Bee Movie - Cultural References

Cultural References

The movie contains several references to film classics. Its very title is homophonous with the expression "B movie". The scene, in which Barry is floating in a pool of honey while his parents ask him what his plans for the future are, is a direct reference to The Graduate in which Benjamin Braddock in a swimming pool faces the same questions from his parents. A scene where Barry is trying to chase a honey truck has Barry mimicking movements of Indiana Jones in Raiders of the Lost Ark. When Ray Liotta is at the stand in court, Barry says, "This isn't a good fella. This is a bad fella!", referring to Liotta's role in Goodfellas. In the courtroom Mr. Montgomery is reading The Secret Life of Bees. Winnie-the-Pooh can be seen with Piglet as the man knocks out Pooh with a suction cup, and his honey (spelled "Hunny") is confiscated. When Barry questions the owner of Honey Farms (the honey company in the movie, whose name parodies Pepperidge Farm), it appears that the owner also owns the fictitious companies "Honeyburton" and "Honron", which parodies Halliburton and Enron. A brown bear that was released in the court bore a strong resemblance to Vincent the bear of Over the Hedge made a cameo but with no voice. It also contains a reference to George Lucas' company THX. The bees toppling a bear shaped honey bottle in their hive to spill the honey out is somewhat a reference to the toppling of Saddam Hussein’s statue in Firdos Square, during the 2003 Invasion of Iraq. Sting makes a brief appearance- he is accused of "casually stealing bee culture"- referring to his stage name "Sting", and is also noted that he isn't a policeman, either. When it is time to shut down honey production, the plant supervisor instructs one of his underlings with the statement "Turn your key sir!"; this is reference to "Sir, we are at launch, turn your key! Turn your key, sir!" from the movie WarGames (coincidentally Matthew Broderick who plays Adam Flayman portrays David Lightman in WarGames).

The scene where Barry plans the flower heist bears a striking resemblance to Ocean's Eleven. The scene where Barry and Vanessa continually slap each other and repeatedly state "Snap out of it!" bears a striking similarity to scenes from Moonstruck and Airplane!. Near the end of the film, a flight controller in the JFK Airport control tower exclaims if he's "kuckoo-ka-choo", a reference to "Mrs. Robinson" by Simon And Garfunkel (also from The Graduate) in response to the aircraft oddly hovering above ground.

Barry's parents are watching BeeNN, a direct parody of CNN. Barry is interviewed by a TV host named Bee Larry King (voiced by the actual Larry King) and mentions that there is a human called Larry King that also has his own talk show. In the beginning of the film, Barry is asked to sign a waiver before flying out with the "Pollen Jocks". Barry signs with his left hand. Jerry Seinfeld is actually left-handed.

At the graduation ceremony in the beginning of the movie, the seating areas all break up and move into a single file to go on the Honex tour. The traveling seating areas are similar to the real-life traveling theater system used in the Universe of Energy at Epcot.