Top 10 Movies That Predicted Pop Cultural Movements I Hate
As geeks so often love to remind us, movies and TV shows have accurately predicted a lot of our current technology. Yes, a Star Trek communicator pre-dates a Motorola Razr by 40 years, and the non-holographic version of Minority Report's touch screens are now on your iPhone. But really, "Who gives a f**k?" All that proves is that the nerdy industrial designers of today used to all be sci-fi loving 'indoor kids' who had their first wet dream after watching Barbarella on late-night Cinemax. As a screenwriter, I'm less interested in guessing the next neato gadget, than predicting, or even shaping, the very culture we live in. As a result, I've compiled a list of films that did just that, albeit in really annoying ways.
10. BILL AND TED'S EXCELLENT ADVENTURE (1989) > GARAGE BANDS
"We wanted to be the Wyld Stallyons" Billie Joe Armstrong, Green Day. I live in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Before they let you over the bridge, the Hipster Housing Committee (HHC) insists you be in a band and, if not, they hand you an instrument and assign you to one (be sure to come check out The Strawberry Shortcake Doppleganger. I’m the guy on ukelele). Though Bill & Ted’s first adventure was more time travel than band movie, their damn-the-talent, lets-rock spirit, combined with one of the best band names EVAH, predicted the mindset of every hopeful who ever booked his first gig before his first music lesson.
I know I’m not the first person to say this, but Richard Gere irks the sh*t out of me. Don’t get me wrong, I love Tibet, but we still have to hold him responsible for being the original metrosexual archetype. In American Gigolo he was a well-off, preening, narcissistic man who drowned the sorrows caused by an unsavoury career in a color-coded Armani wardrobe. AND, because it was the first US film to feature full-frontal male nudity, we even had to look at his little G-unit. 8. TRON (1982) - VIDEO GAMING
Video games not only pull in more bills than the movie industry, but you spend literally hundreds of hours within the experience. That definitely has to f*ck up influence young, squishy minds. The first movie to really bring it with computer graphics, Tron's story actually took place in a video game creating a metaphor that even Master Control Program couldn't make any clearer - end of line. 7. QUICKSILVER (1986) - FIXIES
I cycle to work in SoHo every day and I still don't get fixed gear bikes. They don't have brakes, they suck on hills and, as hipster accessories, they’re way more dangerous than horizontal stripes. Case in point, every month there's an ambulance crew on the Williamsburg bridge trying to stitch up the cracked melon of some pwned fixie rider (wearing a helmet messes up emo hair, apparently). However, affiliation is a strong motivator and I guess I can understand the desire to belong to a fraternity with access to girls on bikes (girls...my only weakness!). But long before this trend hit, Kevin Bacon (always ahead of the curve) was cranking thru the sloping streets of San Fran on his fixie, "Speeding towards the final and DEADLY showdown..." (this was the actual movie tagline btw)
First off, Six Feet Under was some of Alan Ball's best work IMO, while American Beauty was just Alan's balls. However, what's notable about the (painfully forced) film was the introspective, toque-wearing Ricky who brought us the ultimate emo moment - video-taping a bag blowing in the wind (awww). Emo is now so entrenched in pop culture that its even earned its own violent backlash (in Mexico anyway). I don't know what ever happened to Ricky/Wes Bentley, but his overwrought, self-absorbed, faux-artistic legacy lives on. As do the 64 videos that show up on YouTube when you search: bag, blowing, wind (note-to-self, do not try this same search on YouPorn...again). 5. HACKERS (1995) > INTERWEB WUNDERKINDS
From Facebook to Google, annoyingly young web-savants have changed the way we think, act and find erotic photography. Back in '95, pre-brown baby hoarding Angelina and her first husband Jonny Lee Miller (!?) starred in a somewhat under-rated film about, err, hacking. I don’t use the term under-rated to refer to the movie’s quality (cause it sure did byte) but because - from the characters meeting at Stuyvesant High to the (inaccurate) use of the Hacker's Manifesto - the sub-cultural backdrop of the movie no-doubt inspired many of today's wunderkinds. And that's all giga-peachy, but just remember at the end of the day it's Brad Pitt, not Sergey Brin banging Angie (and being forced to drink her blood, for real...& u know it).
