History Main / BeforeMyTime

'''Adam West:''' Of course I am Batman. Look, here is a picture of me and Robin. \\

-->--'''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons''', ''[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS4E9MrPlow "Mr. Plow"]]

Funny thing. This Wiki has entries relating to ''Film/TheMalteseFalcon'', Literature/SherlockHolmes, and many, many connected to Creator/WilliamShakespeare. Does this mean that a large number of Tropers are ReallySevenHundredYearsOld? Probably not. More likely, their education and particular interests have left them with knowledge of things that happened well before they were born.

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** Franky often makes literary references that the younger Rhian does not understand. This causes Frankie to bemoan the state of the British education system. Subverted later when Rhian fails to understand a Shakespeare reference but it turns out that she was just joking and points out that the education system is no that bad ''yet''.

* Sometimes seen on ''Series/{{The Office|US}}''. In one episode, Michael goes clubbing with Ryan and chats up a girl with a tangent on ''Film/BackToTheFuture''. She doesn't seem to have heard of it, even though the movie or one of its sequels is basically always playing on some cable channel or other.
* On ''Series/{{House}}'', the title character is making one of his trademark analogies to Thirteen, in this case referencing ''Film/AlteredStates''. She tries to shut him down by saying the movie came out before she was even born. Which apparently prevents her not only from having seen the movie, but also from understanding anything he says about it.
* On ''Series/TheXFiles'', Mulder goes to interview a retired FBI agent who investigated X-Files in TheFifties. The agent asks Mulder whether he's heard of the House Un-American Activities Committee, but immediately assumes that he hasn't. Even if he knew nothing about Mulder personally, the topic is covered in high school history classes.

* ''Series/{{Lost}}'':
** The "after my time" inversion was used in those exact words when Locke doesn't recognize Sawyer's reference to ''Literature/OfMiceAndMen''. Since Locke is actually [[spoiler:the Smoke Monster, who's been on the Island for centuries]] it kind of is.

-->'''Shirley'''': And here's Ben dressed like a dragon.\\

Here's me and Abed dressed as Nick Nolte and Eddie Murphy.
Aww.
Who's Nick Nolte? Aww.

Read more: https://www.springfieldspringfield.co.uk/view_episode_scripts.php?tv-show=community&episode=s03e03

* In the ''Series/DoctorWho'' episode "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS27E9TheEmptyChild The Empty Child]]", set during [[UsefulNotes/WorldWarII the Blitz]], Rose jokingly refers to the Doctor as "Mr. Spock". Jack doesn't get the reference and initially assumes that it was the Doctor's name. It's later revealed he's a conman from the future (the 51th century), but it's still not surprising ''Star Trek'' reruns wouldn't last that long.

** And then it's played straight in season 5 when Sun asks Ben where the rest of the mysterious statue went. Ben says "it was like that when I got here."

* In the ''Series/DoctorWho'' episode "The Empty Child", set during [[UsefulNotes/WorldWarII the Blitz]], Rose jokingly refers to the Doctor as "Mr. Spock". Jack doesn't get the reference and initially assumes that it was the Doctor's name. It's later revealed he's a conman from the future (the 51th century), but it's still not surprising ''Star Trek'' reruns wouldn't last that long.

* When Mikayla gets called a Film/{{Gremlin}} in ''WebSeries/TheMostPopularGirlsInSchool'' she replies with "I was born in 2003. I have no idea what a 'gremlin' is."

[[folder:Comic Books]]
* In ''ComicBook/{{Marvel 1602}}'', [[Comicbook/SpiderMan Peter Parquagh]] tells [[Comicbook/NickFury Sir Nicholas Fury]] that he's unaware of previous events in that timeline, because, as he justifies it in his own words, "I wasn't born yet". [[SomeAnvilsNeedToBeDropped Fury responds by telling him the importance of knowing about history.]]
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* Shana and Aja from ''ComicBook/JemAndTheHolograms'' get into a debate on what constitutes as a "Rickroll". Their eighteen year old sister Kimber gets fed up of the conversation and says she doesn't even know who Creator/RickAstley is.

* Shana and Aja from ''ComicBook/JemAndTheHolograms'' get into a debate on what constitutes as a "Rickroll". Their eighteen year old sister Kimber gets fed up of the conversation and says she doesn't even know who Rick Astley is.

* Shana and Aja from ''ComicBook/JemAndTheHolograms'' get into a debate on what constitutes as a "Rickroll". Their eighteen year old sister Kimber gets fed up of the conversation and says she doesn't even know who Rick Astley is.

The opposite is often true of people - and especially young people - in fiction. Barring special circumstances, characters will be limited in knowledge of movies, music, politics etc. to things occurring after their birth. In some cases, the ignorance extends to some time after they reached high school.

[[AC:{{Film}}]]

--> "Who's Gandhi?"

