History UnintentionalPeriodPiece / The70s

* ''Film/{{Get Carter|1971}}'': one of the most dating parts of the film is the porn movie that Carter sees: it is on film, silent, in black-and-white, and Carter watches it on a clattering projector. UsefulNotes/{{VCR}} and VHS reached the United Kingdom in the late 1970s.

* ''Super Treasury of Amazing Knowledge'', a suitcase-sized children's book from the late 1970s, is packed with several dozen short essays about history, science, popular culture, and more. The essays are accompanied by cartoons that tend to betray their time period (mostly due to the SeventiesHair frequently found on the characters and the cheap, sketchy look of the cartoons), but the real problem is with the essays themselves, which strove to be timely and [[GoneHorriblyRight did it all too well]]. Their essay on kung fu, for instance, acknowledges at the beginning that most Westerners think kung fu is just a show of stupid stunts performed on television, which is obviously not what most Westerners think now. Their essay on pinball, meanwhile, claims that pinball is still quite popular in arcades despite the recent incursion of video games. Speaking of video games, the book's essay on ''that'' opens with a brief description of ''Space Invaders'' (probably the oldest popular video game not named ''Pong'') referring to the game with a breathless excitement that is very, very hard to take seriously now. Worst of all, the videogame essay ends with the essayist happening to mention that, gee-whiz, wouldn't it be great if you could play video games on a TV console at home rather than having to go to an arcade? Well, in just a few months (1979, to be precise, with the introduction of the UsefulNotes/{{Atari 2600}}), you can!

* ''Series/MatchGame'', in the Creator/{{CBS}} era. Start out with [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kXo9wAWn-hA a funky theme song]] and a set with orange shag carpeting, then add six drunken B- and C-list celebrities from the era. Some of the questions were about celebrities whose careers peaked in the '70s, or now-forgotten advertising mascots and spokespeople such as [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fvsmh9Im9e0 Euell Gibbons]].

%%* ''Series/MatchGame'', in the Creator/{{CBS}} era.

* ''Film/{{Network}}'' specifically dates itself to the 1975-76 television season by the reference to the assassination attempts against UsefulNotes/GeraldFord, as well as, more broadly, by its depiction of the pre-cable television landscape (the fictional UBS network is portrayed as a second-string also-ran behind the "Big Three" of Creator/{{CBS}}, Creator/{{NBC}}, and Creator/{{ABC}}) and an old-style TV newsroom in the scenes before Howard Beale finally snaps. It also comes into play with the various outlandish TV shows that UBS creates afterwards, in a rare case of this trope causing ValuesResonance rather than ValuesDissonance. At the time, screenwriter Creator/PaddyChayefsky (a veteran TV writer) intended the film as a satire of his experiences working in television, with Beale's fiery op-ed program and ''The Mao Tse-Tung Hour'' (following the escapades of a group of [[DirtyCommunists far-left]] WesternTerrorists based on the Symbionese Liberation Army, complete with [[NoCelebritiesWereHarmed obvious parodies]] of Donald [=DeFreeze=] and Patty Hearst) portrayed as the logical conclusion of the quest for UsefulNotes/{{ratings}} that he had witnessed. Modern viewers have often described the film as prophetic in its anticipation of both RealityTV and assorted PompousPoliticalPundit talk shows, and the effect that they had on the TV landscape.

* ''Film/TheBlueLagoon'', ''Film/{{Popeye}}'', and ''Film/{{Flash Gordon|1980}}'', all of them early 1980s Creator/{{HBO}} staples, could ''only'' have been made until 1980, at the end of the "maverick" era of filmmaking and 1970s excess.

** The outfits worn by Fujiko and the secondary characters are all contemporary fashion. Most of that fashion we’re caught and shot before they’ve ever had a chance to escape the 1970s. Averted by Lupin, Jigen, and Zenigata, who wear classic late 1960s vintage suits, and by Goemon, who wears ''15''60s vintage.

* ''Western Animation/ThePebblesAndBammBammShow'' was a spinoff of ''WesternAnimation/TheFlintstones'' that premiered in 1971 starring Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm as teenagers (with the parents in supporting roles). As the show focused on teen culture, it managed to be even more dated than the original, with fashions, music, and slang that screamed late 60's/early 70's.

* ''Film/{{Koyaanisqatsi}}''. Released in 1983, but largely filmed in TheSeventies. It starts becoming a period piece when they begin showing people in [[FashionDissonance dated clothing]], and really dates itself when it shows the inside of an arcade (bridging those years in which the 1970s transitioned into the '80s culturally).

