FYI, I'm gonna describe The Past Called; They Want Their Index Back here, Daddy-O. You dig? Alright, radical!
Throughout history, works have been created about, well, history. This list of tropes covers how the past inspires works, whether it be a story set in the past, a setting inspired by vintage aesthetics, or a gag.
Contrast We Will Not Use an Index in the Future.
Tropes:
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Related:
Tropes that Specifically Focus on the Past
- 20 Minutes into the Past: Works set in the (then) recent past.
- Advanced Ancient Humans: People were much more advanced in the past than the present.
- All Cavemen Were Neanderthals: Cavemen are depicted in a manner associated with Neanderthals such as being dumber and stronger.
- Analog Horror: Horror that focuses on analog found footage of the late-20th century.
- Archaeological Arms Race: An arms race involving the use of Lost Technology from past civilizations.
- Before My Time: A character is unfamiliar with a person or reference because of it occurring or being most relevant before they were born/old enough to be aware of it.
- Born in the Wrong Century: A character wants to live in a different time period.
- Crystal Spires and Togas: When the future looks like Ancient Rome or Greece.
- Decade-Themed Filter: An overlay or filter is applied to make the image look like it was filmed in the past.
- Deliberate VHS Quality: A video is given VHS artifacts to appear retro.
- Diesel Punk: Sci-fi inspired by the early to mid-20th century.
- Disco Dan: A character that is stuck in the past.
- The Dung Ages: Dark Ages and Middle Ages Europe had terrible hygiene.
- Fan of the Past: Someone is a fan of retro things. If the story is set in the future, they may consider things from the present retro.
- Field Trip to the Past: Someone learns history by experiencing it.
- Frozen Fashion Sense: Vampires tend to dress in clothing that was fashionable when they were human, no matter how many decades or centuries ago that is.
- Future Imperfect: The future will have mistaken beliefs about the past.
- Gaslamp Fantasy: Steampunk with fantastical magic instead of technology.
- Genre Throwback: Bringing back antiquated elements in a particular genre to current works in order to appeal to nostalgia.
- Gorgeous Period Dress: Fancy, beautiful dresses worn by attractive-looking people.
- Green Boy Color: Video game graphics emulating the Game Boy's monochromatic green palette.
- Historical Re-Creation: Period Piece-themed Reality Show.
- I Love the Exties: A show/movie used to document a certain decade’s pop culture.
- I Was Quite a Fashion Victim: Someone who joined a fashion craze years ago regrets it looking back later.
- Lost Technology: Relic of the previous civilization everyone wants for what it can do.
- Medieval European Fantasy: A fantastic setting based on the European Middle Ages.
- Monochrome Past: Flashbacks in a work are always black and white to represent a specific time period.
- Mythology Gag: A reference to another work from the same franchise set in a different continuity.
- No Equal-Opportunity Time Travel: Time travelers from marginalized groups face peril when journeying to historical periods.
- Nostalgia Ain't Like It Used to Be: Overuse and/or misuse of Nostalgia Filter makes the past look better than it actually was.
- Nostalgia Filter: The belief that things from the past are automatically better than things from the present.
- Nostalgia Level: A video game level remixing level elements from a previous installment.
- Nothing but Hits: When a work's soundtrack only plays chart toppers or popular songs made in the time period the work is set it.
- Not Your Daddy's X: Remember [X]? It's back and better than ever!
- Older Is Better: Things built in ages past are better than modern stuff.
- Old-Timey Ankle Taboo: Works set in or before the 1800s-early 1900s will often have a reference to visible ankles being considered risque.
- Outdated Outfit: Clothing that used to be trendy, but is now out of style.
- Period Piece: Stories that take place in the past.
- Politically Correct History: Fictional works set in the past portray society as more tolerant than how it was in real life.
- Popular History: When a piece of fiction focuses on one, or several, popular aspects of a decade.
- Present-Day Past: Bits of contemporary culture pop up in a work set in the recent past.
- Progressive Era Montage: A Montage where a character or a scene shifts from one era to another.
- Renaissance Fair: The Theme Park Version of the Middle Ages or Renaissance Era.
- Retraux: A work's design is inspired by a past time period.
- Retraux Flashback: A flashback to a previous time is presented in that time's visual style.
- Retro Universe: A modern setting that is modeled after the past.
- Retro Upgrade: What was once obsolete has been made useful again.
- Revisiting the Roots: A work in a franchise emulates aspects from one of its older installments.
- Sandal Punk: Sci-fi inspired by the Bronze Age up until the Middle Ages.
- Steampunk: Highly technological setting inspired by 19th Century industrialism.
- Phlebotinum-Induced Steampunk: Fictional power-source for fictional Steampunk technology.
