Apple cider vinegar Is Pilates for you? 'Ambient gaslighting' 'Main character energy'
ENTERTAIN THIS
Harper Lee

A look at Harper Lee and 'To Kill A Mockingbird' in pop culture

Maeve McDermott, and Cara Kelly
USA TODAY

There are few authors, and books for that matter, that have touched modern culture more than Harper Lee and To Kill A Mockingbird. The legendary novelist's presence can be felt in everything from TV to pop music, despite her distaste for fame. Her stories also impacted generations of young artists who grew up reading the tales of Scout and Jem.

Upon news of her death Friday, we looked to our favorite pop cultural references to the classic piece of Americana.

Truman Capote

A close childhood friend, Lee said she based the character Dill on the fellow writer, who spent summers at his relatives' house next door. Lee helped report on the murder in Kansas in 1959 that became the basis for Capote's famous book, In Cold Blood.

The movies Infamous and Capote -- in which Sandra Bullock and Catherine Keener play Lee, respectively -- captured their friendship and lives as writers.

Taylor Swift

The songstress has been called the "the poet laureate of puberty" for her appeal to young women -- and those fans who feel Tay just gets them may have Lee to thank for that.

"In school, I loved reading To Kill a Mockingbird, and I'm very interested in any writing from a child's perspective," she told Rolling Stone in an interview in 2009.

The reference is fitting for someone who has written lyrics about feeling like an outsider, and got her start in the country music scene in Nashville.

"You know, you hear storytelling like in Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird and it just…it makes your mind wander," she said later in a promo for her record label Big Machine. "It makes you feel like it makes your world more vast. And you think about more things and greater concepts after you read something like that."

The Perks of Being a Wallflower

Stephen Chbosky includes How to Kill A Mockingbird in his own coming-of-age story, which follows the protagonist Charlie through his freshman year of high school. His English teacher encourages Charlie, also an outsider, to read the book as a bit of teen angst therapy.

The Simpsons

In its typically skewering way, The Simpsons paid homage to the impact of the book in several episodes including "Diatribe of a Mad Housewife," in which Homer is forced to read a romance novel that Marge writes.

"I swore never to read again after 'To Kill a Mockingbird' gave me no useful advice on killing mockingbirds. It did teach me not to judge a man based on the color of his skin, but what good does that do me?"

Tequila Mockingbird

Tim Federle's cocktail book is a silly yet enjoyable toast to literary heavy-weights. "Scholarly sips for word nerds, if you will—and the people who love them," or so the tagline says.

And after the loss of the namesake today, we might oblige.

'Mockingbird' author Harper Lee dies, age 89

Fans, celebrities, authors remember Harper Lee

Featured Weekly Ad