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this is a really good example of why world building is for contemporary authors, too. I talk about it all the time because I see it all the time. https://twitter.com/romanticparvenu/status/1357699402857668609
One thing I really recommend authors check out is the Mindset list...it used to be at Beloit College, now Marist College. Go here and scroll down: https://www.marist.edu/mindset-list
Here's the top of the list for the College Class of 2023:
"Apple iPods have always been nostalgic" or "9/11 is a historical event" or even "paypal has always been an option"
"Apple iPods have always been nostalgic" or "9/11 is a historical event" or even "paypal has always been an option"
Or let's say your character is 25 or 26 years old and went to college, and they graduated from college in 2015. River Phoenix has always been dead and Ferris Bueller could be their parents.
https://www.infodocket.com/2011/08/23/the-mindset-of-the-college-freshman-class-of-2015-beloit-college-releases-annual-mindset-list/
https://www.infodocket.com/2011/08/23/the-mindset-of-the-college-freshman-class-of-2015-beloit-college-releases-annual-mindset-list/
That's all I have to say about that.
I'll just add, of course I guess it's possible that a 25 year old heroine could have Some Kind of Wonderful be her favorite movie, but why? Was she trapped at an elderly relative's house all summer with only one VHS tape?
That movie is 34 years old. Go ahead. Look up the strange little indie movies that were barely popular when they came out from 10 years before your birth. Under what circumstances would it be your favorite?
I'm not saying it can't happen. OF COURSE IT CAN. But if every pop culture reference you layer into a text is 20 years older than your characters? That's poor world-building.
Some Kind of Wonderful is such a deep cut that it doesn't even have twitter gifs. Your modern day heroine ABSOLUTELY DOES NOT PREFER DIANA TO MEGHAN unless you're trying to show she's racist. Ariana Grande is 27 years old! Know your character's pop culture contemporaries!
I just read an amazing example this morning. The 28 year old hero told the heroine that he's always been afraid of shark's teeth since seeing Jaws as a kid. Jaws is 45 years old and that shark is silly, not scary, now.
You know what movie with scary shark teeth probably did scare your 28 year old hero? Finding Nemo, which came out when he was 10.
Here's the scene. She's 24 and he's 28.
In this paragraph, all the pop culture references from these 20-year-olds are about 40 years old: Jaws (1975), Nightmare on Elm Street (1984), Halloween (1978).
To be fair, the Halloween movies have been released pretty steadily over the decades.
To be fair, the Halloween movies have been released pretty steadily over the decades.
Yes, of course there are reasons a character might have an old favorite, but this scene shows this is the author using her own pop culture references instead of thinking about what people this age would know/reference.
Pop culture is just that...cultural touchstones for a group of people based on their age and where they grew up!!! We all have it -- it's just in the ether.
I'm going to make a few other observations. This seems MOST LIKELY to happen with movies and TV shows, and not music.
Imagine instead they were talking about music and she was like, "yeah, gotta love Madonna and Vogue" and he replied, "Oh, we were more of a disco family."
Imagine instead they were talking about music and she was like, "yeah, gotta love Madonna and Vogue" and he replied, "Oh, we were more of a disco family."
