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Misused: Unintentional Period Piece

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    Original post 
Unintentional Period Piece is a ridiculously misused trope. The trope is supposed to be for when a work is full of things that make the work firmly dated to its era, such as fashion, technology, societal attitudes, etc.

Instead, it is used for anything even remotely dated in a work, along with merely dated settings and, in some cases, intentionally dated things.

Specifically, a collaborative wick check done by myself and War Jay 77 (with some help from mightymewtron) revealed the following:

  • 29.41% of examples were correctly used
  • 43.14% of examples were used for minor things in a movie that were dated
  • 1.96% of examples were intentionally dated
  • 13.73% of examples had a dated setting, without necessarily having lots of dated things in it
  • 9.80% of examples were ZCEs, and
  • 1.96% of examples did not fit the other categories.

Totaled together, 29.41% of the examples are correctly used, and 70.59% are incorrect. And as mightymewtron pointed out in the Wick Check thread, even many of the correct examples are very snarky and complain-y.

What should be done about this trope? War Jay 77 suggested moving it to YMMV. Beyond that, I don't have many other ideas.

Wick check:

Here we will be doing a wick check for the trope Unintentional Period Piece.

Why? This trope is ridiculously misused. The trope is supposed to be for when a work is so ridiculously dated and full of culture at the time it was written, that it becomes a Period Piece despite not intending to be one. However, it instead gets used for anything that is dated in a work, as well as sometimes intentional Period Pieces. It has been suggested that this trope be moved to YMMV as well.

Current wicks checked: 51/51

Misuse percentages:

  • Correct: 29.41%
  • Minor dated things/one dated thing in it: 43.14%
  • Intentionally dated: 1.96%
  • Dated setting or subculture, but not many dated things in it: 13.73%
  • ZCEs: 9.80%
  • Other, unknown, or unsorted: 1.96%

