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* Structures or situations in which each individual element is plausible, but which become impossible when taken as a whole.
* [http://en.[wikipedia.org/wiki/:Tesellation |Tessellations]] -- that is, patterns which could extend over the entire plane if repeated indefinitely.
 
Many works will reference some of these constructions he invented or popularized -- some common choices are ''[http://en.[wikipedia.org/wiki/Relativity_:Relativity (M._C C._Escher) Escher)|Relativity]]'', a room with various staircases and landings [[Bizarrchitecture|using different directions of gravity]], ''[http://en.[wikipedia.org/wiki/Drawing_Hands:Drawing Hands|Drawing Hands]]'', in which two hands are [[Logic Bomb|each drawing the other into existence]], and ''[http://en.[wikipedia.org/wiki/Ascending_and_Descending:Ascending and Descending|Ascending and Descending]]'', a [[Endless Corridor|staircase which goes up or down forever]] ([[Older Than They Think|based on]] the [http://mathworld.wolfram.com/PenroseStairway.html Penrose Stairway]).
 
(Escher also happens to be a close contemporary of [[Rene Magritte]], whose works also mess with the viewers' heads, though not in the same way.)
 
A long list of Escher in popular culture can be found in [http://en.[wikipedia.org/wiki/:M._C C._Escher_in_popular_culture Escher in popular culture|this page]].
 
Oh, just to mention, he's also [["Weird Al" Yankovic]]'s favorite [[Punny Name|MC]].
----
=== References ===▼
 
'''To ''Relativity'''''▼
 
{{examples|References}}
== [[Anime]] and [[Manga]] ==▼
▲'''==To ''Relativity'''''==
* An episode of ''[[Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei]]'' concludes with a fake show-within-a-show involving the character Kaere as a [[Hot Teacher]]. Since she's teaching geometry, she's shown strolling through several famous Escher works.▼
▲=== [[Anime]] and [[Manga]] ===
▲* An episode of ''[[Sayonara, Zetsubou Sensei-sensei]]'' concludes with a fake show-within-a-show involving the character Kaere as a [[Hot Teacher]]. Since she's teaching geometry, she's shown strolling through several famous Escher works.
* In [[Cardcaptor Sakura]], the magical maze created by The Maze Card takes on elements of ''Relativity'' when the people trapped inside try to break out instead of solving the maze fairly.
 
=== [[FilmFan Works]] ===
* In the ''[[Harry Potter]]'' fanfic ''[[The Arithmancer]]'', the final task of the Tri-Wizard Tournament takes place in a massive, constantly-moving building-sized tesseract styled on ''Relativity''.
 
▲=== References[[Film]] ===
* ''[[Labyrinth]]'': The [[David Bowie|Goblin King]]'s final chamber was clearly based on this, and Sarah has a print of Relativity in her room.
 
=== [[Live-Action TV]] ===
* ''[[Warehouse 13]]'' has the "Escher Vault," which is a room constructed like ''Relativity'', which is constantly changing at high speed. You need special equipment of [[Super Speed|one kind]] or [[Goggles Do Something Unusual|another]] to get through it.
 
=== [[Theme Park|Theme Parks]] ===
* The Haunted Mansion at [[Disney Theme Parks|Disney World]] now includes a "Relativity" room, complete with ghostly footprints appearing on the steps, usually at extreme angles to the direction of gravity.
 
=== [[Video Games]] ===
* A choice adventure in the ''[[Kingdom of Loathing]]'' - more specifically, the Haunted Art Gallery - starts here, and all directions seem to be as if this work was providing directions (up, down, or sideways).
* In ''[[King's Quest VII]]'', you have to get through a room shaped like this in Archduke Fifi's manor.
 
=== [[Web Comics]] ===
* In ''[[Tales of the Questor]]'', parts of the Castle of Tir Na Nog in the [[The Fair Folk|Fae]] realm [https://web.archive.org/web/20121018200038/http://www.rhjunior.com/totq/00513.html resembled this design]. It becomes hilarious when a character subjected to it....promptly loses their lunch.
 
=== [[Web Original]] ===
* ''[[Protectors of the Plot Continuum]] HQ'' has Escher Rooms where gravity is weird.
 
=== [[Western Animation]] ===
* One of the apartments Fry and Bender look at in the ''[[Futurama]]'' episode "I, Roommate". Bender fell down, up, and across the stairs while hunting for an apartment. They decided not to move in, as "paying for dimensions I'm not going to use" isn't really value for money.
* Briefly seen in ''[[The Simpsons Movie]]'' during Homer's dream quest, with the stairs shaped like the inside of Homer's head. One of the show's [[Couch Gag|Couch Gags]] uses it too.
* ''[[Family Guy]]'' referenced it twice. Once Stewie obtained a copy while posing as Brian's college roommate; on another occasion Peter referenced "that rap video by [[Incredibly Lame Pun|MC]] Escher", prompting a cut to Escher dressed as [[MC Hammer]] doing an incredibly bad rap song and dancing on the stairs.
{{quote| '''Stewie:''' I think it's called... Crazy Stairs... }}
* In "The Doof Side of the Moon" of ''[[Phineas and Ferb]]'', the same coaster goes through such a room on four different tracks at the same time, as Phineas explains that it's 'the M.C. Escher Floor!'
** Even earlier, in "Gaming the System", they made a section of their video game based on Relativity.
* A version appears in ''[[Jackie Chan Adventures (Animation)|Jackie Chan Adventures]]'', in the Lotus Temple.
* In the second episode of ''[[Drawn Together]]'', Toots convinces Clara she's pregnant after her [[Les Yay]] kiss with Foxxy, just so she can push her down a flight of stairs for laughs. When Clara "still smells pregnant," they next try the "MC Escher room," where Clara falls down the iconic set of circling stairs for like three minutes to kill her non-existent baby. Yes, it was [[Dead Baby Comedy|that kind of show]].
 
