A Complete Pop-Culture Catalog of 'Boyhood'
If you’ve already seen Richard Linklater’s ambitious drama Boyhood, then your head’s probably spinning with the pop culture ephemera that passes through the movie. Linklater famously took 12 years to shoot the coming-of-age of its main character Mason (played by Ellar Coltrane) a boy growing up in Texas. One of the ways the film keeps track of the slow march of time is through pop culture moments like famous songs, movies, videogames, and books. Some of them serve as backdrops (remember the Wii?) while others get full scenes to themselves (turns out Mason’s a Gryffindor). Here’s our running list of the references we caught in chronological order. We’ll add more as we see the movie again, but be sure to weigh in with whatever ones we missed in the comments.
“Hate To Say I Told You So,” the Hives
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, by J.K. Rowling
Spider-Man T-shirt (Tobey Maguire era)
“Oops!…I Did It Again,” Britney Spears
Inflatable Woody doll from Toy Story
“Anthem Part Two” by Blink 182
Dragon Ball Z poster and bedspread in Mason’s room
“Soak Up The Sun,” Sheryl Crow
2003
Aqua-colored iMac G3
Oregon Trail 5 videogame
Gameboy Advance SP
2004
Folkmanis snowy owl hand puppet
2005
Purple Tamagotchi digital “pet”
Xbox 360
Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince, by J.K. Rowling
2006
iPod with white ear buds
Be Here to Love Me movie poster
“Could We,” Cat Power
“Do You Realize??"The Flaming Lips
2007
"Crank That,” Soulja Boy
RipStik skateboard
Brookstone’s FOM Fun pillows
Black MacBook
Motorola Razr cell phones
Wii console
"We’re All in This Together” from High School Musical
2008
Obama–Biden presidential election signs
Tropic Thunder, Pineapple Express, and The Dark Knight
The campfire conversation about Star Wars
2009–2010
Toms shoes
“Good Girls Go Bad,” Cobra Starship feat. Leighton Meester
“Telephone” video, Lady Gaga feat. Beyoncé
Silver MacBook Pro
2011
“She’s Long Gone,” the Black Keys
“Helena Beat,” Foster the People
FaceTime
“Somebody That I Used to Know,” Gotye
2012
“Suburban War,” Arcade Fire
Canon EOS 5D camera
Want to see Boyhood? Visit our Showtimes page to get tickets.
With additional reporting by Breanne Heldman
Photo credit: Everett Collection
