Popularity Polynomial: Difference between revisions

So basically, in a polynomial in x of a high-degree you can expect y to go up and down as x grows.<ref>This doesn't always happen-- exactly ''how'' often it happens is a difficult question in probability, but for our purposes the answer is "often enough"</ref>. The trope name is about looking at the popularity of something as a polynomial in time: as time progresses, it becomes less popular, then more popular, then less popular again, and so on and so forth. Generally speaking, the higher degree the polynomial, the more times you switch from "cool" to "stupid" and back. The points where the popularity rises, flatlines, and then begins to decline are known as the polynomial's [[Jumping the Shark]] moments, and when it does the opposite- reverses a decline and starts to climb- rigorous mathematical notation is that it is [[Growing the Beard]]. Some fringe lunacy groups insist on an alternative terminology having to do with derivative signs and whatnot, but they can be safely ignored.

* The 1967 film ''[[To Sir, With Love]]'' laid this trope bare for the audience in a scene where Mark Thackeray ([[Sidney Poitier]]) informs his disbelieving students about many things that are [[Older Than They Think]]: their clothing is from the 1920s, their hairstyles from the 16th century, and so on. A trip to a museum later in the film re-[[Lampshade|lampshadeslampshade]]s it when one of the students is shown with his head next to that of a Renaissance statue -- andstatue—and they both have the same haircut.

* For much of the late 20th century, film musicals were [[Deader Than Disco]], having been [[Genre Killer|killed]] by the 1969 flop of the film version of ''[[Hello Dolly|Hello, Dolly!]]''. The genre got a breath of new life with 2001's ''[[Moulin Rouge]]'', but the comeback truly kicked off the following year with the Oscar-winning film of ''[[Chicago]]'', and has continued into the present with the likes of ''[[Dreamgirls]]'', ''[[Hairspray]]'' and ''[[Mamma Mia!]]''. [[Disney]] even managed to make a highly successful franchise out of ''[[High School Musical]]'', to the point where the third film was upgraded to a theatrical release. And now there's ''[[Glee]]''...

* Hardly any [[Sword and Sandal|ancient history films]] between ''[[Cleopatra (Film)|Cleopatra]]'' and ''[[Gladiator (Filmfilm)|Gladiator]]''. Then...

* In the first half of [[The Nineties]], the horror genre (and the [[Slasher Movie]] genre in particular) was seen as stale, [[Cliché Storm]] and behind the times, filled with bad writing, cheap scares and [[Unfortunate Implications|not-so-subtle misogyny]]. New horror movies were flopping at the box office left and right (even in the normally-reliable [[All HallowsHallow's Eve|month of October]]), and the slasher icons of [[The Eighties]] viewed as walking punchlines. [[Genre Turning Point|Then came]] ''[[Scream (Filmfilm)|Scream]]'', which [[Deconstruction|deconstructed]], [[Deconstructive Parody|parodied]] and [[Lampshade Hanging|lampshaded]] all the genre's conventions, [[Decon Recon Switch|put them all back together]], and single-handedly restored the genre to commercial viability, which it retains to this day.

* [[Zombie Apocalypse]] movies, and zombies in general, were practically forgotten throughout the '90s. It wasn't until the early 2000s that ''[[Twenty Eight28 Days Later (Film)|Twenty Eight Days Later]]'', the ''[[Dawn of the Dead (2004 (Filmfilm)|Dawn of the Dead 2004]]'' remake and ''[[Shaun of the Dead (Film)|Shaun of the Dead]]'' kickstarted the genre again.

