: Re: How to do reference jokes right? There is a problem with reference jokes in general, and I just couldn't figure out a solution to them. Here's a demonstration: "Watch your step, there could

@Kevin153

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This is a basic problem with any allusion, the audience needs to understand the reference to get the full impact. If you have a narrowly targeted audience, and you aren't worried about your piece aging, you can go full on with contemporary allusions. Or, you can go the opposite route, and not include any allusions at all.

If you want to walk a middle path, you should probably be sparing with your allusions, add a little in-story context where appropriate, and stick with more universal general-knowledge allusions where you can. This also helps keep your story from feeling like a jokey parody, which is especially a danger if there's no legitimate reason the characters should know the allusions. Even Ready Player One, which built its entire plot around a plausible reason people in the future might study 80's pop culture, flirted with that danger in a way that makes it unlikely to age well.

The trade-off is between appealing to the audience that shares your references, and missing the one that doesn't. Ultimately, all you can do is try to make the rest of the work strong enough that a few missed allusions won't kill it. We still read Plato's dialogues, even though we miss all of his witty pop-culture references.

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