When I was in high school, my teacher suggested that I try to write as much as possible. The reasoning was that I wouldn’t be a teenager forever. There will come a time when you want to look back and notice who you were at any given time. It’s very true. I would never be 15 again just like I will never be 25 or 30. These periods come and go, and the only thing that can be done is to try and write with as much clarity as your brain allows. It doesn’t have to be the most perfect writing ever but do try. One day, it will become all you have.
It's also the reason that I actively wish to defend the concept of something being “dated.” It’s seen as a pejorative, where it no longer becomes accessible because of how it symbolizes a different time all too painfully. Don’t get me wrong. Most media is caked in the amber of its time. Even those with predictive qualities can never determine everything about the future without the limits of its time frame. And yet, when it comes to certain properties, it’s easy to dismiss art less because it conveys a message and more because it’s “dated.”
For the sake of argument, I am not focusing on more subjective elements of art. This isn’t going to be a commentary on changing values. Culturally, I believe that a successful society is one that evolves over centuries. As brilliant as tradition is, the idea of holding similar values has yet to reach a point where it’s not deserving of some questioning. We need to keep moving forward and, as a result, art feels dated because our understanding of things changes. We are all born naïve. It’s up to us to not resist when presented with conflicting information.
What I will be focusing on instead is the power of what objective art can represent in a larger context. I was saving this topic for a film that felt relevant to a modern discourse, and none fit the bill in the past three years quite like Craig Gillespie’s Dumb Money (2023): a film about the GameStop stock exchange gambit. Upon release, the actual events were less than three years old with the majority happening in 2021. Given the time it takes to greenlight and produce a justifiable script, Dumb Money coming out this soon is either a miracle or a mistake depending on your view. I for one really enjoyed it, but one thing I openly admitted going in and even more coming out was this…
Dumb Money will be one of the most dated movies of the decade…
and I don’t think that’s a bad thing.
In this context, I think that dated refers to its hyper-specificity. For most filmmakers, current events are very intimidating to base a story around. This could be for a variety of reasons, including the fact that the time between starting a film and releasing it is so long that trends come and go at accelerated pacing. There’s no confidence that people care about the GameStop story anymore. In fact, the world it represents features so much attention to COVID-19 protocol that has been discontinued. There’s the humor, references, and even the way that characters act within a pandemic environment. So much of this is rooted in a 2021 state of mind. There’s no other time in history where Dumb Money can make sense. Because of that, it is quantifiably going to be a dated movie.
Is there a way to make a pandemic movie without making it dated? Of course, there is. You could argue it can be done thematically, such as the excellent I’m Totally Fine (2022), or even symbolized in another time altogether. There is a comfort in setting period pieces longer ago than three years because we have had enough time to process the events and distill what made them unique. On a more obvious level, it’s also representative of more effort in research and craft than trying to figure out how much of Dumb Money could even be completed before the trial that ends the film took place. Like the subject itself, Gillespie took a foolish risk and I think it paid off in the most absurd ways possible.
The downside to dated art is also the idea of being indecipherable to later generations. Again, this can enter subjective territory really easily. However, I think we as a species are prone to fitting everything into a narrative that is accessible beyond the language used. Yes, comedies stand to be more dated because of their pop culture references (Dumb Money co-star Seth Rogen essentially started his career doing that), but I’d like to think what we’re witnessing is a slice of humanity from a different time that transcends these limitations. At worst, we should be seeing a culture in action, where it’s defined by analogies specific to that time. After all, Homer’s “The Odyssey” and Dante Alighieri’s “Inferno” are so full of references that aren’t commonplace anymore and they’re still respected and studied. I’m not saying we should look at every comedy’s reference page and judge their insightfulness, but I also think it’s discrediting to suggest that fan fiction in storytelling is a new concept. It hasn’t been for over a millennium.
Now, the one caveat I’ll give is that Dumb Money is not Homer or Dante. This isn’t even an event worthy of deconstructing a century from now. However, I think that there’s still value in the film being this intrinsically dated.
