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This Day in Pop Culture

This Day in Pop Culture for July 9

Soup cans as art and a larger-than-life video game based on a beloved franchise.

July 9, 2020

2–3 minutes

1962: Andy Warhol Shows Off His Campbell Soup Cans

Artist Andy Warhol’s “Campbell’s Soup Cans” consists of 32 20×16 inch canvases each representing a Campbell soup flavor available in 1962. These paintings helped begin the United States pop art movement. Each painting was semi-produced using a printmaking and initially caused offense. Wahol showed his complete series on this day in his first gallery exhibition as a fine artist in Los Angeles, California. The controversy, as old as time, questioned “what is art.” The conversation helped fuel Warhol’s popularity. Because of this, Warhol became not only the most-renowned American pop art artist, but also the highest-priced living American artist. Not bad for a graphic artist. (Image: Wikimedia)

1981: Donkey Kong is Born

Nintendo of America was founded in 1980. A year later on this day, the company released a brand-new game known as Donkey Kong. While the game does not include any donkeys, game creator Shigeru Miyamoto chose the name because the main character, a gorilla, not only resembles King Kong but he is stubborn like a donkey.

The game begins with Donkey Kong sweeping up Pauline and climbing up a platform. At the top, he rolls barrels down the platform while Mario (then known as “Jumpman”) jumps over them in an effort to rescue his damsel-in-distress girlfriend.

Initially, players thought that the game was just another silly game exported from Japan, but many years later, Donkey Kong is still a favorite of many. The game was followed by other Donkey Kong games including Donkey Kong Jr., Donkey Kong 3 and Donkey Kong Country. The character has also appeared in many other Nintendo games.

The Strong National Museum of Play features the world’s largest working Donkey Kong replica game. Standing almost 20-feet tall, the game is 370% bigger than the original arcade game. (Image: Strong National Museum of Play)