The Ghost of Rhetorical Friday Past

Will inflation jokes ever get old?


The answer is yes, but I imagine you're going to provide details.


Indeed! Inflation jokes suck.

It's an all-too-common device used in movies to really help you accept the world that the director has chosen for you. We've all seen it. A guy goes into the past and buys a newspaper and candy bar, asking if $2 is enough, only to have the standkeeper look at him and say that it's only 15 cents. Or in the Arnold Schwarzenegger classic "The Running Man" a woman is lamenting the $7 cost of a bottle of pop/soda out of a vending machine. Immediately, you're supposed to think, "Oh wow...stuff costs different amounts. That's proof positive that this film is set in a different time than I'm used to. I'm now fully immersed in the director's fantasy."

That's crap.

Inflation jokes are the filmmaking equivalent of "Cheap Heat" in pro wrestling. A bad guy grabs a microphone and insults the town they're all in, and he gets boos. Another guy grabs a mic and talks about how "the best fans in the world are from *insert current city here*" to great applause.

I was at a concert a while ago where the performer (we'll ignore the name because it's embarrassing) used up all of his or her cheap heat in one shot. The performer literally went on the following streak: "How about those Bills?" *Pause for cheers* "Are they going to win the Super Bowl?" *Pause for more cheers* "How about those Sabres?" *Pause for still more cheers* "Are they going to win the Stanley Cup?" *Pause for even more cheers* "Dominik Hasek is in the audience tonight!" *Pause for most cheers yet while a spotlight shines on a man in the crowd*. But that was it! The performer's entire knowledge of the city of Buffalo was used up in about a minute and a half. I was supposed to believe that the performer actually knew or cared about the city rather than having merely been briefed about the local sports teams in between songs. In fact, I'm willing to bet that somewhere on the stage the list of teams and the titles they competed for were written down for the performer's benefit outside of the audience's view. I'm certain that "Dominik Hasek" was spelled out phonetically. The truth is, this performer cared for Buffalo for the entire duration of the concert, and possibly until the check cleared, then promptly forgot the name of the arena, let alone who that goalie guy was she had to point out in the audience.

The same holds true for inflation jokes. The only thought the director or screenwriter put into the time displacement was to come up with some clever way of revealing to the viewers that stuff costs a different amount in a different time. The characters probably also wear different clothing, too...but that's even easier. If your film is set in the past, you can refer to old pictures and even wikipedia to come up with a period look. If you're set in the future, just make clothes shinier. Boom. Filmmaking laziness at its finest! Now sit back and watch the money roll in.