* Disney has gone through ups and downs. During [[The Golden Age of Animation]], Disney's films were successes. However, after the death of [[Walt Disney]], the confused company released a string of weak, underperforming films in [[The Seventies]]. By [[The Eighties]], Disney was better known as a theme park operator than a film maker. However, in 1989, ''[[The Little Mermaid]]'', an animated film deliberately reminiscent of the Golden Age films of the 1940s and 1950s, became an unexpected critical and commercial success and kicked off the [[The Renaissance Age of Animation|Disney Renaissance]] that lasted throughout the entire [[The Nineties|Nineties]]. By the [[Turn of the Millennium]] though, audiences, tiring of the increasingly [[Award Bait Song|cliched]] [[Talking Animal|formula]] [[Rebellious Princess|prevalent]] in these films, drifted towards the then-new [[All CGI Cartoon]] popularized by [[Pixar]] and [[Dreamworks Animation]]. Disney responded by impulsively shutting down their traditional animation studio and releasing a string of their own CGI cartoons, none of which made much of an impact. It is yet to be seen if they will return to form in the future. ''[[The Princess and Thethe Frog]],'' ''Tangled,'' and ''[[Winnie the Pooh]]'' were fairly well-received, though overshadowed by ''Up'' and ''Toy Story 3''.

* Although easy to forget now that it's a massive media juggernaut seemingly beloved by all, ''[[Doctor Who (TV)|Doctor Who]]'' was considered a joke in the years between 1989 (and, arguably, earlier) and 2005. When it was brought up outside of its fanbase during this period, it was something for people to sneer at and assert that, no, ''they'' never watched if they wanted to maintain a shred of credibility. Then [[Russell T. Davies]] and [[Christopher Eccleston]] came along, and suddenly everything changed. The show became a huge success with 7-10 million viewers per episode now.

* [[Game Show|Game shows]]s in general tend to go through cycles. They went through their first boom in [[The Fifties]], and fell hard after it was revealed that several of them (most infamously ''[[Twenty21 One(game show)|21]]'') were [[Executive Meddling|rigged]] in order to create tension for viewers. Except for the [[Panel Game]] variants like ''[[IveI've Got a Secret]]'' and low-stakes parlor games like ''[[Password]]'', American audiences wouldn't trust game shows again until [[The Seventies]], when shows like ''[[Family Feud]]'', ''[[The Price Is Right]]'', and ''The $10,000 [[Pyramid]]'' (and its variants) became popular. This started to die down in [[The Eighties|the '80s]] and [[The Nineties|early '90s]] — many just couldn't compete against the success of the syndicated ''[[Wheel of Fortune]]'' and ''[[Jeopardy (TV)|Jeopardy!]]'', and the market did get quite saturated around that point (no fewer than a dozen shows debuted in 1990 alone, including quite a few revivals, with none lasting more than a season). In the early 1990s, daytime game shows pretty much went by the wayside. Except for the juggernaut ''[[The Price Is Right]]'', there wasn't a single daytime game show between the end of ''[[Caesars Challenge]]'' in 1993 and the ''[[Let's Make a Deal]]'' revival that bowed in 2008.<br /><br />The genre returned in a big way in the late '90s/early 2000s with ''[[Who Wants to Be A Millionaire?]]'' and ''[[The Weakest Link]]'', as well as shows like ''[[Greed]]'' and the [[Revival]] of ''[[Hollywood Squares]]''. This boom also caused a deluge of [[Who Wants to Be Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?|their assorted clones]]. In the early 2000s, ''Millionaire'' and ''Link'' pulled in tens of millions of viewers and were watercooler discussion fodder, and their hosts (Regis Philbin and [[The Mean Brit|Anne Robinson]], respectively) were household names. Then their networks [[Adored By the Network|began marketing them to death]] ([[ABC]] aired ''Millionaire'' almost every night of the week), and reality shows like ''[[Survivor]]'', ''[[American Idol]]'' and ''[[The Amazing Race]]'' started taking off and providing what were then innovative alternatives to the traditional quiz show model. Almost overnight, the shows were only surviving in syndication -- and even that wasn't enough to keep ''Link'' alive. To this day, their catch phrases ("Is that your final answer?" for ''Millionaire''; "You are the weakest link. Goodbye!" for ''Link'') are considered annoying as all hell.

