History Main / MisterSandmanSequence

Compare SpinningNewspaper, EiffelTowerEffect. When a scene in a work set in the present day becomes this in hindsight, then you've got an UnintentionalPeriodPiece. See also ProgressiveEraMontage.

* Many, ''many'' movies set in TheFifties open with Elvis Presley's version of "Hound Dog" ([[CoveredUp never anyone else's]]). ''Film/BackToTheFuture'' is an appropriate exception, as Presley only recorded his version in 1956. Movies in TheFifties also frequently feature a TV playing the ''Series/HowdyDoody'' theme--''Film/IndianaJonesAndTheKingdomOfTheCrystalSkull'', ''Film/BackToTheFuturePartIII'', and the pilot of ''Series/QuantumLeap'', just to name a few.

* In late 2008, Pepsi ran [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wSLtBkFHlwk this commercial]] depicting young folks consuming their product [[ProgressiveEraMontage through the decades]], from the turn of the century to the present. Each decade is shown as you'd expect: flappers in the '20s, returning World War II soldiers in the '40s, hippie protesters in the '60s, etc.
** The ad is accompanied by a remixed version of Music/TheWho's "My Generation"; in a nifty touch, the arrangement changes with each scene to reflect that given era.

* In Alison Bechdel's collection of ''ComicStrip/DykesToWatchOutFor'' comics, the introduction where she explains herself and the comic contains flashbacks with a box that name-drops a song for each decade: "that disco mix of the StarWars theme" for [[TheSeventies 1977]], "Physical" by Olivia Newton-John for [[TheEighties 1981]], and "She's All I Ever Had" by Music/RickyMartin for [[TheNineties 1999]].

* ''Franchise/BackToTheFuture''

* OlderThanTelevision: Mae West's 1933 film ''Film/SheDoneHimWrong'' opens with one of these.
* ''Film/GoneWithTheWind'' starts with scenes from the Old South, or leastways Hollywood's interpretation of it.

* ''Film/TheTimeMachine2002'' had a scene playing with this motif as a kind of TimeCompressionMontage to show how time passes outside the titular machine, in which dresses on a shop's exhibition get shorter and shorter. This is copied from the 1960 version. It wasn't in the novel, since Creator/HGWells obviously didn't know how the world would change after his time.

* ''Made of Honor'' has this in the opening {{flashback}} to a Halloween party in 1998, with the male lead dressed up in a Bill Clinton mask and bumping into people dressed as Monica Lewinsky and Hillary Clinton.

* ''Invincible'', the 2006 Vince Papale biopic starring Mark Wahlberg, starts out with a tone-setting credits sequence montage of how economically wrecked 1975 Philadelphia was (abandoned factories, people lining up for unemployment, kids playing in abandoned lots, angry workers protesting lockouts, etc.), accompanied very evocatively by Jim Croce's contemporary ballad "I Got a Name".

* Naturally, the pilot episodes of ''Series/{{Life On Mars|2006}}'' and ''Series/AshesToAshes2008'' both featured these, although the music in both cases was organic to the scene (from Sam's car's 8-track player and the sound system at Alex's boat party, respectively). Even the ''titles'' are [[Music/DavidBowie in on it]].

* Music/DonMcLean's "American Pie".

** TheMillenniumBug and [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lNHsy-_vgPs Anti-terrorism issues]] during [[TurnOfTheMillennium the Bush Era]].

** "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS19E11That90sShow That 90's Show]]" contains references to Grunge rock, VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog, Toys/BeanieBabies, and a scene where Comic Book Guy finishes explaining why ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'' can never be made into a movie [[HilariousInHindsight (which was a REAL discussion at the time.)]]
** Lampshaded in "My Mother the Carjacker." Channel 6 news anchor Kent Brockman shows a montage specifically to show viewers what the 60's were like, set to "All Along the Watchtower." Brockman then calls it a "shrill, pointless decade." Although that was partly his own fault, since his montage included such ludicrous images as Series/Batman1966 dancing the Batusi and Creator/JohnWayne saying [[Series/RowanAndMartinsLaughIn "You bet your sweet bippy."]]