'''==To other works'''==
=== [[Film]] ===▼
 
* ''[[Inception]]'' has two sets of ''Ascending and Descending'' (and hence [http://en.[wikipedia.org/wiki/Penrose_stairs:Penrose stairs|Penrose stairs]])-inspired stairs: Arthur shows a fairly large one to Ariadne during her training and later makes good with an ass-kicking use of a second one in the second dream level's hotel.▼
▲== [[Film]] ==
▲* ''[[Inception]]'' has two sets of ''Ascending and Descending'' (and hence [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penrose_stairs Penrose stairs])-inspired stairs: Arthur shows a fairly large one to Ariadne during her training and later makes good with an ass-kicking use of a second one in the second dream level's hotel.
* Escher's work ''Eye'' is seen in ''[[Donnie Darko]]'', on Donnie's wall as a poster.
 
==== [[LiteratureShort Film]] ====
* The animated short [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hhfhgbmZe9s Hallucii] features Penrose stairs in an urban environment.▼
* In the [[Discworld]] novel ''[[Discworld (Literature)/Moving Pictures|Moving Pictures]]'', the layout of the Library of Unseen University is described as "a topographical nightmare, [...] that would make M. C. Escher go for a good lie down, or possibly sideways." In ''[[Discworld (Literature)/Guards Guards|Guards! Guards!]]'', old-fashioned bookshops are said to be looking like "as though they were designed by M.C. Escher on a bad day".▼
 
=== [[Short FilmLiterature]] ===▼
▲* In the [[Discworld]] novel ''[[Discworld (Literature)/Moving Pictures|Moving Pictures]]'', the layout of the Library of Unseen University is described as "a topographical nightmare, [...] that would make M. C. Escher go for a good lie down, or possibly sideways." In ''[[Discworld (Literature)/Guards Guards|Guards! Guards!]]'', old-fashioned bookshops are said to be looking like "as though they were designed by M.C. Escher on a bad day".
* ''[[Godel Escher Bach]]'' includes (along with many other references to Escher, as one might infer from the title) a dialogue in which the characters find themselves inside "Convex and Concave" and "Reptiles".
 
=== [[Live-Action TV]] ===
* ''[[Doctor Who (TV)|Doctor Who]]'' adapted [http[wikipedia://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castrovalva_Castrovalva (M._C C._Escher Escher) |"Castrovalva"]] to the story of the same name, {{spoiler|as a trap set by the Master}}.
 
=== [[Music]] ===
* The video for "Drive" by [[Incubus (Musicband)|Incubus]] is largely a [[Shout -Out]] to ''Drawing Hands''.
 
▲== [[Short Film]] ==
▲* The animated short [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hhfhgbmZe9s Hallucii] features Penrose stairs in an urban environment.
 
=== [[Video Games]] ===
* ''[[DantesDante's Inferno (Videovideo Gamegame)|DantesDante's Inferno]]'' has a room evocative of "Other World".
* ''[[The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess]]'' features the Oocca, which resemble the human-bird... things in ''Another World.''
* In ''[[Adventure Quest Worlds (Video Game)|Adventure Quest Worlds]]'', the town of Mobius is the victim of the First Lord of Chaos: ''Escher''ion. The entire quest chain to confront him is filled with M.C. Escher references, fitting of a Lord of ''Chaos''.
* In ''[[Chrono Cross (Video Game)|Chrono Cross]]'', a sojourn through a place that appears to be outside reality, [[Mind Screw|or something]], features a tower with an endless staircase like that in ''Ascending and Descending''.
 
=== [[Web Original]] ===
* ''The [[SCP Foundation (Wiki)|SCP Foundation]]'' references the Penrose staircase of ''Ascending And Descending'' when a living drawing is asked to walk it. She thinks it's neat, and asks why more stairways aren't like this.
* In the ''[[Furcadia]]'' contest dream "Puzzle Mansion", the stairway works like this.
* ''Rock, Paper, Cynic'' [http://rockpapercynic.com/index.php?date=2011-10-03 advertises] Penrose Picture Frame.
{{quote|Now you can display all of your M. C. Escher lithographs the way they were meant to be seen!}}
 
{{reflist}}
[[Category:Useful Notes{{PAGENAME}}]]
[[Category:Speculative Fiction Creator Index]]
[[Category:AR TistsArtists]]
[[Category:MC Escher]]
[[Category:Trope]]
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