It’s a film whose first song cue is the 2020 hit “W.A.P.” for no other reason than it was popular during the time. Co-star Anthony Ramos talks about TikTok dances and continues to do the famous “Savage” routine twice. People stand six feet apart and have trouble using Zoom. These aren’t things necessarily just from 2021, but they’re so rooted in a time that you can’t get this culmination anywhere else. What you have is the world as it existed in a time so close and yet so far away. People still deliver food for Uber Eats. There are still YouTubers and Redditors who actively troll the general public. It’s just less common because we’ve moved on from an inherently antisocial period and are looking back while asking “Wasn’t that crazy?”
I think when we think of dated, we’re less inclined to see the art as representative of a time. It’s more about how it works for a contemporary audience. That’s fine, especially as older art can be stifling for inexperienced consumers. Part of it can be the technology, like the shift between silent films and talkies or even the studio melodrama to blockbusters. There are noteworthy shifts that reflect a world progressing. We are a curious species, and it’s necessary to challenge what came before, and I think it’s easy to look at the past as inferior. It’s sad to think that anyone would dismiss older art as a whole because of this, but I’d still argue there’s value in going backward and seeing something that is so dated that it couldn’t be made at any other point.
To me, there’s something fascinating about being so at the epicenter of a time that you can’t help but see the creators expressing their ideas without concern. They are allowed to say what they want because it’s instinctive to how they see the world at that time. I think of films like Roller Boogie (1979): a disco roller rink drama starring Linda Blair that is so rooted in a time that was already fading by the time of its release. It’s not the most engaging of story nor do I fault its 0% on Rotten Tomatoes. However, I do argue that allowing the viewer into a world that is ridiculous and nonexistent makes it even more special than better crafted disco films like Saturday Night Fever (1977) or Thank God It’s Friday (1978). Roller Boogie is so sincere and carefree that you understand what draws people to disco roller rinks. It’s something that can’t be recreated without a self-conscious pastiche. It’s like the difference between living in the 80s and recreating it for TV series like Stranger Things or The Goldbergs. It’s still reverent, but something is lost in using hindsight as your motivator. The specificity has gone in favor of trends, and that immediately removes some humanity from the piece.
To apply that to Dumb Money, I may as well begin with the obvious. This isn’t a story that would be worth telling in a decade. Something is going to happen between now and then that’s much more of a triumphant underdog story. However, I don’t think anything like it will match the fervent energy of trying to capture the moment. Gillespie does the right thing by indulging in every embarrassing moment of this era. It’s there in the stock trading, but also in applying montages of memes that are grotesque and offensive. Later filmmakers might have included some of them, but to see the barrage together allows for some greater bafflement in how the digital age has evolved from a communication standpoint.
So, why tell this story at all then? To be completely honest, I think there’s value in this being a dated movie. If anything, I hope it pairs well with a spiritual sequel of how the internet has altered our perception of capital hierarchy. Some say it started with The Social Network (2010), but we’re in a time where social media does more than isolate us. It’s able to connect everyone as well. What this film has done better than just about anything else is the sense of universality that comes with pressing “Record” on a YouTube channel and having the world hear your every thought. In the older times, power was more structured. Now, it can be given to a guy named “RoaringKitty” who has no insider knowledge. Because of some lofty bets, he can become the next millionaire. It’s ridiculous, but it’s true.
To me, Dumb Money is more than a film that captures what it felt like to survive a pandemic. It’s about the way that our communication structures are shifting. The people with power aren’t necessarily immune anymore. Every now and then, someone comes along who is capable of change. Social media can turn us into stars. Mr. Beast gets millions of views per video while pumping just as much into every video. There’s a rogue content mill that is competing with conventional means, and it’s turning some of the most baffling archetypes into celebrities. Some of them are for dumb reasons, but those who have savvy and dedication can alter their lives for the better. Just look at how Dylan Mulvaney rose up from TikTok for minute-long videos. The modern age is a new frontier of sorts.
