# This book/film really captures the vibe of its decade. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 12, 2006, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-book-film-really-captures-the-vibe-of-its-decade/364129 "2006-07-12T03:13:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![TLDRIDKJKLOLFTW](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/51bf81/32.png) [@TLDRIDKJKLOLFTW](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TLDRIDKJKLOLFTW)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2006, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-book-film-really-captures-the-vibe-of-its-decade/364129/1 "2006-07-12T03:13:00Z")
I’m always fascinated by books or films that manage to perfectly capture that very _palpable_ sense of time and place - they’re so perfectly in tune and in touch with the zeitgeist or “vibe” of the time period that they’re dealing with that they’re practically time machines. When you read or watch them, you can really touch, feel, and taste that moment in time. What books or films do you think really capture the era that they deal with in this way? I’m especially interested to hear dopers weigh in on eras or moments that they experienced firsthand. For example, I’ve always felt that the book/film _The Ice Storm_ and the film _The Last Days of Disco_ truly capture “the seventies,” though I was born in 1980, so I’m really not sure if that’s true or if they simply present such an exaggerated, intentionally “of the times” vibe that’s in line with the other “seventies” books, TV shows, and films I’ve seen that they appear to be legitimately in tune with their era. All right, lay them out! Feel free to get specific ("this movie perfectly captures the re-emerging cowboy culture of the late seventies/early eighties - _Urban Cowboy_) or as general (_Annie Hall_ is about as “the seventies” as it gets) as you like. ---
**Author:** ![DonutSprinkle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/0ea827/32.png) [@DonutSprinkle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DonutSprinkle)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2006, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-book-film-really-captures-the-vibe-of-its-decade/364129/2 "2006-07-12T03:20:21Z")
I would say that Tom Wolfe’s novels capture the essence of their respective time periods, _somewhat_. I have reservations because there always seems to be a kind of time lag. But maybe that’s because I wait until the go to the bargain books before I buy them. ---
**Author:** ![panamajack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/47e85d/32.png) [@panamajack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panamajack)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2006, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-book-film-really-captures-the-vibe-of-its-decade/364129/3 "2006-07-12T03:29:07Z")
Cameron Crowe seems to have perfected the art of making this type of movie. _Say anything …_, _Singles_, _Jerry Maguire_ are all exactly of and about their time. One thing I can’t recall - was there a sing-a-long-with-the-radio song in _Singles_? It seems there almost had to have been, to fit with the others (and _Almost Famous_, but maybe not.) ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2006, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-book-film-really-captures-the-vibe-of-its-decade/364129/4 "2006-07-12T03:44:03Z")
[Slacker](http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0102943/) captured the late-80s/early-90s college town counterculture vibe. And **panamajack** , speaking of Cameron Crowe, [Almost Famous](http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0181875/) does a pretty good job with the 70s. And the movie [Dick](http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0144168/) does a _really_ nice job of capturing the Watergate era (at least what I remember of it from my childhood). Especially nice job of capturing the styles of the era. I saw [Echo Park](http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0090994/) for the first time not long ago, and even though it’s not such a great movie, it made me really nostalgic for the 80s. So I guess it captured something of the vibe. ---
**Author:** ![Indygrrl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/58f4c7/32.png) [@Indygrrl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indygrrl)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2006, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-book-film-really-captures-the-vibe-of-its-decade/364129/5 "2006-07-12T04:02:14Z")
I think Dazed and Confused is a perfect example of a movie that captures the vibe of its decade. Awesome movie. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2006, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-book-film-really-captures-the-vibe-of-its-decade/364129/6 "2006-07-12T04:09:26Z")