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[[AC:Literature]]
* In ''Wolf in Shadow'' Franky often makes literary references that the younger Rhian does not understand. This causes Frankie to bemoan the state of the British education system. Subverted later when Rhian fails to understand a Shakespeare reference but it turns out that she was just joking and points out that the education system is no that bad ''yet''.

[[AC:LiveActionTV]]

* The "after my time" inversion was used in those exact words on ''Series/{{Lost}}'' when Locke doesn't recognize Sawyer's reference to ''Literature/OfMiceAndMen''. Since Locke is actually [[spoiler:the Smoke Monster, who's been on the Island for centuries]] it kind of is.

* On ''Series/{{Community}}'', one of the characters in a community college study group makes a reference to [[{{Cheers}} Sam and Diane]].
-->'''Annie:''' Who are Sam and Diane?
-->'''Shirley:''' Ok, we ''get'' it! You're ''young''!
* Played with in the ''Series/ModernFamily'' episode where Dylan comes over to the Dunphy's lawn after Haley has broken up with him and plays music toward her window from his phone. Phil sees this and says "SayAnything". Dylan, born well after that movie came out, thinks it's a request.

[[AC: Magazines]]
* A column in ''Magazine/DoctorWhoMagazine'' describes a hilarious inversion; a woman who insists to a party full of DWM columnists, UniverseCompendium writers and obsessive fans that her completely erroneous version of early ''Series/DoctorWho'' is correct, brushing off all aguments with "You weren't even born, dear."

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* From SimonAndGarfunkel, "A Simple Desultory Philippic":
-->When you say [[BobDylan Dylan]], he thinks you're talking about DylanThomas\\

The man ain't got no culture

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* In ''TheBoondocks'' the Freemans' neighbor asks Huey whether he's named after [[HueyLewisAndTheNews Huey Lewis]], and Huey actually responds, "Before my time." The subversion comes in the fact that Huey has just given an erudite lecture on Black Panther Huey Newton. He may just be baiting the poor guy.
* Inverted possibly to excess in ''NineChickweedLane''. The post-adolescent characters frequently speak in pulp detective slang and reference old movies like ''{{Casablanca}}'', but seldom talk about contemporary culture. Of course, Juilliard arts majors can be a little eccentric.

[[AC:WesternAnimation]]
* In ''WesternAnimation/BatmanBeyond'', one episode deals with a criminal stealing rubies, Bruce remarks that she probably didn't steal them [[Film/TheWizardOfOz to make slippers]]. When Terry doesn't get the joke, Bruce merely waves it off with "[[LampshadeHanging Before Your Time]]".

* On ''Series/{{House}}'', the title character is making one of his trademark analogies to Thirteen, in this case referencing ''AlteredStates''. She tries to shut him down by saying the movie came out before she was even born. Which apparently prevents her not only from having seen the movie, but also from understanding anything he says about it.

* In ''Film/{{Zombieland}}'', Talahassee (after being informed of the concept of HannahMontana) bemoans the fact that young people don't know who BillMurray is, and that it's like saying they don't know who Gandhi is.

* In ''{{Zombieland}}'', Talahassee (after being informed of the concept of HannahMontana) bemoans the fact that young people don't know who BillMurray is, and that it's like saying they don't know who Gandhi is.

A more technologically-oriented version of this is WhatAreRecords

* In ''WesternAnimation/BatmanBeyond'', one episode deals with a criminal stealing rubies, Bruce remarks that she probably didn't steal them [[Film/TheWizardOfOz to make slippers]]. When Terry, doesn't get the joke, Bruce merely waves it off with "[[LampshadeHanging Before Your Time]]".

* In ''ComicBooks/{{Marvel 1602}}'', [[Comicbook/SpiderMan Peter Parquagh]] tells [[Comicbook/NickFury Sir Nicholas Fury]] that he's unaware of previous events in that timeline, because, as he justifies it in his own words, "I wasn't born yet". [[SomeAnvilsNeedToBeDropped Fury responds by telling him the importance of knowing about history.]]

* In ''Comicbook/{{Marvel 1602}}'', [[Comicbook/SpiderMan Peter Parquagh]] tells [[Comicbook/NickFury Sir Nicholas Fury]] that he's unaware of previous events in that timeline, because, as he justifies it in his own words, "I wasn't born yet". [[SomeAnvilsNeedToBeDropped Fury responds by telling him the importance of knowing about history.]]

* In ''TheBoondocks''. The Freemans' neighbor asks Huey whether he's named after [[HueyLewisAndTheNews Huey Lewis]], and Huey actually responds, "Before my time." The subversion comes in the fact that Huey has just given an erudite lecture on Black Panther Huey Newton. He may just be baiting the poor guy.

* Played straight and subverted in ''TheBoondocks''. The Freemans' neighbor asks Huey whether he's named after [[HueyLewisAndTheNews Huey Lewis]], and Huey actually responds, "Before my time." The subversion comes in the fact that Huey has just given an erudite lecture on Black Panther Huey Newton. He may just be baiting the poor guy.