Technology may make our lives better, but it certainly hasn’t made the lives of screenwriters trying to come up with obstacles for their characters any easier. The invention of the telephone, cell phone, computers and every source of modern convenience in between has made it virtually impossible for movie characters to have a real problem to overcome. What follows is a list of movies where the main character was affected by a technological lack or presence that would no longer apply in the current age. Fearing for their lives without a cell phone invented to call for helpAdventures in Babysitting: If Chris (Elisabeth Shue) had her car break down on the freeway now, she could just use her damn cell phone to call help. Hence, avoiding that whole plot point where she sings an uncomfortable version of the blues in one of the most 80s scenes ever rendered to film. Before she’s asked the infamous question, “What’s your favorite scary movie?”Scream: Sidney (Neve Campbell) probably could have figured out that her own boyfriend was the murderous fiend terrorizing her town if only there had been a Facebook she could troll for telltale signs (including the link between her mother and his father). Sue Ellen (Christina Applegate) never would have had to worry about using a fax machine in the modern officeDon’t Tell Mom the Babysitter’s Dead: After her family’s babysitter dies while their mother is on vacation in Australia, Sue Ellen (Christina Applegate) must pick up the pieces of their lost finances (which they accidentally buried with their babysitter) by getting a soul-crushing office job in fashion. At said job, which she manages to talk her way into, one of the many sources of fear for her is the fax machine. In the current office milieu, the only thing a fax machine is used for is to send over your timecard if you’re a temp (another separate antiquated thing that leads us to our next movie). Parker Posey as Margaret in ClockwatchersClockwatchers: Jill Sprecher’s 1998 film, Clockwatchers, features myriad outdated devices and methods of office torture. The fact that all the main characters are temps–what we now generally call freelancers to be more politically correct–is just one element of the outdatedness. And then there are all those endless rows of filing cabinets. Oh the anomalous situation of KevinHome Alone and Home Alone 2: Everything about these movies would be unfathomable with the available technology today. Moreover, limos are so passé.
Genna Rivieccio writes for myriad blogs, mainly this one, burningbushwick.com, missingadick.com, airshipdaily.com and behindthehype.com. Feel free to e-mail culledculture@gmail.com.
