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Vindicated by History: Difference between revisions
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Of course, there are historical events that were controversial at the time, but later are felt to have been the right decision.
The [[Real Life]] counterpart of [[It Will Never Catch On]]. It can also lead to [[Follow the Leader]], [[Hype Aversion]], [[Hype Backlash]]. A [[Sub
Compare [[Germans Love David Hasselhoff]], where a different country does this instead of time, and [[Cult Classic]], where something gains popularity but not on a widespread/mainstream scale (although the two tropes sometimes overlap). See also [[Popularity Polynomial]]. Additionally, see [[Dead Artists Are Better]] for cases where the belated popularity occurs because [[Author Existence Failure|the artist is no longer around to bask in it]]. Contrast [[Deader Than Disco]] (something that goes from insanely popular to a popular target of mockery), [[And You Thought It Would Fail]] (a work that's expected to be a flop instead becomes a smash hit). Compare [[Acclaimed Flop]], when the work is a critical success but a commercial failure when it comes out.
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* The Impressionistes (Monet, Renoir, Manet, etc.) were ridiculed at first (at their first joint exposition, the public came ''en masse'' to ''mock their work''), even though they were more successful later on. Today, well let's say that many of the world's most expensive paintings are from them...
* [[Vincent Van Gogh]] is a popular example of this, although in the months before his death he was getting serious notice.
* ''[
** Also, ''[
* For most of [[MC Escher|M.C. Escher]]'s life, he was looked down upon by "serious" artists (as were all artists who specialized in lithography). He is now a fixture of art history textbooks (as well as poster shops) and your math teacher's walls.
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== Automobiles ==
* The Daewoo Nubira was criticised at the time of launch (June 1997), but and by 2003 at launch it got a slightly better reception. Its replacement, the Lacetti/Nubira, in 2002, got a better reception but was still seen as inferior to the [[The Minnesota Fats|Opel Astra]]. Now its replacement, the Chevrolet Cruze (or the [[Market-Based Title|Daewoo Lacetti Premiere]] in Asia and Oceania) has been criticised for being somewhat anodyne, the vehicle appears to have been [[Vindicated By History]] to a degree. So much so it's become an unlikely [[Cool Car]].
* In Australia, the [
* The [
* The [
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** The following decade had its ups and downs. ''[[Cinderella (Disney)|Cinderella]]'', ''[[Peter Pan (Disney)|Peter Pan]]'' and ''[[Lady and The Tramp (Disney)|Lady and The Tramp]]'' were big hits. But:
*** ''[[Alice in Wonderland (Disney)|Alice in Wonderland]]'' (1951) was a financial failure. Like ''Fantasia'', it was rediscovered in [[The Sixties]] and became popular among the counter-culture and a new generation of fans that didn't care that they weren't the Disney Princess fare.
*** ''[[Sleeping Beauty (Disney)|Sleeping Beauty]]'' (1959) in particular devastated Walt Disney and almost convinced him to abandon animated feature production altogether. The Xerox process pioneered by ''[[
** A number of Disney disappointments after Walt's death recuperated on a small scale, either when re-released to theaters or when debuting on home video.
*** Many are cult hits (e.g. ''[[The Black Cauldron (Disney)|The Black Cauldron]]'').
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* [[Tim Burton]]'s stop-motion short film ''Vincent''.
* [[Don Bluth]]
** ''[[The Secret of NIMH (Animation)|The Secret of NIMH]]''. It was a hit with the critics but financially the results were less than impressive against Disney Studio fare of the time, and (because it was 1982) against ''[[
** ''[[All Dogs Go to Heaven (Animation)|All Dogs Go to Heaven]]'' (1989) earned about 27 million in the United States market and the professional reviews were mostly negative, but it became a smash hit when released on video, considered "one of the top-selling VHS releases of all time". It is currently highly regarded by animation fans.
* ''[[Twice Upon a Time]]''.
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* ''[[Peeping Tom (Film)|Peeping Tom]]'' ruined the career of one of England's greatest directors, Michael Powell. It's now considered a masterpiece on par with ''Psycho'' in the serial-killer genre.
* John Huston's ''[[The Misfits]]'' has gained momentum after a disastrous initial run.