And I think knowing where that frontier is heading is only going to make Dumb Money being done a decade later pointless. There is something charming about having this film be released so close to its epicenter because it has no time to fill in the dots. All it has are the facts, and it manages to do what Adam McKay has continually failed. He uses the cynicism of hindsight to belittle his audience. Meanwhile, Gillespie at least creates the optimistic potential for the working class to rise up and become prosperous. It may come at the expense of pop culture references and plotting that feels rushed, but it still feels so of the time that I can’t imagine it being relevant by 2030. It’ll be a footnote for anyone wanting to watch Pete Davidson’s complete filmography, which is probably me and about five other people.
But there’s something crucial to it happening now instead of later. It helps to build the uncertainty of the tone to have a story that has barely molded. Sure, it’ll seem dated in the sense that it couldn’t predict a single thing about the future, but it showed an early example of how Millennials and Gen-Z are reinventing the economy for a new means. It’s probably the most accurate depiction of The American Dream through a modern lens. People work hard jobs without the respect of their environment. They go home at night to complain online about their struggles only to be potentially lost in the ether. Having their pains be met with financial incentives is scary to those who have the old standard for power. Still, the gleam in an unsuspecting eye is excellent. We don’t know how high the reward is going to be. We have to gamble on our future.
At some point, I do imagine that I’ll revisit the film and see it as something completely different. Is it entertaining? Yes. Is it informative? More than you’d expect. I came out of this film feeling like I understood the stock exchange less from a legal standpoint and in ways that, like its protagonist, are meant for the people. This is how you make complicated math accessible. There has to be a reason to want it, and Gillespie knows how to draw characters that crave that safety net while contrasting it with the fear of losing your capitalist empire. Basically, it’s the perfect embodiment of how weak-willed the market can be.
I know that there are dozens of movies that qualify as dated every year. There’s some that are so because of bad quality. To me, that’s more a failure of storytelling than how it fits within a time. Dated is not a bad word. There will come a time when the Barbie (2023) model of filmmaking will become dated much like how the oversaturation of The Dark Knight (2008) and the “dark, gritty reboot” will become exhausting to witness. We can laugh at how shallow it all is, but I think all art should stand on its own. We should be able to push through the weeds and appreciate art for what it’s trying to do. Some of it is very hard given that we know where the decades after it took the concepts. However, I can only hope that means we can be transported back to a time and place and see a mentality that is long gone. We may regret it, but that doesn’t mean we should resist it. Yes, some behavior is absolutely terrible and should be commented on as such. But then again, that goes back to progress. How have we evolved since then to make this unacceptable?
Dumb Money is not an unacceptable movie by any stretch. It may have some jokes that I question Gen Alpha to recognize when they hit 20, but then again I don’t know every reference in Blazing Saddles (1974). That doesn’t mean it’s bad. It just means it has to have a better story surrounding it. Dumb Money has so much going for it, including likable characters and a unique environment that it took place in, that I don’t think it’s dated in a bad way. At worst, it’s a reminder that we were very naïve in 2021. We didn’t know if things would ever return to normal. I worry it may seem farcical come 2030, but then again I’m glad this exists as a reminder of what came before. It’s not a metaphor like other COVID-19 films like Kimi (2022). It’s something more honest and immediate. To me, that’s what I’ll want to see if I ever have to show someone what it was like to live in 2021. For that reason alone, Dumb Money is essential. It’s dated, but I’m thankful so is a lot of pandemic stuff.
I’m not saying every film should strive for this quick of a turnaround, though I’d love to see more gambles with what large platform films are going for. Don’t be afraid to lose self-consciousness once in a while and make art that speaks to a time almost verbatim. I’m not saying it will be a masterpiece, but I want to believe something about it will be recognizable in a decade’s time that transports us back. Dumb Money will more than likely do that. I’m not saying it will be because it’s a masterpiece, but more because of how well it captures the frenzy of a changing world as it was happening. No period piece can replicate that type of emotion, I guarantee.
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