Disco Dan: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

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Usually, this is played for laughs. We get a funny character, who is a walking anachronism by simple virtue of denial. Bonus points if this character forces other people to act as though this reality is true. Curiously enough, more than a few of these characters have an affection for disco music, hence the title.

 

 

Not to be confused with [[wikipedia:Dan Ford|"Disco Dan" Ford]], the former major league baseball player, ''[http://www.worldofspectrum.org/infoseekid.cgi?id=0001400 Disco Dan]'', the 80s ZX Spectrum computer game in which the player fixes nuclear reactors by jumping around inside them, or with [http://cooldiscodan.net/ Cool "Disco" Dan], the Washington, DC graffiti artist.

 

== Comics ==

* The ridiculous ''[[Spider-Man]]'' villain Turner D. Century.

** The (somewhat) more serious Spidey baddie Hammerhead talks and acts like he was a member of Al Capone's mob. Hammerhead even has a vintage limo in ''[[The Spectacular Spider-Man]]'', which is kind of [[Badass]].

* In Image's ''[[Deadly Duo]]'', Kid Avenger mixes this with [[Fan of the Past]]; He's actually from the very end of time, but for some reason loved the 1970s and only knows about culture and politics and technology from that era.

* Indigo from [[Impact Comics]]. Because he's been in jail so long, he was unaware of the leaps and bounds made in technological developments in the last three decades.

 

 

== Films ==

** More of a subversion, as he ditches his outdated pimp gear; he's wearing smart suits by the end of the film.

* The themed Disco boys from ''[[Mystery Men]]'', who emerge from prison and refuse to believe that Disco is dead: "Disco is Life!"

* Uncle Rico from ''[[Napoleon Dynamite]]'' is a [[Jaded Washout|washed-up former high school football player]] who still films himself throwing his football around and forces people to watch the videos. When Kip buys a "time machine", Uncle Rico sets the year to 1982, his prime year of football playing in high school.

 

== Literature ==

** Lovecraft's own distinctive style belonged to an age about 30-40 years before most of his writing was done.

* The novel ''[[Wicked Game]]'' features a radio station run by [[Our Vampires Are Different|vampires]], all of whom are musically stuck in the era that they died in.

* [[Anne Rice]]'s vampires are so afflicted by this trope, holding onto the eras in which they were alive, that many commit suicide in a world they no longer recognize. Armand asks for Lestat's and later Louis' help in connecting to the present, so that he doesn't die of culture shock in this way.

 

 

== Live Action TV ==

* In the [[Jump the Shark|post-shark]] seasons of ''[[Happy Days]]'', when the show was encroaching into [[The Sixties]], Fonzie refused to let go of his Greaser ways. In an earlier episode, he even [[Lampshade Hanging|lampshades]] this himself: "If it was up to me, it would stay 1955 forever!"

* A 1997 episode of ''[[Saturday Night Live]]'' took a look at the "Superfans" after Mike Ditka became head coach in New Orleans. Chris Farley's character Todd O'Conner, having had a nervous breakdown and now believing it was still 1985, fit this trope to a T: he mentioned he had to get home "to see [[Jimmy Stewart]] on [[The Tonight Show|Carson]]."

** What's sad is that it's based on an actually form of amnesia, in which the afflicted victim is unable to remember information for very long ie ''minutes''. The only discrepancy is that the brother would only forget everything at the end of the day.

* Tommy Saxondale in Steve Coogan's ''[[Saxondale]]'' has a bit of this going on; an ex-roadie from [[The Seventies]] convinced he's still bucking the system, he's a bit stuck in the past and not quite the rebellious spirit he thinks he is.

* Neil of ''[[The Young Ones]]'' dressed and behaved like a hippie well into the 1980s, and once stubbornly declared that "Flares are coming back in! I read it in my horoscope!"

* In ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]'''s pilot episode, Buffy recognizes a vampire by his disco-era clothing.

{{quote| '''Buffy:''' "Only someone who's been under the ground for decades would think ''thats'' the look".}}

* ''[[The Price Is Right]]'' looked and sounded almost exactly the same at the end of Bob Barker's tenure in 2007 as it had in 1972. Same sets, same music, same graphic fonts for the credits.

* Judge Harry Stone on ''[[Night Court]]'' wears a fedora, is a huge fan of crooner Mel Torme, and loves movies and fashions from the 1940s.

* Buzz Sherwood from ''[[The Red Green Show]]'' is still a [[New Age Retro Hippie|hippie,]] despite the '60s being long over.

