A cultural divide?

[damigella]

"here encountering the first knot in the smooth skein of her argument." (V. Woolf, Orlando: A Biography)
"the smooth skein of his imagination had encountered the first knot:" (my fic A Member Of The Wedding)

How come quotations from Gone With The Wind, The Muppet Show or The Little Mermaid (Disney, not Andersen) are immediately recognized while a sentence lifted almost verbatim from Virginia Woolf goes unnoticed? 
Maybe I should use precise quotations. Maybe it's a US/UK issue. Feedback appreciated.

Comments

[damigella-314.livejournal.com]

"required in high school"
That's a clever idea. Knew you're a thinking person - nothing like high-school requirements to thoroughly destroy your enjoyment of anything.
I learned most of my English privately, not at school, and never had to read a line in English I didn't choose to. Also, buying books in English used to be very expensive, so I read the few I had over and over again.

But would Gone With The Wind be popular? Or the other two programs with people above age 7?

[knitty-woman.livejournal.com]

There are a few quotes from GWTW that are famous, largely because of the movie rather than the book. As for The Muppet Show, the people most likely to recognize the quotes are in their 40s and 50s, since the show aired in the early evenings in the 1970s.

[selkie3.livejournal.com]

Most I believe will be familiar with Gone With The Wind, but more so with the movie than the book format. And even then, mainly to cultural/pop references to the movie rather than actually having seen it.

Personally I haven't seen the Muppet Show, and I've only seen the Disney version of The Little Mermaid a few times. That movie gave me fish nightmares as a child :).

[damigella-314.livejournal.com]

I'm laughing at the fish nightmares. And I feel very old because I never got a chance to see The Little Mermaid as a child.