Values Resonance: Difference between revisions

{{quote|''"The tools of conquest do not necessarily come with bombs and explosives and fallout. There are weapons that are simply thoughts, attitudes, prejudices to be found only in the minds of men. For the record, prejudices can kill, and suspicion can destroy, and a thoughtless, frightened search for a scapegoat has a fallout all of its own; for the children, and the children yet unborn. And the pity of it is that these things cannot be confined to [[Title Drop|The Twilight Zone]]."''|'''Rod Serling''', ''[[The Twilight Zone (TV)|The Twilight Zone]]'', "The Monsters Are Due On Maple Street" (original airdate 1960)}}

But others...like wine, only get better with age. Years after the original author and audience have passed, new generations will still look at the given [[Aesop]] and say "Damn right." Maybe some authors knowingly spoke to issues that were years ahead of their time. Maybe many of society's questions are just [[Older Than They Think]]. Maybe they just got lucky. These are the principles that stand the test of time and have outlived the original moral issue they were meant to address a hundred times over.

* ''[[Perfect Blue (Anime)|Perfect Blue]]'''s ''very'' dark satire on fame and celebrity culture gets only more relevant with every passing year, especially as the rise of the Internet has made stalking and obsessive fanbases practically the rule rather than the exception.

* An issue of ''[[Mad Magazine]]'' from the 1970's satirizes the over-the-top and offensive personalities that people use while speaking on CB radios. Its commentary on anonymous personalities is eerily predictive of [[GIFT]].

* ''[[Star Trek IV: the Voyage Home (Film)|Star Trek IV theThe Voyage Home]]'''s message about environmental responsibility would make you think it was released today, but it was actually released in 1986. Likewise, we had ''The Lorax'', ''Silent Running'' and ''[[Soylent Green]]'' back in the early '70s and the seminal ''[[Silent Spring]]'' in '62.

* Much of the message of ''[[All Quiet On the Western Front (Film)|All Quiet Onon the Western Front]]'' has lasted well past the 1930's. Not every war film made during that period has aged as well.

* One war movie whose [[Aesop|Aesops]]s about the nature of war and politics that has also lasted long is Stanley Kubrick's 1957 war movie ''[[Paths of Glory]]'' with Kirk Douglas.

* The message of ''[[The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951 film)|The Day the Earth Stood Still]]'' has aged pretty well, even withstanding a remake of questionable quality.

** ''[[Fail- Safe]]'' is one of the few such movies.

* ''[[Network]]'' may have seemed farfetchedfar-fetched in 1976, but in today's media landscape, it's one [[Funny Aneurysm Moment]] (or [[Harsher in Hindsight]] moment) after another, dealing not only with the loss of integrity in the news but also media consolidation, corporate ethics and the growing power of multi-national industry.

{{quote| "There is no America. There is no democracy. There is only IBM and ITT and AT&T and [[Du Pont]]DuPont, Dow, Union Carbide, and Exxon. Those are the nations of the world today."}}

* ''[[Invasion of the Body Snatchers]]'' and other [[Pod People]]-style stories. The '50s and '70s movies are classics that sum up what the fear of their time was while still retaining [[Values Resonance]].

* Once upon a time, the premise of ''[[The Truman Show (Film)|The Truman Show]]'' was fictional. Now, we know it as webcams and [[Reality TV]].

** The same goes for ''[[E Dtv (Film)|E DtvEDtv]]''.

* ''[[My Beautiful Laundrette]]'' features a romantic relationship between the two {{spoiler|male}} leads during [[The Eighties]] in [[Britain Is Only London|London]]. The movie centers more around economic hardship, family, and the tension between poor whites and upwardly mobile ethnic Pakistanis. {{spoiler|There is little to no [[Gayngstgayngst]] to speak of, namely because both of the guys are [[Armored Closet Gay]], but still quite passionate and loving with each other.}}

* ''[[Les Misérables (Literaturenovel)|Les Misérables]]'' is sadly resonant with society today, seeing men persecuted simply for their past reputation, families dividing over petty issues as political fanaticism, and scoundrels abusing their position of 'caretaker' simply for the money. Victor Hugo's urging that these ills ''must'' be faced are every bit as relevant today as they were in post-Revolutionary France.

