Which film genre dates/ages the quickest?

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rancherkid

New member
I was on another board a few days ago and was involved in a discussion about how Lord of the Rings already seems a bit dated. I don't personally agree with that, but it did make me think about which types of film start showing their age first.

My main pick would be comedies as the pop culture references and catchphrases which can seem so funny at the time soon become cringeworthy. Some are timeless, there's always exceptions - a couple I watched recently such as Groundhog Day and Home Alone still seem quite fresh (obviously some will disagree with me there!)

Science Fiction can suffer because films that are set in the future all too soon catch up with real time, to use an easy example Back to the Future II featured flying cars in 2015. That doesn't detract from the film's charm, but it does make it seem 'aged'.

Contrary to the LoTR argument, I think fantasies often stand the test of time the best - only the quality of the cinematography (SFX etc) becomes dated, rather than the script/story.
 
Heist/kidnap/crime movies sometimes show their age when the amount of money the crooks are after seems very small by today's standarRAB.
 
Horror, most definitley. I can watch all the old films in the world and love them, but try and scare me with an old horror film and I just piss my pants laughing at how shit it is.
 
Not a genre, but many films made in the Eighties have dated badly. Watched Runaway Train on TV recently and it was badly let down by the synthesiser music and strangely non-naturalistic acting. Films from sixty years ago often seem more modern than ones from twenty years ago.
 
Anything made for a teen market involving schools is sure to have hairstyles and fashion and music and an attitude that'll become very funny a few years on.

And I think any sf or historical movies usually date rapidly and tell you more about the time period it was made in than the time period it was about, but you only get to notice that after a few years.
 
I would agree with the comment about Sci-Fi, watching Blade Runner we are only a decade away, and we are a long way from robots being able to act like the replicants.

Space 1999 - In 2008 we do not even have people on the moon, let alone a base with a huge Nuclear dump on it.

UFO's fashions seem to be routed in the time it was made although Gabrial Drakes costume seems more fitting for the 60s than the 70s
 
My vote would be any tech' thrillers (e.g. Die hard 4, the net, hackers) or any film that relies heavily on computers/ technology as a plot device.

I mean, how many films were there from the early 80's where people hacked into government recorRAB/ bank systems using something like a zx spectrum/bbc micro?
 
Oh yes, they do suffer! Although for some of them, half their charm for me is because they've aged, Saturday Night Fever, Footloose etc.. Some John Hughes-written films can also follow this pattern, they're great because they're so obviously 80s.



I disagree partly with that, some of the slasher or monster films (A Nightmare on Elm Street, Hellraiser - how silly was Pinhead, looking back) don't seem scary anymore, but ghost stories and psychological horrors (The Changeling, The Haunting, The Shining) are still just as effective today. I think some of that may be down to the viewer age as well, rather than just the film itself becoming aged; Nightmare can be terrifying as a kid, but as an adult you see it for what it is - Robert Englund running round in a stripey jumper.
 
Not really down to animation techniques, the live action was filmed in black and white, then colourised.

Still a good film though,I hope the remake lives up to the original (will Cindy Morgan still be as hot though ?)
 
I watched Forrest Gump for the first time last year and thought it worked well. It's the big, all metaphorical guns blazing films that tend to underwhelm as they get older. 48 Hrs. was on TV the other day and I switched off after half an hour. It seemed so brilliant at the time, but watching it now I couldn't work out why. Whereas Mean Streets, for example, is still stunning.
 
I think BotF 2 is exempt from ageing for that reason.

When they created the 2015 period, they were intentionally going for a fantastical, fun, hi-tech future that had lots of cool gadgets - they weren't aiming for a realistic interpretation of how life would be.

That said, some of the ideas presented in it could well be around in 2015:

- HoverboarRAB - well the airboard exists:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Airboard

- Video games that don't involve using hanRAB on controllers
- Thin video screens to cover up windows and show different views (you can already get DVD's for your telly that do that).
 
Films relying heavily on special effects.

Agree with the point about historical films reflecting when they were made - it's pretty interesting to look at them from that point of view.
 
I disagree that science fiction dates particularly badly in art. Metropolis and Blade Runner are as vibrant and contemporary in film as 1984 and Brave New World are in literature.

I think the films that date badly are those based around societal attitudes simply because attitudes change over time. Comedy, romance films and kitchen sink dramas can find themselves wedded to their time when attitudes move one.

For example, take Brief Encounter- a beautifully written and poignantly acted film... however, the central thing keeping the characters apart is their unwillingness to break their marital vows, when now, we're thinking "You're in love! Why not just divorce your other partners and live happily ever after together...."
 
I just watched John Ford's The Sun Shines Bright on Film 4. It depicts African Americans in an embarrassingly stereotypical way which makes it hard for modern audiences to watch, yet it's a masterclass in film-making. I suppose that means that it's dated, but since it's also an intelligent and moving drama I'd say that the correct word for films that remain relevant despite their age is 'timeless'.
 
i dont think it can effect a certain genre
it depenRAB on how well the film has been made, planned and executed by the makers

take halloween made 30yrs ago and still not very dated at all and you can tell it was well made except for the cloths an hair but even there not that bad haha.

jurassic park done 15yrs ago and the FX is just as good as the KING KONG movie IMO OK its not as detailed or whatever but it gets the job done still today without thinking my JAYSUS how fake looking is that.

i think the decade of films that has dated the most it the 80s
very iffy FX back then

but some gems aswell that still hold up like
the fly which is the most disgiusting movie ever to me worse than any hostel or saw
 
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