Cultural References
The golden ticket promotional gimmick, from which the episode receives its title, is a reference to the golden tickets from the 1964 Roald Dahl novel, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, as well as the 1971 and 2005 film adaptations of the book. Throughout the first half of the episode, Michael wears a purple suit and top hat similar to Willy Wonka, the character responsible for the promotion from which this episode takes its name. Blue Cross of Pennsylvania, the Dunder Mifflin client who receives the Golden Tickets, is a real-life division of Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association, an American health insurance company. After throwing away the Willy Wonka outfit, Michael wears a gray T-shirt advertising the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Pioneers, a minor league arena football team. One of the excuses Michael uses to avoid David's phone calls is that he is attending an "Obama fashion show", a reference to U.S. President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama.
Dwight Schrute makes knock knock jokes involving the KGB, the secret police and intelligence agency for the Soviet Union. Michael also makes a knock knock joke involving Buddha, with the punch-line that Pam "buttah" (butter, pronounced like Buddha) a slice of bread. Gautama Buddha was a spiritual teacher in the South Asian country Nepal who founded the religion Buddhism. During an office meeting in which Michael asks his employees to come up with other Golden Ticket-like ideas, Andy suggests the breakfast cereal brand Golden Grahams and American sitcom The Golden Girls before confessing he does not understand the assignment.
Read more about this topic: Golden Ticket (The Office)
Famous quotes containing the word cultural:
“The primary function of myth is to validate an existing social order. Myth enshrines conservative social values, raising tradition on a pedestal. It expresses and confirms, rather than explains or questions, the sources of cultural attitudes and values.... Because myth anchors the present in the past it is a sociological charter for a future society which is an exact replica of the present one.”
—Ann Oakley (b. 1944)