** Simultaneously Lampshaded, Parodied, and Averted in 2015's [[Recap/TheSimpsonsS26E19TheKidsAreAllFight "The Kids are All Fight"]] flashback episode. "[[ShapedLikeItself The President at the time was The President. Popular music was all the rage.]]"

** Lampshaded in "My Mother the Carjacker." Channel 6 news anchor Kent Brockman shows a montage specifically to show viewers what the 60's were like, set to "All Along the Watchtower." Brockman then calls it a "shrill, pointless decade." Although that was partly his own fault, since his montage included such ludicrous images as Series/{{Batman}} dancing the Batusi and Creator/JohnWayne saying [[Series/RowanAndMartinsLaughIn "You bet your sweet bippy."]]

* Any establishing shot of UsefulNotes/TheVietnamWar is bound to use [[Music/CreedenceClearwaterRevival CCR]]'s "Fortunate Son."
** ''Battlefield: Vietnam'' and ''VideoGame/CallOfDutyBlackOps'' use this and other rock tunes from the same period.
** Music/BuffaloSpringfield's "For What It's Worth" is another popular choice.

* The opening loading screen and title sequence in ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoViceCity'' helps establish that it's TheEighties. The loading screen simulates a Commodore 64 loading screen, then the title sequence plays a SuspiciouslySimilarSong of the ''Series/MiamiVice'' theme while showing scenes of life in 1980s Miami--big hair, boxy cars, etc. Also, the first time you enter a vehicle, its in-game radio is always scripted to be on, and playing [[Music/MichaelJackson Billy Jean]]. Every time.
* Subverted in the ''VideoGame/{{Fallout}}'' games. The games always start with music and imagery of 1950's Americana, before panning out to show that the games actually occur in a post-apocalyptic future. In comparison, it's played straight with Vault 112's Tranquility Lane simulation in VideoGame/{{Fallout 3}}.
* In ''VideoGame/MafiaII'', when the protagonist Vito is getting out of a 6 years term in jail, we are treated to sequence full of [[TheFifties fifties]] imagery and music, to signify how the time has passed since the last time he saw the outside world, [[TheForties during the final year of the World War II]].

[quoteright:350:[[Film/BackToTheFuture https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/hillvalley55.jpg]]]]

[[quoteright:350:[[Film/BackToTheFuture https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/hillvalley55.jpg]]]]

** Used in Episode 1 and Episode 3 of the Creator/TelltaleGames [[VideoGame/BackToTheFuture adaptation]], for 1931 and alternate 1986 respectively. Both recreate the moment where Marty almost gets hit by a car while crossing the street to the town square.

** "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS19E11That90sShow That 90's Show]]" contains references to Grunge rock, Franchise/SonicTheHedgehog, Toys/BeanieBabies, and a scene where Comic Book Guy finishes explaining why ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'' can never be made into a movie [[HilariousInHindsight (which was a REAL discussion at the time.)]]

* ''Series/TheNanny'': A flashback to Fran Fine's childhood in the early 1970s starts with Fran's mother Sylvia ([[TimeShiftedActor played by Fran Drescher]]) singing the theme to ''Series/{{Maude}}''.

** Simultaneously Lampshaded, Parodied, and Averted in 2015's [[Recap/TheSimpsonsS26E19TheKidsAreAllFight "The Kids are All Fight"]] flashback episode. "The President at the time was The President. Popular music was all the rage."

** When Dipper and Mabel flash through various eras in "The Time Traveler's Pig," one such escapade includes heading to "Ye Old Oregon Trail," as announced by the driver of a covered wagon over a treacherous cavern's edge; he also mentions to his wife "Fertilia" that she must have [[GettingCrapPastTheRadar produced two children when he wasn't looking]].

