History ValuesDissonance / FIlm

* Voiceover singing in Hollywood vs. UsefulNotes/{{Bollywood}}. American audiences frown on the practice, viewing it as inauthentic and cheating (one of the reasons Creator/AudreyHepburn was not nominated for the Best Actress Oscar for ''Film/MyFairLady'' was because she didn't do her own singing). In Bollywood it's openly acknowledged and accepted; actors are dubbed over to the point where one woman, Lata Mangeshkar, provided the singing voice ''for every female actress in every major Bollywood movie for several decades'' and was a celebrity in her own right. [[note]]When Lata is unavailable, producers use her sister, Asha Bhosle, who sounds just like her.[[/note]]

** Winifred talks about her movement (The Sufragettes) doing some things that would probably be seen as ''quite'' disruptive, given the antics of [[AnimalWrongsGroup PETA]], as well as several protests (some rather violent) over a hundred years later that [[RuleOfCautiousEditingJudgment we frankly will not talk about.]]

* In ''Film/BlackZoo'', Edna runs a 'Chimp Show' where chimpanzees perform for zoo-goers, dressed in human clothes and performing 'tricks' such as lighting and smoking cigarettes. These where a common feature of zoos of the time, and is presented as wholesome family entertainment; especially when compared to Michael's obsession with big cats. To modern audiences, the cihmp show is an uncomfortable and degrading experience.

* The movie ''Film/GuessWhosComingToDinner'' has a really blatant case of PositiveDiscrimination on the subject matter, portraying the prospective son-in-law as unfailingly perfect and virtuous. The reason was so that his future in-laws (and by extension, the audience) would have nothing to object to in his marrying their daughter other than his race. The irony is that in a modern context the marriage has a ''lot'' of red flags totally unrelated to race, but weren't too much of a deal in 1968; Joanna only ''met'' John less than two weeks ago and is already prepared to marry him, even though there's a significant gap in both age and life experience (she's fresh out of college, he's a successful doctor who's traveled the world) and shortly after their wedding, he intends to move to a country she's never been to, away from everyone she knows, and where she will not speak the native language. It seems weird that Joanna's parents aren't the least bit concerned about ''that''.

* The 1917 silent film ''The Black Stork'' featured eugenicist Dr. Harry Haiselden playing a fictionalized version of himself. The film has a pro-eugenics message with Haiselden's character portrayed as doing the right thing for allowing a "defective" newborn baby to die (this was based on something Haiselden actually did, by the way). The movie's tagline was, "Kill defectives, save the nation and see ''The Black Stork''." The National Board of Review of Motion Pictures almost banned the film for being too graphic... and not pro-eugenics enough.

* ''Live Wire'', a 1992 action film, includes a scene where main character and explosives expert Danny O'Neill creates a homemade bomb out of household chemicals, clearly showing us exactly how to do so and what raw materials are needed. Good luck making that one post-9/11. Many movies now show these things wrong to prevent would-be terrorists learning from them.

* Meta-example concerning ''Film/EnemyAtTheGates'': Western audiences found it a grim retelling of one of history's most brutal battles. ''Russian'' audiences thought it was far too light-hearted in its treatment of the darkest chapter in their country's history and characters' behavior was really unrealistic/plainly weird.
** Well, not one, but two successive Russian Culture Ministers along with the Russian Military Historical Society repeatedly called the film a pack of lies, grave distortion of WWII history and blatant anti-Russian propaganda, to be precise. And if you browse through sites like Kinopoisk (Russian version of Rotten Tomatoes), you will see that the majority of people thought that Hollywood outright put Russian red Army in a bad light with all the "you get ammo without a rifle" scenes.

* ''Live Wire'' a 1992 action film, includes a scene where main character and explosives expert Danny O'Neill creates a homemade bomb out of household chemicals, clearly demonstrating exactly how to do so and what raw materials are needed. Good luck making that post-9/11.

