History Main / TheFutureIsShocking

* PlayedForLaughs and [[PlayedForDrama Drama]] in ''Series/TheBoys'' with ComicBook/CaptainAmerica {{expy}} [[WorldsBestWarrior Soldier Boy]]. He was a veteran of both UsefulNotes/WorldWarII and the UsefulNotes/SovietInvasionOfAfghanistan before spending the last 40 years as a captive of [[DirtyCommunists the Russians]]. When he escapes and returns to America in the present day he has no concept of the Internet and still thinks of Creator/BillCosby as "America's Dad" ([[CrossesTheLineTwice who made some strong drinks]]). However, he's disgusted by how "soft" America has become and laments UsefulNotes/TheWarOnTerror making all the fighting he did in Afghanistan AllForNothing.

* Played with in ''Series/{{Timeless}}''. Two past characters end up in 2018: a UsefulNotes/WorldWarOne soldier and a 17-year-old [[UsefulNotes/JohnFKennedy JFK]]. The former adapts pretty quickly, although he still prints out the entirety of Wikipedia, as a tablet screen hurts his eyes. The latter is both shocked and pleased. Shocked at all the technology and his own future, and pleased at all the social progress (he went to an all-white boys-only school) since 1934.

[[folder:Film]]

* In ''WesternAnimation/ParaNorman'', the Puritan zombies are awakened in the modern day, and are shocked to see such things as a bar, sexy advertisements, and a TV window display broadcasting endless scenes of war, violence, and scantily-clad pop stars.

* In ''[[Literature/RiversOfLondon Amongst Our Weapons]]'', a servant-turned-assassin who'd been imprisoned in magical stasis in 17th-century Castile is accidentally released into 21st century England. She faints the first time an airliner passes above her, yet is delighted beyond words by the existence and convenience of vacuum cleaners.

* In ''Fanfic/JonathanJoestarTheFirstJoJo,'' Jonathan (being from VictorianEngland) experiences this quite a lot.

* In ''Fanfic/JonathanJoestarTheFirstJoJo,'' Jonathan (being from the late 1800's) experiences this quite a lot.

* PlayedForLaughs in ''VideoGame/PokemonLegendsArceus'' with Professor Laventon's [[UsefulNotes/MeijiRestoration Meiji-era]] [[MonsterCompendium Pokédex]] entries for the ArtificialIntelligence [[SiliconBasedLife Porygon and its evolutions]], and his barely-concealed fear of its BizarreAlienBiology.

[[folder: Tabletop Games]]

* Both played straight and inverted in ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}''. Fry adjusts surprisingly quickly to the weirdness that the future has to offer. His old girlfriend froze herself so she could be with Fry, but she's scared and nervous over just about everything. She points out that Fry was able to adapt so well to the future ''because'' of how he didn't fit in back in the past.

* In Creator/HarryTurtledove's ''[[Literature/WorldWar Homeward Bound]]'', the Yeagers return to Earth 30 years after leaving it (they left on a SleeperStarship and came back on a new FTL-capable ship) and spending a few decades as {{Human Popsicle}}s before that. They are shown the most popular game show on TV and are shocked (Karen Yeager especially) that Rita, the hot assistant, wears a Minoan-style dress that completely exposes her breasts. Moreover, most of the women in the audience as likewise topless, some with bodypaint covering their bodies, and some without. While going topless was a growing trend among the younger generation in their time, they didn't think it'd go ''that'' far (or be acceptable TV content). Jonathan and Karen go see a movie and are further shocked by an extremely graphic sex scene featuring the main heroes (and Creator/MattDamon being merely a secondary character). Slightly subverted in that this is not our future (as far as we know) but that of an AlternateUniverse where human culture is influenced by that of the [[TheReptilians Race]].

--> '''Lauren Mephisto:''' "We may not comprehend the cutie mark, the magic artefacts and the cloud cities, but they don't comprehend the telephone, the lightbulb and the combustion engine."

** In "Pilot", Richard initially has trouble grasping the fact that things have improved dramatically for African-Americans since he disappeared in 1951. At a café, he is astonished to see white and black people socialising in public and sitting at the same tables with no one finding it the least bit unusual or objectionable. This hits home as immediately before he was abducted, he was beaten up by the white members of his army unit because he was dating Lily's grandmother Lily Bonham. Richard is also shocking to discover that the Secretary of State and the National Security Advisor are both black in 2004.[[labelnote:more]]This refers to Colin Powell and Condoleezza Rice.[[/labelnote]] The term "black" itself is new to him as he was called "Negro, colored or worse" in 1951.

* The Retrothinker's character arc on ''[[Creator/BobChipman The Game Overthinker]]'' was built around this trope. The Retrothinker was a 1980s version of the Game Overthinker who hosted a public access cable TV show about video games from the basement of the Sharkcade. Excited to see what the future of gaming would hold, the Retrothinker made himself a HumanPopsicle to awaken in 2025. However, when the Sharkcade was destroyed by the arsonist ninja Pyrothinker, the Retrothinker awoke early in 2012 and was horrified by the world. Social gaming, online gaming, EA Sports, Gamestop, {{waggle}} gimmicks, creative stagnation, ''VideoGame/BombermanActZero'', and ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog2006'' led to [[spoiler: his FaceHeelTurn into the Necrothinker, who summoned an army of undead retro video game characters to destroy modern gaming. The Overthinker managed to defeat and heal him back to normal.]]

* The ''WesternAnimation/Frozen2013'' fanfic ''Fanfic/{{Unfrozen}}'' dabbles in this. Though it is downplayed [[{{Adorkable}} Anna]] has a few amusing interactions with, among other things, a smartphone, a TV, and a car.

* The ''Disney/{{Frozen}}'' fanfic ''FanFic/{{Unfrozen}}'' dabbles in this. Though it is downplayed [[{{Adorkable}} Anna]] has a few amusing interactions with, among other things, a smartphone, a TV, and a car.

* In ''Film/{{Rentaghost}}'', delicate Victorian gentleman Hubert Davenport was forever being shocked by the morals and the clothing of late 20th century.

* This is the premise of ''Film/BlastFromThePast''. The protagonist and his family, who retreated into a fallout shelter in 1962 and stayed there for 35 years, are so shocked by the difference that they assume civilization was destroyed by a nuclear war.

* This happened in ''Film/BlastFromThePast'', with the use of a nuclear bomb shelter. The character was so shocked by the difference that he assumed humanity had been heavily mutated by radiation.

A more specific sub-trope of FishOutOfTemporalWater.

* The premise of''Series/TheSecondHundredYears'' ,a series that only lasted one year in 1967-68. An elderly man discovers his youngish father who was frozen in a glacier in 1900. One scene has the father surprised to discover that there now are African-American doctors.

* The premise of''Series/TheSecondHundredYears'' ,a series that only lasted one year in 1967-68. An elderly man discovers his youngish father who was frozen in a glacier in 1900. One scene has the son surprised to discover that
there are African-American doctors.[[/folder]]

[[/folder]]

* In the ''WesternAnimation/CodenameKidsNextDoor'' episode "Operation: C.A.K.E.D.-F.I.V.E." the unfrozen Numbuh 19th Century is perplexed by the notion of cake and ice cream going together.