** [[Duke Ellington]] and his orchestra--whoorchestra—who had originally been famous in the swing era--managedera—managed to make their comeback in 1956, when their performance at that year's Newport Jazz Festival drove the crowd to pandemonium. In the aftermath Duke was more renowned than he was back when swing was in, and this surge in popularity lasted until his death in 1974.

* Hard to believe today, but rock music in general was as good as dead in the early '60s. [[Elvis Presley]] got drafted and then turned to acting, the Day the Music Died took the life of [[Buddy Holly (Music)|Buddy Holly]], [[Little Richard]] became born-again and started recording exclusively gospel songs, [[Jerry Lee Lewis]] derailed his career by marrying his [[Kissing Cousins|14-year-old cousin]], [[Chuck Berry]] did the same with his own run-ins with the law, and the remaining artists were mostly recording forgettable novelty songs. It was felt that, soon, [[Rock and Roll]] would be swept in the dustbin of history where the [[Moral Guardians]] felt it belonged. Then came [[The British Invasion]], providing a new jolt of creativity and mainstream appeal to the genre, and since then it hasn't looked back.

* [[Genre Motif/Hip Hop|Rap music]] tends to sporadically go in and out of style. It enjoyed its first peak of mainstream success during the late '80s and early '90s, with artists like [[MC Hammer (Music)|MC Hammer]], [[Run DMC (Music)|Run DMC]] and [[Vanilla Ice (Music)|Vanilla Ice]] bringing it out of the South Bronx and onto MTV and mainstream pop radio. However, the rise of [[Gangsta Rap]] and [[Hardcore Hip Hop]] in the mid '90s, while [[Vindicated Byby History|now remembered]] as something of a golden age for rap music, earned the ire of the era's [[Moral Guardians]] due to its [[Darker and Edgier|hard-edged]] lyrical content, causing rap to be driven off of mainstream radio playlists. The rise of [[Grunge]] and [[Alternative Rock]] around the same time didn't help matters either. Rap came back in the late '90s through the mid '00s when [[Jay-Z (Music)|Jay-Z]], [[Fifty Cent (Music)|Fifty50 Cent]], [[Lil Jon (Music)|Lil Jon]] and other artists made [[Glam Rap]] a fixture of nightclubs and parties all across America, while [[Eminem (Music)|Eminem]] put a white face on gangsta rap to become one of the biggest (and most controversial) stars of the era. Currently, it seems to be entering another hiatus, particularly now that [[Synth Pop]] and other forms of [[Electronic Music]] are back in vogue and competing with rap for attention at the aforementioned clubs and parties.

* Speaking of [[Synth Pop]], it dominated pop music in the '80s, but was supplanted by [[RRhythm and Bblues]], [[Idol Singer|idol singers]] and alternative rock during the '90s and '00s, and was viewed as overly-synthesized and artificial by listeners from those decades. Now, however, artists like [[Lady Gaga (Music)|Lady Gaga]], [[Kesha (Music)|KeshaKe$ha]], [[La Roux (Music)|La Roux]] and [[Owl City (Music)|Owl City]] have brought it back into the mainstream.

=== Specific ===

{{quote| As such ''Dark Side'' has outlasted almost all vagaries of fashion. [[Punk Rock]] pilloried it, but the CD age rescued it; the hardcore late 1980s spat upon it, but the chemical generation spaced out to it; [[Britpop]] made it obsolete, but [[Radiohead]] made it more relevant than ever. And not for one second did it ever stop selling.}}

