2004 History, Fun Facts, and Trivia

Quick Facts from 2004

• World-Changing Event: Facebook launched on February 4, 2004, from Mark Zuckerberg’s Harvard dorm room, open initially only to Harvard students. By the end of the year, it had expanded to most major universities. The social network that would eventually connect 3 billion people started as a way for college students to rate each other’s photos.
• Top Song: Yeah! by Usher featuring Lil Jon and Ludacris, which spent 12 consecutive weeks at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100
• Must-See Movies: The Incredibles, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Shaun of the Dead, Napoleon Dynamite, Mean Girls, Ray, and Million Dollar Baby
• People Magazine’s Sexiest Man Alive: Jude Law
• Notable Books: America (The Book) by Jon Stewart and The Five People You Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom
• Movie DVD: $19.99; Oscar Mayer bacon (1 lb.): $5.39; Oreo cookies (1 lb.): $2.99
• Super Bowl ad (30 seconds): $2.3 million
• The Funny Late Night Host: Jay Leno
• Chinese Zodiac: Year of the Monkey, associated with wit, curiosity, and a talent for mischief that occasionally crosses a line
• The Conversation: Should we invest in Google? And did you see what happened at the Super Bowl?

Top Ten Baby Names of 2004

Girls: Emily, Emma, Madison, Olivia, Hannah Boys: Jacob, Michael, Joshua, Matthew, Ethan

Fashion Icons and Sex Symbols

Gisele Bundchen, Britney Spears, Alicia Keys, Gwen Stefani, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Eva Longoria, Scarlett Johansson, Jennifer Garner, Sarah Jessica Parker, Teri Hatcher, Uma Thurman, Beyonce, Cameron Diaz, Cate Blanchett, Charlize Theron, Jennifer Aniston, Mischa Barton, Nicole Kidman, Naomi Watts, Sheryl Crow, Renee Zellweger, Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen (turned 18 on June 13), Sienna Miller, Rebecca Romijn, Fergie

The Heartthrobs

Jude Law, George Clooney, Usher, Johnny Depp, Hugh Laurie, Matt Damon, Brad Pitt, Justin Timberlake, Orlando Bloom, Jake Gyllenhaal, Heath Ledger, David Beckham, Ryan Reynolds

The Quotes

“You’re fired.” — Donald Trump, The Apprentice

“That’s hot.” — Paris Hilton, everywhere, constantly

“Heeaauughh!” — Howard Dean, the Iowa caucus concession speech that effectively ended his presidential campaign

“I am a gay American.” — New Jersey Governor James McGreevey, resigning

Time Magazine’s Person of the Year

George W. Bush, reelected in November 2004 over Democratic challenger John Kerry, became the first presidential candidate since 1988 to win both the Electoral College and the popular vote majority

Miss America and Miss USA

Miss America: Ericka Dunlap, Orlando, FL Miss USA: Shandi Finnessey, Missouri

We Lost in 2004

Old Dirty Bastard — Russell Jones, founding member of the Wu-Tang Clan and one of the most singular personalities in hip-hop history, died November 13, 2004, at age 35, from a cocaine and prescription painkiller overdose. He was in the recording studio at the time.

Marlon Brando, one of the most influential actors in American film history, creator of the modern method of acting, died July 1, 2004, at age 80, of pulmonary fibrosis.

Christopher Reeve, actor and spinal cord injury advocate, best known as Superman, died October 10, 2004, at age 52, from cardiac arrest following an infection related to his 1995 spinal cord injury.

Janet Leigh, actress, best known for the shower scene in Psycho, died October 3, 2004, at age 77.

Timothy the Tortoise,  a female tortoise who had reportedly been present at the bombardment of Sevastopol during the Crimean War in 1854, died in 2004 at an estimated age of 160, making her the last known survivor of that conflict.

America in 2004 — The Context

George W. Bush was running for reelection in one of the most bitterly divided presidential campaigns in recent memory, against Democratic Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts. The Iraq War, which had begun in March 2003, was well into its second year with no clear end in sight. Abu Ghraib photos had been published. The 9/11 Commission released its report. The economy was recovering from the 2001 recession. And somewhere in Cambridge, Massachusetts, a 19-year-old was building a website that would eventually do more to reshape American social and political life than most elections ever had.

