# Movies/TV where the writer is clearly much older than the character **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 21, 2011, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-tv-where-the-writer-is-clearly-much-older-than-the-character/597096 "2011-09-21T18:35:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Sigmagirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c89c15/32.png) [@Sigmagirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigmagirl)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2011, 12:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-tv-where-the-writer-is-clearly-much-older-than-the-character/597096/21 "2011-09-22T12:16:07Z")
When I make some kind of remark about something from well before my time, and one of my more clueless acquaintances expresses astonishment that I’ve heard of these people/events/things, I answer, “Have you heard of Abraham Lincoln?\*” “Yes . . .” “Wasn’t he before your time?” \*Or orther cultural icon as appropriate. This usually leaves the person gap-mouthed but silent. ---
**Author:** ![ballardfam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8797f3/32.png) [@ballardfam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ballardfam)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2011, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-tv-where-the-writer-is-clearly-much-older-than-the-character/597096/22 "2011-09-22T13:34:17Z")
> [@Elret](#): > > I notice this constantly on Criminal Minds. They’ll have little kids and teenagers named stuff like Judy, Betty, Gail, Bob, Dick, which I guess might happen IRL occasionally but it’s frequent enough that I really notice. And yeah, I know that grandma names are back in fashion, but these tend to be a different generation than the popular “old-lady” names and always makes me think of people who were teenagers in the 50s and 60s. would be included in that “teenagers in the 50s and 60s”. I notice others with the same names, not frequently, but occasionally. I’ve also noted that the use of 40s/50s/60s name abbreviations are increasing. Like when parents name their kid William, instead of calling him by the full name or Will they go retro and use Billy. Possilby a new fad or maybe I’m just tuned into them so note it more. I do think you’re correct that they’re a little too common on Criminal Minds to be realistic but it’s not the least realistic thing about that show. ---
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2011, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-tv-where-the-writer-is-clearly-much-older-than-the-character/597096/23 "2011-09-22T13:38:01Z")
> [@ballardfam](#): > > would be included in that “teenagers in the 50s and 60s”. I notice others with the same names, not frequently, but occasionally. I’ve also noted that the use of 40s/50s/60s name abbreviations are increasing. Like when parents name their kid William, instead of calling him by the full name or Will they go retro and use Billy. Possilby a new fad or maybe I’m just tuned into them so note it more. I do think you’re correct that they’re a little too common on Criminal Minds to be realistic but it’s not the least realistic thing about that show. Billy was common in the earlier part of the twentieth century too. Actually, I think it’s always been common with working-class people - Will is more middle-class. ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2011, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-tv-where-the-writer-is-clearly-much-older-than-the-character/597096/24 "2011-09-22T13:38:07Z")
In _Beyond the Valley of the Dolls_, there is a lot of teenage slang, spoken by characters who are not teenagers. Watching the film, I often got the impression that the actors would have preferred iambic pentameter to the lines that Roger Ebert wrote for them. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2011, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-tv-where-the-writer-is-clearly-much-older-than-the-character/597096/25 "2011-09-22T13:55:10Z")
> [@Sigmagirl](#): > > When I make some kind of remark about something from well before my time, and one of my more clueless acquaintances expresses astonishment that I’ve heard of these people/events/things, I answer, “Have you heard of Abraham Lincoln?\*” > > “Yes . . .” > > “Wasn’t he before your time?” Megan McCain was on some CNN show debating a pundit and he referred to the Carter Administration. She said “Well… uh… the Carter Administration was a bit before my time so I’ll take your word for it..” to which he replied “Believe it or not the American Revolution was before mine but I’m familiar with its high points…”. I think she’s too dense to realize it but it was a burn. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2011, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-tv-where-the-writer-is-clearly-much-older-than-the-character/597096/26 "2011-09-22T14:21:39Z")
That seems a bit like mocking me for not being able to name the band members of “? and the Mysterians” by saying “But **I** can name all four Beatles!” ---
