Pop cultureRee Hines and Anna Chan NBC News
3 minutes ago
Warner Bros. / Getty Images / NBC
Jim Carrey, Marilyn Manson and Jerry Seinfeld have all made mention of JFK's death in their works.
The assassination of President John F. Kennedy is a moment that's played out time and time again on television, in films and across other forms of entertainment. The unforgettable Zapruder footage and re-enactments of the tragedy that took place Nov. 22, 1963, have allowed it to serve as a central point in many Hollywood plots.
It will continue to take center stage as the 50th anniversary approaches. But despite the significance of the assassination — or rather because of it — JFK's death isn't always central to the story being told.
In fact, it's a moment so universal, seemingly random references to it are pervasive throughout pop culture — often where you'd least expect them.
Television
It wasn't surprising to watch the scene unfold on "Mad Men," where the time period of the drama dictates its inclusion. But on 1990s sitcom "Seinfeld"? That wasn't exactly where anyone would think to look for an assassination reference.
And yet, in a two-part episode titled "The Boyfriend," it played a pivotal, if indirect, role. When characters Kramer and Newman were both spit upon, a debate raged about whether a single loogie struck them both or if it was the work of a "second spitter," a nod to the infamous second-shooter theory that Lee Harvey Oswald had an accomplice in JFK's assassination.
That sort of allusion has become so ubiquitous, it's impossible to mention them all — at least here. But there are plenty that stand out, especially in television.
"The X Files" alone featured dozens of direct and indirect mentions throughout the series, including the name of the show's resident conspiracy theorists, The Lone Gunmen (who were later spun off into their own short-lived, self-titled show). And animated series "Family Guy" has paid irreverent tribute to the assassination in multiple episodes, from slamming an inept marksman for being "nearly as bad as Lee Harvey Oswald" to showing a JFK Pez dispenser take a bullet.
Even cult favorite "Doctor Who" used a still shot from the Zapruder reel (with the Ninth Doctor edited in) to illustrate the Time Lord's omnipresence throughout the years.
Movies
The unanticipated references are just as common in film. In 1994's "Ace Ventura: Pet Detective," Jim Carrey's leading man mock-confessed, "I was the second gunman on the grassy knoll!" And in the 2001 Ben Stiller comedy "Zoolander," a conspiracy buff (aptly played by David Duchovny of "The X-Files" fame) blamed male models for every assassination ever. And while Oswald wasn't model material, "those two lookers who capped Kennedy from the grassy knoll sure ... were."
The infamous grassy knoll got another shout out in the 2009 big-screen adaptation of Alan Moore's graphic novel "Watchmen," wherein super-antihero The Comedian was portrayed as having fired the fatal shot from there.
Music
Politics and music are common bedfellows. And in the case of JFK's death, songwriters from Billy Joel on down have woven that fateful day in Dallas into their melodies. Some have even courted controversy with their lyrics. Scottish band The Jesus and Mary Chain's 1992 single “Reverence” featured the lyrics, “I wanna die just like JFK / I wanna die on a sunny day / I wanna die just like JFK/ I wanna die in the USA.” The song was banned by a British music TV show, but reached No. 10 on UK music charts. The tune received airplay in the U.S., and was also included in the soundtrack for 1992’s “Pet Sematary II.”
Shocker rocker Marilyn Manson took things a little farther in 1999 with the video for his single “Coma White,” in which he and then-fiancée Rose McGowan portrayed JFK and first lady Jackie in a re-creation of the assassination. The video, filmed in February, collided with controversy before it was even released, when JFK Jr. died in a plane crash on July 16. After its release, Manson said in a statement, “I used the assassination of JFK as a metaphor for America's obsession and worship of violence. My statement was always intended to make people think of how they view, and sometimes participate in, these events.”
Songstress Lana Del Rey also re-enacted the assassination in her own fashion in the video for her 2012 song "National Anthem."
Video games
JFK has appeared in at least two video games, and 2004’s “JFK Reloaded” tested players’ knowledge of the assassination in a rather unexpected and very controversial way. The game, released on the 41st anniversary of JFK’s death, put players in the shoes of Oswald. The objective? To kill the president and see how closely gamers could come to matching the details of the murder as described by the Warren Commission.
In an interview on MSNBC, Kirk Ewing, the managing director for the company behind the game, defended the product. “We see (the game) as a natural extension of media interest in what is one of the world’s most pivotal historical events,” he explained.
“Call of Duty: Black Ops” took a much less controversial approach. The 2010 first-person shooter presented the president in cut screens that had him giving an assignment to protagonist Mason, and also hinted at a character’s participation in the president’s assassination. In the game’s “zombie” mode — where the objective is to kill the undead — gamers can choose to play as JFK.
