# Old movies and changes in technology and society **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 10, 2010, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-movies-and-changes-in-technology-and-society/546224 "2010-07-10T16:06:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![DonLogan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/51bf81/32.png) [@DonLogan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DonLogan)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2010, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-movies-and-changes-in-technology-and-society/546224/21 "2010-07-11T00:36:54Z")
> [@davidm](#): > > Speaking of hitting wives, this isn’t a movie, but it was considered hilarious when Ralph Cramden (Jackie Gleason) regularly threatened to punch his wife on _The Honeymooners_. Everyone knew that he would never actually do it, but still. It’s funny because; 1. It’s played over the top 2. It’s a catch phrase “One of these days, Alice, to the MOON!” 3. When he does it, Alice just stands there and stares him down. In The Hangover, Zach Galifianakis is holding a baby in a front harness and one of his buddies opens the door of the cop car and it smacks the baby with a big thud. Is that somehow condoning child abuse? No, it’s freakin’ hilarious. You can’t remove context from everything, or we’re all fucked. ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2010, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-movies-and-changes-in-technology-and-society/546224/22 "2010-07-11T00:55:05Z")
> [@DonLogan](#): > > Often encouraged? > > C’mon. Apologies to Annie-Xmas for speaking for her, but maybe she means “encouraged” like in scenes where someone tells a brat’s father “Spare the rod and spoil the child” or “Someone should take a stick to that child!” I’m pretty sure I heard something like that in _The Magnificent Ambersons_, referring to George Jr. Spanking was probably encouraged in _The Bad Seed_ too, but I haven’t seen that one for a long time. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2010, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-movies-and-changes-in-technology-and-society/546224/23 "2010-07-11T01:12:59Z")
Quoth **GIGObuster** : > [@](#): > > Another example that has turned hilarious when seen on TV nowadays: > > From The day the Earth Stood Still - 1951 As soon as I saw smoking mentioned, I was going to bring up that one, too. The comedic timing on it is just perfect, even if it wasn’t intended as comedy. ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2010, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-movies-and-changes-in-technology-and-society/546224/24 "2010-07-11T01:22:48Z")
Not a movie but it does remind me of something: When Frank Sinatra died, CBS re-broadcast a 1965 doc on Sinatra, narrated by Walter Cronkite. There’s a scene where Sinatra is puffing away, and in Cronkite’s narration he says something about how Sinatra “keeps his lungs in and voice in good shape.” ---
**Author:** ![davidm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidm/32/225_2.png) [@davidm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidm)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2010, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-movies-and-changes-in-technology-and-society/546224/25 "2010-07-11T01:48:26Z")
> [@DonLogan](#): > > It’s funny because; > > 1. It’s played over the top > 2. It’s a catch phrase “One of these days, Alice, to the MOON!” > 3. When he does it, Alice just stands there and stares him down. > > In The Hangover, Zach Galifianakis is holding a baby in a front harness and one of his buddies opens the door of the cop car and it smacks the baby with a big thud. Is that somehow condoning child abuse? > > No, it’s freakin’ hilarious. > > You can’t remove context from everything, or we’re all fucked. True, and Alice would probably kick the crap out of him if he ever tried it, but I wonder how accepted it would be today. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2010, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-movies-and-changes-in-technology-and-society/546224/26 "2010-07-11T02:31:50Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > The way women were treated decades ago is appalling. That just wouldn’t fly today. The same goes for non-Whites. [Values Dissonance.](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ValuesDissonance) See also [Culture Clash.](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/CultureClash) ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2010, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-movies-and-changes-in-technology-and-society/546224/27 "2010-07-11T04:09:33Z")
Must…re…sist…click…ing…tropes… ---
**Author:** ![EvilTOJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee59a6/32.png) [@EvilTOJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EvilTOJ)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2010, 8:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-movies-and-changes-in-technology-and-society/546224/28 "2010-07-11T08:01:58Z")
The entire premise of wargames is hilariously antiquated. There’s no cold war, no Soviet Union, (and the paranoia surrounding them) and no internet as we know it. There’s probably more processing power in my iPhone than in WOPR. Matthew Broderick’s computer is absolutely ancient compared to today’s PCs. It even has an acoustic coupler for the modem! Then there was a climatic scene where he has to make a phone call he stops at the nearest payphone. Remember payphones? ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2010, 9:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-movies-and-changes-in-technology-and-society/546224/29 "2010-07-11T09:44:38Z")
I mentioned this in the Greatest American Hero thread. If the show were made today, Bill, Ralph, Pam, and practically every kid in the high school class would have a cell phone. In the show, everyone was always looking for a pay phone. A great deal of plots centered around the Cold War and Russian spies. Instead of Bill being a computer-phobe, his job would be almost impossible without a computer with a network connection to all kinds of law enforcement databases. And this was less than 30 years ago. ---
