Movies about the past have people making stupid comments

Cafe Society
1

Sorry for the bad title thread but I couldn’t think of anything all that good.

The wife and I were watching Titanic on NBC a week or two ago and the big mean fiance of the female lead comments something like, “That Van Gogh is horrible. He will never sell a painting”.

In The Time Machine, the main character makes a comment that he is the only one who will listen to the theories of “this Einstein person”.

This list could go on for awhile but I figure everyone knows what I mean. Is there some reason why when making a movie about events in the past, the producers have to make the characters make some stupid comment about a famous person from that time? Does anyone have good examples of this in fils or TV shows? I’m curious about how overused this tactic is.

2

I think the comment about the painting in Titanic referred to one by Picasso (who’s work did shake up a lot of people early in the 20th century).

Anyway, I believe quite a few movies set in the past have people making shortsighted comments about a famous person from that time. It’s a way for a screenwriter to make an ironic joke about how people who we regard as “great” now weren’t regarded as such when they were starting off. A funny variation on this tactic was featured in Blazing Saddles where a character makes apropros-of-nothing references to people like Louis Pasteur and Nietzsche simply because the movie’s set in the 1870’s.

3

van Gogh would have agreed; he only sold one painting in his life.

4

Well it has to be important - it has a name dramatic irony and is considered more subtle and powerful than mere verbal irony.

5

It’s usually just a cheap throwaway gag.

Though the early Quantum Leap has a superior version in their “kisses with history.” Sam performed the Heimlich Maneuver on Dr. Heimlich (before it was invented, of course), taught Michael Jackson how to moonwalk, gave Woody Allen the inspiration for “Play it Again, Sam.” These were all cute throwaway gags and never aspired to much more.

6

Of course, Forrest Gump had similar kisses with history. Not only did he invent both the “smiley face” and the phrase “Shit happens,” he also taught Elvis how to dance.

7

And Michael J. Fox taught Chuck Berry the duckwalk in Back to the Future.

You write for your audience. They are what counts in the end.

8

Actually he taught Marvin Berry the duckwalk. Chuck just heard him on the phone :slight_smile:

9

It was Picasso, sorry. After I posted it I remembered.

That was the ongoing joke through Forrest Gump, that everyone thought he was a moron but he had such a huge impact on people so I didn’t mind it.

10

This device was heavily used in Shanghai Knights. In general, though, I absolutely hate when these kinds of lines are in movies. How many people sit around saying “So-and-so will never amount to anything”? If you know of the person, then clearly they’ve done something right.

11

But the Titanic sank in 1912 (or thereabouts) and Van Gogh had been dead for 22 years. I 'm not sure whether his paintings had started selling by then, but I think he had.

And it’s a moot point since it seems that they were talking about Picasso.