* [[Elton John]] began as a critically acclaimed singer-songwriter celebrated for classic albums like ''Elton John'', ''Tumbleweed Connection'', ''Madman Across The Water'' and ''Honky Chateau''. His public popularity grew in 1973 with the albums ''Don't Shoot Me I'm Only The Piano Player'' and the double album ''Goodbye Yellow Brick Road''. which spawned some of the biggest hits of [[The Seventies]]. His popularity increased through the first half of the decade, and his outrageous image, employing crazy costumes and glasses made him a phenomenon and [[Teen Idol]], [[Critical Backlash|even though the reviews were less enthusiastic]]. An infamous ''Rolling Stone'' magazine interview in 1976, where he [[StraightInvisible Gayto Gaydar|declared himself bisexual]] (later he'd claimed homosexuality), costed him much of his Middle American fanbase, and his own wish to stop touring, saw his fame taper off. Although he had a successful free concert in Central Park in 1980, sales and airplay were nowhere near as they were in the 1970's. He returned in the mid-1980s with albums like ''Too Low For Zero'' and ''Breaking Hearts'', and enjoyed more success in [[The Nineties]] after going sober (especially after co-writing songs for [[The Lion King]]), and he still has occasional comebacks to this day.

* While few have ever denied the social and cultural impact of Al Jolson's work, from about the 1970s onwards it was generally considered not cool to give him anything more than the most cursory acknowledgement, partly due to the nature of his act, but mostly because of his [[Blackface]] makeup. It wasn't until the 2000s -- and2000s—and ironically mostly through the efforts of modern-day black performers -- thatperformers—that Jolson started to become a widespread cultural icon again, with the turning point widely being seen as when the city of New York agreed to name a section of Broadway after Jolson.

* Hulk Hogan. At the height of his popularity in 1985, he hosted ''[[Saturday Night Live]]'' and was on the cover of ''Sports Illustrated''. When 1994 rolls around, he's seen as a self-parody whose shelf life was such that he needed to [[Face Heel Turn|ditch the hero routine]] [[New World Order|altogether]] just to [[WereWe're Still Relevant, Dammit!|remain relevant]]. However, in 2002, his return to WrestleMania -- stillWrestleMania—still in his villain persona -- resultedpersona—resulted in the fans cheering him over the Rock. To this day, he and [[Dwayne Johnson|the Rock]] are among the closest things the [[World Wrestling Entertainment|WWE]] has produced to A-list deities.

* This happens to pro athletes all the time, even more so today in the age of multi-million dollar contracts, free agency, and intense media scrunity. You'd never know it today, but Ted Williams was booed everywhere in the American League, including Boston, for at least half of his career -- butcareer—but time (and military service) has left him in a more favorable light. Alex Rodriguez seems to be on a downturn right now, but was one of the most popular players in the past and probably will be again before it's all said and done. Jennifer Capriati went from "tennis phenom" to "troubled teenager" to "elder stateswoman of tennis". Mike Tyson alone has jumped back and forth at least twice each.

* During [[The Fifties]], the only place where [[Useful Notes/Baseball|Baseball]] wasn't in a sorry state was [[New York City]]. The minor leagues were collapsing due to the availability of major league games on television, old stadiums were growing increasingly decrepit, the dominance of New York teams (particularly [[Boring Invincible Hero|the Yankees]])<ref>Of the ten World Series held in the '50s, eight were won by teams from New York. The only years when this wasn't the case were 1957, when the [[Milwaukee]] Braves pulled it off, and 1959, when the [[Los Angeles]] Dodgers won -- and just two years earlier, they had been the ''Brooklyn'' Dodgers.</ref> was causing fans outside New York to tune out, some teams were still refusing to integrate long after Jackie Robinson had broken down the color barrier, and the sport had no real presence (other than the aforementioned minor leagues) in the fast-growing "Sun Belt" of the South and the West Coast. All of this gave [[Useful Notes/American Football|football]], both professional and [[Useful Notes/Collegiate American Football|college-level]], enough room to build itself up as a serious rival to baseball's status as "America's pastime."<br /><br />Then in 1957, the Brooklyn Dodgers and New York Giants <ref>The baseball team, not the present-day NFL team. To avoid confusion, the football team is sometimes called the "New York ''Football'' Giants".</ref> moved to, respectively, [[Los Angeles]] and [[San Francisco]], starting a trend for other teams looking to build new stadiums, which resulted in the sport's expansion beyond the East Coast and the Midwest. This was followed by the collapse of the long-running Yankees dynasty in [[The Sixties]], meaning that fans of other franchises now had a chance to see their teams win the World Series. Suddenly, baseball was relevant again, and in a position to put up a real fight against football for the rest of the century.<br /><br />Of course, [[Creator Provincialism|New York sportswriters]] are still likely to remember [[The Fifties]] as [[Nostalgia Filter|baseball's "golden age"]], simply because it was the era in which the Yankees got the World Series rings they were ''entitled'' to, dammit! And if the Yankees didn't win, then the Dodgers or the Giants probably did.