Douglas Coupland’s _Generation X_ captures the overeducated/underemployed late 20s/early 30s subculture of the late 80s/early 90s so well that it inspired a media term. IMO it succeeds where RENT fails in making the characters sympathetic rather than just whiners though its marginalia is the best part. Unfortunately Coupland hasn’t fired nearly as good a shot with any of his later books. Sinclair Lewis’s _Babbitt_ is timeless in some way but in others a perfect period piece. Ditto to F. Scott Fitzgerald’s _Jazz Age_. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2006, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-book-film-really-captures-the-vibe-of-its-decade/364129/7 "2006-07-12T04:14:05Z")
Films: _Network_- mid 1970s _Risky Business_ (affluent early 1980s) _Fast Time at Ridgemont High_ (my favorite high school movie ever)- early 80s _You’ve Got Mail_ (a date movie that will be dated by its technology and that reflects, however simplistically, the extinction of the indie book store- soon a generation will have little idea they ever existed) _Barbarians at the Gate_- best movie you’ll ever see about a real life corporate take-over (keeps your interest much more than it may sound like, and Jonathan Pryce/James Garner squaredancing is a great image). _Wall Street_ (the Douglas/Sheen version- “Greed is good”)- the Reagan era ---
**Author:** ![Corporate\_Hippie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/65b543/32.png) [@Corporate\_Hippie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Corporate_Hippie)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2006, 6:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-book-film-really-captures-the-vibe-of-its-decade/364129/8 "2006-07-12T06:24:17Z")
[QUOTE=Indygrrl] I think Dazed and Confused is a perfect example of a movie that captures the vibe of its decade. Awesome movie. [/QUOTE] I opened this thread to mentioned Dazed and Confused as well. I can only guess that it truly captures the vibe of its decade since I wasn’t even alive in the 70’s, but it sure seems to give off a convincing vibe of some sort. Whenever I see it it makes me wish I had been a high school kid in the 70’s. ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2006, 7:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-book-film-really-captures-the-vibe-of-its-decade/364129/9 "2006-07-12T07:16:53Z")
The 1970s: _Nashville, Taxi Driver, The Executioner’s Song_ and _Dazed and Confused_. ---
**Author:** ![gabriela](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/db5fbb/32.png) [@gabriela](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gabriela)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2006, 9:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-book-film-really-captures-the-vibe-of-its-decade/364129/10 "2006-07-12T09:19:02Z")
The sixties: movie _Yellow Submarine_ (OK, for me) ---
**Author:** ![Caprese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a9a28c/32.png) [@Caprese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Caprese)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2006, 9:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-book-film-really-captures-the-vibe-of-its-decade/364129/11 "2006-07-12T09:29:52Z")
**Walloon** Good call with _Nashville_–that was going to be my suggestion. As one who was there, _Dazed and Confused_ did capture the 70’s vibe for me. I was a teen in Colorado and I used to wonder if the movie, set in Texas, had a bit of a Western flavor which might not jive with Eastern or West Coast (former) teens. I wasn’t around for the 16th century religious wars in France, but _Queen Margot_, with its combination of sumptuous scenery, pageantry and dirt, dreadful violence and gloomy lighting, captures for me what must have been a hellaciously worriesome time for royals and poor folk alike; Protestants in particular. _King of the Hill_–the film, not the animated series, takes place in the 1930’s, is a survival story of when a young boy is left to fend for himself at the apartment. The Depression era production design, the subtle details, the lighting–the viewer definitely steps into another time and place here. There is fear and hunger and desperation, but lighter moments too. Spalding Gray is unforgettable. ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2006, 12:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-book-film-really-captures-the-vibe-of-its-decade/364129/12 "2006-07-12T12:45:40Z")
I have it on the authority of a 60ish California-native car nut I know that _American Graffiti_ is pretty much a piece of the true cross. I was going to suggest something for the '30s. But **Eve** owns the '30s. I just live there. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2006, 12:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-book-film-really-captures-the-vibe-of-its-decade/364129/13 "2006-07-12T12:49:12Z")
[QUOTE=Indygrrl] I think Dazed and Confused is a perfect example of a movie that captures the vibe of its decade. Awesome movie. [/QUOTE] Yes and no. I mean, I was a teenager in the Seventies, and I fully agree that Linklater got all the details exactly right. All the music, all the clothes, all the phrases, all the attitudes… everything was EXACTLY as it was in the Seventies. And yet the movie bored me to tears. Perhaps that’s because standing around listening to Aeromsith with a bunch of stoners (which I did quite often!) wasn’t very interesting THEN. So why would it be interesting to watch now? ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2006, 12:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-book-film-really-captures-the-vibe-of-its-decade/364129/14 "2006-07-12T12:54:44Z")