The year 2004 is now commonly cited as the last moment before social media fundamentally changed how culture worked — the last year when a handful of television networks, radio stations, and print publications still largely controlled what the country talked about. Facebook launched in February. MySpace was already popular. Neither had yet become the dominant force that would arrive in the next few years. The last unified pop culture moment was still possible.

Facebook

Mark Zuckerberg launched “The Facebook” from his Harvard dorm room on February 4, 2004, originally restricted to Harvard students. Within months, it had expanded to other Ivy League schools and then to universities across the country. By the end of 2004, it had over one million registered users. The initial premise was simple: a directory of university students with photos and basic profile information. The feature that made it addictive — the News Feed, showing what your friends were doing in real time — did not arrive until 2006. The platform that now has approximately 3 billion monthly active users started as a way to connect college students who already lived within walking distance of each other.

The Super Bowl Halftime Show

During Super Bowl XXXVIII’s halftime show on February 1, 2004, Justin Timberlake reached over and removed a portion of Janet Jackson’s costume, briefly exposing her right breast to an estimated 140 million viewers. Timberlake described it as a “wardrobe malfunction.” The phrase immediately entered the language. The FCC received over 540,000 complaints and levied a $550,000 fine against CBS, which was later overturned in court. Jackson’s career suffered lasting damage while Timberlake’s largely did not, a disparity that was noted at the time and revisited more critically in subsequent years. The halftime show incident led CBS and other broadcasters to implement broadcast delays for live events.

The Curse of the Bambino Ends

The Boston Red Sox had not won a World Series since 1918, the last season Babe Ruth pitched for them before being sold to the New York Yankees. The supposed “Curse of the Bambino” had haunted Boston baseball for 86 years, including multiple near-misses and painful collapses. In 2004, the Red Sox trailed the Yankees three games to none in the American League Championship Series — no team had ever come back from that deficit — and won four straight. They then swept the St. Louis Cardinals in the World Series. The celebration in Boston was reported to be significant.

Google Goes Public

Google’s initial public offering on August 19, 2004, raised $1.67 billion at $85 per share, valuing the company at $23 billion. Analysts were divided on whether the price was reasonable. By 2024, adjusted for stock splits, the original $85 shares were worth over $17,000. The IPO was conducted through an unusual Dutch auction format, allowing small investors to participate alongside institutions. The founders, Sergey Brin and Larry Page, wore suits to the roadshow meetings and then returned to wearing their usual casual clothes. The decision to invest in Google in August 2004 is one of the most frequently regretted missed opportunities in American financial history.

Pop Culture Facts and History

Usher’s album Confessions sold over one million copies in its first week — the best opening week for any R&B album at that time — and produced four separate #1 singles: Yeah!, Burn, Confessions Part II, and My Boo. It was the dominant album of the year by any reasonable measure.

Friends aired its final episode on May 6, 2004, drawing 52.5 million viewers — the most-watched television episode of the entire 2000s decade. The cast had each been earning $1 million per episode in the final seasons. The 30-second advertising slots for the finale sold for $2 million each, the highest rate for any non-sports broadcast up to that time.

Sex and the City also aired its final episode in 2004, ending a six-season run that had fundamentally changed how television depicted women, relationships, and New York City.

Mean Girls, written by Tina Fey and released on April 30, 2004, became one of the most-quoted films of the decade, generating a vocabulary of insults, social hierarchies, and observations about high school dynamics that is still actively referenced twenty years later. On Wednesdays, people still wear pink.

Napoleon Dynamite opened on July 16, 2004, as a $400,000 indie film that grossed over $44 million at the box office and became one of the most-quoted comedies of its era. The phrase “Vote for Pedro” appeared on T-shirts across the country before the end of the summer.

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, written by Charlie Kaufman and directed by Michel Gondry, is regularly cited on best-films-of-the-2000s lists and is one of the most creatively ambitious studio releases of the decade.

Shaun of the Dead introduced the concept of the “zom-rom-com” and propelled Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright’s partnership to international prominence.

The Motorola Razr launched in 2004 at $499. With its impossibly thin metal casing and dramatic flip-close snap, it was the most desirable phone in America before the iPhone arrived three years later, rendering it quaint.

