What to do with an out of date piece of satire?

[MadScientistMatt]

A few years ago, I started working on a script that was in some ways a send-up of The Fast and the Furious. It was mostly for fun as I didn't think it would have much of a chance at getting made into a movie. Recently now that I've tried to do some writing that I do intend to publish, I've taken another look at it.

Well, there's a problem. The script was not just a movie parody but a spoof of car culture. Many of the attitudes and ideas that the script poked fun at have changed. The tension between people who race American and Japanese cars, which helped drive the story, is not at the same level it was then. And so forth. Bottom line is, I think this script has a pretty good chance of being too dated to make fun of the current scene, and I suspect trends may change so much in the time it takes to shoot a movie that just updating it won't do.

So I've got a question: What do you do if you find you've written a comedy that depends too much on current trends? Any thoughts on how to make something more timeless?

[Writer1]

The "current trends" provide backdrop for the story. THAT 70's SHOW on television is a perfect example. Sure, there are laughs because of the time period, but ultimately, the humor is from the characters and the situations they find themselves in.

If your script was funny...it'll be funny today.

[MadScientistMatt]

Thanks for the encouragement. I'll see if I can freshen it up a little (I already made a few changes, making it more sympathetic to some of the major comic characters) and get a complete script.

[IWrite]

Satires often DO become dated - depending on what is being satirized.

There's a difference between nostalgia or satirizing a different era when part of the comedy is satirizing the era itself (like That 70's Show) and having a "dated" concept of what you are satirizing.

If you are satirizing a fad or trend - that no longer is a fad or trend - then there may be little commercial appeal. If you set the story in the time of that fad or trend and make fun of it in retropsect (The Brady Bunch) movie that's a different matter. But if you are satirzing something that boomed and busted two years ago - and no one is interested in the fad anymore and it's not far enough in the past to be nostalgic - then you've just got something that's stale.

It's always a crapshoot to write a film that focuses on satirizing a fad because there's no way to know how long the fad will last - and even in a best case scenario - your movie won't hit the theaters 'till two years after you've written it.

[MadScientistMatt]

Thanks. I'll have to give this some thought. I may just wind up recycling some of its better gags into a new script that is less time-dependant. I think some of the best gags are ones I could reuse for a new and better storyline, anyway.

[write4details]

There have been satires of "blaxploitation" movies written recently. "Duck You Sucka" for one.
Your best bet would be to check out some of the newer car flicks and work some of those scenes into your spoof. That seems to be the trend....satires take on several genre flicks at once.

[NikeeGoddess]

things become dated CAN and DO come back into fashion. ie - Refer Madness is hot at the moment and it's 80 years old. 70's (retro) clothes got hot again 30 years later.

it's really the quality of the idea that matters.