* The original ''[[The Manchurian Candidate]]'' didn't fare as well as it could have due to its star [
* ''[[Ride the High Country (Film)|Ride the High Country]]'', a failure on its release in 1962, has gained favor from modern critics as an exemplary western and a top-notch early work by [[Sam Peckinpah]].
* All the works of Jean-Luc Godard in the 60s are praised by lovers of European film, but there was a period in the early part of that decade when a handful of his movies (including ''Vivre Sa Vie'' and ''Contempt'') were initially bombs.
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* It seems that after the blockbuster success of his slasher flick ''[[Halloween (Film)|Halloween]]'', [[John Carpenter]] just couldn't catch a break.
** ''[[Escape From New York]]'' made a respectable splash in the cult sense when it was first released in 1981, but wasn't considered a classic by any stretch of the imagination. It has gained much more recognition over the years, mainly due, no doubt, to its influence on other media, with ''[[Metal Gear Solid]]'', ''[[Re Boot]]'', and ''[[The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy]]'' being only a few examples.
** The 1982 ''[[The Thing (Film)|The Thing]]'', competing against [[Steven Spielberg]]'s ''[[
** ''[[Starman (Film)|Starman]]'' was lukewarm, but over time has achieved an impressive fandom.
** ''[[Big Trouble in Little China]]'' bombed especially bad (an $11.1 million gross versus a $25 million budget). [[Cloudcuckooland|Its campy outrageousness]] has since become extremely well-loved, especially by those who grew up in [[The Eighties]].
* ''Blow Out'', Brian De Palma's thriller about a slasher-flick sound mixer who finds audio evidence of a murder, bombed at the box-office due to negative word of mouth. Its reputation has since climbed and the film is highly lauded as an artistic gem of the 80s.
* ''[[Blade Runner (Film)|Blade Runner]]'', now recognized as a seminal work of dystopian science fiction and neo-noir, did okay but was not particularly successful during its first theatrical run, due to competition from ''[[
* ''[[Tron (Film)|Tron]]'' turned a tiny profit but in the same vein was no competition against ''[[
* The non-Muppet non-Sesame Street movies by [[Jim Henson]] are a major example.
** ''[[The Dark Crystal]]''.
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** Weird Al [[Lampshades]] this in the DVD commentary. During the credits, he reads several poor reviews the film got, ending with one positive one (possibly the only one he could find). While ''[[UHF (Film)|UHF]]'' has soured him on the idea of ever doing a movie again, he seems pleased that people still enjoy watching it.
* ''[[Heathers]]'' was shunned in theaters for [[Unfortunate Implications|the perceived glorification of teen suicide]] ([[Satire|although this was not the case at all]]). It made $1.1 million against a $2 million budget. Upon arrival on home video it was a top seller, and is highly regarded nowadays.
** Though in another case of [[Vindicated By History]], all [[Do Not Do This Cool Thing|portrayals of suicide]], no matter the intent, run a [
* ''[[Licence to Kill (Film)|Licence to Kill]]'' was initially another disappointment of the blockbuster-heavy summer of 1989, further hurt by comparisons to the Bond films that had preceded it. This, combined with legal issues over the franchise, ensured that another Bond film would not be made for 6 years, and that [[Timothy Dalton]] would not return to the lead role. ''License to Kill'' has since been re-evaluated as among the best installments of the franchise.
** [[Timothy Dalton]]'s overall taciturn, violent portrayal of Bond is now considered to be almost prophetic, as it heralded [[Daniel Craig]]'s rendition of the character by nearly twenty years. At the time, most viewers had grown comfortable with Roger Moore's lighthearted Bond.
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* Hungarian poet Attila József was relatively unknown during his lifetime. Today, he's considered to be one of the greatest Hungarian poets ever.
* [[Sylvia Plath]] struggled for ''years'' to get her poetry published and faced countless rejections; granted, she did see the publication of one book of poetry in her lifetime: ''The Colossus and Other Poems'' in 1960. It wasn't until in 1965, two years after her [[Driven to Suicide|suicide]], that her masterpiece, ''Ariel'', that contained classic poems such as ''Daddy'' and ''Lady Lazarus'', was published. In 1982, Plath was the first poet to ever posthumously win the Pulitzer Prize. Plath is now seen as one of the most important figures in the genre of confessional poetry.
