The Top 10: Fiction that changed real-life behaviour

From Scoop to Buffy the Vampire Slayer, the best invented insider cultures that came to be

Damian Counsell asked for novels or films whose invented insider culture influenced real life. He started off with The Godfather, Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy and Saturday Night Fever. “It’s the whole ‘imagined a world that wasn’t, put it in a film, then it came to be’ thing I’m interested in.” Here are 10 more, in date order.

1. Scoop by Evelyn Waugh, 1938. After journalists realise they’re not going to bring down a president (see no 4), they still think of themselves as colourful rogues abroad. Nominated by Henry Jeffreys.

2. On the Road by Jack Kerouac. “Beautifully written book that has changed millions of lives, in every case for the worse,” says Jonathan Law.

3. Dr Strangelove by Stanley Kubrick, 1964. “Ronald Reagan wanted to see the War Room as depicted in the film, only to be told there wasn’t one,” according to Paul T Horgan.

4. The Sweeney, TV series 1975-78. “The Sweeney’s doing 90/ ’Cause they’ve got the word to go./ They get a gang of villains/ In a shed up at Heathrow,” according to Squeeze. This is how police detectives see themselves, says Peter A Russell.

5. All the President’s Men, 1976. Most journalists want to bring down a president, and many of them think Woodward and Bernstein helped prosecute Nixon (reality: they didn’t), as Tim Almond points out.

6. Scarface by Brian De Palma, 1983. “There are a vast number of gangster films beloved by real hoods,” says Richard T Kelly. “Scarface surely biggest in our times.” Sahar Z reminds us that ‏Walter Schiavone, a Naples crime boss, built a mansion to the exact spec of the one in the film.

7. Wall Street, 1987. Financial traders started dressing like Gordon Gekko after the film. Damian Counsell and Tim Almond again. ‏

8. Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction, by Quentin Tarantino, 1992 and 1994. “Using handguns gangster-style, rotated 90 degrees, is apparently a screenwriters’ invention,” says Alan Beattie. This was confirmed by Roberto Saviano, the journalist who investigates organised crime in Italy, according to Sahar Z: “Italian hitmen were missing targets by trying to shoot with guns tilted, like in Tarantino films.”

9. ‏Clueless, 1995 comedy film based on Emma by Jane Austen. Credited with the death of Grunge among American teens. Thanks to Damian Counsell, Tim Almond and Elliot Kane.

10. Buffy the Vampire Slayer, TV series 1997-2003. “Joss Whedon specifically invented a teen argot for it because he had no idea how teens spoke, and it took off,” says Damian Counsell.

As ever, some of my contributors failed to take this important list seriously. Dave Weeden says: “I’d like to think that The Princess Bride influenced real itinerant sword fighters, pirates, and kidnappers.” According to Ahir Shah, “many people have a false impression of the scare factory’s inner workings on account of Monsters, Inc.”.

Paul T Horgan nominated Yes Minister and Tom Hamilton suggested The Thick Of It, and I know what they mean. Both contributed to the popular caricature of politicians as hapless puppets, and may have influenced some civil servants and spin doctors to think they were the backroom wielders of real power, but much of their appeal was in how true to life they were.

Next week: Good coups, after Daniel Hannan, commenting on Turkey, said “coups are never – never – an answer”.

Coming soon: Words That Describe Themselves, such as awkward, curt and languid.

Listellany: A Miscellany of Very British Top Tens, From Politics to Pop, is available as an e-book for £3.79. Your suggestions, and ideas for future Top 10s, in the comments please, or to me on Twitter, or by email to top10@independent.co.uk