Misuse vs. correct use percentage: 29.41% correct use, 70.59% incorrect use

    open/close all folders 

    Correct use (work is ridiculously dated despite not being a Period Piece) (15/51) 
  • Film.Mallrats: The film is pretty much dripping with 90s culture, from the outfits to the music. Even Truth Or Date, despite being a 60s/70s throwback, is indicative of what was nostalgic in the 90s. Sounds correct at least...
  • Trivia.Scary Movie (1): A big problem with Scary Movie 2, even taking into account the fact that spoof movies generally don't age too well. In addition to the film featuring a lot of spoofs of adverts and music videos from 2000—2001 (which are a lot less likely to be remembered than films from the same time period), most of the films being spoofed got horrible critical receptions and were quickly forgotten, which hurts the film quite badly these days. The second movie also contains a reference to then popular, but now mostly-forgotten game show The Weakest Link. This, and the other example from the page, both reference how the movies dated themselves by basing them off of references that faded quickly.
  • Trivia.Scary Movie (2): Scary Movie 4 suffers from this to some extent, as a result of a lot of references to pop cultural things that are now mostly forgotten or considered outdated, such as My Space and the original iPod. Fortunately, most of the films being spoofed are still well-remembered and well-regarded (with the arguable exception of The Grudge and The Village), so the film doesn't feel quite as dated overall.
  • Trivia.Sneakers: Between the Mafia missing the Cold War, Why We Are Bummed Communism Fell sentiment of field agents, dial-up Internet, flip phones, and NSA introductions, this is clearly set in early 90s. Describes a work full of dated things from The '90s that wasn't meant to be a Period Piece.
  • Trivia.The Cardinal Of The Kremlin: The plot of the novel is tied to a quite specific period of the Cold War (START, SDI, heroic Afghan freedom fighters), and it dated very quickly. Only five years later, the film adaptations of the series skipped straight over it. Sounds pretty dated.
  • Trivia.World War Z: Between its parodies of and references to various celebrities and public figures, its portrayal of the internet and "alternative" media, the manner in which The War on Terror affects the US' initial, blundering response to the Zombie Apocalypse, and even brief mentions of the Nintendo Game Cube and of Ukraine controlling Crimea, the book is decidedly rooted in the anxieties and concerns of Bush-era America. Describes a movie full of things that date it to the Turn of the Millennium.
  • Trivia.The Doom Generation: The film's pop culture references, political satire and fashions instantly place it as a mid-90s piece. Jordan and Xavier have quintessential curtains hairstyles, likewise for Amy's bob. Describes a film that is ridiculously dated due to lots of dated things in it, which is the correct use.
  • Trivia.Grand Theft Auto III (2): Several other topical references date themselves, with radio commercials alone satirizing the dot-com boom (PetsOvernight.com, which delivers exotic animals overnight), massive SUVs (the aforementioned Maibatsu Monstrosity - its advertised mileage of 3 miles per gallon is treated as a point of pride in one commercial), dating services (Fernando's New Beginnings, a dating service which lets bored husbands secretly arrange for trysts with prostitutes) and the beginnings of Reality TV (Liberty City Survivor, where 20 recently-paroled guys are equipped with heavy weapons and then dropped into the city to hunt each other down, with one commercial including a recommendation from someone who got shot by one of the contestants). There's also the adrenaline pills, which in addition to boosting your melee strength put you into Bullet Time - an obvious reminder of the days in the early- to mid-2000s where the influence of The Matrix reigned supreme. Correctly describes a work being very dated due to having multiple dated things in it.
