The scene in Annie Hall (1977) when Allison is stage-managing a benefit for Democratic presidential nominee Adlai Stevenson and is asked by Alvy, an anxious comedian awaiting his cue, her name (Allison), her last name (Portchnik), if she works for Stevenson all the time ("No, I'm doing my thesis"), what she's doing her thesis on ("Political commitment in 20th century literature"), and based on this Alvy offers his conclusion:
"You're, like, New York Jewish, left-wing, intellectual, Central Park West, Brandeis University, socialist summer camps and the father with the Ben Shahn drawings, really strike-oriented ..."
As Alvy is running out of steam, he asks Allison to stop him ("before I make a complete imbecile of myself"), and it is here that Allison utters the line that recalls the days of playful sarcasm, those intervening years when political commitments in literature were separable from those we recognize as aesthetic:
"No, that was wonderful. I love being reduced to a cultural stereotype."
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