* The Western ''Film/RideWithTheDevil,'' starring Creator/TobeyMaguire, was destroyed at the box office thanks to Values Dissonance. The movie portrays an African American fighting on the side of southern guerrillas in the Kansas border skirmishes of the Civil War. Although the character had a historically factual precedent, the idea of a black soldier fighting for the Confederacy, an institution widely associated with white supremacy, was so repugnant that the film was delayed, promotional materials were destroyed, and the release was severely limited (in the actual Confederacy most of the black soldiers were slaves forced into service by their masters though, so it's not as if they were all willing anyway).

* The whole idea of the {{Cowboy Cop}}, omnipresent in cop movies of the 1970's and 1980's has come under fire since the late 90s and 2000's. Back in the 70's, rising crime rates and then the "tough on crime" rhetoric of the Reagan era in the 80's made actions like beating up suspects for information, executing helpless criminals if they were evil enough, disregard for warrant, and all around tons of violence seem not just acceptable for police officers and displays of their badassitude, but necessary for combating crime. This ended after a string of high-profile incidents of PoliceBrutality and shootings of unarmed suspects, most infamously the Rodney King beating and several notable instances in the mid-2010s, which also revealed these actions targeted racial minorities, especially African-Americans, disproportionately. As a result, characters like Film/DirtyHarry and Film/{{Cobra}} come across as a lot less sympathetic nowadays. Lower crime rates beginning in the mid-90's also led to the demise of the "[[VigilanteMan vigilante hero]]" and "future big city in ruins" subgenres extremely popular in the late 70's to early 90's. In a pretty good illustration of just how far this trope has fallen out of favor with modern audiences, when Creator/EliRoth attempted to [[Film/DeathWish2018 reboot]] the once-popular ''Film/DeathWish'' franchise in 2018, it flopped at the box office and was absolutely ''savaged'' by critics, many of whom called it a wildly irresponsible piece of filmmaking.

* In the Creator/StephenChow film ''Film/KingOfComedy'' (1999), one of the running gags is that one of the neighborhood's little boys runs around naked all the time. This is creepy enough to an American audience, but there's one scene where Stephen's character stops what he's doing to play with the boy. A guy who was imitating Stephen's cues while confronting a gangster looks back to see him ''[[WhatTheHellHero tickle the boy's penis with a stick]]'' and again to see him ''[[CrossesTheLineTwice flick it with his finger]]'' ...and then copies both acts. [[PaedoHunt Imagine trying to film that in the States]].

* The HappyEnding of His Majesty O'Keefe sees the protagonist, a former EvilColonialist whose machinations got dozens of people killed and nearly destroyed the island of Yap, having a HeelRealization and telling the island's natives to go their own way. Instead, they choose to keep him on as king, plus he gets the girl.

* The HappyEnding of ''Film/HisMajestyOKeefe'' sees the protagonist, a former EvilColonialist whose machinations got dozens of people killed and nearly destroyed the island of Yap, having a HeelRealization and telling the island's natives to go their own way. Instead, they choose to keep him on as king, plus he gets the girl.

* In-universe example in ''Film/TheDarkKnight'': Bruce Wayne brings a Russian ballet dancer to dinner who supports Harvey Dent cleaning up Gotham City through political means, but does not understand why Gotham supports Batman taking on the criminal element at street level... and then, the movie explores exactly ''why'' having a vigilant in your city implies...

* The whole idea of the {{Cowboy Cop}}, omnipresent in cop movies of the 1970's and 1980's has come under fire since the late 90s and 2000's. Back in the 70's, rising crime rates and then the "tough on crime" rhetoric of the Reagan era in the 80's made actions like beating up suspects for information, executing helpless criminals if they were evil enough, disregard for warrant, and all around tons of violence seem not just acceptable for police officers and displays of their badassitude, but necessary for combating crime. This ended after a string of high-profile incidents of PoliceBrutality and shootings of unarmed suspects, most infamously the Rodney King beating and several notable instances in the mid-2010s, which also revealed these actions targeted racial minorities, especially African-Americans, disproportionately. As a result, characters like Film/DirtyHarry and Film/{{Cobra}} come across as a lot less sympathetic nowadays. Lower crime rates beginning in the mid-90's also led to the demise of the "[[VigilanteMan vigilante hero]]" and "future big city in ruins" subgenres extremely popular in the late 70's to early 90's. In a pretty good illustration of just how far this trope has fallen out of favor, when Creator/EliRoth attempted to [[Film/DeathWish2018 reboot]] the once-popular ''Film/DeathWish'' franchise, it flopped at the box office and was absolutely ''savaged'' by critics, many of whom called it a wildly irresponsible piece of filmmaking.