  • Trivia.Jurassic Park 1993 (1): The first film for the most part does a good job avoiding references that would tend to date these kinds of films, but the bulky computer monitor technology and the prevalence of Thinking Machines computers grounds it to the 1990s. As does Sattler's attire. Describes a film being dated by multiple things in it.
  • Trivia.Final Destination: The cameras used and the music for the soundtrack place the movie sometime after the the 1980s, but the under-reaction to a guy saying a plane is going to explode, which turns out to be true, clearly shows the movie was made before 9/11. Describes multiple things making a work very dated.
  • FollowTheLeader.Western Animation: The long-running rivalry between The Simpsons and South Park is an interesting case study in this trope. In South Parks early days, when it generally stuck to its simple "quirky small-town America" premise, many people unfavorably compared it to The Simpsons, accusing it of substituting that show's clever writing for simple vulgarity. South Park is generally agreed to have Grown the Beard when it started drawing more humor from current events and politics, and satire became its biggest strength. Conversely, when The Simpsons came to be criticized for its increasing reliance on quickly outdated topical humor, many people accused it of trying to copy South Park. So while South Park was once derided as a less clever version of The Simpsons, The Simpsons is now often derided as a less daring South Park. Pothole correctly describes a series becoming dated due to topical things that don't age well.'
  • Trivia.Day Of The Barney Trilogy: Several things such as the lack of BJ and Riff (the third and fourth dinosaurs, respectively, introduced in the show following Baby Bop and Barney), mentions of the huge popularity of Barney himself, and other things such as trends mentioned in the fanfics firmly place the trilogy as a product of the 1990s. Correctly describes how multiple things in the Hate Fic have made it a product of its era.
  • Trivia.Mafalda: For The '60s. Most strips avoid this, but enough of them make enough references to place them in that time period; among them:
    • The hairdos and attire of female background characters.
    • Mafalda's dad having been a fan of Bing Crosby in his youth.
    • The design of some appliances that are no longer made even if some may still be in use.
      • The new TV that Mafalda's dad buys is a square box model television with dials and no remote control.
      • Every character has rotary dial land-line telephones at home.
      • Mafalda's dad owns a brand new Citroën 2CV which stopped production around The '80s.
    • Almost all the children are Beatles fans.
    • Guille has a thing for Brigitte Bardot.
    • Allusions to the US space program include remarks about Gordon Cooper, the Mariner probes and the Moon landing.
    • Constant mentions about the Cold War (The USSR-USA rivalry, Vietnam, the Berlin Wall, the Japanese economic miracle, fear of Red China, and the possibility of atomic war...) Entires correctly describe multiple things making a work very dated.
  • Trivia.She Devil: This movie is very definitely a product of its time. Late-'80s hairstyles, outfits, and attitudes. Robin Leach introduces us to Mary Fisher via an episode of Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous. At one point Mary has a satellite dish installed for Andrew, and we see two fully-grown men struggling trying to set up a huge dish in the front lawn (most, if not all, satellite dishes of today are about as big as a dinner plate and attach onto the house). We see Nicolette spending all her time on a party line from a late-'80s cell phone. Nicolette's room has a Tiffany poster and Andrew watches some WWE fight where the hair is larger than the muscles. To cap it all off, we even see a promotional poster for Tim Burton's Batman in Times Square in one scene! Entry correctly describes a work being made dated by multiple things in it.
  • Literature.Thirteen Reasons Why: Magic Floppy Disk: The tapes. Clay even has to go look for a Walkman so he can walk around when he listens. Word of God is that it's intentional, so that the book won't become too dated. By using something that is said to be outdated, it won't seem like an Unintentional Period Piece. Bolded for emphasis. Intentionally (and correctly) used.

