Said parodies usually use a form of The Scream and have the character screaming, with their hands on their face, against an odd (though usually red) coloured background; the figure is sometimes distorted in a wavy fashion. The general purpose of the parody is usually either to highlight that the character is disturbed in some particular way or even as a Rule of Symbolism (such as anxiety or existential dread). Some versions of this parody may even undergo an Art Shift (usually into the oil, pastel, and tempera-esque design) to better reflect the style of the most known version of the painting. Sometimes, the other people depicted in the background of the painting may play a key role, usually as a character that the other one hates or has some relation to, and who are sometimes the reason why they are screaming like that.
(Ironically, in the original painting, the central figure may not be the one screaming, but rather may be reacting in fright and clapping their hands over their ears in response to a "scream of nature" that Munch wrote about. In the imitations, the figure with the open mouth and hands on face is invariably the screamer.)
A Sub-Trope of Art Imitates Art. See also American Gothic Couple, another painting frequently parodied. Has nothing to do with the Scream films.
Examples:
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Advertising
- Was used for a Glade Plug-Ins commercial
. The painting was animated and reacted to the bad smells in the area before the plug-in was activated.
Anime & Manga
- Excel♡Saga: A Running Gag in the anime adaptation is Pedro letting out a Big "NO!" after something distressing happens to him. At least one of these morphed into a parody of Munch's "The Scream". Interestingly, when it happened to another group of characters (Visual Kei-style musicians), they appeared to turn into this... which was revealed as a painting that fell off, showing the guys being turned into quivering gray blobs.
- Fragments of Horror: The cover features various characters from the stories collected in it, all posed together in a parody of The Scream.
- A Journey Through Another World: Raising Kids While Adventuring: "Crab! Crab!": Takumi brings several high quality materials to two blacksmiths to work into something wearable. They are taken aback by each material and in reaction to seeing Takumi bring in mithril spider thread pull a The Scream face and background.
- Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid: Tohru recreates the scene in one episode when she finds out that her job at the maid cafe does not include being a maid, turning blue in the process.
- Naruto: In the OVA "Hidden Leaf Village Grand Sports Festival!"note , Naruto (who is suffering from a Potty Emergency) makes his clones disappear after they've run into the stalls in the men's room, and then he finds out too late that he's locked the doors from the inside. He then imagines himself doing the same pose as the person in The Scream as he turns gray.
- One Piece: Giolla's Art-Art Fruit allows her to turn people and objects into works of art. She transforms Brook into this.
- In Episode 12 of the anime adaptation of Run with the Wind, "The Scream" painting is parodied twice by members. First is when the twins find out the "moist air" they're feeling is actually Prince's vomit (they're being driven in a van and have their heads out the windows), which horrifies them and warrants the pose and screeching. The second time is when the team is looking for Musa and Shindou at night time, and what they think are bears come rushing at them—cue the terrified poses and yelling from every member minus Haiji, as the "bears" (actually Musa and Shindou) zoom past them and crash into the van.
- Happens in the All-Purpose Cultural Cat Girl Nuku Nuku OVA. Kyuusaku exploits Akiko's desire to be a good mother to Ryuunosuke by getting her to do all the household chores; the penny finally drops when she realizes her situation is no different to when she was living apart from them, and she pulls The Scream pose.
- Harima from School Rumble turned into The Scream when Yakumo showed no fear toward the manga editor.
- In episode 10 of Bocchi the Rock!, Bocchi fills out an application for Kessoku Band to play at her school's culture festival, only to get cold feet when her extreme anxiety kicks in and throw it in the trash. When Kita finds the application and submits it for her, Bocchi's Comical Overreacting first turns her face into a Cubist painting, then a parody of "The Scream".
- Ranma ½: The storyline of chapter 200 involves Hikaru Gosunkugi acquiring a set of single-use magical items that can compel another person to obey a written command. The manga panel where he realizes that he only has only of them left depicts him in this style.
- Tropical-Rouge! Pretty Cure: In Episode 13, when Izumi feels too unwell to do the school announcements, Yukie mimics "The Scream" as she doesn't want to do it alone.