Nintendo released the Nintendo DS on November 21, 2004. Sony released the PlayStation Portable (PSP) in Japan the same year. Portable gaming had its most significant single year of product launches since the original Game Boy in 1989.

The original Star Wars trilogy was released on DVD for the first time in 2004, to enormous commercial success and considerable fan debate about the changes George Lucas had made since the original theatrical releases.

Ken Jennings won 74 consecutive games on Jeopardy! from June to November 2004, earning $2,520,700 — the longest winning streak and the highest winnings in the show’s history. His final correct question, which he answered incorrectly — “What is FedEx?” — ended the run. The entire country seemed to be watching.

Morgan Spurlock ate nothing but McDonald’s for 30 consecutive days for his documentary Super Size Me, gaining 25 pounds, developing elevated cholesterol and liver damage, and experiencing mood swings and decreased libido. McDonald’s announced the discontinuation of its Supersizing option shortly after the film’s release, stating the decision had nothing to do with the film. The timing was noted by everyone.

Ashlee Simpson was caught lip-syncing during her live performance on Saturday Night Live on October 23, 2004, when the wrong track began playing as she stood onstage with her microphone down. She performed a brief jig, then walked offstage. She blamed her band at the post-show press conference. The incident remains one of the most embarrassing live television moments of the decade.

Polaroid issued a public statement in 2004 asking consumers not to follow the instructions in OutKast’s “Hey Ya!“: “shake it like a Polaroid picture.” Shaking Polaroid photos has been unnecessary since 1972 and can actually damage the image. The song was too good for the advice to be followed.

A fully operational underground movie theater was discovered by police in the Paris Catacombs in 2004: a large screen, seating for an audience, projection equipment, a selection of film reels, a fully stocked bar, and a restaurant. Electrical cables provided power from an unknown source. When police returned with the electricians three days later, the equipment had been removed. A note had been left behind reading: “Do not try to find us.” The identity of those responsible and their current activities remain unknown.

Mehran Karimi Nasseri had been living in Terminal 1 of Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris since 1988 — 16 years — as a stateless refugee. His story inspired the 2004 Steven Spielberg film The Terminal starring Tom Hanks. Nasseri finally left the airport in 2006 after receiving legal residency. He returned to live in the airport in 2022 and died there in November 2022.

Dick Van Dyke, who had dropped out of high school during his senior year in 1944 to enlist in the military, received his high school diploma in 2004 at age 78.

Rolls-Royce introduced a self-retracting hood ornament in 2004: the Spirit of Ecstasy, valued at approximately $4,000, automatically retracts into the car’s body if touched or tampered with and returns only when the owner commands it. It was introduced specifically to deter theft. It has largely worked.

GIF image files, invented in 1987, finally became royalty-free worldwide in 2004 when the last of Unisys’s relevant patents expired. The removal of licensing requirements contributed to the format’s eventual ubiquity as the internet’s preferred medium for short looping animations and reaction images.

Tim Berners-Lee, the inventor of the World Wide Web, was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 2004. He is correctly addressed as Sir Tim Berners-Lee.

William Hung auditioned for American Idol in 2004 with a performance of Ricky Martin’s She Bangs that was neither tuneful nor technically proficient. The judges were blunt. Hung responded with “I already gave my best, and I have no regrets at all.” The clip became one of the most-viewed online videos of the year. Hung released an album. It sold.

During the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami on December 26, fishermen reported briefly seeing ancient submerged structures exposed as the sea receded before the tsunami waves arrived — “the remains of ancient temples and hundreds of refrigerator-sized blocks,” by one account, all swallowed back up before they could be properly documented.

The 2004 Paralympic Games yielded a notable finding: blind athletes competing without visual input made the same spontaneous facial expressions of victory and defeat as sighted competitors at the 2004 Olympics, providing strong evidence that certain fundamental human emotional expressions are innate rather than visually learned.

Deadpool was described in his 2004 Marvel Comics debut as “Ryan Reynolds crossed with a shar-pei.” Reynolds read the description, recognized it as a physical description of himself, and decided he was destined to play the character. It took twelve years, but he was eventually correct.