    Work contains one thing or minor amounts of things that are dated (22/51) 
  • Trivia.Angus Og: With its many mentions of contemporary events and cameos by UK celebs and politicians, it is very much tied to its time.
  • Trivia.Anarchist Cookbook: As mentioned above, the mentions of phone phreaking make it obvious that it was written in The '70s.
  • Trivia.Doctor Who S 1 E 1 An Unearthly Child: One of the reasons why Susan is considered unusual is because she doesn't know how pre-decimal currency works, and that she thought the UK was on the decimal system. At the time this is perfectly reasonable, but given the UK really did switch to decimilised currency in 1971, nowadays it's perfectly reasonable for a 15-year-old to not understand it. Describes only one thing that is dated.
  • Trivia.I Carly: The episode "iMeet Fred". Most kids today would not even know who Fred is and will probably assume that it's just a Show Within a Show created specifically for iCarly. Describes an episode being dated only because it contains a no longer popular online celebrity.
  • Trivia.Nickmas: The first Frosty the Snowman parody short uses Libby's original hairstyle even when she's a senior. Describes only one thing that is dated in a work.
  • Trivia.The Simpsons S 11 E 19 Kill The Alligator And Run (1): This episode aired in April of 2000; the Montana Militia largely disbanded around this time, after reaching its peak membership during the previous year. Describes only one thing that is dated in the episode.
  • Trivia.The Raccoons: At the end of "The Prism of Zenda!", Cyril can be seen with a cigar in his mouth... in prison. Smoking has been banned in Canadian prisons since 2008. Pothole bolded for emphasis. Pothole references only one thing dated in a work.
  • Trivia.Trading Places (1): At the time the film was made, using misappropriated or "insider" information to invest in commodities (as opposed to the stock and bond market) was not a crime, although a government courier could still get in trouble for unauthorized release of government information like the crop report in the film. The law that changed this, Section 136 of the Wall Street Transparency and Accountability Act, note  enacted in 2010, is informally known as the "Eddie Murphy Rule." The chairman of the Commodities Futures Trading Commission specifically referred to the film when first publicly proposing the rule change. Describes one thing in a movie that is dated.
  • Trivia.Trading Places (2): A lot of what goes down at the stock market in this movie is also not possible now thanks to computers — pit trading and open outcry are no longer widely used, for example. Describes only one thing in a movie that is dated.
  • Trivia.Say Anything (1): The Signature Scene of Lloyd holding a boombox over his head might not have the same impact today if he were holding an iPod instead. Then again, a 21st-century Lloyd would be holding up some kind of iPod player with a picture of a boombox on it, as joked by Brie Larson. Describes only one dated thing in a work.
  • Trivia.Say Anything (2): The people filming the graduation ceremony using actual film cameras. Today they'd just be holding up their phones. Describes only one dated thing in a work.
  • Trivia.Kidsongs (1): "A Day with the Animals" has a killer whale in Marineland of the Pacific (which closed a year after it was filmed) performing tricks in "I Love the Water World". Come The New '10s, the controversy over raising orcas in captivity forced water parks to stop doing such shows, most notably Sea World in 2016. Describes one dated thing in a song.
  • Trivia.The Cat In The Hat: In The Cat in the Hat Comes Back, the protagonist's father owns a pair of shoes that cost $10. Pricey in 1958 but these days you'd wonder why he'd have such cheap footwear.
  • Trivia.Wishbone: If the episode "A Dogged Expose" took place today, Damont certainly wouldn't be distributing those embarrassing photos on flyers. He'd be posting them on social media.
  • Trivia.ET The Extra Terrestrial (2): On the other hand, jock older brother Michael's introduction has him playing Dungeons & Dragons without hinting at him having any geeky or creative Hidden Depths, which firmly grounds the film in the early 80s (the height of D&D's popularity as a fad) for fans of the film who are role-players. Describes one thing that is dated in the film.
  • Trivia.Grand Theft Auto III (1): Claude uses a pager (and in some cases, a pay phone box) rather than a cell phone to communicate. On Chatterbox, a Moral Guardians group leader against cell phones calls in to protest against them, but also talk about how difficult it is to communicate without them. Both of these elements have been dated past The New '10s with many more people owning cell phones, and even more so by the fact almost every later game in the "GTAIII era" of the series - despite being intentional period pieces dated even earlier than GTAIII - uses cell phones rather than pagers. Describes one dated thing in the game.
  • Trivia.Grand Theft Auto III (4): The character of Donald Love is quite clearly based on the then-current pop-culture depiction of Donald Trump, being a ruthless businessman owning a large skyscraper who expresses a desire to instigate a gang war for property development. Describes one dated thing in the game.
  • Trivia.Jurassic Park 1993 (2): This applies to the dinosaurs as well, thanks to Science Marches On. In 1993 they were the most up-to-date depiction of dinosaurs in film. Now they're nearly as dated as the "old" dinosaurs they once displaced. Describes one dated thing in the movie.
  • Trivia.Henry Stickmin Series: A lot of older memes are referenced in earlier games that remain unchanged in the Collection version, most notably the Shoop-da-Woop Running Gag. References some things that are dated in the series, without implying that they make the whole game dated.
  • Trivia.Another Cinderella Story: Mary's The Girl Who Fits This Slipper subplot involves her Zune music player, which was discontinued in 2011 (a little over half a decade after the movie's release). The description for the film for some cable and streaming services even misidentifies it as an iPod. Describes one dated thing in a work.
  • Recap.The Simpsons S 3 E 14 Lisa The Greek: Take That!: The episode takes jabs at the Super Bowl broadcasts of the 1980s, which consisted on rather bland family-friendly half-time shows built around a theme while the game would be followed by the premiere of a new TV show that would usually be cancelled after one season (The A-Team, which premiered after S.B. XVII being one of the few exceptions). This doubles with Unintentional Period Piece for both practices were abandoned a few years later: The half-time show would feature pop stars beginning in the following year (something in which Fox's In Living Color! special played an important part), and after NBC aired an special hour-long episode of Friends after Super Bowl 30, most post-game shows would be SB-themed episodes of already-established programs. Pothole describes two dated things in an episode, rather than the episode itself being very dated.
  • Trivia.Jack And The Beanstalk 1974: The music is reminiscent of songs from the 70's when it was made, especially the music the salesman plays on his lute, and in the original Japanese version near the end of the "Tulip" song he does an Elvis Presley impression. There's also a bit of Values Dissonance when Jack's mother spanks him onscreen. Describes two things that are dated in a work, without saying that they make the work itself dated.