* The whole idea of the {{Cowboy Cop}}, omnipresent in cop movies of the 1970's and 1980's has come under fire since the late 90s and 2000's. Back in the 70's, rising crime rates and then the "tough on crime" rhetoric of the Reagan era in the 80's made actions like beating up suspects for information, executing helpless criminals if they were evil enough, disregard for warrant, and all around tons of violence seem not just acceptable for police officers and displays of their badassitude, but necessary for combating crime. This ended after a string of high-profile incidents of PoliceBrutality and shootings of unarmed suspects, most infamously the Rodney King beating and several notable instances in the mid-2010s, which also revealed these actions targeted racial minorities, especially African-Americans, disproportionately. As a result, characters like Film/DirtyHarry and Film/{{Cobra}} come across as a lot less sympathetic nowadays. Lower crime rates beginning in the mid-90's also led to the demise of the "[[VigilanteMan vigilante hero]]" and "future big city in ruins" subgenres extremely popular in the late 70's to early 90's.

* The 1936 film ''College Holiday'', starring comic legends such as Jack Benny, Creator/GeorgeBurn and Gracie Allen, would sound like heaven for many a fan of Golden Age (both of Hollywood and Radio)-era comedy... except for the fact the plot involves a Greek-inspired eugenics experiment with a group of students as the unwitting subjects. It would take almost a decade for eugenics to become completely discredited.

* ''Film/TheChinaSyndrome'': Jane Fonda plays a puff-piece reporter who, while doing a puff piece on a nearby nuclear plant, witnesses a near-meltdown of the plant. At a cocktail party soon after the events, she asks the news director to let her do more hard news stories. The director condescendingly replies that she was hired for her looks and her body and not any reporting ability. Nowadays, that would probably get the director fired and justify a huge [[http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2016/07/06/gretchen-carlson-files-sexual-harassment-lawsuit-against-foxs-roger-ailes/86752408/ lawsuit]].

** A lot of the Creator/SeanConnery [[Film/JamesBond Bond]] movies suffer from this, including SexFaceTurn, ''really'' [[DisposableWoman Disposable Women]], and SlapSlapKiss. This dissonance was increased in ''Film/{{The Man with the Golden Gun}}'', when Roger Moore tries to slap around women. They are still toned down from what exists in the books. You only have to read a few other British thrillers of the early 20th Century (something by Dennis Wheatley, say) to realize that Ian Fleming was quite liberal for his time.
** There are quite a few ethnic stereotypes as well. Even ''Dr. No'', which was fairly advanced for its day in its portrayal of a black man, has a scene where Bond asks Quarrel (who is black) to "fetch my shoes," in a rather presumptuous and condescending manner. In ''Goldfinger'', Goldfinger himself tells Bond that Koreans are the "cruelest people in the world" and are thus perfect for being evil minions. He ''could'' be referring to the Communist North Koreans, given the time period in which this story was written, but the ambiguity and generalization of his statement is what really dates it. This is a decided improvement on the book, where Bond and the narrator not only ''agree'' with Goldfinger, Bond muses to himself that he thinks [[{{Dehumanization}} Koreans are so savage they must be an entirely different species]].
** Film critic Matt Zoller Seitz discusses his dismay at a 2012 audience's [[http://blogs.indiewire.com/pressplay/from-russia-with-love-is-not-unsophisticated-you-are comedic reaction]] to a screening ''From Russia with Love'', due to the 1963 film's social mores and retro sexuality, arguing that the film needs to be taken in the context it was intended. As a counterpoint, writer John Perch [[http://www.overthinkingit.com/2012/09/19/from-russia-with-snub/ argues]] the audience's laughter and incredulity was a perfectly naturally response, stating basically that society had marched on and to attempt to view the movie as someone from 1963 might have is, essentially, role-playing rather than the genuine moviegoing experience someone from 1963 would have had.