Arts
- Andy Warhol made a silkscreen print that imitated the painting, titled The Scream (After Munch).
- Not quite a parody, but it's been noted that The Scream also looks like a dog with long ears. Once you see it you can't unsee it.
Asian Animation
- Lamput: In the episode "Art Gallery", Lamput sees The Scream in an art gallery and morphs into the shape of the person on the art. The docs appear behind him, and when Lamput turns around, he morphs back to his normal blob form and actually screams.
Comic Books
- Aggretsuko: Meet Her World: In issue 2, one of the paintings seen in Tsubone's flashback is a version of The Scream with a wolf in place of a human.
- The Simpsons: When everyone in Springfield gives up sleeping entirely, Apu seems to be the only one unaffected. As he tells Lisa, working at the Kwik-E-Mart has taught him to get used to the inevitable hallucinations. In fact, he once thought he had a wife and eight children. When Lisa informs him that really happened, Apu has a freak out, with the art going into a psychedelic version of the Scream pose.
Comic Strips
- The Far Side: The print collection Weiner Dog Art includes several dachshund-themed art parodies. One of these is The Whine, an alternate version of The Scream with all three figures replaced by dachshunds. Gary Larson's description also notes how this was generally considered the worst piece in Munch's entire body of work. In one incident, thieves stole dozens of artworks from a museum, including The Whine—then within the week, they returned The Whine specifically.
- The Pearls Before Swine collection I Scream, You Scream, We All Scream Because Puns Suck features a recreation with Pig as the screamer.
Fan Works
- Triptych Continuum: The entry "Triptych" has Applejack note a ponified version of the painting:
"Y'see that paintin' on the wall?" Applejack inclined her head towards the ornate frame. "The one with what Ah think is s'posed t' be a stallion on some kind of bridge, with the sky all red an' somethin' wrong with the water an' two strangers approachin'? An' he's jus' screamin' at the air?"
Films — Animation
- The Super Mario Galaxy Movie: One of Bowser's therapeutic paintings depicts a skeleton version of Mario striking the Scream pose.
- Turning Red: Some of the movie posters have Mei in her giant red panda form screaming like the painting's subject.
- Teacher's Pet (2004): Pretty Boy and Mr. Jolly's faces morph into a parody of the Scream after seeing Dr. Ivan Krank's Creatures on TV.
Films — Live-Action
- Home Alone usually shows each child who was left home alone striking this pose.
- Looney Tunes: Back in Action: There's a chase scene at the Louvre with Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, and Elmer Fudd jumping in and out of famous paintings and one of the paintings is The Scream. When Elmer thinks he has Bugs and Daffy cornered, Bugs stomps on Elmer's foot, resulting in Elmer Fudd screaming in a fashion similar to the painting's subject.
- Problem Child 2: Mr. Peabody (who's now a school principal and clearly reveling on it) screams holding the sides of his face when Junior enters his office.
- Scream: The mask worn by all of the Ghostface killers is a variant of The Scream.
Literature
- A History of Painting (With Dinosaurs) contains a painting of a Troodontid mimicking the painting, with the dinosaur's curved snout against its neck standing in for the figure's head.
- One of Paul Kidby's illustrations in The Last Hero shows Lovable Coward Rincewind in the Scream pose, as a reaction to the immensity of the elephants supporting the Disc. This was used as the cover to the full-size paperback edition, although in The Art of Discworld, Kidby complains that both versions were cropped for a close-up on Rincewind, rather than sticking with the Scream layout with lots of background above him, to show just how big these elephants are.
Live-Action TV
- 30 Rock: "The Tuxedo Begins": Jack gets mugged by a middle-class, white man and decides it is a sign that there is a war being waged on the rich. Tracy tries to support him, and after they discover no one is willing to do anything about it, he announces they should take matters into their own hands. Jack agrees, causing Tracy to shriek in horror while grabbing his head.
- Coupling: We see a scene twice, once from Sally's perspective and once from Patrick's. Sally thinks she's seen the eponymous Munch painting on the wall and mutters about how she hates it - when we see it from Patrick's perspective, however, we see that she was very drunk and it is in fact a mirror...