** 2D side-scrollers, such as ''[[Castlevania]]'', ''[[Contra]]'', ''[[Super Mario Bros.]]'' and ''[[Double Dragon]]'', once made up the bedrock of the industry. Later, they were viewed as quaint relics of the pre-[[Play StationPlayStation]] era, and were relegated to handhelds and cheap Flash games... until ''[[New Super Mario Bros (Video Game)|New Super Mario Bros.]]'' and ''[[New Super Mario Bros Wii (Video Game)|New Super Mario Bros. Wii]]'' tore up the charts, and titles like ''[[Braid (Video Game)|Braid]]'' and ''[[Eversion]]'' became critical darlings.

* [[Mortal Kombat]] in [[The Nineties]]: a ridiculously popular fighting game, with blood and gore as a selling point. [[Mortal Kombat]] during the [[Turn of the Millennium]]: an overcomplicated, ridiculously unbalanced fighting game series that was past its prime (the [[Lighter and Softer]] crossover with DC not helping anything). [[Mortal Kombat]] starting with the [[Mortal Kombat 9 (Video Game)|2011 reboot]]: a ridiculously popular fighting game, with blood and gore as a selling point.

* The ''[[Sonic the Hedgehog]]'' series has gone on a wild roller coaster of this. When it came out, it immediately became on of the definitive games of the 16-bit era and put the [[Sega Genesis]] into a fierce [[Console Wars|competition]] with Nintendo. During the time of the [[Sega Saturn]], the series was on main series hiatus, only existing through spinoffs. Come the [[Dreamcast]], the leap to 3D with ''[[Sonic Adventure (Video Game)|Sonic Adventure]]'' and ''[[Sonic Adventure 2 (Video Game)|Sonic Adventure 2]]'' was wildly popular and highly acclaimed, but subsequent games would take their [[Polygon Ceiling|notable flaws in the camera and controls]] and cause the series to have a bad reputation of being in 3D. This was exacerbated by the over-the-top [[Darker and Edgier]] ''[[Shadow the Hedgehog]]'' and the infamous [[Obvious Beta]] ''[[Sonic the Hedgehog (2006 (Videovideo Gamegame)|Sonic the Hedgehog 2006]]'', causing the series to fall into [[Snark Bait]]. After ''[[Sonic Unleashed (Video Game)|Sonic Unleashed]]'' introduced a new well-received style of play, with ''[[Sonic Colors (Video Game)|Sonic Colors]]'' and ''[[Sonic Generations (Video Game)|Sonic Generations]]'' refining it and removing any poorly received alternate gameplay styles, it's safe to say that the series has been brought back to its former glory as an A-list series for Sega.

* [[Western Animation]] as a whole went through this from the late 1960s to the late 1980s. While animation was already becoming less and less popular through the 1950s and much of the 1960s (thanks in part to television and the rise of [[Limited Animation|limited animation]]), the death of [[Walt Disney]] sent it completely into a [[Dark Age of Animation|dark age]]. While there was a lot of experimental and adult-oriented animation released during the 1970s, it was still seen as [[Animation Age Ghetto|a gimmick used to entertain children]], a sentiment that continued through the 1980s. Then ''[[Who Framed Roger Rabbit?]]'' [[The Renaissance Age of Animation|was released]]...

