- Dec 17, 2006
- 4,400
- 4,669
- AFL Club
- Collingwood
- Other Teams
- South Fremantle, Sturt
When a movie or TV show is produced the time frame in which it takes place is important. This is relatively easy if the setting is contemporary for the time it is set, more care is obviously required if it is a past setting to make it authentic.
Have you ever watched a movie or TV show and found noticeable anachronisms where things appear out of place with period of time in which is set? To clarify, I don't mean cases where this is done on purpose for comedy - for example the two Brady Bunch movies made in the mid 1990s were very successful because it featured the Brady family living in the 1990s but living and dressing in the 1970s - but where it doesn't appear to be done deliberately.
This could be a TV show with a contemporary setting where characters look, act, talk and dress like it is several years earlier. Or perhaps a past setting where this is not done convincingly, and it looks more recent or perhaps even further in the past than the actual setting.
Here are some examples from movies I noticed:
Bridge to Terabithia - Made in 2007 and with a contemporary setting, Bridge to Terabithia had many positives. However, adapted from a novel written and set in the 1970s, this showed and made quite a lot of the movie look quite anachronistic. The way the characters interacted with each other, the dialogue, the way the school was run, the family dynamics and problems faced by the families coupled with a lack of 2000s technology made it seem more suited to the 1970s. The school bullies in particular use slang and taunts from years gone by, and they are not the only ones to use anachronistic dialogue. You have to wonder why the movie simply wasn't set in the 1970s.
Welcome to the Dollhouse - This hard hitting 1995 film shows in graphic detail the cruel, vile and at times downright evil physical, verbal and psychological bullying inflicted upon the main character 12-year-old Dawn Weiner. Middle child Dawn suffers this at the middle school she attends from both students and teachers, in the community and even at home, where her cruel mother openly favors Dawn's smart older brother and pretty younger sister over her and her cranky father doesn't want to know about anybody else's problems, least of all Dawn's. The year in which the film takes place is not referenced, but by the hairstyles of and clothes worn by the Weiner family and several others characters such as the high school principal, it would seem to be in the late 1980s. However, other characters have a mid 1990s appearance, suggesting it has a contemporary setting for the time it is made, so this remains ambiguous.
Cool Cat Saves the Kids - To say this bizarre 2015 children's film has a low budget is to understate things significantly, and this shows in too many ways to list in detail here. Despite clearly being set in the time it was made by the technology, the film overall looks like it comes from circa 1998-2003. But this is not the end of the many anachronisms in this film. One of the kids in the film Maria uses the expression 'groovy' as well as skipping down the street when she comes to see Cool Cat. Then we get to Butch the Bully, who behaves like a pantomime villain and looks like he is a stereotypical fat bully from a 1980s Canadian kids show like Degrassi or Circle Square. He also uses the expression 'punked', years out of date by the time the movie is made. As for Cool Cat himself (a six foot six man in a cat costume), at one time despite the obvious abundance of technology (he has a smart phone) he becomes very excited by surfing the internet, much like kids would be in the mid 1990s. In many ways this movie feels like a parody film, but it is not.
Have you ever watched a movie or TV show and found noticeable anachronisms where things appear out of place with period of time in which is set? To clarify, I don't mean cases where this is done on purpose for comedy - for example the two Brady Bunch movies made in the mid 1990s were very successful because it featured the Brady family living in the 1990s but living and dressing in the 1970s - but where it doesn't appear to be done deliberately.
This could be a TV show with a contemporary setting where characters look, act, talk and dress like it is several years earlier. Or perhaps a past setting where this is not done convincingly, and it looks more recent or perhaps even further in the past than the actual setting.
Here are some examples from movies I noticed:
Bridge to Terabithia - Made in 2007 and with a contemporary setting, Bridge to Terabithia had many positives. However, adapted from a novel written and set in the 1970s, this showed and made quite a lot of the movie look quite anachronistic. The way the characters interacted with each other, the dialogue, the way the school was run, the family dynamics and problems faced by the families coupled with a lack of 2000s technology made it seem more suited to the 1970s. The school bullies in particular use slang and taunts from years gone by, and they are not the only ones to use anachronistic dialogue. You have to wonder why the movie simply wasn't set in the 1970s.
Welcome to the Dollhouse - This hard hitting 1995 film shows in graphic detail the cruel, vile and at times downright evil physical, verbal and psychological bullying inflicted upon the main character 12-year-old Dawn Weiner. Middle child Dawn suffers this at the middle school she attends from both students and teachers, in the community and even at home, where her cruel mother openly favors Dawn's smart older brother and pretty younger sister over her and her cranky father doesn't want to know about anybody else's problems, least of all Dawn's. The year in which the film takes place is not referenced, but by the hairstyles of and clothes worn by the Weiner family and several others characters such as the high school principal, it would seem to be in the late 1980s. However, other characters have a mid 1990s appearance, suggesting it has a contemporary setting for the time it is made, so this remains ambiguous.
Cool Cat Saves the Kids - To say this bizarre 2015 children's film has a low budget is to understate things significantly, and this shows in too many ways to list in detail here. Despite clearly being set in the time it was made by the technology, the film overall looks like it comes from circa 1998-2003. But this is not the end of the many anachronisms in this film. One of the kids in the film Maria uses the expression 'groovy' as well as skipping down the street when she comes to see Cool Cat. Then we get to Butch the Bully, who behaves like a pantomime villain and looks like he is a stereotypical fat bully from a 1980s Canadian kids show like Degrassi or Circle Square. He also uses the expression 'punked', years out of date by the time the movie is made. As for Cool Cat himself (a six foot six man in a cat costume), at one time despite the obvious abundance of technology (he has a smart phone) he becomes very excited by surfing the internet, much like kids would be in the mid 1990s. In many ways this movie feels like a parody film, but it is not.