So you question reality TV as a cultural movement? Consider the armies of fatsos, dulcet-throated virgins and prematurely-aged failed actors who eagerly sign up for The Biggest Loser, American Idol or Survivor, respectively. I think the impact of reality TV is actually understated. It's a modern opiate for the masses, where people just like you can turn 15 minutes into true fame and fortune (self-respect, mind you, remains evasive). The Truman Show came a full two years before Survivor, which is credited with/blamed for launching the reality assault. Noted for its religious, existential and technological themes, the movie was spot on in terms of how we would soon come to embrace such an invasive, crass and manipulative medium. (Sorry if this sounds mean-spirited, I'm still recovering from a nasty ANTM addiction and I still think Mercedes should have won in cycle 2, she had LUPUS). 3. THREESOME (1994) > UMM, THREESOMES
"One girl. Two Guys. Three possibilities." I know what you're thinking, but I'm not into the whole FMM thing, especially when Stephen Baldwin is involved (see this post for more). Plus, while I reckon college students are more sexually curious in the 2000s, I don't know if threesomes constitute a full-blown cultural movement. However, if enough people blog about it, the Google ranking will move up and the trend will start itself. So please link to this article and focus all of your online writing around threesomes (especially ones involving screenwriters and Belorussian twins).
I know I'm going out on a limb, but bear with me (and you're an a**hole for doubting me btw). Yes, the term dates back to the 1940s and, sure, 'hipster' has gone from an objective description to a pejorative one, BUT Trainspotting really captures the zeitgeist of the sub-culture. As mentioned, I live in hipster Valhalla and I've seen firsthand the main traits of the species: rabid self-involvement, painfully deliberate yet supposedly unassuming fashion and not-giving-a-f**kedness. That, in a nutshell, was Trainspotting - characters driven to the margins by their rejection of society and heroin-fueled baby nightmares. Oh, and Renton wore really skinny jeans too. 1. NAPOLEON DYNAMITE (2004) > GEEK CHIC
Okay, I was previously slamming nerds, but they are definitely having their revenge. Half the indie bands rep geek styles, American Apparel sells fanny packs and when I was out on Friday for a Chromeo DJ set, there was a strong contingent of barely legals rocking oversize plastic glasses and high-waisted jeans. Napoleon was mad on point with not only the eye-wear, but moon boots, dweeb-fros and cross-bred animals (though Dynamite asserts the liger is "bred for its skills in magic" I was shocked to find out they actually exist). Now this one is tricky, because I think the movie brought geek chic to the forefront more than predicting its resurgence, but either way, you have to give those filmmakers props (well, except for that Nacho Libre bullsh*t).
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So where does all this leave me, a would-be screenwriter? Well, I’m sorely tempted to advocate my recently-developed belorussexuality by writing a movie about the free-loving twins of Minsk. But as it turns out, my current script only contains one trend that could potentially be the next hip pop-cult phenomenon – cannibalism. So chew on that (groan).<3g
Ok....it was fantastic. The two of us read it together. Can't wait to cash in on my younameitsweetheart. Are you single by the way? We could make our own forever threesome.
Nooooooo. That proves my point. I watched the final episode of ANTM last night and my friend said that all the girls who do well are set and I disagreed. I hate to be proven right with full-of-life dimple-tastic Mercedes.
You make a very valid (but terrifying) point. You gotta pick your battles. Plus I read an article about Travolta and it referenced a movie called Staying Alive, where Johnny played an oiled up half-shirted dancer. I'm guessing that had Bill & Ted by a decade (excluding any time travel scenarios).
Welcome to the interweb zone's dopest gangsta screenwriting site (whateva that means) - set in Brooklyn, starring me, Silent P and yo mamma. Dig it. <3g
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