    Intentional Period Piece or something intentionally dated (1/51) 
  • Trivia.Nineteen Ninety Something: Inverted, seeing as how the comic takes place in The '90s but was created in the mid-to-late 2010s. Regardless, the comic contains so many outdated 90s references that one either has to have lived in the 90s or have a vast knowledge of the decade to understand any of it. Intentional Period Piece.

    Work is heavily influenced by a specific dated subculture or setting, without being full of dated things per se (7/51) 
  • Trivia.Tragedy Girls: Much of the film's humor is rooted in satirizing the True Crime fandom of the 2010s, portraying it as obsessed with murderers in a manner that recalls the real-life "Columbiner" communities of that era. After the Parkland shooting and the March for Our Lives in 2018, a year after this film came out, the online true crime community took a very notable shift away from that sort of attitude, and nowadays, the idolization of serial killers and spree killers of the sort that Sadie and McKayla engage in is regarded as tasteless, at least in the more mainstream communities. Describes a film's premise being heavily influenced by a once-relevant subculture, without the film actually being filled with dated things.
  • Trivia.The Simpsons S 11 E 19 Kill The Alligator And Run (2): The episode also features the party-hard youth culture of the 90s and 2000s at its peak, with Kid Rock appearing at an MTV show broadcast from the beach (featuring a joke about the age of the channel's presenters), with Rock's particular brand of Rap Rock being passe by the time the episode aired, while this zeitgeist would be greatly affected by 9/11. Kid Rock's hype man Joe C. also appears alongside him in this episode, seven months before he died from complications related to dwarfism. Describes an overarching culture that affects the episode's timeliness, without the episode itself being actually necessarily filled with dated things.
  • Trivia.Kidsongs (2): "A Day at the Circus" aged even worse. In the years since the video was first released, the traditional American-style traveling circus has diminished in popularity with the biggest example being the closing of the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus in 2017. Not helping is the animal acts, especially those with elephants, which have come under much scrutiny by animal rights groups. Describes a song being dated because it is set in a circus, which are no longer as relevant as they once were.
  • Trivia.Goku Midnight Eye: The series is exceedingly 80s, with a cyberpunk future where fashion has remained the same and the USSR is still around. Sounds like it uses some 80s tropes and history, but doesn't sound too heavily dated.
  • Trivia.Bicycle Thieves: The story very much reflects the conditions in Italy after World War II. Unemployment and crime were rampant, the police generally weren't very competent, and, as shown in a few scenes, communism had a large following in the country. And Rita Hayworth (featured on the posters Antonio is supposed to hang) was at the peak of her international popularity. Entry describes an era's culture making a movie dated, rather than the movie being dated due to being full of things from its era.
  • Trivia.Grand Theft Auto III (3): Liberty City's portrayal as The Big Rotten Apple, a view that started to fade soon after 9/11 (which happened a month before the game's release) and The War on Terror. Even though the game was held back a month to attempt to remove content that would look offensive after 9/11, very little could actually be done with the small amount of time they had (the police cars were changed to a Los Angeles-inspired color scheme rather than emulating the NYPD's then-current and distinctive blue on white, airplanes couldn't be blown up, and the only plane in the game had its wings clipped to make it nearly impossible to fly), dating it to the immediate pre-9/11 period of 2000 to, at latest, August 2001. Describes a game being dated due to a dated setting.
  • Film.Mission To Moscow: A few years after its release, the Cold War arrived and Mission to Moscow became an Old Shame for all involved. Warner Bros. argued that the film had been an "expedient lie" to help the war effort along and that it had never been meant for posterity. The House Un-American Activities Committee wasn't buying it, so Warner Bros. threw screenwriter Howard Koch to the wolves. Even though he had written the film under contract and had never belonged to the Communist Party, Koch was subsequently put on The Hollywood Blacklist. Since the Red Scare, the movie has largely faded into obscurity, and it's now remembered as one of the all-time Unintentional Period Pieces. Sometimes it's shown, not without controversy, on Turner Classic Movies. Pothole describes a film dated by its setting rather than by having a lot of dated things in it.

    ZCEs (5/51) 

    Other, unknown, or unsorted (1/51) 
  • Trivia.ET The Extra Terrestrial (1): Averted nicely unlike a lot of 80s movies. You can tell it was filmed in the 1980s due to the cars, the TV, and the family owning an Atari 2600, but it doesn't stick out like other examples. Many of the pop culture references they make like Star Wars or The Twilight Zone (1959) are still known by today's audiences. Entry literally says that it does not fit the trope.

