an unmistakable imitation of Lon Chaney, Jr.'s Lennie.

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", and the later Warner Bros. cartoon duo Pinky and the Brain (of Animaniacs fame) are also somewhat similar to Lennie and George, respectively.

A selected list of additional references:

  • On the radio/ television show Our Miss Brooks dimwitted school athlete "Stretch" Snodgrass is often compared to Lennie. In his first appearance, "Stretch the Basketball Star" he has Lennie's tendency to repeat comments made to him in a confused fashion, and even uses Lennie's "She's purty" to describe series regular Harriet Conklin. His family owns a pet shop, and he is seen to like animals, although he does not kill them accidentally. In "The Grudge Match," Connie Brooks makes a direct comparison, stating that Snodgrass and Walter Denton remind her of Lennieand George from Of Mice and Men. Snodgrass doubts Denton could be Lennie, given his ability to manage the school paper and the basketball team. Brooks replied that "Walter isn't my candidate for Lennie."
  • 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 the names were not mentioned in the film, two of the original mogwai that appear are called Lennie and George by the creators, 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 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.
  • 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.
  • 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 hoodwinked and robbed.
  • 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, 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 2005 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.
  • In an episode of CSI: NY, in which Gary Sinise stars, a primary suspect is auditioning for the part of George in the play adaptation of Of Mice and Men. It should be noted that Sinise played George in the 1992 film adaptation of the novel.
  • In the mini Tenacious D movies 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 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 asks Kup "...Tell Grimlock about petro-rabbits"
  • In the King of the Hill episode "Of Mice and Little Green Men," Bobby and Hank act in a stage production of Of Mice and Men. Also, in the 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.
  • In the Switchfoot song, "Meant to Live", there is an obvious reference to the book throughout the whole song, but mainly in the lines, "Whether mice or men have second tries".
  • In Highlander: The Series there is an episode from season 4 titled "The Innocent" which deals with a mentally handicapped Immortal named Mikey Bellows with many parallels to Lennie.
  • The animated series Family Guy has an episode "Of Ice and Men" which features a medieval knight who dreams of a better life, mirroring the theme of dreams in the book.
  • In Kurt Vonnegut's book Cat's Cradle, chapter 123 is titled "Of Mice and Men", and quotes the book as such: "Of all the words of mice and men, the saddest are, 'It might have been.'"
  • In the Cyberchase episode "The Borg of the Ring" (2004), a character wishes for a rabbit to "love and call George".
  • The main characters of Tennessee Tuxedo and His Tales bear some resemblance to the Of Mice and Men protagonists, particularly Chumley, a walrus who talks and acts similar to Lennie.

[edit] References

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