**Author:** ![RikWriter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/49beb7/32.png) [@RikWriter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RikWriter)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2010, 10:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-movies-and-changes-in-technology-and-society/546224/30 "2010-07-11T10:29:26Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > Kids playing. When I was a kid we road bikes and skateboards. We built models. We built forts and played various active games. There are a few kids in my neighbourhood, mostly adolescents, and I never see them ‘playing’. I see them walking to someplace. Now that it’s Summer, I see them on skimmers when the tide is out, or I’ll see some families flying kites. And when I was a kid, kids went out and played. ‘Come home when the street lights come on.’ ISTM that nowadays letting kids roam on their own is practically a crime. > > People were always running into hunters or others in the woods who were carrying a firearm. It was normal. Today I think a lot of people would be frightened. Both of those are very regional. Neither kids playing on their own nor hunters with guns would frighten anyone nor raise an eyebrow around here. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2010, 12:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-movies-and-changes-in-technology-and-society/546224/31 "2010-07-11T12:08:26Z")
“Operator…” ---
**Author:** ![AClockworkMelon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aclockworkmelon/32/10803_2.png) [@AClockworkMelon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AClockworkMelon)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2010, 12:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-movies-and-changes-in-technology-and-society/546224/32 "2010-07-11T12:14:56Z")
> [@An\_Gadai](#): > > “Operator…” “Get me outta here!” ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2010, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-movies-and-changes-in-technology-and-society/546224/33 "2010-07-12T14:06:21Z")
> [@AuntiePam](#): > > Maybe you couldn’t hit your **wife** , but there are a lot of old movies where women get slapped around. The women were mostly “bad” women – tramps, golddiggers, drunks – but there was plenty of slapping. Sure. By the bad guys. That’s how you knew they were bad. The practice wasn’t condoned or accepted. Indeed, there was the old “I can’t hit a women” trope – the assumption being that only a creep would to it. Spanking kids was standard childrearing in the past and was portrayed as such in older films. ---
**Author:** ![Hypno-Toad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b2d939/32.png) [@Hypno-Toad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypno-Toad)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2010, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-movies-and-changes-in-technology-and-society/546224/34 "2010-07-12T14:22:50Z")
> [@GIGObuster](#): > > Another example that has turned hilarious when seen on TV nowadays: > > From The day the Earth Stood Still - 1951 That’s the example I always use whenever this thread reappears. It really is hilarious, more so for the unintentional nature of the humor. The aliens medicine really \*is \*advanced. For instance, THEY DON’T SMOKE. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2010, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-movies-and-changes-in-technology-and-society/546224/35 "2010-07-12T15:12:06Z")
Another thing about phones…in cop shows, especially Columbo, cops get calls from the department wherever they are. So Columbo would be at the victim’s house inspecting the body and the phone would ring, it’d be for him. That always tickles me. I do believe he used a cell phone in the episode they did in 2003 (?). I’ve also seen a lot of 90s cop shows where they transition into using cell phones over a season or two. Usually the younger cop has one and the older cop poo-poos it, but by the next season the older cop is using his own like it’s old hat to do so. ---
**Author:** ![LionelHutz405](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lionelhutz405/32/536_2.png) [@LionelHutz405](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LionelHutz405)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2010, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-movies-and-changes-in-technology-and-society/546224/36 "2010-07-12T15:17:58Z")
> [@davidm](#): > > True, and Alice would probably kick the crap out of him if he ever tried it, but I wonder how accepted it would be today. It would be accepted. A woman beating the crap out of men twice her size seems pretty common in movies today. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2010, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-movies-and-changes-in-technology-and-society/546224/37 "2010-07-12T15:30:22Z")
> [@AClockworkMelon](#): > > “Get me outta here!” That line is still used in films today. One estimate was that 80% of all Hollywood films used it. I don’t think it’s really that high, but it (and variations on it) is very common. ---
**Author:** ![AClockworkMelon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aclockworkmelon/32/10803_2.png) [@AClockworkMelon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AClockworkMelon)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2010, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-movies-and-changes-in-technology-and-society/546224/38 "2010-07-12T15:40:03Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > That line is still used in films today. One estimate was that 80% of all Hollywood films used it. I don’t think it’s really that high, but it (and variations on it) is very common. I was quoting _The Matrix_. What are _you_ talking about? ---
**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:** [July 12, 2010, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-movies-and-changes-in-technology-and-society/546224/39 "2010-07-12T15:41:11Z")
> [@alphaboi867](#): > > Also for the most part Generation Y doesn’t take showers after gym class so any movie/TV that shows that is probally a little dated (even if it’s supposed to take place in present day). A lot of schools in my neck of the woods did away with showering after gym class back in the 80s. The idea that it was one day required doesn’t just feel dated, but like ancient history. ---
**Author:** ![Death\_of\_Rats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a6a055/32.png) [@Death\_of\_Rats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Death_of_Rats)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2010, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-movies-and-changes-in-technology-and-society/546224/40 "2010-07-12T15:47:59Z")
> [@EvilTOJ](#): > > The entire premise of wargames is hilariously antiquated. There’s no cold war, no Soviet Union, (and the paranoia surrounding them) and no internet as we know it. There’s probably more processing power in my iPhone than in WOPR. > > Matthew Broderick’s computer is absolutely ancient compared to today’s PCs. It even has an acoustic coupler for the modem! Then there was a climatic scene where he has to make a phone call he stops at the nearest payphone. Remember payphones? To really date that scene, he hacks the payphone by shorting it with a pulltab. Does anyone under 40 even know what a pulltab is? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-movies-and-changes-in-technology-and-society/546224.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-movies-and-changes-in-technology-and-society/546224.md?page=3)