I just saw this movie on TV for the first time since seeing it in the theater when it was released. The early 90's grunge style of the 'present' in this movie seems very old fashioned and dated now, just like the early 70's style of the Bradys. It was like two different cheesey fashions competing: one pessimistic, the other optimistic.
shareNow that this movie is getting on 20 years old I couldn't agree more it is a double time capsule. I grew up in Seattle and Olympia, WA the stomping grounds of what became early 90s "grunge" (I think MTV made up that stupid word). I had a girlfriend in Aberdeen for a while (f'ing depressing town) and attended ultra-liberal hippyesque Evergreen State College where Nirvana and a handful of similar bands did some of their early gigs (most of "Nevermind" was conceived in their crappy little house on Pear Street). I wore layers of t-shirts, raggedy sweaters, flannel, baggy shorts or denim jeans, and Converse hi-tops or attitude boots. It was simply the PNW look of the times (That's "Pacific Northwest" for you outsiders). I also grew up in the 70s as a kid watching The Brady Bunch every Friday at 8pm on ABC. All the tongue-in-cheek references to the original series in the Brady movie are spot-on hilarious.
What the movie also brings to mind with its extreme stereotypes of two distinctly different eras is how in many ways it was awesome but also how it kinda sucked. The early 70s was supposedly all this flower power free spirit and funky fashion, but it was also about Vietnam, Nixon, Watergate, and a general sense of malaise which gave rise to tacky Disco culture :-( There was a lot of shtty top-40 music which was only marginally redeemed by some awesome British rockers who re-engineered American R&B (Zeppelin, Deep Purple, etc) and Elton John was actually cool back then. The Brady Bunch every Friday was similarly sugar-coated escapism (and we boys all secretly wanted to "do" things to Marcia).
Two decades later, the early 90s music scene was a re-boot of the late-70s punk generation, raw and angry (and anyway it's grey and rainy for months on end in Seattle) with a touch of goth culture angst and black lipstick. At the grass roots level it was somehow fresh and energetic, but by the mid 90s it was just a worn-out cliche of itself where "alternative" had become commercial mainstream. And let's face it, being constantly pissed off and cynical, wired on strong coffee or harder drugs, and wearing moldy flannel all the time kinda sucks after a while. The Eric Dittmeyer /Ethan Hawke wannabe in the Brady movie is a perfect example, typical mid-90s douchebag.
There now I feel much better. Have a nice day =)
What's interesting is that fashions and attitudes have sort of cycled around to that cheesy 70s idealism again. Rewatching the movie I was thinking that if you transported all these characters to 2015, the Bradys would fit in much better than the "modern" grungy people.
shareHey I still like Alternative Music tbh.
shareFor some reason, the gap between 1975 and 1995 seems "bigger" than the one between 1995 and today. Much of what was happening 20 years ago would more comfortably fit into today than what happened 40 years ago would have fit into 20 years ago. In other words, the 1990s doesn't seem as "dated" in the 2010s as the 1970s did in the 1990s.
shareEspecially since the fashion, cars, etc., were ugly. The grungy "dirty" type of the 90's do not necessarily coalesce.
(I was born in the 70's just to make note)
-Nam
I am on the road less traveled...
True - I still wear plaid flannel and shirts over shirts - and was wearing that when I saw the movie when it came out in the 90s.
It is very wacky though - I didn't really think of it as placing emphasis on the 90s because...it was the 90s. It is different when you watch these other period TV shows (That 70s show, Fresh off the Boat, the Goldbergs) where the first year o the show pokes fun at the era, then you sort of forget about it.
This thread makes me feel the same way the OP did about the movies!
By the way, if you don't see how they're CLEARLY making fun of 90s trends, PARTICULARLY grunge...Did you see the band at the prom? Shirtless band members with an ACTUAL mosh pit? Please. How things were becoming all uniform and corporate in the 90s- John Weiland homes, anyone? - and just the way it over exaggerates 90s fashion trends in general...how can you not see how this movie isn't making fun of both the cheesy 70s and the cheesy 90s? That's what makes it great!
Me too. I still wear hooded rain jackets, flannel shirts, leggings, boots, loose sweaters, straight cut pants, etc etc.
shareI have to agree with Adrian here. This discussion was brought up in the Back to the Future thread discussing how similar 1985 was to 2015, as opposed to 1955 was to 1985.
shareHaha I was coming on here to mention something similar. I see this original post is now 11 years old. So even more the case.
The movie came out 25 years ago. It came out 21 years after the show ended. So this movie is now further in the past, than the show was when the movie was released.
90s grunge cheesy? I see kids wearing those outfits today! So I disagree 90s fashion is dated.
But it's been 25 years since this film came out, and it's been 25 years between 1995 and 1970.
Today's youth culture is literally a hypertized amalgamation of 80s, 90s, and 2000s pop, rock, and hip hop. It's also at a peak level where social media is the conduit where as in the past it was print, TV, and radio media which was not at the behest of young people's whims.
sharethat would be the case with any movie from 1995.
Clueless had a big 25 year anniversary last year, even though I didn't care for the movie, it was and still is considered an iconic teen movie but when you watch it and see the glaring difference in teen fashion you know it's a 90s movie.