**Author:** ![ballardfam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8797f3/32.png) [@ballardfam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ballardfam)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2011, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-tv-where-the-writer-is-clearly-much-older-than-the-character/597096/27 "2011-09-22T14:24:57Z")
> [@SciFiSam](#): > > Billy was common in the earlier part of the twentieth century too. Actually, I think it’s always been common with working-class people - Will is more middle-class. I remember Will as becoming a lot more popular after Prince William was born. At least, all the sudden all of the kids in my horizon stopped using Billy. Even in working-class people. That may be skewed by where I live but there was definitely a change across socioeconomic lines. ---
**Author:** ![Folacin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/folacin/32/3195_2.png) [@Folacin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Folacin)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2011, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-tv-where-the-writer-is-clearly-much-older-than-the-character/597096/28 "2011-09-22T14:43:35Z")
> [@SciFiSam](#): > > Billy was common in the earlier part of the twentieth century too. Actually, I think it’s always been common with working-class people - Will is more middle-class. My sample is probably skewed by a father and brother named William and called Bill - but most of the William’s I know go by Bill (Billy usually only when children). One of my son’s goes by Wil, but I don’t know of a lot of Will’s. However - having just done a search of my kid’s Facebook friends - it appears that there are more Will’s than Bill’s. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2011, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-tv-where-the-writer-is-clearly-much-older-than-the-character/597096/29 "2011-09-22T15:03:00Z")
For one thing, who saw that jump when they were a kid? It wasn’t televised on broadcast TV, you had to buy tickets to watch it in a large theatre. For another, it was Bobby, not Peter, who sold the hair tonic. And Cindy had a great idea to breed rabbits. And that was the only episode of BB where someone said the word “sex”, and that was Cousin Oliver. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2011, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-tv-where-the-writer-is-clearly-much-older-than-the-character/597096/30 "2011-09-22T15:16:06Z")
A good sample of the reverse: In the “Night Journey” (part 5 of The Green Mile), Stephen King has a character say “Avon’s calling.” The story takes place in Florida in 1932, the year the Avon trademark was registered in New York. ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2011, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-tv-where-the-writer-is-clearly-much-older-than-the-character/597096/31 "2011-09-22T16:07:42Z")
> [@tdn](#): > > For one thing, who saw that jump when they were a kid? It wasn’t televised on broadcast TV, you had to buy tickets to watch it in a large theatre. That’s what I mean. Marshall talked about the jump as if he saw it as a kid, not heard about it years later. It’s not that he CAN’T know. It’s the disconnect between his age and the way he talks about it. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2011, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-tv-where-the-writer-is-clearly-much-older-than-the-character/597096/32 "2011-09-22T16:43:11Z")
> [@Justin\_Bailey](#): > > That’s what I mean. Marshall talked about the jump as if he saw it as a kid, not heard about it years later. It’s not that he CAN’T know. It’s the disconnect between his age and the way he talks about it. Marshall talks about the Loch Ness Monster with equal surety. I’m sure if he were a board member, he’d take me to task for referring to Nessie as a monster, actually, as monster implies unreality or unnaturalness. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![panamajack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/47e85d/32.png) [@panamajack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panamajack)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2011, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-tv-where-the-writer-is-clearly-much-older-than-the-character/597096/33 "2011-09-22T17:15:58Z")
Juno would also have to have been aware of the Thunderbirds, which dates to the 1960s. I’m (roughly) the same age as Ms. Cody and do recall seeing them aired on TV at least once, but very few people I know recall seeing them. And I doubt you could find them readily in the 90s. On the other hand, it’s entirely possible for kids to pick up on phrases their parents or relatives use without knowing their provenance. The thing about Juno is that this is just one example that was thrown out. Her dialogue in general just does not sound like a teenager but like someone much older. ---
**Author:** ![C.Montgomery\_Burns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ecd19e/32.png) [@C.Montgomery\_Burns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C.Montgomery_Burns)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2011, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-tv-where-the-writer-is-clearly-much-older-than-the-character/597096/34 "2011-09-22T17:43:46Z")
Marge Simpson is shown loving Paul Anka (and in a show a couple years later, The Monkees), even though she’s 34. The writers say they always write Marge like their own mothers, which would fit. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2011, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-tv-where-the-writer-is-clearly-much-older-than-the-character/597096/35 "2011-09-22T17:48:04Z")