In the Friends finale, Monica and Chandler buy a house in the suburbs. The view from the front steps visible through the window was a stock photo — specifically the same image used as the McAllister family home in Home Alone. Monica and Chandler bought Kevin McAllister’s house.

Jimmy Kimmel Live! has not aired live since 2004, when actor Thomas Jane delivered an unscripted profane outburst that network censors could not adequately manage in real time. The show has maintained a pre-tape format since.

Eminem released a song in 2004 dissing Michael Jackson. In 2007, Jackson responded by purchasing the publishing rights to Eminem’s music catalog. This is generally considered the more effective counterargument.

The Disasters

The 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami struck on December 26, triggered by an undersea earthquake off the coast of Sumatra, estimated at magnitude 9.1 to 9.3 — the third largest earthquake ever recorded. The tremor lasted nearly ten minutes. Tsunami waves up to 100 feet high struck the coastlines of Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India, Thailand, and 14 other countries. Nearly 228,000 people were killed, making it one of the deadliest natural disasters in recorded history. The disaster prompted the largest international aid response in history to that point.

The Beslan school siege began on September 1, 2004, when Chechen and Ingush militants took over 1,100 people hostage — mostly children and parents attending the first day of school — at School Number One in Beslan, North Ossetia, Russia. The siege lasted three days. When it ended with Russian security forces storming the building, over 330 hostages were dead, including 186 children.

The Scandals

James McGreevey, the Democratic Governor of New Jersey, resigned on August 12, 2004, with the announcement “I am a gay American,” after revelations of an extramarital affair with Israeli citizen Golan Cipel, whom McGreevey had appointed to a homeland security position for which Cipel had no relevant qualifications. The appointment had attracted scrutiny before the personal relationship became public. McGreevey became the first openly gay governor in American history, though under circumstances he would presumably have preferred to be different.

CBS anchor Dan Rather reported on CBS’s 60 Minutes on Wednesday, September 8, 2004, that documents had been obtained showing that President George W. Bush had received preferential treatment during his Air Force National Guard service. Within hours, online analysts — primarily bloggers — pointed out that the documents appeared to have been produced with a modern word processor rather than a 1970s typewriter, noting the use of proportional spacing and a superscript “th” character that would have been unusual for the era. CBS and Rather initially defended the story. Rather, eventually acknowledged the documents could not be authenticated. He left CBS the following year. The incident is widely credited with establishing the political influence of online media and bloggers.

Britney Spears married childhood friend Jason Alexander — not the Seinfeld actor — in Las Vegas at 5:30 a.m. on January 3, 2004. The marriage was annulled 55 hours later. She married Kevin Federline eight months afterward.

Charles Manson applied for a marriage license in 2004 to marry 25-year-old Afton Elaine Burton. The license was eventually voided after investigators discovered that Burton and an associate planned to use Manson’s body as a tourist attraction after his death by obtaining legal control over his remains. The marriage did not take place.

The Habits

Wearing yellow LiveStrong bracelets; watching American Idol results shows live; eating low-carb everything (Atkins, South Beach); buying songs on iTunes for 99 cents; having a MySpace page with a carefully chosen profile song; owning a Motorola Razr; quoting Napoleon Dynamite at anyone who would listen; and debating whether the Red Sox actually broke the curse or whether the curse was never real.

Nobel Prize Winners

Physics — David J. Gross, H. David Politzer, and Frank Wilczek for the discovery of asymptotic freedom in the theory of the strong interaction, explaining why quarks behave as free particles at very short distances
Chemistry — Aaron Ciechanover, Avram Hershko, and Irwin Rose for the discovery of ubiquitin-mediated protein degradation, explaining how cells dispose of damaged or unneeded proteins
Medicine — Richard Axel and Linda B. Buck for discoveries of odorant receptors and the organization of the olfactory system, explaining how humans can distinguish approximately 10,000 different smells
Literature — Elfriede Jelinek — Austrian playwright and novelist, for the musical flow of voices and counter-voices in novels and plays that show the absurdity of society’s clichés
Peace — Wangari Maathai, a Kenyan environmental and political activist, the first African woman to receive the Nobel Peace Prize, for her contribution to sustainable development, democracy, and peace through the Green Belt Movement she founded
Economics — Finn E. Kydland and Edward C. Prescott  for their contributions to dynamic macroeconomics, particularly the time consistency of economic policy

2014 Christmas Gifts and First Appearances

Bratz dolls, Dancing Dora the Explorer, Nintendo DS, iPod Mini, the Motorola Razr

2004 National Toy Hall of Fame Inductees

G.I. Joe, Rocking Horse, Scrabble

Broadway in 2004

Wicked opened in October 2003 and, by 2004, was the most talked-about show on Broadway, generating a devoted following that would keep it running for over twenty years and turn Idina Menzel and Kristin Chenoweth into stars.