- Still Fighting the Civil War: Someone still holds grudges from a war their side lost long ago.
- Stone Punk: Cavemen modernize with tech made from rocks and animals (dead or not).
- Temporal Mutability: How easy is it for you to change the past?
- Temporal Trio: When the past is juxtaposed alongside the present and The Future.
- That Nostalgia Show: The setting of a work is explicitly designed to evoke the era in which it is set.
- Throwback Threads: When a character, for one reason or another, dons a uniform or costume from a previous era or arc.
- The Time of Myths: A past setting where mythological creatures walk through the Earth.
- Totally Radical: Using outdated/misused slang or fads in a failed attempt to appeal to kids.
- Video Game Demake: What would this game look like if it was released in an earlier decade?
- War Reenactors: Hobbyists who recreate historical wars.
- The Web Always Existed: No matter where you go in time, the Internet exists. Even when it isn't plausible.
- What Are Records?: Current generations are completely unfamiliar with past technology.
- When I Was Your Age...: A character of an older generation criticizes the modern generation for not having the standards they have.
- Writer Behind the Times: A work that is set in the present day comes across as anachronistic through the inclusion of out-of-date elements.
- X Called; They Want Their Y Back: Stock phrase for things that are out of date.
- Ye Goode Olde Days: Making the past look nicer than it actually was.
- Ye Olde Butcherede Englishe: Thou hast no clue what thou art saying, thee just seemeth olde.
- You Already Changed the Past: By using Time Travel in an attempt to change the past, a character realizes neither the past nor the future can be changed. Almost always by causing the event they intended to change.
- Zeerust Canon: The sequel sticks with the original's now-outdated future.
Tropes that Were Once Current, Now Exclusively Retro
- '20s Bob Haircut: Bob haircuts used to link a character to The Roaring '20s.
- '50s Hair: Hairstyles of the 1950s (Pompadours, crew cut, sideparting, Ducktail, Italian pageboy bobs, poodle cuts, ponytails, bouffants)
- '60s Hair: Hairstyles of the 1960s. (Bouffants, beehives, geometric bobs, bigger pompadours, hippie hair)
- '70s Hair: Hairstyles of the 1970s. (Long and straight, afros, perms, big sideburns, pompadours, feathered hair, mustaches, punk hair)
- '80s Hair: Hairstyles from the 1980s (i.e., big, poofy bouffants, Joe Piscopo-style man perms, jheri curls, crimped ponytails on teenaged girls, mullets, mohawks, even bigger pompadours, etc.).
- '90s Hair: Hairstyles of the 1990s
- Beehive Hairdo: A women's hairstyle from the 1960s.
- Cassette Futurism: A future built on late 20th century analog technology.
- Computer Equals Tapedrive: Old magnetic tape drives used to show that the computer is doing something important.
- The Flapper: High-spirited and sexually liberated Roaring Twenties girl.
- Magic Floppy Disk: Using an antiquated digital storage medium in a setting where more advanced technology would make sense.
- Millennium Bug: Computers around the world were supposed to go haywire at 12:00 AM on January 1, 2000.
- Old School Introductory Rap: My name is X and I'm here to say, every fictional rap starts with this dated cliché!
- Old-Timey Cinema Countdown: A monochrome countdown historically used in old cinemas.
- Raster Vision: Deliberate usage of analog TV scan lines.
- Raygun Gothic: The Future as told by the 1950s, 1960s or early-to-mid 1970s.
- Retro Rocket: The standard, classic pointy-nosed sits-on-its-fins spaceship.
- Standard '50s Father: The dependable, reasonable, squeaky-clean, paternal figure of 1950's and 60's media.
- Those Magnificent Flying Machines: Flying machines are heavy, weird, and yet they still fly. Became obsolete soon after the invention of proper airplanes.
Out-of-Universe Developments
- Condemned by History: Something that was popular at least five years before the present is now viewed with contempt.
- Dated History: Changes in our understanding of history make old works inaccurate.
- Fair for Its Day: What hasn't aged well today used to be progressive when the work was released.
- Refugee from Time: A character's backstory never changes, even when times do.
- Science Marches On: New discoveries make old theories obsolete and stories retroactively inaccurate.
- Technology Marches On: When technology evolves over time, they made old fashioned electric devices outdated.
- Unintentional Period Piece: When a piece of media becomes outdated due to the people, places, and things that were popular back then.
- Values Dissonance: When referring to a previous time period.
- Values Resonance: An older work's moral or themes are just as relevant today as they were back then.
- Vindicated by History: A work that was heavily criticized when it originally debuted, but becomes widely praised and lauded long after its premiere.
- Zeerust: The future as told by the past.
Back in my day, the only indexes we had were in books. You kids and your internets don't know what you're missing.
