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Discussion » Questions » Television and Movies » Is it just me or do period movies feel less and less authentic?
bigloseridiotman

Is it just me or do period movies feel less and less authentic?

For about the last ten or fifteen years movies have not done a very good job at looking like they take place in the decade they’re set in. Rocket man and bohemian rhapsody look like an snl sketch. movies like terminator genisys and the various x men movies set in the 60s and 70s are cringingly phony looking. Stranger things is way more up its own butt with 80s stuff than the actual 80s were. Once you start going back further than the 20th century movies become about as accurate as they’ve Always been, but why do we suddenly suck at making recent history feel the least bit real?

Posted - May 22, 2019
Tags : Movies funky baby

Responses


  • 19942
    Do you mean like the Starbucks coffee cup in one episode of Game of Thrones and a water bottle in another?
      May 22, 2019 5:22 AM MDT
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  • 268
    Haha I don’t know if game of thrones counts as a period piece, i’m more talking about movies that take place between the 20’s and the 90’s but I don’t think those are technically called period pieces either. whatever you call them, they seem more stereotypical every year to me in terms of set design and costuming. Not to mention they use cgi to do entire backgrounds now and it’s always really off putting This post was edited by bigloseridiotman at December 28, 2022 4:57 AM MST
      May 23, 2019 1:47 AM MDT
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  • 19942
    I can't recall the last movie I went to see, but as a general rule, I'm not a fan of period pieces, so I really can't answer this question.
      May 23, 2019 5:18 AM MDT
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  • 1430
    I dont know about that... About terminator genisys and the x men movies happening in the 60s-70s, i thought they did a really good job putting us in the era they happens.
      May 22, 2019 1:01 PM MDT
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  • 268
    Eh maybe it’s just me, I wasn’t there for most of these time periods so it’s not like I can say for sure.
      May 23, 2019 1:50 AM MDT
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  • 604
    I think they try to get it right, but I imagine money's the main problem...........on a somewhat related note, I always get a HUGE kick out of movies that are supposed to be, say, WWII, and the ones made in the 1960's NEVER have the right clothes or hairstyles for the ladies.......so we get a 'bastardized, 1940s' look, but done with a 1960's 'twist' so to speak........and it looks SO AWFUL..

    again, it's either money or just some laziness on the part of the people involved with wardrobe, hair/makeup, etc.

    HOWEVER when they get it right, it's always wonderful to see............
      October 7, 2019 9:14 AM MDT
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  • 1365
    "Like an snl sketch" haha, perfectly sums up why I have trouble watching this sort of stuff. 

    Perhaps it is more often the case with biopics too? I think the producers, especially, are much more concerned with delivering an idea of a certain period than anything historically accurate. Movies set in Victorian England are particularly irksome, because you're supposed to accept that everyone constantly tried to sound like they're reciting a novel. 

    I'll watch period movies with my old man, who dabbles in carpentry, and wait for him to yell "COME ON, THEY JUST GOT THAT AT IKEA!!" 

    This all has larger implications too. When libraries and the internet and TV can offer us a wealth of first-hand accounts of history, aren't we still too easily influenced by fiction with a mostly commercial purpose?
      December 28, 2022 5:07 AM MST
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