Avenue Q won the Tony Award for Best Musical in 2004, beating out Wicked in an upset that surprised nearly everyone and pleased Avenue Q’s producers enormously. It is a show about puppets dealing with unemployment, racism, and the internet. It won Best Musical.

Best Film Oscar Winner

The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, directed by Peter Jackson, won Best Picture at the 76th Academy Awards in February 2004, presented for the 2003 film year — along with all eleven other categories in which it was nominated, a record it shares with Ben-Hur and Titanic. Peter Jackson and Elijah Wood skipped all official Oscar parties afterward and attended a Lord of the Rings fan gathering instead.

2004 Entries to the National Film Registry

Ben-Hur (released in 1959)
The Blue Bird (released in 1918)
A Bronx Morning (released in 1931)
Clash of the Wolves (released in 1925)
The Court Jester (released in 1956)
D.O.A. (released in 1950)
Daughters of the Dust (released in 1991)
Duck and Cover (released in 1951)
Empire (released in 1964)
Enter the Dragon (released in 1973)
Eraserhead (released in 1977)
Garlic Is As Good As Ten Mothers (released in 1980)
Going My Way (released in 1944)
Jailhouse Rock (released in 1957)
Kannapolis, N.C. (released in 1941)
Lady Helen’s Escapade (released in 1909)
The Nutty Professor (released in 1963)
OffOn (released in 1968)
Popeye the Sailor Meets Sindbad the Sailor (released in 1936)
Pups Is Pups (released in 1930)
Schindler’s List (released in 1993)
Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (released in 1954)
Swing Time (released in 1936)
There It Is (released in 1928)
Unforgiven (released in 1992)

Top Movies of 2004

1. Shrek 2
2. Spider-Man 2
3. The Passion of the Christ
4. Meet the Fockers
5. The Incredibles
6. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
7. The Day After Tomorrow
8. The Bourne Supremacy
9. National Treasure
10. Polar Express

Most Popular TV Shows of 2004

1. American Idol (Fox)
2. CSI (CBS)
3. Desperate Housewives (ABC)
4. Survivor: Palau (CBS)
5. Survivor: Vanuatu (CBS)
6. CSI: Miami (CBS)
7. Without a Trace (CBS)
8. Everybody Loves Raymond (CBS)
9. Monday Night Football (ABC)
10. The Apprentice (NBC)

Friends ended its 10-season run in 2004, with 52.5 million viewers tuning in for its finale. Sex and the City also ended in 2004. The Apprentice with Donald Trump made “You’re fired” the most quoted phrase on television. Lost premiered on September 22, 2004, to 18.6 million viewers — the biggest drama series debut in four years.

2004 Billboard Number One Songs

December 13, 2003 – February 13, 2004: Hey Ya! — OutKast
February 14 – February 20: The Way You Move — OutKast featuring Sleepy Brown
February 21 – February 27: Slow Jamz — Twista featuring Kanye West and Jamie Foxx
February 28 – May 21: Yeah! — Usher featuring Lil Jon and Ludacris
May 22 – July 16: Burn — Usher
July 17 – July 23: I Believe — Fantasia Barrino
July 24 – August 6: Confessions Part II — Usher
August 7 – August 20: Slow Motion — Juvenile featuring Soulja Slim
August 21 – September 10: Lean Back — Terror Squad featuring Fat Joe and Remy Ma
September 11 – October 29: Goodies — Ciara featuring Petey Pablo
October 30 – December 10: My Boo — Usher and Alicia Keys
December 11 – December 31: Drop It Like It’s Hot — Snoop Dogg featuring Pharrell

Usher spent approximately 28 weeks at #1 in 2004 across four separate singles. OutKast spent the first two months of the year at #1 and released two of the most recognizable songs of the decade. Between them, these two acts owned 2004 radio.