[QUOTE=Beware of Doug] I was going to suggest something for the '30s. But **Eve** owns the '30s. I just live there. [/QUOTE] I would guess that [Paper Moon](http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0070510/) captures the 30s really well. Also, I suspect [Cinderella Man](http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0352248/) did a nice job with this. ---
**Author:** ![pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a9a28c/32.png) [@pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pseudotriton_ruber_ruber)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2006, 12:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-book-film-really-captures-the-vibe-of-its-decade/364129/15 "2006-07-12T12:55:46Z")
[QUOTE=Sampiro] Ditto to F. Scott Fitzgerald’s _Jazz Age_. [/QUOTE] **Sampiro** –Fitzgerald invented the phrase “the jazz age” and he published a collection of stories “Tales of the Jazz Age” (I think that was the title) but no one book called “Jazz Age” or “The Jazz Age.” _The Great Gatsby_ does convey some real sense of that the 1920s were like, though. ---
**Author:** ![priapus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ed655f/32.png) [@priapus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/priapus)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2006, 1:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-book-film-really-captures-the-vibe-of-its-decade/364129/16 "2006-07-12T13:15:54Z")
Maybe its just me but MASH (the movie)captured the late 60’s even though it was placed in the Korean War.It reflected a 60’s attitude with race-relations,sex,disenchantment with the establishment and pot. ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2006, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-book-film-really-captures-the-vibe-of-its-decade/364129/17 "2006-07-12T13:24:37Z")
[QUOTE=Beware of Doug] I was going to suggest something for the '30s. But **Eve** owns the '30s. I just live there. [/QUOTE] I do rent them out, for a hefty fee. Early, Depression '30s? Almost anything from Warner Brothers, esp. the earlier Busby Berkeleys (_42nd Street, Gold Diggers of 1933, Footlight Parade_). I Love the 1910s (coming soon to VH1!), and Booth Tarkington novels really get that period down perfectly. One novel that really gets the end of the 1920s-beginning of the '30s in New York is Christopher Morley’s brilliant _Human Being_ (1932). ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2006, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-book-film-really-captures-the-vibe-of-its-decade/364129/18 "2006-07-12T14:08:47Z")
I’m confused by the OP - do you mean books/movies made later that captured an era, or those made at the time of the era they portray? Which movie portrayed the 1940’s better: _Saving Private Ryan,_ or _The Best Years of Our Lives_ For books & movies of the former, you have to allow for phrases, styles, attitudes, etc. that snuck in (shag haircuts on _Happy Days_ and _The Waltons_); for those of the latter, theres’ always the contemporary bias of portraying people as they _want_ to be portrayed (had any of those noble returning GI’s in _The Best Years of Our Lives_ been posted at Fort Lewis Washington at the same time as the events shown in _Frances_?), or, in the reverse as with _Babbit_ the illumination was provided only by the sparks of axes being ground. (anyway, my choice is **Barry Lyndon** , except for Ryan O’Neill wandering through like a surfer-dude in the wrong century. If Stanley Kubrick wanted a matinee-draw for his lead, why couldn’t do like Ken Russell and cast an English rock star with equally bad acting skills?) ---
**Author:** ![Gene\_Frenkle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b782af/32.png) [@Gene\_Frenkle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gene_Frenkle)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2006, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-book-film-really-captures-the-vibe-of-its-decade/364129/19 "2006-07-12T14:23:02Z")
The 70’s: **The Effect of Gamma-rays on Man-in-the-moon Marigolds**. ---
**Author:** ![Menocchio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9de053/32.png) [@Menocchio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Menocchio)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2006, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-book-film-really-captures-the-vibe-of-its-decade/364129/20 "2006-07-12T14:58:05Z")
Both take things to extremes, but they still convey a real sense of time-and-place: 1930’s: O Brother, Where Art Thou? 1990’s: The Big Lebowski I do love the Coen brothers. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-book-film-really-captures-the-vibe-of-its-decade/364129.md?page=2)