Unexpected juxtapositions
10 films you didn't know that take place at roughly the same time
Period pieces aim to portray specific historical events, customs, and characters. But every year, all sorts of different events happen around the world. What to cut and what to show in a historical film is an artist's main job, and the result will depend on his or her particular point of view. From Titanic and The Music Man to Grease and Malcolm X , in this article, we're going to explore 10 pairs of films that take place in the same year but couldn't be more different. Can you think of any others?
Image: konstantinrotkevich
1
Titanic & The Music Man
It is common knowledge that Titanic (1997), starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet, fictionalizes the true story of the sinking of the British ocean liner that collided with an iceberg in the North Atlantic.
The Music Man (1962), on the other hand, is a musical that tells the story of a salesman who tries to convince the residents of a small town in Iowa to start a musical band. Although the two films are set miles apart and their characters are very different, they both take place in the same year: 1912. Fascinating, don't you think?
Image: Copyright © 1962 Warner Bros. Pictures Distributing Corporation - Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
2
Mary Poppins & The Wild Bunch
Early twentieth-century London, a vibrant, sprawling city, has almost nothing in common with the wild U.S.-Mexico frontier of the same era. Yet the tender Mary Poppins (1964) and the epic revisionist Western The Wild Bunch (1969) take place during virtually the same years. Despite being vastly different stories, the two films share a similar theme: the concept of outsiders navigating a world of change and challenges.
Image: From the studio of John Schwartz., Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
3
There Will Be Blood & Meet Me in St. Louis
What do a Christmas musical from 1944 and a 2007 drama film have in common? They both portray the early years of the 20th century!
While There Will Be Blood is a dark film that focuses on the California oil rush, Meet Me in St. Louis , starring the iconic Judy Garland, portrays the well-to-do life of an upper-middle-class Missouri family. Watching these two films truly paints a picture of what America was like at this time in its history.
Image: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (Loew's Inc.), Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
4
Grease & Malcolm X
Two other films that offer their version of American life during a specific era are Grease (1978) and Malcolm X (1992). Both take place around 1958, but couldn't be more different.
Grease , a romantic musical with gelled hairdos and poodle skirts, portrays a group of teenagers more concerned with leather jackets, rock and roll, and fashionable cars than anything else. Malcom X , on the contrary, is based on the biography of the famous African-American activist, and dives deep into the history of the civil rights movement.
Image: Library of Congress
5
Barry Lyndon & Pirates of the Caribbean
The story of a young Irishman trying to climb the ladder of British high society can't be too different from that of a pirate sailing through dangerous waters. However, although Barry Lyndon (1975) and Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides (2011) take place in the 1750s, they are very dissimilar films.
While Pirates of the Caribbean is a fantasy adventure franchise chronicling the adventures of the endearing Jack Sparrow, the historic drama directed by Stanley Kubrick won four Academy Awards and is considered one of the greatest films ever made.
Image: William Hogarth, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
6
The Godfather: Part II & 1917
The year is 1917, and a young Vito Corleone takes his first steps in the criminal world in his native Sicily. Meanwhile, in northern France, a young British soldier is sent on a mission to save his brother.
1917 (2019) is inspired by the true story of World War I battles, and The Godfather: Part II (1974) is based on the fictional story written by Mario Puzo about a gangster family. Both films, however, portray the same period of European history, an era that had a huge impact on American society.
Image: Ernest Brooks, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
7
Jobs & 2001: A Space Odyssey
Surely, when Stanley Kubrick directed 2001: A Space Odyssey, he was envisioning a more advanced future. But the truth is that the real 2001 was marked, among other things, by the launch of Apple's iPod.
The film Jobs (2013) begins precisely with Steve Jobs' presentation of the device that would forever change the way we listen to music. Intergalactic travel as a common currency will have to wait a few more years. Yet, to be fair, HAL 9000 is pretty much like the artificial intelligences we have today —let's just hope they don't betray us!
Image: Niketh Vellanki
8
The sound of music & Harlem Nights
While a young governess falls in love with Captain von Trapp with the Austrian Alps as a backdrop, on the other side of the Atlantic, a nightclub owner in Harlem must face powerful gangsters to stay in business.
Although they may seem like two incompatible plots, The Sound of Music (1965) and Harlem Nights (1989) both take place in 1938, when the United States was recovering from the Great Depression and Europe was at the dawn of the Second World War. Two opposite views of the world.
Image: Sanja Lazic
9
13 Going on 30 & The Wolf of Wall Street
One is an innocent romantic comedy full of '80s pop culture references, and the other is a dark, full of foul language and racy scenes, portrait of the years when yuppies and stockbrokers dominated the New York scene. Yet, both 13 Going on 30 (2004) and The Wolf of Wall Street (2013) take place in 1987. Have you ever thought about it?
Image: engin akyurt
10
Hairspray & The Shape of Water
The interesting thing about these two films is that they not only take place in the same year—1962—, but also in the same ‘place’: Baltimore, Maryland.
Hairspray (1988), a cult comedy directed by John Waters, tells the story of young Tracy Turnbland's quest to be taken seriously in an audition for a popular show for young dancers. The Shape of Water , on the other hand, is a fantasy film that portrays the love story between a mute woman and a humanoid amphibian. Two very different plots that offer a glimpse of what life was like in America during the Cold War.
Image: Larissa Megale