* ''[[Nineteen Eighty -Four|1984]]''. As proof of how subjective this trope is, pretty much ''every'' successive administration [[GodwinsGodwin's Law|eventually gets compared to Ingsoc by its opposition]]... which its supporters (who may have only recently said the same of the opposing party's leadership) will vehemently deny.

* ''[[Uncle TomsTom's Cabin]]'', particularly the ideas of passive resistance and racial equality.

* ''[[A Christmas Carol]]'' by [[Charles Dickens (Creator)|Charles Dickens]]. The message of the true meaning of Christmas being about how one spends their life, not their money, might be more relevant in these recessionary times more than ever. Justified in that "secular Christmas", (i.e. very commercial Christmas with [[Santa Claus]] bringing lots of expensive gifts) was still [[Newer Than They Think|relatively new]] in [[Victorian Britain]]. Arguably, Dickens was commenting on what seemed like [[The New Rock and Roll|a troubling new trend]].

* [[Robert Burns (Creator)|Robert "Rabbie" Burns]]' poem ''[http://www.robertburns.org.uk/Assets/Poems_Songs/holy_willie.htm Holy Willie's Prayer]'', written in 1785 about a [http://en.[wikipedia.org/wiki/Holy_Willie%27s_Prayer:Holy Willie's Prayer|hypocritical church elder]] who condemns others for perceived transgression, whilst giving spurious justifications about his own. Compare with the various evangelists caught out and their own justifications for their behaviour today.

* ''[[All Quiet On the Western Front (Literature)|All Quiet Onon the Western Front]]'' has actually been said to resonate with some people ''more'' than the more modern [[War Is Hell]] novels do.

* Like 1984''Nineteen Eighty-Four'', ''[[Brave New World (Literaturenovel)|Brave New World]]'' still manages to resonate.

* ''[[Maurice (Literature)|Maurice]]'' was written in 1913 but wasn't published until 1971 because it had the weirdo idea that homosexuals could actually have ''happy'' endings that didn't involve [[Cure Your Gays|being cured]] or [[Bury Your Gays|committing suicide]].

* The E.M. Forster story "[https://web.archive.org/web/20140515194710/http://archive.ncsa.illinois.edu/prajlich/forster.html The Machine Stops]" must have seemed wildly far-fetched when it was published in 1909. Now, aspects of the story make one wonder if Forster had done some time-traveling to the early 21st century.

* ''[[Don Quixote (Literature)|Don Quixote]]''’s{{'}}s [[Satire]] will live as long as the [[Inherent in Thethe System|justice system will be]] [[Screw the Rules, I Have Money|made of]] [[Humans Are Flawed|human judges]] [[Screw the Rules, I Have Money|capable of corruption]] [[Buy Them Off|that let criminals go for a price]]. Or as [[Sleazy Politician|the people who direct]] [[The Government]] only care about ruling the people without making any effort to enhance the live of histheir subjects. Or while the [[Moral Guardians]] are useless because his own [[Pitying Perversion]]. Or while [[Fan Dumb|there are people who fanatically defend any kind of entertainment work no matter its faults]]. Those examples are only a few…

* ''[[Gone Withwith the Wind]]'', published in the 1930s, actually [[Deconstruction|Deconstructed]] the stereotypical [[Southern Belle]] and many of the [[Ante Bellum South]] Tropes. The heroine Scarlett O'Hara actually commented on how she was [[Stay in Thethe Kitchen|disapproved of for running her own business in order to take care of her dependents]], which is even more relevant in modern society.

* ''Dozens'' of cultures have their own version of the same basic [[Fairy Tale]].{{context|reason=Is there a specific such fairy tale that demonstrates the trope? If not, this isn't an example.}}

== [[Live -Action TV]] ==

** There are dozens of episodes like this. '"He's Alive'" is another good contender, on how we keep monsters like Hitler alive so long as we spread intolerance, no matter of what kind.