* Seen in ''Series/{{Charmed}}'' when the sisters travel through time (although it's arguably justified that they should end up around a bunch of hippies when going back to the 1960s, the setting being San Francisco) and when, in another episode, flashbacks display scenes from TheRoaringTwenties.

** The "Power of Love" scene in Part I was initially included to show Marty going about his [[MorningRoutine normal life]] before the adventure begins, but 30+ years after the release of the film, it now serves to [[UnintentionalPeriodPiece establish the very 80s world he is trying to return to]].

* Naturally, the pilot episodes of ''Series/{{Life On Mars|2006}}'' and ''Series/AshesToAshes'' both featured these, although the music in both cases was organic to the scene (from Sam's car's 8-track player and the sound system at Alex's boat party, respectively). Even the ''titles'' are [[Music/DavidBowie in on it]].

* WebVideo/TheNostalgiaChick's ''{{WesternAnimation/Anastasia}}'' review notes the unrealistic number of "1920s Paris" things and people shown, as well as the fact that Sigmund Freud shouldn't be there. (Then again, [[ArtisticLicenseHistory neither should the Dowager Emperess]].)

* ''Film/HotTubTimeMachine'' has one of these when the four protagonists reach the ski lodge and realize that it's TheEighties. Featuring leg warmers, [[UsefulNotes/RonaldReagan Reagan]], EightiesHair, ''MiamiVice'' T-shirts, cassette players, cell phones the size of bricks, Creator/{{MTV}} [[NetworkDecay playing music videos]], and more all to set the mood.

* Used str

* Several Music/EvelynEvelyn songs start out mentioning things that occured that year. For example, "The Tragic Events of September" (which is about the day the twins were born) features the lines "The year is 1985. ''Film/StElmosFire'' is at the top of the charts, the wreckage of the UsefulNotes/{{Titanic}} has just been discovered at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean, and on a small farm on the Kansas-Colorado border a young mother is about to give birth".

** In the DVD commentary for Part II, it's mentioned that they'd considered using "Papa Loves Mambo" by Perry Como before deciding on "Mister Sandman". "Papa Loves Mambo" appears in Part II playing on 1955 Biff's car radio.

* Many, ''many'' movies set in TheFifties open with Elvis Presley's version of "Hound Dog" ([[CoveredUp never anyone else's]]). ''Film/BackToTheFuture'' is an appropriate exception, as Presley only recorded his version in 1956. Movies in TheFifties also frequently feature a TV playing the HowdyDoody theme--''Film/IndianaJonesAndTheKingdomOfTheCrystalSkull'', ''Film/BackToTheFuturePartIII'', and the pilot of ''Series/QuantumLeap'', just to name a few.

* Creator/IainBanks starts his novel ''Dead Air'' at a party in London. One of the guests asks the host if he's flying to New York on Concorde, which turns out hasn't started flying again yet. So sometime between July 2000 and November 2001. The narrator notes the host's PS2, so we've narrowed down the scene to a single year - 2001. By the end of the chapter we know exactly when the party was.

* The scene in ''Film/StarTrekIVTheVoyageHome'' in which the ''Enterprise'' crew crosses a street in 1986 San Francisco and Kirk is called a "dumbass" by an angry taxi driver. The background music seems to be a standard '80s rock tune. It was a jazz/fusion tune that was created for the movie by the group Yellowjackets which was accurate of music adults listened to in the '80's. Also, an unlucky hoodlum is shown jamming on a boombox with music that fit the style of 80's era punk. The song was written specifically for that scene, and performed by the actor that played the punk.

** "Mr Sandman" is played once again in BTTF Part II, when Marty tails young Biff to retrieve the Gray's Sports Almanac, though it's shorter than Marty's first walk into 1955 Hill Valley.

** Named for the scene in the [[Film/BackToTheFuture original film]] when Marty [=McFly=] enters Hill Valley in 1955 to find that the town square is completely decked out to reflect TheFifties. The song "Mr. Sandman," as performed by the Four Aces, plays over this scene.