** To add, in 2001, [
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** Another of Fitzgerald's novels, ''[[Tender Is the Night]]'', was rather poorly received upon its release, with critics mainly expressing distaste for its use of [[Anachronic Order]]. A second edition was released which revises the narrative into chronological order. Currently, the former edition is held in much higher esteem than the second.
* [[H.P. Lovecraft (Creator)|HP Lovecraft]] spent his entire career in relative obscurity, his works only approaching a general popularity in the 1950s. These days, he is credited as the creator of the [[Cosmic Horror]] story, and is to the horror fiction field in general what [[JRR Tolkien (Creator)|JRR Tolkien]] was to [[High Fantasy]], with stories such as ''[[At the Mountains of Madness (Literature)|At the Mountains of Madness]]'' being studied at the critical level to the same degree, if not even more so.
* The first two print runs of ''[[The Hobbit (Literature)|The Hobbit]]'' combined came to only just over 3800 copies. Reviews were good, but [[World War II]] had created a [
* [[Philip K Dick]] is today regarded as one of the most influental writers of science fiction who introduced many now widely established concepts and with an impressive number of his novels being adapted to film. However, during his lifetime, he was rather obscure, probably in part due to suffering from severe mental disorders. Many of his novels are assumed to be a way of dealing with his problems, with his paranoia being believed to have created the notions of reality being an artificial illusion created for nefarious purposes or people only believing they are actual humans, which have been a common theme in science fiction since the 80s.
** One of his novels that picked up a notable amount of belated glory was ''[[A Scanner Darkly]]''. American sales in 1977 were a disappointment, and although European reception was warmer, it was not a tremendous bestseller by any stretch.
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* ''[[The Addams Family (TV)|The Addams Family]]'': Not particularly successful in its original run, but a hit in syndication.
* The original ''[[Star Trek the Original Series|Star Trek]]'' series was canceled after three seasons due to poor [[Ratings]]. Then the studios started doing demographic studies, and it turned out the show they just cancelled was actually one of their top shows among the best demographics. The show was given loads of syndication reruns, which earned it loads of more fans over the years. Soon there were plans of reviving the series (which became the films), and the rest is history.
** On a smaller scale, ''[[Star Trek Deep Space Nine]]'' was initially mocked for "not going anywhere" and people tended to watch the more "exciting" spaceship set ''[[Star Trek the Next Generation]]'' and ''[[Star Trek Voyager]]'' instead... but it's since earned the best critical reviews of any ''Star Trek'' series and has become a kind of franchise [[Ensemble Darkhorse]], with more people listing it as their favorite series now than when it aired. This is usually ''because'' of the fact that the setting was stationary, letting the creators add more depth and introduce serialized story arcs -- [[Battlestar Galactica Reimagined
** Also happened and lampshaded in-universe with Zefram Cochrane. He originally wanted to develop warp drive technology so he could sell it and retire immensely wealthy (something a bit questionable to people in later centuries), instead he ended up creating first contact with the Vulcans, who would completely transform human civilization for the better. Zefram Cochrane himself would later say, "don't try to be a great man, just a man. And let history decide for itself."
** The high-warp engine designed by Henry Archer with Cochrane was thought to be a crackpot dream by many. [[Expanded Universe]] books reveal that initially, Starfleet, was ready to go with the ion-warpdrive. In the Trekverse, the dilithium chamber warp drive has been the standard going into the 24th century.
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* ''[[Space: 1999]]'', although enjoying some popularity at the time (1975-1977) has been a poster boy for poor writing, poor science, poor directing, poor acting. However, most of these criticisms are directed at the very different second season which was produced by Fred Frieberger, a figure noted for ruining good science fiction shows. Despite the [[Handwavium]] througout the entire series, the first season is now remembered as being deep, thoughful, and metaphysical. Despite a widespread perception of the show favoring special effects over story it can't be denied that the show had visual effects that still hold up even today. Many of it's effects crew went on to even bigger things such as [[Star Wars]] and [[Alien]]) further cementing Space 1999's place as the show that helped George Lucas and Ridley Scott discover good technical talent.
