When authors refer to other great works, people, and events, it’s usually not accidental. Put on your super-sleuth hat and figure out why.
Pop Culture References
One of Min's defining traits is her love for old movies. She's constantly referencing plots and actors to help make sense of the world around her. What's most interesting about these shout-outs, though, is that none of the source material is real. Daniel Handler made up the details of all of them, which probably number in the dozens.
Take Feast of Starlings, for example, where a woman is "hunched over the stone oven while her blinded son plays that racing angry piece on the cello over and over" (43.10). Another touchstone for Min is Hawk Davies, a jazz musician who isn't real, either. Min writes one of his lyrics on the lid of her breakup box and "[she] can feel Hawk Davies flowing through every word [she] write[s]" (3.1).
Handler explained why he chose to make up these details instead of using real references in an interview. "The trouble with using real movies—or real anything—is that the reader brings their own baggage," he said. "If you say, 'The evening was like Breakfast At Tiffany's,' some people will think that means hopelessly elegant and some people will think it means overlong, with a racist caricature. If you make up a movie, then it means only what you intend it to mean."
Another effect of referencing fake movies is that the text has a timeless quality. To read more about this how this phenomenon works, click on over to "Setting."