** The portrayal of Carrie's [[AbusiveParents abusive]], [[TheFundamentalist religious fanatic]] mother Margaret is a very pre-Moral Majority version of fundamentalist Protestant Christianity. She is scornful of politics, viewing Washington as a hive of sin and a modern-day Sodom and Gomorrah that no good Christian should ever get involved in. This dates the book (published in 1974) to before the rise of the organized Christian Right as a major force in American politics, viewing political involvement in support of religious causes as a moral imperative rather than something that Christians shouldn't dirty their hands with; before then, even politically active Christian leaders like Billy Graham sought to give the appearance of being above partisanship. Likewise, she views all sex, even ''within'' marriage, as a mortal sin, and before her husband Ralph drunkenly [[ChildByRape raped her and conceived Carrie]] (which causes her [[NotIfTheyEnjoyedItRationalization no shortage of grief and guilt]]), the two of them lived a firmly celibate lifestyle. Modern evangelicals, by contrast, are often encouraged to "be fruitful and multiply" and produce large families of faithful Christians, as seen with the "Quiverfull" movement that emerged in the '80s. The 2013 adaptation had to highlight just how out of step Margaret's views were with anything resembling modern Christianity, even on the fundamentalist/evangelical end of the faith.

* ''Film/NationalLampoonsVacation'' is an all-time comedy classic; unfortunately, most of Creator/NationalLampoon's other projects are dated to their period of peak popularity, 1974-84. This covers their print magazine and their LP albums (deriving humor from topics such as politics, gender relations, and current trends), as well as their lesser films like 1983's ''Movie Madness'', (which pastiches '70s genres such as "Liberated Woman" (i.e. ''Film/AnUnmarriedWoman'') and CowboyCop), ''Film/NationalLampoonsEuropeanVacation'' (see Unintentional Period Piece/ UnintentionalPeriodPiece/TheEighties) and ''Vegas Vacation'' (see Unintentional Period Piece/ UnintentionalPeriodPiece/TheNineties).

* Most of Creator/TonyHillerman's Navajo Tribal Police novels, which ran from 1970 to 2006, have a timeless quality to them. ''Dance Hall of the Dead'', however, published in 1973, features an anti-establishment hippie commune, a psychedelic drug experience, and references to the Vietnam War.
* ''Super Treasury of Amazing Knowledge'', a suitcase-sized children's book from the late 1970s, is packed with several dozen short essays about history, science, popular culture, and more. The essays are accompanied by cartoons that tend to betray their time period (mostly due to the SeventiesHair frequently found on the characters and the cheap, sketchy look of the cartoons), but the real problem is with the essays themselves, which strove to be timely and [[GoneHorriblyRight did it all too well]]. Their essay on kung fu, for instance, acknowledges at the beginning that most Westerners think kung fu is just a show of stupid stunts performed on television, which is obviously not what most Westerners think now. Their essay on pinball, meanwhile, claims that pinball is still quite popular in arcades despite the recent incursion of video games. Speaking of video games, the book's essay on ''that'' opens with a brief description of ''Space Invaders'' (probably the oldest popular video game not named ''Pong'') referring to the game with a breathless excitement that is very, very hard to take seriously now. Worst of all, the videogame essay ends with the essayist happening to mention that, gee-whiz, wouldn't it be great if you could play video games on a TV console at home rather than having to go to an arcade? Well, in just a few months (1979, to be precise, with the introduction of the UsefulNotes/{{Atari 2600}}), you can!
* Ira Levin's ''Literature/TheStepfordWives'' ([[AdaptationDisplacement better known now]] for its 1975 film adaptation) is a time capsule of all of the fears and preoccupations of the '70s women's lib movement, written at a time when the stifling social conservatism of TheFifties was still within living memory for the thirtysomethings who were settling down in the suburbs at the time. The outfits of the titular robot wives deliberately call to mind the image of '50s housewives. The leader of the Men's Association also cut his teeth working on animatronics at [[Ride/DisneyThemeParks Disneyland]] (then the benchmark for RidiculouslyHumanRobots), similar to the ''Westworld'' example above.

