In Popular Culture
- Bertolt Brecht's play Mother Courage and Her Children mentions Gustavus Adolphus several times in the earlier scenes during which the characters are traveling with the Protestant Army. The Cook lampoons the "Hero King" by pointing out that first he sought to liberate Poland from the Germans, then sought to liberate Germany from the Germans, and made a profit on the deal. His irreverence for the king also includes the fact that, unlike Mother Courage and the Chaplain, the Cook is a Dutchman not a Swede.
- In the Ring of Fire series of novels by Eric Flint and others, Gustavus Adolphus is a major character, having not died in the Battle of Lützen. He helps a community of West Virginians, cosmically transported back into time, bring about a revolution of democracy throughout the Germanies. They in turn help to grow the Swedish empire through their technological knowledge of modern day warfare and the capabilities of mankind. They introduce many ideas to 17th century Europe such as radio, submarines, and airplanes. Gustavus Adolphus is portrayed as a tough, yet compassionate king with tolerant tendencies toward religion and the rights of the people to establish their own civil liberties.
- The Swedish Power Metal Band Sabaton made a song about Gustav Adolphus called The Lion from the North in their new Album Carolus Rex
- Gustav Adolphus is featured as a playable character in the turn-based strategy game, Civilization V: Gods and Kings.
Read more about this topic: Gustavus Adolphus Of Sweden
Famous quotes containing the words popular culture, popular and/or culture:
“Popular culture entered my life as Shirley Temple, who was exactly my age and wrote a letter in the newspapers telling how her mother fixed spinach for her, with lots of butter.... I was impressed by Shirley Temple as a little girl my age who had power: she could write a piece for the newspapers and have it printed in her own handwriting.”
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“The press is no substitute for institutions. It is like the beam of a searchlight that moves restlessly about, bringing one episode and then another out of darkness into vision. Men cannot do the work of the world by this light alone. They cannot govern society by episodes, incidents, and eruptions. It is only when they work by a steady light of their own, that the press, when it is turned upon them, reveals a situation intelligible enough for a popular decision.”
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“The aggregate of all knowledge has not yet become culture in us. Rather it would seem as if, with the progressive scientific penetration and dissection of reality, the foundations of our thinking grow ever more precarious and unstable.”
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