If you watched the ABC comedy, Modern Family, last night, then you know that stellar bicycle movie, Breaking Away, made a cameo appearance.
In a story line where a character (Phil) is teaching his wife and also a daughter how to work a high-tech home theater remote control, the movie on the home theater screen is none other than Breaking Away. The scenes are clear, showing the Cutters winning the Little 500 bike race at the University of Indiana.
A comedic touch is the TV show mimicking the Breaking Away celebration scene at the end when Dennis Quaid jumps into the arms of Daniel Stern after the Cutters win (being shown on the home theater screen) by using the same parallel celebration of the daughter hugging the dad when she successfully masters the remote control.
But I saw a deeper value to the Breaking Away cameo than just the TV show laughs because it shows that pop culture TV respects bicycling by using the Breaking Away scenes.
It's also part of a wider acceptance of bicycling as cool and mainstream in this country as evidenced by TV commercials made by companies such as Kia, Allstate Insurance, and Zyrtec allergy medicine using bicycles as positive components of their ads.
4 comments:
It's Indiana University...not University of Indiana.
It was so exciting to see the scene I was in, on modern family!
Thank you for pointing that out!
Just went to san luis obispo film festival fundraiser's presentation of Breaking Away, which is 35 years old. Still a terrific movie.
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