We're Still Relevant, Cleanup!

I think there's a trope for "rereleasing a work with updated references" but I don't know which one fits literature. I know Setting Update covers a lot of "modern" adaptations.

Edited by mightymewtron on Apr 14th 2021 at 1:38:10 PM

I feel like referencing outdated memes or putting things in where they're unnatural is a valid YMMV reaction, but a lot of this seems to pretty much summarize to "show about modern life references modern culture", which feels chairsy.

I placed a bunch of those in the wick check. Including two that were from products that aren't even a year old.

i'm noticing a similar problem to the one Unintentional Period Piece had with regards to a lot of examples being "referencing modern pop culture in a modern setting is bad". would it be worth imposing a similar No Recent Examples, Please! time cap?

The trope is not outdated references. It is per the laconic, "Obvious, desperate, and frequently misguided attempts at keeping trendy, hip and young using Long Running media, especially if it's outdated."

Which includes outdated references, if they're presented as hip and modern.

Edited by mightymewtron on Apr 14th 2021 at 2:26:20 PM

it's not purely outdated references, necessarily, but i think some hindsight is helpful to know what is a "misguided" attempt to stay trendy and what is genuinely keeping with the times. a long-running show acknowledging social media or smartphones isn't WSRD because they've become part of our daily lives and not just a trendy fad, yet a lot of examples are "this old show acknowledges that modern technology exists!" having a buffer, maybe not quite as long as Unintentional Period Piece but still maybe a good year or two, would help avoid kneejerk reactions and make it clear what's a true example (dating itself to the time it was aired and losing its timeless appeal) and what's not (successfully updating an aging property by bringing it into the modern era).

There seem to be quite a few examples that seem to be "this show/movie referenced a political topic!" (Examples: a lot of the Animaniacs (2020) example, the reference to toxic masculinity in the SCOOB! example, the Beauty and the Beast (2017) example mentioned on the sandbox)

The dreaded four misuses:

• "This show references popular culture"
• "This show haves characters with smartphones posting on social medias and taking selfies"
• "This show references things that were relevant when it came out"
• "This show mentions politics"

OK, I completed the wick check and opened the TRS.

And it is still not open yet.

There's a backlog. Patience.

I know this item's a mess right now but I'm curious about Press Your Luck:

• Were Still Relevant Dammit: The 2019 version's Whammies can give the show the impression of doing this, with the Whammy doing various pop culture references such as Harry Potter^note which a Whammy on Whammy! also did and The Fast and the Furious. There was even a reference to the penultimate episode of Game of Thrones, specifically the famous scene where Danaerys lays waste to Kings' Landing. Admittedly, this is only really true if you're not familiar enough with the show to know that Whammy animations have been making (then-)current pop culture references since day one.

The entry admits this is a Franchise Original Sin. I'm watching the Whammy clips and the only one I think is already dated at the time the show aired is an Oprah "You get a car!" joke. (There's also a reference to The Princess Bride but that's still popular for geeks.) And the majority of the Whammies are not pop culture references.

Edited by mightymewtron on Apr 20th 2021 at 1:44:35 PM

That example is already on the wick check we did the other week. It's recapped as "Basically just talks about the Whammy doing pop-culture references to works people still know about, and then admits that it's not really an example because this has been happening since the original show came out."

YMMV.Sponge Bob Square Pants

• Were Still Relevant Dammit: "Whale of a Birthday" first aired in 2006. It involves SpongeBob getting Pearl's favorite boy band "Boys Who Cry" for her sixteenth birthday. By the mid 2000s, boy bands like the Backstreet Boys and *NSYNC had gone out of fashion. But the episode became relevant again in the 2010s with new boy bands such as One Direction coming along and attaining massive popularity.

Is this example arguing against itself?

It was probably added before One Direction became big and then someone slapped a justifying edit on it.

I think Boys Who Cry still holds up. I even see memes comparing modern K-pop bands to them. They're a very generic boy band, as opposed to, say, Fingerbang, who is very obviously based off late 90s/early 2000s boy bands.

Edited by mightymewtron on Apr 26th 2021 at 11:08:09 AM

i would say boys who cry would probably count as Unintentional Period Piece? boy bands are still in style, but boys who cry are an obvious parody of late 90s boy bands, which have a totally different image compared to one direction or k-pop bands. it's more obvious with their style of music than their actual designs. because of that, they basically dropped those characters immediately after that episode. but yeah i don't think it counts as WSRD.

edit: sorry, UPP is 10 years and not 20. values dissonance is 20. i get those mixed up

Edited by NoUsername on Apr 26th 2021 at 11:27:59 AM

I think they lack any characteristics that would date them to a particular era, as they're all borderline identical and don't even really have outfits parodying any particular band. Plus, I don't even think *NSYNC and Backstreet Boys were that relevant by 2006, at least not for the show's demographic. The wiki claims they're based on the Jonas Brothers, but I find that hard to believe too.

Edited by mightymewtron on Apr 26th 2021 at 11:46:17 AM

then yeah just cut them either way, it comes off as unnecessary complaining regardless

It does not really fit the trope either.

This was recently added to the We're Still Relevant, Dammit! page:

• In 2019, Microsoft introduced a new version of its ergonomic keyboard that included an emoji key. Given that the keyboard is popular in professional settings where emoji use is often discouraged, many saw this as a questionable move.

not WSRD, but would likely apply to Misaimed Marketing

Maybe. But one might use the key for just chatting in breaks and stuff.

Exactly what you said, a Misaimed Marketing example that has been stuck on WSRD because "Modern social communication thing bad"

Bringing up the following example from The Craft: Legacy:

• Were Still Relevant Dammit: The teen witches make several references to Twilight, which was indeed highly popular with teenage girls...about a decade before this movie was made. The characters themselves would've been in kindergarten and elementary school when the Twilight movies were in cinemas from 2008 to 2012 (they were possibly still in diapers when the first book was published in 2005). It's not impossible they could be newer fans ^note Twilight nostalgia has lead to a renewed interest in the series, so it's somewhat plausible that they might be new fans or discovered it from their parents but the references can still come off as dated for a movie trying to appeal to Gen Z teens.