The Simpsons/Futurama: walk in the dark with neon signs

The Simpsons/Futurama: walk in the dark with neon signs - City Streets during Night

In many episodes of The Simpsons or Futurama, a character (usually drunk or sad) walks in the dark with neon signs moving in the background; where does this come from?

A few examples:

The Simpsons S17E12: Homer cannot find a shop that sells his favourite blue pants.
The Simpsons S05E08 Bart and Milhouse get "drunk" on an all-syrup Squishee sold by Apu and have one of these moments.
Futurama S01E03 Bender doesn't drink alcool for a while and has one of these walks:

reference the-simpsons trope futurama

Best Answer

I believe the earliest example is the 1945 film "The Lost Weekend". From Wikipedia:

The film also made famous the "character walking toward the camera as neon signs pass by" camera effect.

You can find the relevant scenes in the film from around 01:05:00 onwards.

Purely as a matter of interest, There's an entire tropes page devoted to the genre of 'Drunken Montages'

Pictures about "The Simpsons/Futurama: walk in the dark with neon signs"

The Simpsons/Futurama: walk in the dark with neon signs - Brown and White Concrete Building

The Simpsons/Futurama: walk in the dark with neon signs - A Man Smoking inside a Dark Room

The Simpsons/Futurama: walk in the dark with neon signs - Photo of Neon Signage

Suki Waterhouse - NEON SIGNS (Official Video)

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Images: Aleksandar Pasaric, Satoshi Hirayama, Obes, Aleksandar Pasaric