 

== Newspaper Comics ==

 

 

* [[WWE]] tag team Deuce 'n Domino were a pair of '50s greaser throwbacks complete with pompadours, leather jackets, a valet who dresses in a poodle skirt (albeit ''[[Fan Service|much]]'' [[Stripperiffic|shorter]] than actual ones of the period) and rollerskates, an entrance that involves them driving out in a classic convertible, and a theme song that wouldn't be out of place on the ''[[Grease]]'' soundtrack. This got a brief subversion from play-by-play commentator Michael Cole, where he mentioned that they admitted in private with him that they realize it's not the '50s, but they like the look.

** They may have been prescient when it comes to rollerskates, though. Roller derby is currently making a comeback in large to medium-sized American cities, complete with the "retro" pre-1990s skate style.

** And then, of course, there was Johnny B. Badd, wherein Marc Mero was done up in an almost perfect [[Captain Ersatz|clone]] of Little Richard.

* In 2010, Jay Lethal of [[TNA]] did a gimmick that entailed pretending to be "Macho Man" [[Randy Savage]] (including the wraparound shades and the [[Jive Turkey]] accent) and literally acting as if it were still [[The Eighties]]. The gimmick was dubbed "Black Machismo."

== Video Games ==

* The titular character of the ''[[Leisure Suit Larry]]'' series is permanently stuck in the 1970s in terms of style; in his case, it's partially justified. At the start of the series, Larry is a 38-year-old virgin who's been completely out of touch with the modern dating scene for most of his life; when he finally decides to remedy the situation, his idea of "cool" is over a decade out of date, more due to ignorance than willful disbelief. Later games, however, establish that even after coming to his senses, he maintains his "classic" look and tastes simply because he personally likes them.

** And yet, while his style is stuck in the '70s, his personality is stuck in [[Totally Radical]] '90s mode.

* Charles in ''[[Space Colony]]'' is described as an officer in the Royal Navy during [[World War I]]. He keeps a stiff upper lip, lies back and thinks of England, and won't take any sass from those Indian fellows. But he was actually born sometime in the 22nd century and currently lives in outer space. His official company profile says it's a complete mystery how the Hell he got the way he is and stayed that way.

* ''[[Serious Sam]] I'' and ''II'' have Dancing Denzell and Groovy Gregory as characters player can choose.

* Konstantin Brayko of ''[[Alpha Protocol]]'' has an obsession with the '80s and is basically a Russian [[Scarface|Tony Montana]]. Hell, his boss music is even Turn Up The Radio by Autograph.

 

 

== [[Web Original]] ==

* In ''[[Survival of the Fittest]]'' v4, we have Joshua Krakowski, who has been literally described as "The Living Anachronism" due to his clear 90s influence, right down to using [[Totally Radical|90s slang]] and looking like a [[Surfer Dude]]. Daniel Vaughan also has tendencies of this, as he clearly is a little too fond of the 80s. Naturally, he and Josh get along quite nicely.

 

 

== Western Animation ==

** C. Montgomery Burns, whose values and [[Have a Gay Old Time|vocabulary]] are still stuck on October 27, 1929 (just before Black Tuesday and the start of [[The Great Depression]]). His antiquated demeanor and ideas are a recurring source of humor in the series, as is his on-again off-again ignorance of history after the 1930s (he still thinks there's a Negro League in baseball...).

*** Even more bizarre, he scoffs at the idea of ''non-WASPs'' in the major leagues. (He's taken aback, for example, by a vintage baseball card showing Joe DiMaggio as a New York Yankee.)

*** There was at least one instance where Burns's Disco Dan tendencies were so extreme that they actually turned him a full 180 degrees! In a recent episode, he decides to emulate Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban by purchasing a pro basketball team for Springfield, and as cheerleaders he hires women whom he dresses in demure [[The Gay Nineties|1890s]] attire and forces to perform to ragtime music. The cheerleaders "entertained" the crowd in the arena by [[Parasol of Prettiness|twirling their parasols]] and lifting their floor-length skirts to reveal their ankles. The crowd hated the act....and Mr. Burns agreed with them - ''because he found it too obscene''!

** The animated series gets around the painful [[Totally Radical]] nature of old Titans villains like Mad Mod by making them old men who hide behind illusions to make themselves appear "young" and "hip" again:

*** Ding Dong Daddy, who rides a hot rod and abuses the living crap out of phrases like "Daddy-O". He's got round sunglasses and a beret.

* Michigan J. Frog in the [[Looney Tunes]] short ''[[One Froggy Evening Cartoon]]'' is a Disco Dan from [[The Gay Nineties]] brought up to [[The Fifties]] and later [[Twenty Minutes Into the Future]]. He dances around in a top hat and sings the popular Tin Pan Alley music of his era.

** The new revival ''Mystery Incorporated'' has several characters very much rooted in disco-styling and the era, including Shaggy himself. But the whole setting sort of exists in the 1970s and the 2010s at the same time, so it may perfectly justified.

* In ''[[The Proud Family]]'', Uncle Bobby was stuck in the Disco era, complete with saying "ow!" after every sentence.

 

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