Edited by GastonRabbit on Jan 4th 2023 at 11:08:49 AM

RallyBot2 (Elder Troper) Relationship Status: I'm just a poor boy, nobody loves me
#101: Jun 7th 2021 at 8:39:49 PM

To bring in my suggested criteria from the last thread (which the thread had a weak consensus on:)

1. To fit the "unintentional" part of the title, the creators of the work must not have intended the work to look like a time capsule of then-current culture in the near future. This means that works that are specifically made to capitalize on current trends (e.g. most Seltzer and Friedberg movies) or works that make deliberate use of Ripped from the Headlines for satire purposes (e.g. South Park) don't count.

2. The part of the work that makes it an Unintentional Period Piece must be integral to the work. The dividing line is "would the work be substantially different if it were to have been made ten years later?" Something like the brand or model of cell phone a character uses wouldn't count, but the suspicious lack of cell phones in a situation where they would be useful might. Similarly, a scene merely happening to take place at the Twin Towers is not an example if it could have been substituted with another building without anything major changing.

3. The part of the work that makes it a UPP must not be something common across media of the time, such as the work having what looks to us like a Decade-Themed Filter despite being set in the then-present.

4. To qualify for the "special circumstances" NREP exception (for works from the last ten years,) the premise of the work must be significantly impacted by the time of, or shortly after, its release.

Everything copied verbatim except the parenthetical in #4 to provide context.

mightymewtron Word Up from New New York Since: Oct, 2012 Relationship Status: THIS CONCEPT OF 'WUV' CONFUSES AND INFURIATES US!
Word Up
#102: Jun 7th 2021 at 9:20:35 PM

I still feel like there's a place for "ambiguously deliberate" period pieces as a sort of YMMV item. Like for works that are cited to truly capture the "spirit" of a particular era.

I do some cleanup and then I enjoy shows you probably think are cringe.
naturalironist from The Information Superhighway Since: Jul, 2016 Relationship Status: TV Tropes ruined my love life
#103: Jun 7th 2021 at 9:32:36 PM

[up][up]I like that, but I'm concerned that the "unintentional" standard might be too hard to meet when combined with the other criteria, and also invites complaining.

"It's just a show; I should really just relax"
MissConduct (Septatroper)
#104: Jun 9th 2021 at 7:12:14 AM

I was thinking of bringing this up elsewhere, but I had the idea for "Present Day Period Piece" to justify a certain subset of UP Ps and give them a less stigmatic name. See, a lot of the UP Ps are really not unintentional period pieces - they're snapshots of an era and make no qualms about not being such. For instance, Fast Times at Ridgemont High is very much intended to be a snapshot of the life of a teenager in the early '80's - the fashions, the music, the everything. In hindsight, it resembles a period piece (and it certainly influenced a lot of actual '80's period pieces), but that was the point. The writer and director and the rest of the creatives would probably say something to the tune of "It's dated now, but it wasn't then and that's why we made it." Calling it a UPP for the music and fashions and such is super unfair. Clueless comes to mind for similar reasons for the Nineties. Also, stuff that tries to be timely like Saturday Night Live generally doesn't care if its sketches one week will still be timely the next. Sometimes even their more topical stuff goes down in history, sometimes they bet on the wrong horse and their jokes lose their meaning, but they don't particularly care and they keep on chugging. None of these are Unintentional Period Pieces, yet they still get slapped with the label (with or without a disclaimer of "that was the point"), and mind you, UPP is a label of shame. Maybe we can work this into one of the splinter tropes if we're thinking of splitting it up a la what happened to Too Soon?

Nightshade92 from The Big Rotten Apple Since: Mar, 2021 Relationship Status: Remembering what Mama said
#105: Jun 9th 2021 at 7:24:42 AM

[up] I like the idea of re-working the trope into something more like that. Of course, Unintentional Period Piece isn't supposed to be a negative thing, but many of the examples I've seen definitely tend towards negativity. I also think it's kinda weird to imply that the people who make movies and TV that include a lot of contemporary references aren't aware that they've made something that future audiences will see as being of its time or even dated.

