We're Still Relevant, Dammit!: Difference between revisions

 

[[Tropes Are Tools]] standing aside, this is usually a sign of bad writing.

 

== Advertising ==

* Dear old Jughead Jones of [[Archie Comics]] fame has often fallen victim to this trope. Archie Comics may be made fun of occasionally, but thanks to its cozy look at the bright side of being a teenager, most people tend to view it with warm nostalgic feelings. This makes these attempts to be "hip and happening" ever more bewildering. Everyone, from every generation, knows Jughead as Archie's goofy hamburger-eating BFF in that ridiculous hat. Well, over the years, he has ''also'' had mercifully brief careers as (get some coffee and a comfortable seat) a Beatnik, a Hippie, a Punk, a Disco King, a Breakdancer, a Time-Traveler a la ''[[Back to The Future]]'', a Rapper, a Paranormal Investigator a la ''[[The X-Files]]'', an [[Emo Teen]], a [[Superhero]], and so on. At this point Jughead's [[Genre Shift|Genre Shifting]] has almost become a [[Running Gag]]. See [http://www.avclub.com/content/node/48531 this useful Onion AV Club article] for more details.

** Let's not forget that brief span ("[http://joeydevilla.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2005/10/shes_goth_to_have_it.jpg She's Goth to Have It]") where Betty decides to become a [[Goth]]. And not long after, Archie, Reggie, and Veronica follow suit.

** They've finally gotten around to [http://www.cnn.com/2010/SHOWBIZ/books/04/23/archie.gay/index.html?hpt=C2 adding] a [[Token Minority|gay character]] to the cast, about 10 years after anyone would've cared.

*** Although the fact that he's now getting married and joining the army arguably makes him relevant.

** Then there were the "manga-style" Archie stories.

** [[The Comics Curmudgeon]] openly suspected that ''Archie'' was so old and tired that it used a computer to come up with daily jokes, and even dubbed it the "Archie Joke-Generating Laugh Unit 3000" or AJGLU 3000. ''Archie'' [http://joshreads.com/?p=1827 struck back in this comic], putting Archie in a "No AJGLU 3000" shirt.

** The example with the longest ramifications was when the Jimmy Olsen title was written by [[Jack Kirby]], who used the craziness to introduce [[Darkseid]] and the [[New Gods|Fourth World mythos]] to the wider [[DC Universe]].

** The last few decades have seen the whole Superman mythos tangled in this trope.

* The [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z4IoUo_ZJkY trailer] for the upcoming [[The Three Stooges|Three Stooges]] movie is rife with this, complete with a modern setting, an iPhone, and even the cast of the Jersey Shore. Many people who hadn't heard anything about the film since Sean Penn was involved (which implied a more serious biography of the Stooges) were, to say the least, surprised.

** But it's important to remember one simple rule: [[Never Trust a Trailer]].

 

 

*** When the Master returned in the new series, he was updated into a [[Pop Cultured Badass|murderous pop culture junkie.]]

* The final season of ''[[The Brady Bunch]]'' was like this at times. In the wake of the runaway success of ''[[All in The Family]]'', ''The Brady Bunch'' had an episode that didn't involve the Bradys at all, in which a white family adopted a black and an Asian kid. (A bigoted neighbor in the episode is expressly compared to Archie Bunker.)

* In an episode of ''[[Power Rangers Dino Thunder]]'' Ethan and Devin are playing a painfully bad [[Expy]] of [[Yu-Gi-Oh]], it screams of this trope.

 

== Music ==

 

** For the same reason, [[Kiss]] ditched their trademark facepaint and costumes in the '80s for a generic glam look. While they do have a few hits from that era, it's generally considered the band's [[Dork Age]]. They've since gone back to their classic style with the album ''Sonic Boom''.

** Witness, also, [[Cheap Trick]]'s attempts, at least since their late '70s heyday ended, to update their look, sound and style to fit the times. Heavy synths in the mid-'80s (which gave them [[Black Sheep Hit|their only #1 hit]], "The Flame", which their fanbase detests), a more AOR/pop-metal sound by 1988-93, then more grunge- and alternative-influenced work in [[The Nineties]], while groups with a clear lineage to their early work gained success. They've been making inroads into their more influential, early, power-pop sound more recently.

* ''[[G.I. Joe]]'' too. The '70s "adventure team" version of the franchise existed because war didn't seem so cool anymore after Vietnam.

* The concepts of ''[[Transformers]]'' toys didn't change all that much, but their depictions in media sure as hell did. ''Generation 2'' comics were ''aggressively'' Dark Age, and just check out [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jzsLUlzaocw this commercial]. ''They were '''all''' [[Totally Radical|like that]].''

* In a very similar case to the G2 Transformers commercial, for the 2006 Piraka set line, ''[[Bionicle]]'' also attempted to promote their sets with a shoddy rap song, as well as forcing the characters into a "gangsta'" setting, complete with the villains lounging around in their fortress which is surrounded with chain fences, sitting on sofas, chewing bubblegum, and doing various other activities that not only had nothing to do with the official story, but clashed something fierce with the image the franchise had built up in the previous years. This was not the first example, though: beginning from '05, just about all of the commercials had various rock songs attached to them, replacing the tribal music. They even crept into the movies, too. But these stood out way less.

