Thread: Should I explain all of my pop culture references?

So I have a character who likes to make pop culture references (mostly to movies, but sometimes other things) when she talks. And her love interest generally gets them and that's part of their thing together.

So the question is, is there any rules/good info on whether to explain your references, like where they come from? Like many people will get them, and some won't, but if I explained each one just for the ones who don't, it dumbs down the entire book, ya know?

So one of them I figured was a little more obscure (and would seem weird if you didn't know it was a quote) so I went ahead and added a little bit mentioning that. Then another quote, I thought about it and figured that if you didn't know the references, then it actually still made sense but if you DID know the reference, then it's like, I don't know, finding a special treat.

Anyways, this one's a bit of a question mark for me, love to hear anyone else's thoughts on this.

No.

Plenty of books make allusions, references, etc. to things and people. But the only situation in which these things are all explained is in, for example, fantasy books like Lord of the Rings. Part of good literary analysis is doing research on references you don't understand. If a reader is truly intrigued by your book, they'll find out for themselves if they don't already know.

Janis is probably right, but an exception would be if you are writing to an audience that is very different from yourself, especially age-wise. The farther apart you and your audience are in age, the more explanations you need. Also, if you are writing a period piece and are using cultural references from that time period, you need more explanations. Few people living today remember the 1920s so '23-skidoo' would need to be explained. C.M.

I wouldn't bother. Might be worth explaining that she makes pop culture references, and that's one of the things between her and her boyfriend - but you shouldn't explain them to your readers. Maybe a few, but definitely not the majority. Let the ones that mean something to each reader stand out, without cramming the rest down their throat - they're reading for the story, not for an explanation of every reference to a book, movie or TV show your characters spout.

I agree with Nicholas. I don't think that references need to be explained as long as they make sense within the story. You could use the obscure reference for the first one and explain the character's penchant for reciting film lines, and then let the reader enjoy finding the rest. Of course, if you're worried that some of the story might not make sense, you could always put the references in italics rather than explaining them.

I'm not sure age difference, between you and your readers, is really a problem though. The Harry Potter books have loads of characters named after people from ancient mythology and supernatural references, that few of JKR's readers would have known when first reading the books.

And consensus says: no. Thanks guys. I am going to try to make them blend in and we'll see what happens. Most of her references are actually to older films and such, which means that, ironically, older people will probably get it and only those younger people who are into that sort of thing will understand. But it's really important to me to respect the intelligence of my readers - just don't want to confuse people either.