Biggest Pop Artists of 2004

Usher, OutKast, Alicia Keys, Kanye West, Beyonce, Jay-Z, Maroon 5, Nelly, Ciara, Snoop Dogg, Britney Spears, Gwen Stefani, Green Day, Modest Mouse, The Killers, Franz Ferdinand, Keane, Hoobastank, Bowling for Soup, Simple Plan

Sports Champions of 2004

World Series: Boston Red Sox broke the 86-year “Curse of the Bambino” by defeating the St. Louis Cardinals 4-0 in the Series, after coming back from 3-0 down against the Yankees in the ALCS — the first team in baseball history to overcome that deficit
Super Bowl XXXVIII: New England Patriots  defeated the Carolina Panthers 32-29 in a game most people remember for its halftime show
NBA Champions: Detroit Pistons — defeated the Los Angeles Lakers 4-1; the Pistons had no player in the top 15 in MVP voting that year, winning entirely through teamwork and defense
Stanley Cup: Tampa Bay Lightning — defeated the Calgary Flames 4-3
U.S. Open Golf: Retief Goosen
U.S. Open Tennis: Men/Women: Roger Federer / Svetlana Kuznetsova
Wimbledon: Men/Women: Roger Federer / Maria Sharapova
NCAA Football Champions: Southern California
NCAA Basketball Champions: Connecticut
Kentucky Derby: Smarty Jones — won the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness and then lost the Belmont by a length, denying him the Triple Crown in front of 120,139 people at Belmont Park

Olympic Honorable Mention: Michael Phelps won 8 medals at the 2004 Athens Olympics — 6 gold and 2 bronze — at age 19, announcing his arrival as the most decorated swimmer the sport had yet produced. He would go on to win 23 gold medals over four Olympic Games.

FAQ — 2004 History, Facts and Trivia

Q: What was the World-Changing Event of 2004?
A: Facebook launched on February 4, 2004, from Mark Zuckerberg’s Harvard dorm room. It was initially open only to Harvard students. It now has approximately 3 billion monthly active users.

Q: What ended the Curse of the Bambino?
A: The Boston Red Sox won the 2004 World Series, their first championship since 1918. The more remarkable achievement came in the ALCS, where they became the first team in baseball history to overcome a 3-0 series deficit against the New York Yankees.

Q: What happened at the Super Bowl halftime show in 2004?
A: Justin Timberlake removed a portion of Janet Jackson’s costume during their performance, briefly exposing her breast to approximately 140 million viewers. Timberlake called it a “wardrobe malfunction,” a phrase that immediately entered the language. The FCC levied a $550,000 fine against CBS. Jackson’s career was significantly damaged; Timberlake’s was not.

Q: What was the Google IPO of 2004?
A: Google went public on August 19, 2004, raising $1.67 billion at $85 per share. The valuation seemed high to some analysts at the time. Adjusted for splits, those $85 shares were worth over $17,000 by 2024.

Q: What was the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami?
A: An undersea earthquake off Sumatra on December 26, 2004, estimated at magnitude 9.1, triggered tsunami waves reaching up to 100 feet that struck 14 countries across the Indian Ocean region. Nearly 228,000 people were killed. It remains one of the deadliest natural disasters in recorded history.

Q: What did Ken Jennings do on Jeopardy in 2004?
A: Won 74 consecutive games between June and November 2004, earning $2,520,700 — the longest winning streak and highest winnings in the show’s history. He was defeated when he incorrectly responded, “What is FedEx?” to a question whose answer was H&R Block.

Q: What movie won Best Picture at the 2004 Oscars?
A: The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King won all eleven categories it was nominated for, including Best Picture, equaling the record set by Ben-Hur and Titanic.

Q: What was Napoleon Dynamite, and why did everyone quote it?
A: A low-budget independent film released in July 2004 about a socially awkward Idaho teenager. Made for approximately $400,000, it grossed over $44 million at the box office. Its deadpan dialogue and specific vocabulary — “Vote for Pedro,” “Gosh!,” “I caught you a delicious bass” — spread through American high schools and college campuses faster than almost any other film of the decade.