** Story-wise, again in a similar fashion to the Transformers example cited above, [[Darker and Edgier|the plots took a turn to the exceedingly dark and violent side]], which was to the delight of many fans, but it still gave off the stench of a "Look, older fans, there is gore now, don't leave!" mentality. Especially since at first, these were confined to side-stories that weren't meant to bring in newer fans.

== Western Animation ==

 

** The cartoons on the 90s Disney Afternoon block on ABC had the premise of taking old classic characters and updating them in new settings with new clothes and, occasionally, new personalities... usually to reflect what was "in" at the time. Huey, Dewey and Louie got theirs in ''[[Quack Pack (Animation)|Quack Pack]]'', for example, where they aged into hip teenagers. Donald ditched his iconic sailor suit in favor of a Hawaiian shirt, and Daisy Duck became a sassy, assertive woman.

*** Of course, [[Donald Duck]] (especially in the comics) is often ''the'' go-to character for this trope. With all the fads he's joined, all the different jobs he's had, and all the many, ''many'' things he's been an "expert" on in various stories, Donald is the one classic Disney character who ''can'' pull off [[Totally Radical]] [[Tropes Are Not Bad|and remain perfectly in character at all times]]. Hawaiian-shirted cameraman for a popular TV show? Sure, why not? You ''know'' that next month he'll try to be an astronaut or get hooked on sushi or whatever.

** [[Goof Troop]] is a pretty obvious example. They updated Goofy and Pete into modern neighbors with pre-teen sons. It was apparently successful enough to spin off into a [[A Goofy Movie|movie]] or two. While Goofy's update hasn't entirely stuck, his new son, Max Goof, keeps popping up in [[House of Mouse|shows]] and theme parks.

* By far, the most embarrassing attempt to make an older character "cool" to young people was the all-but-forgotten series ''[[Yo Yogi]]''. Yes, it had a teenaged [[Yogi Bear (Animation)|Yogi Bear]] dressed in neon pink and green, solving mysteries, and hanging out in Jellystone ''Mall''. Magilla Gorilla was transformed into a rapping snowboarder named Magilla ''Ice'', Dick Dastardly was teenage troublemaker "Dicky D," and certain scenes were designed to be viewed with 3-D glasses, which looked awkward to say the least. Surprisingly, this is the last television series to star Yogi Bear. ''Yo, Yogi'' failed so badly that [[NBC]] decided to eighty-six their entire animated lineup in order to create an all-teen block in order to take advantage of ''[[Saved By the Bell|Saved by the Bell]]'''s success and expand the ''Today'' show to Saturdays.

*** At least Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm got to grow older.

* The aforementioned ''[[Loonatics Unleashed (Animation)|Loonatics Unleashed]]'' attempts a [[Darker and Edgier]] version of the 1930s-1960s [[Looney Tunes]] shorts and got a considerable amount of Hatedom and [[Internet Backdraft]] as a result.

** Likewise, ''[[Baby Looney Tunes]]'', but this time it's a [[Lighter and Softer]] version.

** It often lampshades this by having the Simpson family be the last people in town to get in on a new trend, like when Homer bought his first computer (in 1999) and didn't know the first thing about them. "Oh, they have the Internet on ''computers'' now!", when Bart is complaining about being the only kid in his class (in 2009) who doesn't have a cell phone, and Marge in "Marge Gamer" (a 2007 episode) being shunned by her friends for not having an email address.

** The opening to the episode "To Surveil With Love," in which the entire Springfield populace lip syncs to Ke$ha's "TiK ToK" -- while pretty funny -- was an obvious attempt at pandering to a younger demographic.

** The season 15 episode called "You're Getting Old" (which is self explanatory) ironically contained more up to date pop culture references than usual for the show, such as the boys seeing "X-men: First Class" in theaters and playing "L.A. Noir". The episode "1%" also had a brief mention of the game "Batman: Arkham City", released less than a month earlier. These appearances don't seem to serve any purpose other than to say "See? We're still paying attention!".

** It might also be defensive in their case as they were burned by not paying attention when the spoofed [[Inception]] without seeing the film and based their jokes on another Parody and so were accused of stealing and/or being lazy IIRC they admitted to accidentally stealing because they were lazy, but in a hurry to make the quick production turnaround

* ''[[Beavis and Butthead]]'''s relaunch is a debatable case of this -- on the one hand, referencing things like ''Twilight'' and ''[[Super Size Me]]'' in 2011 does come off as the writers being late to the party, but it's generally done to provide interesting jumping off points for the duo's misadventures. "Werewolves of Highland" is about the concept of [[Vampires Are Sex Gods]], and the duo ''trying'' to take advantage of that to get chicks. "Supersize Me" has them following in Morgan Spurlock's footsteps (gorging on fast food and filming themselves doing so) in hopes of becoming similarly famous and (again) getting chicks. The commentary segments with music videos and MTV reality shows are strictly up-to-date humor.

* ''[[King of the Hill]]'': The [[My Space]]-centric episode when Strickland Propane starts networking with MySpace to bring in customers. In 2008.