Golden Gate Bridge in popular culture
As a prominent American landmark, the Golden Gate Bridge has been used in a variety of media, often shown or mentioned where San Francisco, California is the setting of the story.
Films
Destroyed
Golden Gate Bridge has been destroyed in the following films.
- It Came from Beneath the Sea (1955): Destroyed by a giant octopus.
- Superman (1978): Partially destroyed by an earthquake.
- The Core (2003): Destroyed by unfiltered solar radiation from the Sun.
- 10.5 (2004): Destroyed by a major earthquake.
- X-Men: The Last Stand (2006): Destroyed and moved to Alcatraz by Magneto, one of X-Men's villains. Shown to be rebuilt at the end.
- Mega Shark Versus Giant Octopus (2009): Destroyed by a giant monster attack.
- Monsters vs. Aliens (2009): During a battle with the probe, it topples over onto the span and resulting in the south tower collapsing.
- Meteor Storm (2010): Destroyed by a meteor shower.
- Pacific Rim (2013): Destroyed by a giant kaiju.
- Godzilla (2014): Destroyed by a Godzilla after it cuts through the span.
- San Andreas (2015): A mega-tsunami carrying a cargo ship hits the bridge, causing it to collapse.
- Terminator Genisys (2015): Destroyed by the nuke
Other appearances
It has featured also in the following movies.[1]
- The Maltese Falcon (1941)
- Dark Passage (1947)
- Vertigo (1958)
- The Love Bug (1968): The bridge is seen when Herbie is about to launch himself off the bridge.
- Herbie Rides Again (1974): The bridge is seen on certain scenes.
- An Eye for an Eye 1981 film starring Chuck Norris. The bridge can be seen when Norris drives his car through it.
- National Lampoon's Vacation (1983) - seen as one of the postcards in the opening credits.
- A View to a Kill (1985): Zorin (antagonist) attempts to kill Bond (protagonist), who is hanging from one of the mooring ropes of an airship, by smashing him into the top of the bridge. Bond manages to secure the airship to the bridge, and a fist-fight at the top of the bridge ensues.
- Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986): The bridge is almost hit by Admiral Kirk's out of control Klingon Bird of Prey.
- Flight of the Navigator (1986): David flies the Trimaxion Drone Ship under the bridge.
- The Abyss (1989): The bridge is missed
- Homeward Bound II: Lost in San Francisco (1996): The Seavor family drives across the bridge to go to San Francisco International Airport. The pets later cross the bridge on their way home.
- Bicentennial Man (1999): Seen expanded in the future (circa 2200s) with a two-tiered roadway added.[2]
- Hulk (2003)
- Land of the Lost (2009)
- Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol (2011): The bridge is missed
- Rise of the Planet of the Apes (2011): The bridge is hit and disrupted traffic, but not destroyed.
- Inside Out (2015): Riley Anderson and her family drive across the bridge as they move into San Francisco.
- Bumblebee (2018): The bridge is seen when Charlie and Bumblebee arrive on a cliff overlooking the bridge.
- Beautiful Boy (2018): The bridge is seen in a scene where Nick stops the car and calls his sponsor.
Television
It has also been featured in the opening/closing and/or episodes of the following shows.
- 10.5
- Charmed
- Falcon Crest
- Full House (including its sequel, Fuller House)
- Futurama
- Hotel
- Love is a Many Splendored Thing
- Monk
- My Sister Sam
- Nash Bridges
- Phyllis
- Suddenly Susan
- That's So Raven
- Too Close for Comfort
Documentaries
It has been the subject of a 2006 documentary and a 2008-2010 documentary TV series:
- The Bridge – a film about suicides from Golden Gate Bridge in 2004.
- Life After People - A TV documentary series about what happens to the world if humanity suddenly disappears; the Golden Gate Bridge collapses after around 100 years due to corrosion in its support cables. After 200 years, only the towers remain intact.
Video games
The bridge appeared in the 2000 video game Midtown Madness 2.
The bridge is replicated in the 2004 video game Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas which is itself heavily based on San Francisco, Los Angeles and Las Vegas. There it is known as the "Gant Bridge".
In Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare, the bridge is destroyed in the "Collapse" campaign mission after Atlas attach drones to the cables and detonate them.
The 2011 game Driver: San Francisco, as its name implies, is set in San Francisco. It also features many missions modelled after famous movie car chases including one from Gone in 60 Seconds which ends at the Golden Gate Bridge.
In Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 Zombies, the bridge also appeared when the zombies crew crashed into the bridge while escaping from Alcatraz.
In Watch Dogs 2, the bridge appears in the game as it is set in the San Francisco Bay Area. In a side mission in the game, the character will paint graffiti on the Bridge.
The Golden Gate Bridge also appeared in several SCS games like 18 Wheels of Steel series and American Truck Simulator as part of the game world.
The bridge is a buildable wonder in the Civilization VI expansion Gathering Storm, marking its debut in the longstanding strategy series.
Other
- KRON-TV, the former NBC/My Network TV affiliate used an animated version of the Golden Gate Bridge as their legal ID in the 1970s and 1980s.[3]
- NORAD Tracks Santa, the Golden Gate Bridge was a featured Santa Cam location for the 2002 tracking season.[4]
- A small-scale replica of the bridge was previously used at the main entry point of Disney's California Adventure Park in Anaheim, California. The replica was replaced in the early 2010s by a small-scale model of the Glendale-Hyperion Bridge as part of the entrance plaza's transformation into a re-creation of Los Angeles' Buena Vista Street.[5]
- In the Sliders episode "Post Traumatic Slide Syndrome", the Golden Gate Bridge is blue, which is how Wade finds out the Earth they have landed on is not Earth Prime.
References
- "How many times was Golden Gate Bridge under attack?". youtube.com. Retrieved June 18, 2018.
- YouTube video of GGB legal ID from July 14, 1987
- tomsmith0002 (January 15, 2009). "NORAD Tracks Santa - Dec 2002 - 23 - San Francisco, CA, USA - English" – via YouTube.
- "Golden Gate Bridge at Yesterland". www.yesterland.com.
