LUCIDMEDIA

A St. Patrick’s Salute to Irish Icons in Pop Culture

Written by Adam A. Donaldson Tuesday, 17 March 2009 09:41

In honour of the yearly debauchery known as St. Patrick’s Day, we salute these Irish icons of popular culture that remind us that the green, white and orange stands for more than drunken revelry and quirky accents.

1) U2

Until No Line on the Horizon was released, I had almost forgotten that U2 was more than something Bono did when he wasn’t telling world leaders what to do. What can I say about the fantastic four of Bono, Adam Clayton, Larry Mullen and the Edge except that they’ve been beating the odds and the expectations for more than 30 years now. Their upcoming tour 360° is expected to be one of the biggest – if not the biggest – tours of the year, and they always immediately throw the cobwebs off a dusty music industry with each new release. Never unafraid to try something new, U2 looks like they could have the same longevity as the Rolling Stones. And to think it all started in Dublin.

2) Leopold Bloom

Ulysses by James Joyce recently made it back on the pop culture radar thanks to the fact that it was Ben Linus’ reading material of choice when he recently boarded Ajira Air Flight 316 on Lost. Bloom is the protagonist of Ulysses, loosely based on the journey of Odysseus in The Odyssey, and he stands as one of the largest figures ever put to page in Irish literature. In fact, June 16th is recognized by Joyce aficionados as Bloomsday, in recognition of his day-long journey through Dublin as chronicled, in the book, on June 16th, 1904. Although, only a few of us have ever made it through to the end, Bloom and Ulysses stand as one of the pinnacles of modern literature thanks to timeless themes and a semi-morose disposition.

3) Patty O’Brien

He’s one of Dr. Evil’s top henchmen; an ex-IRA assassin that leaves a charm from his bracelet on each of his victims, a piece of evidence that Scotland Yard would love to get their hands on. For Patty though, it’s just simply another example of how they’re always after his lucky charms. However those charms weren’t quite so lucky when Patty was killed Lupe Vélez-style (in a toilet) while confronting super-spy Austin Powers.

4) Chief O’Hara

He was Ed McMahon to Commissioner Gordon’s Johnny Carson on the 1960s Batman series starring Adam West. Chief O’Hara exemplified the great qualities of all Irish cops: loyalty, agreeability, the willingness to defer authority to a man dressed as a bat and the teenage boy who’s his “ward.” But in all seriousness, the “Irish Cop” archetype has been pertinent to a great many film and TV stories, up to and including the Academy Award winning crime drama The Departed.

5) Banshee

Sean Cassidy was an Irish cop in actual Ireland when he was recruited to be part of the new X-Men being put together by Professor Xavier to rescue the original five being held prisoner on the living island Krakoa. He went on to serve on numerous incarnations of the team, but retired from active status to be with his love Moira MacTaggart; like any good Irishman though, he was there when his former teammates called. Unfortunately, his sonic scream powers couldn’t save him from the revenge minded Vulcan in the miniseries Deadly Genesis. He has yet to be the recipient of a traditional X-Men resurrection. Seriously though, those guys are worse than Cylons.

6) Chief O’Brien

Miles Edward O’Brien was arguably the most relatable character developed for any of the modern Treks; a working class, non-commissioned officer and family man that kept the temperamental systems on Deep Space Nine functioning for seven long years. He was also a popular target for the show’s writers in what was infamously called “O’Brien Must Suffer” episodes. In these, the Chief found himself tortured, humiliated or otherwise beaten down. For example, there was the time he was put on trial for war crimes by the Cardassians or the episode when he experienced a 70 year prison sentence – in which he killed his cell mate – over a matter of minutes. But as the writer’s observed it was because of his universal appeal that they knew the Chief’s plight would immediately gain sympathy from the audience.

7) The Simpsons

The Simpsons are so replete with Irish references that there’s an entire page dedicated to them at the Simpsons’ Archive. Like in “Homer the Vigilante” when Grandpa Abe Simpson asserts his usefulness by noting that he’s the one that drove the Irish out of Springfield in 1904. “And a very fine job you did of it too,” agreed what I suppose was the one Irishman that Grandpa must have missed for some reason. Later on we learn from Bart – in an odd bit of insight – that the Springfield tradition of Whacking Day, a day where residents beat snakes to death, was started as an excuse to beat up the Irish. (Probably until Grandpa chased them out entirely.) Of course, religion factors into The Simpsons a lot, and in a famous exchange during “The Frying Game” the protestant Reverend Lovejoy mocks the attire of an Irish Catholic priest who retorts, “Why don’t you go home and have sex with your wife?” resulting in a literal Bible brawl. For the whole list, go to: http://www.snpp.com/guides/irish.refs.html

8) The O’Doyles

Don’t know the O’Doyles? Well, you should. They turn up throughout the Adam Sandler movie Billy Madison in the form of several obnoxious kids that are both spoiled and really bratty. Basically wherever Billy ended up, there was always an O’Doyle plaguing the existence of some school, making life miserable for the down-trodden and geeky. “O'Doyle, I've got a feeling your whole family's going down,” Billy advises the 12th Grade O’Doyle to no avail. It’s not too long later on that the entire O’Doyle clan is seen driving off a cliff during a vigorous “O’Doyle Rules!” chant. This extreme self-confidence and constant preparedness to fight is typical trait of movie characters of Irish decent, although the so-called luck of the Irish didn’t work in the O’Doyles’ favour.

9) The Guitar Player

Probably not the most famous example, but Glen Hansard’s character from Once is a true, Irish underdog story in the best sense. Made for a couple of hundred thousand pounds, this low key musical made a big splash worldwide and went on to win the Academy Award for Best Song in 2008. Hansard, who was a real life street musician before making Once, is kind of indicative of the Irish success story of making something out of nothing. The film’s songs speak of love and longing and unrequited desire all that great stuff that the Irish have been writing about for centuries.

10) (tie) Lucky and the Leprechaun

No list of Irish pop culture icons would be complete without a mention of the wee people, and these are the two most famous representations I can think of. Lucky is the adorable imp that’s always trying to keep the grubby hands of selfish kids off his sugary cereal, often to no avail. But at least he never killed a man. The title character from Leprechaun though, he had some issues. He tricks people into taking a piece of gold from his stash and then disembowelling them for the trouble. Far from adorable, he’s an ugly wart-covered jerk of a little person that’ll bite your face off if given half the chance. Just remember: it’s not nice to make fun of a leprechaun.