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3 minutes ago
Jim Carrey, Marilyn Manson and Jerry Seinfeld have all made mention of JFK's death in their works.
The assassination of President John F. Kennedy is a moment that's played out time and time again on television, in films and across other forms of entertainment. The unforgettable Zapruder footage and re-enactments of the tragedy that took place Nov. 22, 1963, have allowed it to serve as a central point in many Hollywood plots.
It will continue to take center stage as the 50th anniversary approaches. But despite the significance of the assassination — or rather because of it — JFK's death isn't always central to the story being told.
In fact, it's a moment so universal, seemingly random references to it are pervasive throughout pop culture — often where you'd least expect them.
Television
It wasn't surprising to watch the scene unfold on "Mad Men," where the time period of the drama dictates its inclusion. But on 1990s sitcom "Seinfeld"? That wasn't exactly where anyone would think to look for an assassination reference.
And yet, in a two-part episode titled "The Boyfriend," it played a pivotal, if indirect, role. When characters Kramer and Newman were both spit upon, a debate raged about whether a single loogie struck them both or if it was the work of a "second spitter," a nod to the infamous second-shooter theory that Lee Harvey Oswald had an accomplice in JFK's assassination.
That sort of allusion has become so ubiquitous, it's impossible to mention them all — at least here. But there are plenty that stand out, especially in television.
"The X Files" alone featured dozens of direct and indirect mentions throughout the series, including the name of the show's resident conspiracy theorists, The Lone Gunmen (who were later spun off into their own short-lived, self-titled show). And animated series "Family Guy" has paid irreverent tribute to the assassination in multiple episodes, from slamming an inept marksman for being "nearly as bad as Lee Harvey Oswald" to showing a JFK Pez dispenser take a bullet.
Even cult favorite "Doctor Who" used a still shot from the Zapruder reel (with the Ninth Doctor edited in) to illustrate the Time Lord's omnipresence throughout the years.
Movies
The unanticipated references are just as common in film. In 1994's "Ace Ventura: Pet Detective," Jim Carrey's leading man mock-confessed, "I was the second gunman on the grassy knoll!" And in the 2001 Ben Stiller comedy "Zoolander," a conspiracy buff (aptly played by David Duchovny of "The X-Files" fame) blamed male models for every assassination ever. And while Oswald wasn't model material, "those two lookers who capped Kennedy from the grassy knoll sure ... were."
The infamous grassy knoll got another shout out in the 2009 big-screen adaptation of Alan Moore's graphic novel "Watchmen," wherein super-antihero The Comedian was portrayed as having fired the fatal shot from there.
Music
Politics and music are common bedfellows. And in the case of JFK's death, songwriters from Billy Joel on down have woven that fateful day in Dallas into their melodies. Some have even courted controversy with their lyrics. Scottish band The Jesus and Mary Chain's 1992 single “Reverence” featured the lyrics, “I wanna die just like JFK / I wanna die on a sunny day / I wanna die just like JFK/ I wanna die in the USA.” The song was banned by a British music TV show, but reached No. 10 on UK music charts. The tune received airplay in the U.S., and was also included in the soundtrack for 1992’s “Pet Sematary II.”
Shocker rocker Marilyn Manson took things a little farther in 1999 with the video for his single “Coma White,” in which he and then-fiancée Rose McGowan portrayed JFK and first lady Jackie in a re-creation of the assassination. The video, filmed in February, collided with controversy before it was even released, when JFK Jr. died in a plane crash on July 16. After its release, Manson said in a statement, “I used the assassination of JFK as a metaphor for America's obsession and worship of violence. My statement was always intended to make people think of how they view, and sometimes participate in, these events.”
Songstress Lana Del Rey also re-enacted the assassination in her own fashion in the video for her 2012 song "National Anthem."
Video games
JFK has appeared in at least two video games, and 2004’s “JFK Reloaded” tested players’ knowledge of the assassination in a rather unexpected and very controversial way. The game, released on the 41st anniversary of JFK’s death, put players in the shoes of Oswald. The objective? To kill the president and see how closely gamers could come to matching the details of the murder as described by the Warren Commission.
In an interview on MSNBC, Kirk Ewing, the managing director for the company behind the game, defended the product. “We see (the game) as a natural extension of media interest in what is one of the world’s most pivotal historical events,” he explained.
“Call of Duty: Black Ops” took a much less controversial approach. The 2010 first-person shooter presented the president in cut screens that had him giving an assignment to protagonist Mason, and also hinted at a character’s participation in the president’s assassination. In the game’s “zombie” mode — where the objective is to kill the undead — gamers can choose to play as JFK.
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