Topic on Talk:Unintentional Period Piece

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I think what makes "Unintentional Period Piece" happen in a work is an unconscious assumption on the part of the creator(s) that some element of the story or setting -- like the raids on gay bars in the Barney Miller example -- is universal and unchanging when they're not, to the point that to an audience after the time that things changed, the reference is almost incomprehensible. Intentional period pieces know when they hit these things that they'll need to provide context or explanation for the audience. Unintentional period pieces assumed everyone would always know what they were; however, they have since been sideswiped by History Marches On and now confusion and incomprehension is the best they can hope for when an audience stumbles across one of these elements. (If not outright Values Dissonance -- "How can the good guy cops in Barney Miller even joke about raids on gay bars?") It's kind of the funhouse mirror reflection of Too Soon.