Old Enough to Be Your Absurdly Youthful Mother
MissConduct (Septatroper)
#106: Jun 9th 2021 at 7:31:46 AM

[up]I think a lotta the problem is the name, which as I previously mentioned isn't necessarily true for a lot of the examples, because they aren't unintentional.

crazysamaritan NaNo 4328 / 50,000 from Lupin III Since: Apr, 2010
NaNo 4328 / 50,000
#107: Jun 9th 2021 at 9:32:12 AM

In hindsight, it resembles a period piece (and it certainly influenced a lot of actual '80's period pieces), but that was the point.
That sounds like Present Day.

Link to TRS threads in project mode here.
MissConduct (Septatroper)
#108: Jun 9th 2021 at 9:36:46 AM

[up]Honestly, Present Day is kinda People Sit On Chairs, I think we might need to give that one the TRS treatment once we're done here.

WarJay77 It's NaNo, Bay-beeee! (3,795/50,000) from My Writing Cave (Troper Knight) Relationship Status: Armed with the Power of Love
It's NaNo, Bay-beeee! (3,795/50,000)
#109: Jun 9th 2021 at 10:28:10 AM

I don't think Present Day is chairs so much as just really ill-defined and used as chairs. But again, we'll discuss that another day.

Working on: Author Appeal | Sandbox | Troper Wall
Merseyuser1 Since: Sep, 2011
#110: Jun 10th 2021 at 5:20:55 AM

Would works like Top Gear, pre-Continuity Reboot count as UPP due to things like mullets (which seemed to last into 1995!) or Edutainment Show like Look and Read from the BBC, in the 1980s and 1990s which covered topics etc. and had examples of products that seem cheap now, but aren't due to inflation?

For example, would the Cool Car being a $40k sedan in a 1990s episode of Frasier be a UPP (probably $90k in today's money), now that SUVs, not Hummer Dinger SU Vs are replacing sedans?

Nightshade92 from The Big Rotten Apple Since: Mar, 2021 Relationship Status: Remembering what Mama said
#111: Jun 10th 2021 at 6:52:50 AM

[up] No, those would be misuse. The first two aren't fictional, so they don't feel like period pieces because of a storytelling or design choice, they're just reflecting the reality of the time (I'm assuming they're both nonfictional, but I'm only familiar with Top Gear).

And for the Frasier example, one or two small things like inflation or a now-unfashionable car are the kind of thing the clean-up thread has generally been cutting.

Edited by Nightshade92 on Jun 10th 2021 at 9:54:49 AM

Old Enough to Be Your Absurdly Youthful Mother
Merseyuser1 Since: Sep, 2011
#112: Jun 10th 2021 at 7:03:48 AM

[up] Look and Read is fictional stories in multi-part episodes, but an Edutainment Show genre from the 1990s; it featured aliens in one story that ran 1989-90, so that may qualify, not sure.

Nightshade92 from The Big Rotten Apple Since: Mar, 2021 Relationship Status: Remembering what Mama said
#113: Jun 10th 2021 at 7:22:19 AM

Okay, gotcha. But again, if all that stands out as being dated is the prices, I don't think that's enough.

Old Enough to Be Your Absurdly Youthful Mother
randomtroper89 from The Fire Nation Since: Nov, 2010
#114: Jun 10th 2021 at 8:58:25 PM

Can a work be both a intentional and unintentional period piece. I am thinking about how The Secret Diary of Desmond Pfeiffer made repeated Lincoln/Clinton comparisons.

Edited by randomtroper89 on Jun 10th 2021 at 11:00:21 AM

Merseyuser1 Since: Sep, 2011
#115: Jun 11th 2021 at 5:51:11 AM

[up][up] OK, fair enough. Would their Green Aesop episode "Earth Warp count due to 1990s attitudes on climate change and Society Marches On, plus 1990s cultural attitudes and the way the alien is presented as Little Green Men (from what I remember, some primary schools viewed this episode on VHS a few times a week in the 1990s)?

Something like Western Animation/6teen would be a UPP, for being fiction, and teenagers going to malls which is largely a Discredited Trope in general?

What about early 2000s-era Law & Order: Special Victims Unit and usage of terms "transsexual" and episodes that come across as homophobia, this trope or Society Marches On?