- Doctor Who
- Word of God is that the Silence are inspired by the screaming figure in the painting. What makes it more interesting is that In-Universe, the painting may actually be based off them, which has led to the Silence being responsible for the numerous thefts of the painting.
- In "The Power of the Doctor", the Master inserts his face into famous works of art, including the Munch painting.
- Money Heist: "Season 1, Episode 6": The robbers at the Royal Mint wear their signature red jumpsuits and Salvador Dalí masks to hide their identity. They also hand these out to the hostages to confuse the police. When two policemen are sent to infiltrate the Mint, the robbers and hostages switch their masks to ones of The Scream, so the policemen wearing the Dali masks would be instantly identified. The mission is promptly called off.
- The Nanny:
- "Christmas Episode": For Christmas, Gracie is gifted a blow-up model of the screamer in The Scream. She is elated with it.
- "A Star Is Unborn": Gracie's blow-up model of the screamer in The Scream is among the toys littering the living room in Fran's absence.
- Odd Squad: "The One That Got Away": Otto gets stuck in a painting that takes a heavy resemblance to the painting. He even performs the signature scream.
Magazines
- In April 2025, The Economist had a cover which recreates the painting with a Stock Money Bag as the screaming face, to go with the article predicting a decline in the USD's prominence as a reserve currency.
- MAD has done several parodies of the painting over the years, including one with monkeys in it (appropriately called "The Screech"), one with Howard Dean in it (called "Howard Dean's Scream"), and one with Uncle Sam pulling it off.
Music
- Barry Godber's cover art of King Crimson's In The Court Of The Crimson King depicts a man wearing an expression similar to the Munch painting.
Tabletop Games
- Pokémon once did a collaboration with the Tokyo Art Museum to create an exhibition of cards that were inspired by the painting. Characters exhibiting the Scream included Psyduck, Eevee, Mimikyu, Pikachu, and Rowlet, whilst the other backgrounders in the painting are replaced by Pokemon (such as the Gastly family and Mimikyu) as well.
Video Games
- Kendo Rage 2: When the disco zombie Makkey has a panic attack, he generates a ghostly version of "The Scream" over his head. It can harm Makendo, but is easily avoided.
- Love, Ghostie: You can buy a parody of the famous Edvard Munch painting, which features a boat copying the frightened pose, for your residents.
- Luigi's Mansion: Luigi is shown in this pose on the cover.
- Mario Kart World: Inside the movie at the Boo Cinema, there is film reel showing monochrome images of Princess Peach in her Vacation outfit (one of her available outfits) with her hands on her face screaming in front of a haunted forest.
- In the second Rock of Ages (2011) game, the Scream itself appears at one point, sunbathing in Oslo. Due to a mix-up, it accidentally glues its hands to its face, and this results in it making the screaming face.
- Sackboy: A Big Adventure: Happens to N.A.O.M.I. during the second act of One Track Mind.
- The Sims 2: Nightlife: Sims may become vampires. If that happens, one of the random portraits of the Sim (in the interface, Friends list, phone directory, or when an action is taken with them) depicts them holding their head while their mouth is wide open.
- Sly 2: Band of Thieves: Dimiri Lousteau had a forged The Scream painting with his likeness on it.
- Touhou Project: In the fan game Touhou: Double Focus, one of the background paintings in the Castle Area shows Nue Houjuu (the Extra Stage boss of Undefined Fantastic Object) take on a pose reminiscent of The Scream.
- ULTRAKILL: The Leviathan's "heart" features the face of The Scream because it contains the trapped souls of the Sullen, sinners who have sunk to the bottom of the Ocean Styx before being merged into the Leviathan's body. If you get up close to the heart, you can hear endless screaming.
- WarioWare: Get It Together!: Orbulon's "Culture"-themed stage has a parody of The Scream featuring said alien that shows up alongside other famous creations whenever you successfully complete a microgame.