* ''[[My Little Pony]]'', after its enormous popularity during the 80s and early 90s, faded into obscurity by the latter half of the 90s. In 2010, along came ''[[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic (Animation)|My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic]]'', which not only proved to be popular among viewers of [[Periphery Demographic|an unexpectedly wide age range]] but also [[Fountain of Memes|exploded onto the Internet]], collecting more images, comments, and views on [[Know Your Meme]] than anything else.

* Adam West. In the late 1960s, he was a prime-time TV star and the actor charged with bringing [[Batman (Comic Book)|Batman]] back to life. Head to the '80s and the return of the [[Dark Age|Dark Knight]], and West is a ''persona non grata'', firmly stuck as a reminder of the [[Dork Age]] Batman. But today? He's a staple voice actor in comedies such as ''[[Family Guy]]'' [[Adam Westing|precisely because of his history as Batman]], and trademark [[Large Ham|overdramatic voice]].

** In fact, the whole thing had a [[Lampshade Hanging]] in ''[[Batman: theThe Animated Series]].'' There was an episode wherein Bruce Wayne met the actor who'd played his childhood idol. The actor's life mirrored West's post-Batman life, and West did the voice acting.

*** Thanks to bands like [[Daft Punk (Music)|Daft Punk]] and [[LCD Soundsystem]], it's on it's way back.

*** The inverted version (leggings under skirts) seems to have made a comeback in the mid [[Turn of the Millennium|2000]]s after being absent since the [[The Eighties|80]]s as well in a more justified manner. When it made a comeback, it was obviously a pentalty for violating [[Dress Code|Dress Codes]]s that are typically based on common decency standards that supposedly prevent [[All Men Are Perverts|men from stumbling]] and then eventually became a fad for quite some time.

** There's a lot of synthpop inspired bands around these days, when it used to be the prime example for people to explain why the 80s sucked so much.

* The Yo-Yo. Not so much [[Popularity Polynomial]] as Popularity Sinusoid. It really does come around that regularly.

** Minivans. As mentioned, they were huge in [[The Eighties]] as a fuel-efficient alternative to land-yacht station wagons (the fuel crises of [[The Seventies]] still fresh in everyone's mind), but faded away in the late '90s, thanks to SUVs, the perception that the average minivan owner was a boring "soccer mom" suburbanite, and the fact that the styling was getting blander -- compareblander—compare, say, the [http://en.[wikipedia.org/wiki/:File:1994-1996_Chevrolet_Lumina_APV1996 Chevrolet Lumina APV.jpg |Chevy Lumina]] and the [http://en.[wikipedia.org/wiki/:File:1996-2000_Toyota_Tarago_2000 Toyota Tarago (TCR10R)_GLi_van_02 GLi van 02.jpg |Toyota Previa]] (which look like cars straight out of ''[[The Jetsons]]'') to the [http://en.[wikipedia.org/wiki/:File:2004-2007_Ford_Freestar2007 Ford Freestar.jpg |Ford Freestar]]. While they haven't shaken their uncool reputation, minivans have seen a small resurgence after the decline of the SUV market, due to their similar capacity and greater fuel efficiency.

** Small "econo-box" autos and hatchbacks. During the height of the last "Bigger is Better" craze during [[The Nineties]] and the [[Turn of the Millennium]], it seemed as though the only choices for new car owners were [[Fate Worse Than Death|four-door sedans and body-on-frame SUVs]]. Lately, though, vehicles like the new Mini Cooper and various hybrids are selling so fast that it took years before the automakers could meet demand, and older models such as the Geo Metro and Volkswagen Beetle can sell for up to triple their Blue Book value on the used car market on the basis of fuel economy alone. The American automakers have even started importing some of their compact European models to meet this new demand, ending decades of [[No Export for You]] -- to—to such success that it has been cited as one of the reasons for the revitalization of Detroit's "Big Three" after decades of seemingly interminable decline.