Edited by Merseyuser1 on Jun 11th 2021 at 1:52:29 PM

themayorofsimpleton Short-Term Projects Herald | he/him from the Island of Koridai (Captain) Relationship Status: I won't say I'm in love
Short-Term Projects Herald | he/him
#116: Jun 11th 2021 at 5:52:50 AM

[up] Are teens going to malls really a Discredited Trope? At least in real life I regularly see teenagers (among other people) in some of the malls where I live.

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SeptimusHeap from Switzerland (Edited uphill both ways) Relationship Status: Mu
#117: Jun 11th 2021 at 6:01:19 AM

I can only speak of Real Life but I don't have the impression that it's discredited yet.

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Merseyuser1 Since: Sep, 2011
#118: Jun 11th 2021 at 9:25:00 AM

[up][up] I was uncertain on that bit. As for the other two mentioned, do they fit UPP?

mightymewtron Word Up from New New York Since: Oct, 2012 Relationship Status: THIS CONCEPT OF 'WUV' CONFUSES AND INFURIATES US!
Word Up
#119: Jun 11th 2021 at 10:36:12 AM

[up][up][up][up] I think the trope of teens going to the mall is dying because malls are losing their popularity, but it's not like malls are tied squarely to the mid-2000s. As for Law and Order, that would probably better fit Fair for Its Day if it's been twenty years.

I do some cleanup and then I enjoy shows you probably think are cringe.
alnair20aug93 🍊orange fursona🧡 from 🐾Furrypines 🇵🇭 (Long Runner) Relationship Status: Chocolate!
🍊orange fursona🧡
#120: Jun 11th 2021 at 10:43:28 AM

Not sure about malls being UPP, considering malls here in Asia are populated, at least before the pandemic. I do think the mall architecture and aesthetic can signify what decade is it built.

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WarJay77 It's NaNo, Bay-beeee! (3,795/50,000) from My Writing Cave (Troper Knight) Relationship Status: Armed with the Power of Love
It's NaNo, Bay-beeee! (3,795/50,000)
#121: Jun 11th 2021 at 10:46:09 AM

Malls where I am are still pretty popular, maybe less so than before but they're still packed whenever I visit them.

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bwburke94 I am mad scientist! It's so cool! from 1.048596% (Y2: Electric Boogaloo) Relationship Status: She does the things you do, but she is an IBM
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#122: Jun 11th 2021 at 2:02:44 PM

The pandemic may make it hard to call malls "dead" yet, because we don't know what will happen when everything returns to normal.

2025: the year it all ends?
mightymewtron Word Up from New New York Since: Oct, 2012 Relationship Status: THIS CONCEPT OF 'WUV' CONFUSES AND INFURIATES US!
Word Up
#123: Jun 11th 2021 at 2:07:38 PM

They were already declining in American culture due to the increased reliance on online shopping — South Park did a bit on it in 2018, pre-pandemic.

That said, I do not think the presence of a mall is enough to date something. Especially when malls cannot be tied to one particular time period, as malls have been popular for many decades.

I do some cleanup and then I enjoy shows you probably think are cringe.
RustBeard Since: Sep, 2016
#124: Jun 11th 2021 at 5:42:01 PM

Right, teens have been going to malls to hang out since at least the eighties. That's a period of at least thirty, maybe forty years, we're talking about.

Nen_desharu Nintendo Fanatic Extraordinaire from Greater Smash Bros. Universe or Toronto Since: Aug, 2020 Relationship Status: Who needs love when you have waffles?
Nintendo Fanatic Extraordinaire
#125: Jun 11th 2021 at 9:16:57 PM

Malls are still popular teen hangouts pre-pandemic.

[up][up]That reminds me.

I believe that the examples of Simpsons, South Park, and Family Guy be split off from UnintentionalPeriodPiece.Special Cases into a new page specifically for those three shows (perhaps call it UnintentionalPeriodPiece.Adult Animation).

Edited by Nen_desharu on Jun 11th 2021 at 12:17:21 PM

Kirby is awesome.

16th Jul '21 7:11:38 PM

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What would be the best way to fix the page?

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