> [@C.Montgomery\_Burns](#): > > Marge Simpson is shown loving Paul Anka (and in a show a couple years later, The Monkees), even though she’s 34. The writers say they always write Marge like their own mothers, which would fit. She also wrote to Ringo Starr when he was a Beatle and she was a teen-ager, which would make her year of birth around 1950 (1966 - 16 years old = 1950). Yet she is seen going on a date with Homer to see The Empire Strikes Back. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2011, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-tv-where-the-writer-is-clearly-much-older-than-the-character/597096/36 "2011-09-22T17:56:42Z")
I wouldn’t worry too much about age inconsistencies in The Simpsons. Any show where someone stays an infant for 20+ years might bend the rules a little. ---
**Author:** ![C.Montgomery\_Burns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ecd19e/32.png) [@C.Montgomery\_Burns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C.Montgomery_Burns)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2011, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-tv-where-the-writer-is-clearly-much-older-than-the-character/597096/37 "2011-09-23T00:19:51Z")
> [@tdn](#): > > I wouldn’t worry too much about age inconsistencies in The Simpsons. Any show where someone stays an infant for 20+ years might bend the rules a little. Yeah, I know. But they _are_ always the same age in whatever year the episode takes place. That means that the episodes from say, 1991 where Marge was 34 means she was born in 1957. Which is a little too young to be into Paul Anka in his prime, or have been a young teenager painting pictures of Ringo. Same with the later Monkees reference. Marge would have been born in 1962 at that point. Boy, am I a geek. ---
**Author:** ![TBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2011, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-tv-where-the-writer-is-clearly-much-older-than-the-character/597096/38 "2011-09-24T22:06:23Z")
Milhouse _is_ a little young to know what POGs are let alone ALF, I mean come on! ---
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2011, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-tv-where-the-writer-is-clearly-much-older-than-the-character/597096/39 "2011-09-25T17:28:08Z")
> [@ballardfam](#): > > I remember Will as becoming a lot more popular after Prince William was born. At least, all the sudden all of the kids in my horizon stopped using Billy. Even in working-class people. That may be skewed by where I live but there was definitely a change across socioeconomic lines. Well, he was nicknamed Wills rather than Will for a long time, but I agree, that is when Will started becoming more popular. > [@Folacin](#): > > My sample is probably skewed by a father and brother named William and called Bill - but most of the William’s I know go by Bill (Billy usually only when children). One of my son’s goes by Wil, but I don’t know of a lot of Will’s. > > However - having just done a search of my kid’s Facebook friends - it appears that there are more Will’s than Bill’s. Yeah, Billy was for kids and Bill for adults, like Robby and Rob or Bobby/Bob. My point was that Billy as a name now isn’t down to its popularity in the fifties, but to its popularity earlier in the century, the same timeframe from which we get all the other currently-popular WW1 war memorial names. ---
**Author:** ![salinqmind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ec8ea/32.png) [@salinqmind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2011, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-tv-where-the-writer-is-clearly-much-older-than-the-character/597096/40 "2011-09-26T02:06:13Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > From about 2003 to 2005, I worked with a black guy who was in his mid-twenties at the time, and thus born around 1980. He was a huge, huge Sinatra fan: listened to him constantly, could rattle off trivia about him at a moment’s notice, judged all other artists by the Sinatra standard, etc. > > For that matter, my favorite musician in high school and college was Bonnie Raitt. This was before her comeback with Nick of Time in '89. > > I met a little kid recently – no more than 12 he was – who absolutely adores the novels of Edgar Rice Burroughs. > > Tastes are unpredictable. My elderly mom can tell you all the particulars of Two and a Half Men, the Kardashians, and Chelsea Handler. I’ve never watched any of those shows, but I can tell you the stars and plotlines of any classic movie on TCM, made long before I was born. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-tv-where-the-writer-is-clearly-much-older-than-the-character/597096.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-tv-where-the-writer-is-clearly-much-older-than-the-character/597096.md?page=3)