- An accidental example in Yakuza 3 and Yakuza 4. Due to how the HEAT system works, mooks who got struck by it will cause their faces to become so warped and contorted that it resembles "The Scream", which happens from even techniques that don't involve breaking faces. This particular quirk is removed for the PS4 and PS5 remasters.
Web Animation
- SuperThings: "The Power of Colorflash": Pop gets painted into a parody of The Scream after being splattered with Freestyle's new Neon Blast abilities. A rainbow-splattered Pop takes the place of the screaming person, with a silhouetted version of Enigma's Kazoom Kid form taking the place of the background characters.
Web Comics
- Cyanide and Happiness: The last panel of this comic is a parody of "The Scream", with the guy making the iconic face out of shock.
- The Draw Play: "I Scream" is a recreation of the scene in response to the Giants trading Odell Beckham Jr. to the Browns.
- Sandra and Woo: Sandra imitates The Scream when she remembers making a mistake on a math test.
- Two Lumps: One strip recreates the scene when the cats find out that the apartment has been stripped bare, even of food.
Web Original
- Cracked's Photoplasty Famous Images, As Seen from a Different Angle shows what the figure in Edvard Munch's painting was screaming at: Superman.
- In most renderings, the screaming face emoji (😱) resembles the subject of the painting.
- Failboat made a Photoshop parody of the painting... using a screenshot of a Bellsprout morphed into a screaming Pikachu. His friends (and the chat) react with disgust.
- Most internet screamer pranks from the 2000's feature a closeup of a white eyeless woman clenching her face with her pinky fingers raised.
Western Animation
- The 7D: "Gnome Alone": Dopey resembles the painting when the dwarfs realize Sleepy is missing and the Glooms have been let in.
- Amphibia: "Toadcatcher": Grime is watching an episode of Suspicion Island, an in-universe reality show, with one sneak peek showing a woman accusing her mate of being suspicious. The man responds by doing a Big "NO!" and his hands and face resemble the painting.
- Arthur: "Binky Barnes, Art Expert Binky Barnes, Art Expert": Arthur and Buster look through an art museum pamphlet to choose one to write a report on. They imagine themselves in a parody of The Scream, which has Francine screaming instead.
- The Fairly OddParents!: "Mr. Right!": Mr. Crocker gives Timmy The Scream to look at on Art Appreciation Day.
Timmy: Why is he screaming?
Crocker: BECAUSE HE WAS WRONG! (pulls down the painting to reveal a desk with an "F"-graded paper on it in front of the screaming man) And he got an F! Like you! - In the Looney Tunes Cartoons short, "Boo! AppeTweet" after Sylvester is convinced he successfully ate Tweety, who then gets covered in flour and Sylvester mistakes him for a ghost, tries to hide from Tweety inside a portrait where he's dressed and posing as Napoleon, but once Tweety spots him Sylvester morphs into The Scream.
- Mona the Vampire: In "The Devious Doppelganger", the flashback of Lily falling victim to Mona's evil mirror world counterpart's prank shows Lily screaming while posed like the subject of The Scream and has the background change to match the painting.
- The Simpsons:
- "Treehouse Of Horror IV" features a Simpsonised version of the painting amongst the pictures during the Night Gallery-inspired wraparound segment of the episode.
- "Lisa's Sax": Marge tells Homer that the Springfield Museum has some child-friendly activities on weekends that they can take a then-toddler Lisa to, and Homer has an Imagine Spot about beating different classic works of art in foosball.
Homer: You lose, Michaelangelo's David! Who's next?The Scream: MEEEEEEEEE!!
- Total Drama Island: "The Big Sleep": A sleep-deprived Tyler hallucinates Katie and Sadie getting attacked by a bear, and screams while the animation shifts his face to a version of the painting.
- Paradise PD: "The Shartist": When the cast visits the Paradise Art Museum in season 4, Hopson reveals that The Scream actually has a hidden section folded behind the frame, and that the painting actually depicts Hobson giving a blowjob to the figure in the painting, which is the reason he was screaming.
Real Life
- It has been pointed out that The Scream has a built in parody, as it doesn't take much to see it as a dog with long floppy ears rather than a man screaming.