* In the 1968 film ''Film/YoursMineAndOurs'', with Creator/LucilleBall and Henry Fonda, generally considered a G-rated, family values classic, there are several "Wait... what?" moments. Part of the children's attempts to sabotage the budding relationship include trying to get their potential stepmother drunk by spiking her drink--although they're called out for this, it's still uncomfortable. One of the boys is later punished with a prolonged spanking from the lady, something that wouldn't fly today.

* In the classic [[ScrewballComedy screwball romantic comedy]] ''Film/ItHappenedOneNight'', Creator/ClarkGable confronts Claudette Colbert's millionaire father, telling him that what his daughter needs most is [[SlapSlapKiss "a guy that'd take a sock at her once a day, whether it's coming to her or not."]]. Since the father has previously taken a sock at his daughter himself, he recognizes this as the voice of true love.

* The ''Three Stooges'' short ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aXJ2EaHKsd4 The Yoke's On Me]]'' features them hunting Japanese-American escapees from a relocation center. The characterizations are about as stereotypical and offensive as they come, but quite par for the course in WWII era films.

** The film features Mickey Rooney as the wacky Japanese neighbor Mr. Yunioshi, complete with yellowface, buck teeth and thick glasses that look like they were lifted directly from a WWII propaganda poster. At the time, this was acceptable comic relief. The original author Truman Capote slammed this, finding it offensive at the time too. Mickey Rooney apparently didn't see what the problem was.

--> Astronaut: "Where I come from, no woman is complete without a man."

* In the Shirley Temple film ''Film/BrightEyes'', to cap off the final scene, a bratty girl named Joy (who had been mean to Shirley Temple throughout the film) is slapped in the face by her mother. This happens in a courtroom in front of a judge. While completely acceptable at the time, slapping a child in the face in public would not likely be seen as a positive thing today. Actually, you could end up paying a fine (or depending where you live, spend a night in jail) for doing that.

%%* In-universe example in ''Film/TheDarkKnight'': Bruce Wayne brings a Russian ballet dancer to dinner who supports Harvey Dent cleaning up Gotham City through political means, but does not understand why Gotham supports Batman taking on the criminal element at street level... and then, the movie explores exactly ''why'' having a vigilant in your city implies...

* ''{{Film/Carrie}}'':

* George's [[FelonyMisdemeanor utterly horrified reaction]] in ''Film/ItsAWonderfulLife'' to his wife being a [[OldMaid miserable spinster librarian]] in the BadFuture can come across as this. Granted, she ''is'' clearly unhappy, but George had, in quick succession, learned his first boss is a homeless ex-con, his childhood crush and later friend is an abused stripper, his uncle has been committed to the insane asylum, many of his friends are dirt-poor, his nemesis [[BigBad Mr. Potter]] has literally bought the entire town, and his younger brother is ''dead'', all because he never existed. That ''this'' is what sends him over the line is quite indicative of the values of the day. Frank Capra acknowledged decades later that this didn't age well and wished he gave the character a different fate.

* ''Film/TheMaskOfFuManchu'' is a YellowPeril pulp movie from the 1930s and is full of Asian stereotypes and villains, complete with Boris Karloff and Myrna Loy in {{Yellowface}}. And of course the fact that the plot involves Fu Manchu trying to lead all of Asia against the West.

* The 1936 film ''College Holiday'', starring comic legends such as Jack Benny, George Burn and Gracie Allen, would sound like heaven for many a fan of Golden Age (both of Hollywood and Radio)-era comedy... except for the fact the plot involves a Greek-inspired eugenics experiment with a group of students as the unwitting subjects. It would take almost a decade for eugenics to become completely discredited.