** Likewise, the portrayal of Carrie's [[AbusiveParents abusive]], [[TheFundamentalist religious fanatic]] mother Margaret is a very pre-Moral Majority version of fundamentalist Protestant Christianity. She is scornful of politics, viewing Washington as a hive of sin and a modern-day Sodom and Gomorrah that no good Christian should ever get involved in. This dates the book (published in 1974) to before the rise of the organized Christian Right as a major force in American politics, viewing political involvement in support of religious causes as a moral imperative rather than something that Christians shouldn't dirty their hands with; before then, even politically active Christian leaders like Billy Graham sought to give the appearance of being above partisanship. Likewise, she views all sex, even ''within'' marriage, as a mortal sin, and before her husband Ralph drunkenly [[ChildByRape raped her and conceived Carrie]] (which causes her [[NotIfTheyEnjoyedItRationalization no shortage of grief and guilt]]), the two of them lived a firmly celibate lifestyle. Modern evangelicals, by contrast, are often encouraged to "be fruitful and multiply" and produce large families of faithful Christians, as seen with the "Quiverfull" movement that emerged in the '80s. The 2013 adaptation had to highlight just how out of step Margaret's views were with anything resembling modern Christianity, even on the fundamentalist/evangelical end of the faith.
** In a third example, the neighbor who in 1966 saw young Carrie harshly rebuked by her mother for talking to the neighbor (who was sunbathing topless at the time), followed by hearing the noise of a heavy table falling over once Mrs. White dragged Carrie indoors, would be more likely nowadays to call either the police or Child Services, rather than stay out of the Whites' child-rearing decisions. The school staff also would be mandated to call Child Services after Carrie abnormally freaks out over getting her first period and indicates that she wasn't taught anything about sex and reproductive health by her mother, prior to sex-education classes being taught in school.
* King also wrote ''Literature/TheStand'' in 1978, and it originally took place in 1980. Most of its real-life inspirations - the kidnapping of Patty Hearst by the Symbionese Liberation Army, the American counterculture's sharp disdain for government post-Vietnam War, the back-to-nature movement, women's lib, the Kent State massacre - are now seen as historical events rather than vital elements of its NextSundayAD feel, and its WaxingLyrical mostly sticks to late-70s rock songs. The re-released expanded edition moves the time forward to 1990, but doesn't change all that much about the content, resulting in an early 1990s that still feels exactly like the late 1970s.

* ''Film/GetCarter'': one of the most dating parts of the film is the porn movie that Carter sees: it is on film, silent, in black-and-white, and Carter watches it on a clattering projector. Home video reached the United Kingdom in the late 1970s.

* The deluge of trucking songs in the 1970s, back when trucking and CB radio were at their peak. "Convoy" by C.W. [=McCall=] is one of the most famous.

* In nearly any media made before the 1980s that takes place in North America, long distance telephone calls are seen as prohibitively expensive and used only in emergencies. When AT&T had a monopoly, long distance rates were as high as $17 an hour (adjusted for inflation that would be nearly $100 in 2023 dollars). The advent of competitors like Sprint and MCI (and eventually the ubiquity of cell phones) brought prices down, but Gen Xers can still remember having to wait till the cheap hours to call their grandparents.

* ''Series/BarneyMiller'': 7th season episode "Dorsey" has, as one of its plotlines, a story about one Mr. Pryor, who went to an anti-smoking clinic but wrecked the place when he found their methods (which included shock therapy) too harsh. Mr. Pryor talks about how much he dislikes anti-smoking crusaders, citing "their smug, self-righteous attitudes," and Harris agrees. Sure enough, when Mr. Adelson of the anti-smoking clinic arrives, he's smarmy and smug and says "thank you for not smoking" when Harris blows smoke in his face. This whole plotline, with the idea that complaining about secondhand smoke is the whining of a SmugStraightEdge, plus the fact that Detective Harris is not only free to smoke at his desk but is free to [[SecondFaceSmoke blow smoke into Mr. Adelson's face]] when Adelson pisses him off, firmly marks this episode as from an era when [[EverybodySmokes everyone smoked, everywhere]].

* Despite its classic-rock status, Music/LynyrdSkynyrd's SignatureSong "Sweet Home Alabama" is firmly rooted in 1974. First, the Music/NeilYoung references are due to the song being an AnswerSong to Neil's song "[[Music/{{Harvest}} Southern Man]]", which has not remained as well-known as SHA. Secondly, while [[{{Scandalgate}} Watergate]] is still a notorious event, it lost its relevancy and ability to "not bother" Ronnie Van Zant after UsefulNotes/RichardNixon's resignation brought the scandal to its conclusion.