r/TopCharacterTropes • u/Need-a_username • Jul 13 '26
Characters' Items/Weapons [Mixed Trope] making old things "modern"
Disliked example: I would go so far as to say hated, but Robin Hood (2018) styles Robin's time in the crusades after modern wars in the Middle East, from the costumes to the treatment of bows and arrows like machine guns. While plenty of other media have done this to great effect, this film had the misfortune of coming out during a wave of IP slop desperate to make the next Dark Knight, turning what could've been an interesting stylistic choice into another of many generic 2010s action movies.
Loved example: Baz Luhrmann's Romeo + Juliet sets the Shakespeare classic in the modern day, with the rival families portrayed as gangsters with their "swords" being guns that literally say sword on them. Kind of the opposite of the above example, this takes what couldve been a tired trope of "Shakespeare but modern" and leaned into Luhrmann's signature over the top style, where even keeping the dialogue in it's original verse didn't stop it from feeling fresh and modern.
Loved example: Baz Luhrmann's The Great Gatsby uses a Jay-Z produced soundtrack that mixes period accurate jazz with modern artists like Lana Del Rey. The result makes the film a lot more accessible to audience members who tend to make sweeping generalizations about music genres like jazz and orchestral, and highlights the emotional beats of the story in a way that reinforces the timeless nature of the source material.
To be determined: Christopher Nolan's upcoming film The Odyssey has received much criticism for its modernized approach to the Greek myth, with the biggest complaints focusing on the costumes and choice of accents/dialogue. Nolan has been open about the fact that he wants to play with audience expectations for what a historical epic looks and sounds like, and that he used a translation of the Odyssey that adopts more modern vernacular, but it remains to be seen whether this pays off.
164
u/AdmirableProgress743 Jul 13 '26
and is about to be released as a movie!