** '"Number 12 Looks Just Like You'" and it'sits theme of overconformity and the Hollywood obsession with beauty (especially female beauty) is probably even truer today than it was back then.

** '"Eye of the Beholder'" has similar themes.

** '"Night of the Meek'" (the Christmas episode) is basically a big [[Aesop]] about belief and the goodness of charity and giving as opposed to blindly and selfishly asking and receiving. It'sIts message is even more true today, as the commercialization of the holidays is greater than ever.

** '"The Shelter'" is a good example, whose message is somewhat similar to '"The Monsters Are Due On Maple Street'". It shows that no matter how civil we act in everyday life, in order to survive we'll adopt an '"every man for himself'" mentality, and that the only way to survive is by working together.

* ''[[Star Trek (Franchise)|Star Trek]]'' has managed to come up with many stories that are excellent examples of this trope. The famous ''[[Star Trek: theThe Original Series]]'' (TV)|episode "[[Star Trek/Recap/S3/E15 theLet OriginalThat Series]]''Be episodeYour "Last Battlefield|Let That Be Your Last Battlefield]]" was relevant during the [[Civil Rights movementMovement]] of the late [[The Sixties|1960s]] when it aired. It still applies unnervingly well to all the racial and religious fanaticism of the early 21st century.

** An episode of ''[[Star Trek Enterprise (TV)|Star Trek: Enterprise]]'' made during the 21st century, purposely made as a tribute to "Last Battlefield", even lampshades the fact that this type of story is just as true, if not more, today.

* ''[[Blakes Seven (TV)|BlakesBlake's Seven7]]'' predates both the ''Trek'' and ''[[Babylon 5|B5]]'' examples (and was a major influence on ''B5''). Blake rebels against a totalitarian government that drugs its populace. He gets framed for paedophilia. Hell, the entire series starts with a shot of a CCTV camera monitoring the citizens -- ''before'' said cameras became ubiquitous in the UK.

* ''[[The Cosby Show]]'' was a watershed for television in [[The Eighties]], with its image of a Black family that was well-to-do, educated, and loving to each other; a far cry from the dysfunctional, impoverished, uneducated brutes that the media regularly portrays. This message of what Black (or any minority) family could be iswas the reason that the show iswas still popular in reruns 20 years after it went off the air.

* ''[[The Avengers (TV series)|The Avengers]]'' introduced Cathy Gale, arguably the first liberated woman on television, in 1962, and her iconic successor Emma Peel in 1965. You'd probably think that now, over 40 years on, they'd be [[Faux Action Girl|Faux Action Girls]]s or [[Rule -Abiding Rebel|Rule Abiding Rebels]]s. You'd be wrong. Mrs Gale and Mrs Peel, and even Tara King although to a lesser extent, are credible action heroines and feminist role models even today, much more so in fact than many who came after them.

* ''[[Roseanne]]''{{'}}s realistic focus on the usual challenges and struggles of a working-class American family still remain relevant 20+ years later. [[Word of God|Roseanne Barr]] even said during a recent{{when}} interview that they're even more relevant than they were back then.

* The progressive folk-rock trilogy of [[Concept Album|concept albums]] by [[Jethro Tull]], ''Songs From The Wood'', ''Heavy Horses'' and ''Stormwatch'', respectively celebrate a return to nature and English folk traditions, the modern and human struggles of those who live and work in the countryside, and the horrors of of how the urbanization, pollution and decay of moral responsibilty might lead to an environmental holocaust. All seem just as relevant today as in the late [[The Seventies|seventies]], when then were made, but bandleader Ian Anderson [[Word of God|recently admits]] that the worries of ''Stormwatch'' were more about global ''cooling'' leading to a new ice age, not the global ''warming'' issues of today.

* The [[Five Man Electrical Band]]'s ''I'm A Stranger Here'' is a [[Green Aesop]] from the sixties. Hearing it now, it's almost more applicable today than it was fifty years ago.