* In the United States, the average running time of a blockbuster is slightly more than two hours, movies that run for longer than two and a half or up to three hours are usually either [[OscarBait gunning for an Oscar]] or get criticized for being [[PacingProblems overly long]] and [[{{Padding}} self-indulgent]] (and sometimes even the ones that ''do'' win Oscars still get criticized for this.) Indian audiences very strongly believe in getting your money's worth of movie for a ticket, so three hours is about the ''average'' runtime of a summer blockbuster over there. The United States usually produces about one or two [[EpicMovie epics]] a year, in Bollywood it's the rule and not the exception.

* In ''Film/ToWongFooThanksForEverythingJulieNewmar'', Noxeema gives a brief rundown of different UsefulNotes/{{Transgender}} types, which has become painfully dated since the mid-90's. She explains that a transvestite is someone who crossdresses for kicks, a transsexual is someone trapped in the wrong sex's body and has surgery, and a DragQueen is a gay man "with way too much fashion sense for one gender." This may be consistent with 90's attitudes, but by the 2010s, transgender people gained mainstream visibility and began deciding for themselves how they wish to be defined, and these terms and definitions have fallen out of favor for various reasons:
** "Transvestite" due to its negative, sensationalist connotations. Nowadays such a person would be considered a crossdresser (if it's purely a sexual fetish) or nonbinary (if it's how they identify).

* In ''Film/BabesInToyland'', the toys featured in the 1934 film version of the Victor Herbert operetta starring Laurel and Hardy would not pass government safety regulations (or most parents' standards) today: steel-tipped darts launched by a catapult, anyone?

* In ''Film/ToWongFooThanksForEverythingJulieNewmar'', Noxeema gives a brief rundown of different UsefulNotes/{{Transgender}} types, which has become painfully dated since the mid-90's. She explains that a transvestite is someone who crossdresses for sexual kicks, a transsexual is someone trapped in the wrong sex's body and has surgery, and a DragQueen is a gay man "with way too much fashion sense for one gender." This may be consistent with 90's attitudes, but by the 2010s, transgender people gained mainstream visibility and began deciding for themselves how they wish to be defined, and these terms and definitions have fallen out of favor for various reasons:

* In ''Film/ToWongFooThanksForEverythingJulieNewmar'', Noxeema gives a brief rundown of different UsefulNotes/{{Transgender}} types, which has become painfully dated since the mid-90's. She explains that a transvestite is someone who crossdresses for sexual kicks, a transsexual is someone trapped in the wrong sex's body and has surgery, and a DragQueen is a gay man "with way too much fashion sense for one gender." By the 2010s, transgender people gained mainstream visibility and began deciding for themselves how they wish to be defined, and these terms and definitions have fallen out of favor for various reasons:

** "Drag" has long included "kings" and transgender performers, both of which have become far more vocal and visible since the film came out.

** "Transvestite" due to its negative, sensationalist connotations. Nowadays such a person would be considered a crossdresser or nonbinary, depending on the person and their reasons.

* In ''Film/ToWongFooThanksForEverythingJulieNewmar'', Noxeema gives a brief rundown of different transgender types that has become painfully dated over time. According to her, a transvestite is someone who crossdresses for fun, a transsexual is someone trapped in the wrong sex's body and has surgery, and a DragQueen is a gay man "with way too much fashion sense for one gender." This may be consistent with 90s perceptions, but by the 2010s, transgender people gained mainstream visibility and trans people began deciding for themselves how they wish to be defined, these terms and definitions have all fallen out of favor for various reasons:
** "Transvestite" due to its negative, sensationalist connotations. Nowadays such a person would be considered a crossdresser.

