News You Can Bruise for 2011 August 28

It's time for another big HTML table! This time I'm interested in movie connections. IMDB's dataset relates movies to each other using many different predicates: "edited into", "remake of", "alternate language version of", and so on. I'm interested in two of the most common predicates, "referenced in" and "spoofed in". Specifically, I want to answer these questions:

• What movies have been most influential on other movies?
• Are there movies that are commonly parodied, but almost never referenced in earnest? (And vice versa.)

I think my table speaks for itself, but I'll give a legend above it and a little commentary below it. The table has two columns:

1. The most spoofed movies and TV shows (by number of "spoofed in" references)
2. The movies and TV shows most referenced in earnest (by number of "referenced in" references)

The little numbers are the counts of "spoofed in" or "referenced in" references for that movie or TV show.

A title in bold shows up on only one list. This doesn't mean that, for instance, "The X-Files" has never been spoofed, only that it's not spoofed enough to make it onto the "most spoofed" list. A title in italics shows up on both lists (or would, if I extended the lists a little bit), but it's in a much higher position on the "spoof" list (left column) or the "non-spoof" list (right column). If a title is neither bolded nor italicized, then it's in approximately the same position on the "spoof" and "non-spoof" lists.

At this point I should probably let the table do the talking, so here it is. If you hate data, you can skip the table.

	Most Spoofed	Most Referenced Seriously
1	Star Wars 279	Star Wars 1793
2	The Wizard of Oz 199	The Wizard of Oz 1397
3	"Star Trek" 180	"Star Trek" 1270
4	The Godfather 155	The Godfather 737
5	The Matrix 148	Psycho 693
6	2001: A Space Odyssey 141	Casablanca 622
7	Psycho 139	Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back 587
8	Raiders of the Lost Ark 134	Jaws 585
9	Jaws 120	"The Simpsons" 573
10	Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back 119	Gone with the Wind 534
11	The Exorcist 96	King Kong 527
12	King Kong 96	The Terminator 485
13	"Batman" 95	E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial 449
14	Pulp Fiction 93	2001: A Space Odyssey 448
15	Titanic 93	"Sesame Street" 448
16	Superman 89	Raiders of the Lost Ark 440
17	E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial 86	Apocalypse Now 422
18	Apocalypse Now 85	Frankenstein 379
19	The Shining 84	The Exorcist 374
20	"The Twilight Zone" 83	"The Twilight Zone" 366
21	The Terminator 81	"Saturday Night Live" 363
22	Casablanca 75	Scarface 361
23	Jurassic Park 74	Citizen Kane 358
24	Frankenstein 72	Pulp Fiction 350
25	Taxi Driver 71	Titanic 350
26	Rocky 68	The Shining 348
27	Alien 68	"Doctor Who" 348
28	The Silence of the Lambs 67	Alien 346
29	The Blair Witch Project 61	"The Oprah Winfrey Show" 344
30	Il buono, il brutto, il cattivo. 59	Taxi Driver 343
31	Terminator 2: Judgment Day 59	Ghost Busters 343
32	The Graduate 58	"The Flintstones" 334
33	Ghost Busters 57	Rocky 333
34	Gone with the Wind 56	Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi 328
35	Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi 56	The Matrix 326
36	It's a Wonderful Life 54	Back to the Future 323
37	Forrest Gump 52	The Silence of the Lambs 323
38	Goldfinger 52	"Batman" 317
39	Back to the Future 52	A Clockwork Orange 306
40	Dr. No 49	Terminator 2: Judgment Day 302
41	Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace 49	"Happy Days" 301
42	Gojira 48	Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs 298
43	Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde 48	The Sound of Music 293
44	Scarface 47	A Nightmare on Elm Street 289
45	Planet of the Apes 47	Superman 285
46	"Cops" 47	"Gilligan's Island" 284
47	"Scooby Doo, Where Are You!" 47	Dracula 282
48	Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs 46	"Star Trek: The Next Generation" 276
49	Dracula 45	"The X Files" 275
50	The Sound of Music 44	"The Brady Bunch" 271
51	Reservoir Dogs 44	Dr. No 270
52	Batman 44	"I Love Lucy" 269
53	Citizen Kane 43	First Blood 268
54	Goodfellas 43	Night of the Living Dead 262
55	Night of the Living Dead 43	"American Idol: The Search for a Superstar" 261
56	Carrie 43	Gojira 259
57	"Jeopardy!" 43	Jurassic Park 258
58	Saturday Night Fever 42	Dirty Harry 257
59	The Texas Chain Saw Massacre 41	The Texas Chain Saw Massacre 254
60	"American Idol: The Search for a Superstar" 40	Vertigo 253
61	Mary Poppins 40	It's a Wonderful Life 253
62	Full Metal Jacket 40	Aliens 243
63	Dirty Harry 40	Planet of the Apes 243
64	The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring 39	Batman 239
65	The Karate Kid 38	Il buono, il brutto, il cattivo. 236
66	"The Brady Bunch" 38	"Scooby Doo, Where Are You!" 231
67	Friday the 13th 37	The Graduate 229
68	RoboCop 37	Goldfinger 227
69	Risky Business 37	Deliverance 226
70	"I Love Lucy" 36	The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring 221
71	Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb 35	Blade Runner 220
72	"Star Trek: The Next Generation" 35	Die Hard 218
73	"The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson" 34	"Jeopardy!" 215
74	Close Encounters of the Third Kind 34	"Seinfeld" 215
75	"Baywatch" 33	Rosemary's Baby 214
76	Scream 33	Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace 213
77	Flashdance 33	The Lion King 211
78	Lady and the Tramp 33	Saturday Night Fever 210
79	First Blood 33	Mary Poppins 206
80	"The Oprah Winfrey Show" 32	Bambi 205
81	Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory 32	The Karate Kid 202
82	The Lion King 32	"Friends" 201
83	"The Flintstones" 32	"The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson" 200
84	Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom 32	Halloween 199
85	"24" 32	Reservoir Dogs 199
86	"Mission: Impossible" 32	Top Gun 198
87	The Seven Year Itch 32	Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb 196
88	Halloween 32	"The Muppet Show" 194
89	Spider-Man 31	"Buffy the Vampire Slayer" 193
90	Patton 31	"The Andy Griffith Show" 192
91	Rain Man 31	Forrest Gump 188
92	Thriller 31	Dawn of the Dead 188
93	Singin' in the Rain 30	Friday the 13th 188
94	Aliens 30	Jerry Maguire 187
95	A Clockwork Orange 30	Close Encounters of the Third Kind 186
96	Monty Python and the Holy Grail 30	Singin' in the Rain 185
97	Grease 30	"Dancing with the Stars" 180
98	Deliverance 30	West Side Story 177
99	Mission: Impossible 30	"Baywatch" 176
100	"The Sopranos" 30	Grease 175

I'm not terribly happy with this data. I suspect many "referenced in" references are actually spoofs, or are throwaway jokes that don't even rise to the level of "spoof". Are there really 179 non-spoof references to "The Lion King"? You know everyone's just riffing on the baby-lifting shot.

However, the reverse problem ("incorrectly regarded as spoofs") is nonexistent, so it's easy to spot things like The Blair Witch Project and "Cops" which only exist in our culture as things to make fun of; as well as things that are occasionally referenced seriously but much more frequently spoofed (The Matrix).