* [http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_djgssszshgM/SYXCzpR0MbI/AAAAAAAAAyY/VYle3udsueo/s1600-h/CalvinHobbs.BMP This] ''[[Calvin and Hobbes]]'' strip from 15 years ago concerning the economy may seems frighteningly accurate to the US's current{{when}} economic situation: [http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_djgssszshgM/SYXCzpR0MbI/AAAAAAAAAyY/VYle3udsueo/s1600-h/CalvinHobbs.BMP here.]

* [https://web.archive.org/web/20120424063911/http://garfield.nfshost.com/1979/01/25/ These] [https://web.archive.org/web/20120424063421/http://garfield.nfshost.com/1979/01/27/ three] [https://web.archive.org/web/20120424063917/http://garfield.nfshost.com/1979/03/18/ 1979] ''[[Garfield]]'' comics discussing the overuse of sex and violence in movies and tv shows are (a little sad to say) even more relevant today than they were more than three decades ago.

* [[Stan Freberg]]'s 1958 [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I5IXlfJSEi4 radio play] "[[Green Christmas|Green Chri$tma$]]" with its attack on the commercialization of the holidays still happens to be relevant in modern times.

** The circumstances of the 2000 election supposedly mirror an 18th century professorsprofessor's predictions of the fall of democracy: [http://www.snopes.com/politics/ballot/athenian.asp here.]

** The rationale for the invasion of Iraq supposedly mirrors a 1944 Reuter'sReuters article concerning the invasion of Nazi-conquered France: [http://www.snopes.com/politics/satire/split.asp here].

** The rationale for removing troops from Iraq mirrors another supposed 1944 Reuter'sReuters article concerning the removal of troops from World War Two's European Theater: [httphttps://www.snopes.com/politicsfact-check/satirehouse-republicans-call-for-troop-withdrawals/withdrawl.asp here].

*** [http://www.snopes.com/quotes/goering.asp This] similar quote] from Hermann Goering also drew attention - however, this one is real.

** A (real) article from 1922 warns that climate change is melting Arctic ice and disrupting wildlife: [http://www.snopes.com/politics/science/globalwarming1922.asp here.]

* A number of lyrics written by Oscar Hammerstein, most spectacularly "You've Got to Be Carefully Taught".

* ''[[Othello (Theatre)|Othello]]''. By [[William Shakespeare]]. For North American audiences, a lot of baggage was added by the use of Africans in larger-scale Atlantic slavery. But generally speaking, the play has a lot that resonates with modern audiences; attitudes to cultural/ethnic minorities, minority attitudes, the troubles of career military men in domestic settings, the destructive power of rumours...

* ''[[The Clouds (Theatre)|The Clouds]]'', by [[Aristophanes]], mocks both conservative and left-wing [[Strawman Political]] types, with the former being portrayed as not using actual arguments, just saying "this is the way we've always done it" and "Doing it differently will make you gay" and the latter controlling most of [[Socrates]]' [[Strawman U|Academy]] and being able to convince anyone of anything, including that the only reason it isn't acceptable for sons to beat their fathers is that there's a law that says there isn't. Today, gay rights and moral relativism are actually points of debate.

* ''[[Chicago]]'' (both the [[Chicago (musical)|stage musical]] and the [[TheChicago Movie(film)|film]]). Its view of the celebrity that comes from scandal seems to be getting more relevant every year.

* ''[[Spring Awakening]]'' (the original play) was written just before the 1900s, but still holds a lot of [[Values Resonance]] on cultural/religious repression and sexuality. The musical outright ''invokes this'' by using contemporary style/slang for the songs. [http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/AwesomeMusic[Theater/TheatreAwesome Music|And it works.]]

* Samus Aran from ''[[Metroid]]''. Similar to ''The Avengers'' example above, you'd think a female video game character created in 1986 would be a [[Distressed Damsel in Distress]] or a playable [[The Chick|chick]] at best. Here, you'd be wrong. Even if her [[Samus Is a Girl|gender was unknown at the time]], and [[Word of God|was likely just included as a last-minute gag]], the idea that the random space warrior was a woman, without making fuss about her femininity, resonates today as developers continue to grapple with the problem of properly developing game heroines.

[[Category:Values Resonance{{PAGENAME}}]]