* In the United States, the average running time of a blockbuster is slightly more than two hours, movies that run for longer than two and a half or up to three hours are usually either [[OscarBait gunning for an Oscar]] or get criticized for being [[PacingProblems overly long]] and [[{{Padding}} self-indulgent.]] Indian audiences very strongly believe in getting your money's worth of movie for a ticket, so three hours is about the ''average'' runtime of a summer blockbuster over there. The United States usually produces about one or two [[EpicMovie epics]] a year, in Bollywood it's the rule and not the exception.

* In the United States, the NC-17 rating is seen as a death sentence for a film's commercial viability, basically limiting it to arthouse/independent cinemas. Major retailers like Walmart and Best Buy refuse to stock NC-17 films or [=DVDs=], and theater chains like AMC are reluctant to book them. Although the MPAA specifically states it does not denote pornography, in practice it has been used for films with strong sexual content. Producers fight for an R rating and are often dismayed to get an NC-17. On the other side of the pond, however, the 18 certificate (roughly equivalent to the NC-17) not only has little effect on commercial viability[[note]]Although nobody under 18 may watch it in cinemas, plenty of mainstream films like ''Fargo'', ''Silence of the Lambs'', ''Halloween'', and ''Saw'' received an 18 and did very well at the UK box office.[[/note]] , it is seen as a badge of honor. In fact, [[http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1169772/My-film-horrific-15-director-tells-censors-pushed-18.html one horror director]] was disappointed that his film ''didn't'' get an 18 certificate. Films cut for an NC-17 in the US for commercial reasons usually receive an 18 certificate uncut in the UK, with none of the stigma attached. This highlights another example of disparity between the US and other countries, part of the reason that (in the US) the NC-17 rating is so heavily associated with [[RuleOfFirstAdopters porn]] is because it is damn-near impossible to get a movie rated NC-17 for violence alone, most films with the rating almost invariably feature explicit sexual content or heavily sexualized violence as a result.

* Voiceover singing in Hollywood vs. Bollywood. American audiences frown on the practice, viewing it as inauthentic and cheating (one of the reasons Creator/AudreyHepburn was not nominated for the Best Actress Oscar for ''Film/MyFairLady'' was because she didn't do her own singing). In Bollywood it's openly acknowledged and accepted; actors are dubbed over to the point where one woman, Lata Mangeshkar, provided the singing voice ''for every female actress in every major Bollywood movie for several decades'' and was a celebrity in her own right. [[note]]When Lata is unavailable, producers use her sister, Asha Bhosle, who sounds just like her.[[/note]]

* In the United States, the NC-17 rating is seen as a death sentence for a film's commercial viability, basically limiting it to arthouse/independent cinemas. Major retailers like Walmart and Best Buy refuse to stock NC-17 films or [=DVDs=], and theater chains like AMC are reluctant to book them. Although the MPAA specifically states it does not denote pornography, in practice it has been used for films with strong sexual content. Producers fight for an R rating and are often dismayed to get an NC-17. On the other side of the pond, however, the 18 certificate (roughly equivalent to the NC-17) not only has little effect on commercial viability[[note]]Although nobody under 18 may watch it in cinemas, plenty of mainstream films like ''Fargo'', ''Silence of the Lambs'', ''Halloween'', and ''Saw'' received an 18 and did very well at the UK box office.[[/note]] , it is seen as a badge of honor. In fact, [[http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1169772/My-film-horrific-15-director-tells-censors-pushed-18.html one horror director]] was disappointed that his film ''didn't'' get an 18 certificate. Films cut for an NC-17 in the US for commercial reasons usually receive an 18 certificate uncut in the UK, with none of the stigma attached.

* In ''Film/TheWizard'', from 1989, young Haley is able to stop Putnam, the detective who's trying to take the kid heroes back home, from taking away Jimmy at a video arcade by pointing at him and yelling "HE TOUCHED MY BREAST!", which causes Putnam to get hauled out of the building by security. The whole thing is PlayedForLaughs and LaserGuidedKarma, which raised some eyebrows even at the time, but today, accusing someone of child molestation, truthfully or falsely, would never be written so lightly, let alone portrayed in ''a children's film''.