** Streetcars. After [[World War II]], a combination of cheap gas and the growing popularity of buses (and, [[Your Mileage May Vary|arguably]], some [http://en.[wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_American_streetcar_scandal:Great American streetcar scandal|underhanded tactics]] by the auto industry) led to many streetcar lines falling out of use and eventually being dismantled. The few surviving ones, such as those in [[San Francisco]] and [[New Orleans]], persisted more for their historical and tourism value than anything else. When cities ''did'' invest in mass transit, it would often be in the form of buses and subways that wouldn't threaten the flow of automobile traffic on the streets. In the [[Turn of the Millennium]], however, the green movement and fears over rising gas prices led several cities to build or expand "light rail" systems, which are essentially streetcars with decades worth of new technology.

* City centers. After [[World War II]], when the G.I. Bill,<ref>Short version -- a law passed near the end of the war that gave veterans access to higher education, as well as loans to buy homes and to start businesses.</ref>, cheap gas, cheap land, the new Interstate Highway System, and the postwar baby boom created an enormous demand for housing that couldn't be met by the cities alone. As a result, this lead to a massive boom in [[Suburbia]] and cities began to expand outward rather than upward leading to a phenomenon known as "white flight" in which middle-class white families moved out to the suburbs, taking their tax dollars with them and leaving the cities behind to decay. In recent times however since as early as [[The Nineties]], city centers have seen a resurgence in popularity especially among younger folk due to factors such as better public transit and walkability, proximity to work and cultural attractions, and frustration with suburban life and automobile gridlock.

* Facial hair in the West has gone in and out of style in a cyclical fashion for centuries among the elite following the same basic pattern as anything else: the ruling class has facial hair, everyone else has facial hair, the ruling class doesn't want to look like the lower class, the ruling class no longer has facial hair, and so on. The last time it was "in" in the West (i.e. would you expect your average CEO/congressman/stockbroker to have facial hair) was during the first several decades of the 20th century -- thecentury—the last US president, for example, to have facial hair was [[William Howard Taft]], who was President from 1909-1913.<br /><br />While it would seem that facial hair is about due for a comeback any decade now, there is good reason to believe that mainstream facial hair is out for good given the societal and cultural changes that have occurred in the past hundred years. Interpersonal and people skills are now more important than sheer strength and virility (of which facial hair is seen as being indicative of) in leaders, and studies show that on average men with facial hair are seen as less trustworthy, especially to women, whose cooperation and input actually matter now that we are finally evolving away from a patriarchal society to one in which the genders are equal. In short: appearing trustworthy to both men and women is now much more valuable than intimidating other men, so beards aren't expected to make a comeback anymore.

* [[Revolvers Are Just Better]] experienced this in [[The Nineties]], at least in the American civilian market. [[The Eighties]] saw the rise of so-called "[[Cool Guns|Wonder Nines]]," high-capacity 9mm handguns that held [[More Dakka|15 rounds or more]], vastly outstripping the six-round capacity of most revolvers. Police forces switched over immediately, and civilians took to the new guns almost as quickly. In 1994, however, [[American Gun Politics|the Assault Weapons Ban]] was passed, heavily restricting, among other things, the sale of high-capacity magazines that held more than ten rounds. This stripped the Wonder Nines of [[More Dakka|their chief advantage]], allowing revolvers to retake market share. Even after the ban expired in 2004, this trope remained in effect in those states that still had their own laws on the books -- revolversbooks—revolvers are noticeably more popular in, say, New York than they are in Florida.

** Note that this doesn't apply to police departments -- theirdepartments—their weapons choices weren't affected by the ban, and the greater magazine capacity is incredibly useful for their work.

* The programming language Lisp had been considered dead ever since the [http://en.[wikipedia.org/wiki/AI_Winter:AI Winter|AI Winter]] caused all the funds for artificial intelligence research, which was the field most Lisp programmers worked in, to dry up. The language has seen a revivial of interest, however, in The [[Turn of the Millennium]] and [[The New Tens]] largely thanks to Paul Graham.

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