* ''[[Fawlty Towers]]'' (the first season in particular) was lambasted by British TV critics who didn't find it inspired or funny at all. Gradually it became a cult series and eventually the most popular, critically acclaimed and often repeated British sitcom of all time.
* During the era of the Seventh Doctor (Sylvester McCoy), ''[[
* ''[[Police Squad!]]'' challenged the attention spans of American viewers in the early 80s. Only 4 episodes initially aired, but a few years later it became a cult phenomenon and inspired its creators Zucker/Abrahams/Zucker to revive it in the feature film ''[[The Naked Gun (Film)|The Naked Gun]]''.
* The first season of ''[[Cheers]]'' was the lowest-rated sitcom in 1982. Critical acclaim allowed the show to survive into a second season, which became a smash hit and effectively vindicated season 1.
* Anne Beatts -- who in the 70s had teamed with boyfriend/writing-colleague Michael O Donoghue to bring sadistic edge to the early seasons of SNL -- created in 1982 a teen sitcom called [[Square Pegs]]. The material presented in Pegs (more adult in nature than the average 12-to-19-demographic offering at the time) resulted in public alienation and ratings disaster. A fandom grew around the show over the course of the decade -- enough to propel lead actress [[Sarah Jessica Parker]] to stardom.
* FOX's ''[[Space Above and Beyond|Space: Above and Beyond]]'' debuted to middling ratings and mixed reaction from critics and viewers when it premiered in 1995. The show, which centered around a group of outer-space Marine pilots fighting to stop an invasion by an otherworldly alien force, was roundly criticized at the time for being "''[[Full Metal Jacket]]'' [[Recycled in Space|in space]]". It was cancelled at the end of its first season (due to peer pressure from parents' groups over the violence in the show), and appeared to disappear from the ether... that is, until stations like the Sci-Fi Channel and the Space Channel (in Canada) started airing marathons of the show, and audiences began to watch it in droves. It then picked up a cult following for blazing trails no other sci-fi series had done up to that point: highly serialized plots that relied on minor stories and comments from previous episodes, a realistic treatment of military politics, CGI used as a narrative tool, gender and ethnic diversity, and permanent cast and story changes. It was even ranked in IGN's list of Top 50 Sci-Fi TV Shows. Today, the show is considered to be one of the defining sci-fi series of the 90's, and helped shape the current wave of serialized sci-fi shows (like ''[[
* ''[[Freaks and Geeks]]'' lasted one season and was seemingly forgotten once it was over. The show has since skyrocketed in popularity.
* ''[[Malcolm in The Middle]]'' was initially building up momentum as a must-see sitcom, but because of FOX's constant switching of timeslots and the resulting nuisance in trying to find ''Malcolm'', the series suffered ratings failure. Eventually general disinterest (though there was a small cult fandom) forced the writers to wrap up the show's loose ends and call it quits. In reruns the series is very popular.
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** Similar things were said about [[The Pixies]].
* [[The Beach Boys]] album Sunflower was panned at the time of its release. The passage of time has helped heal its critical standing considerably.
* [[David Bowie]]'s ''Hunky Dory''. At the time, he was still known as a [[One
** Similarly, Bowie's minimalistic, synth-heavy "[[Rule of Three|Berlin Trilogy]]" of the late 1970s (''Low'', ''"Heroes"'' and ''Lodger''), on which he collaborated with [[Brian Eno]] and [[King Crimson|Robert Fripp]], were misunderstood and low-selling by his previous standards (though ''"Heroes"'' was ''NME'''s Album of the Year for 1977). Now they're [[Cult Classic|cult classics]] noted for influencing [[Synth Pop]], [[New Wave (Music)|New Wave]] and ambient music, and the first two usually duke it out with ''Hunky Dory'' and ''Ziggy Stardust'' for the title of Bowie's Masterpiece. The title track of ''"Heroes"'', which didn't make waves as a single, is now one of his most beloved songs.
** The album released prior to the trilogy, ''Station to Station'', is being similarly re-evaluated.
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[[Category:Truth in Television]]
[[Category:Vindicated By History]]
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