Analysis / Vindicated by History

What causes a work to be Vindicated by History?

• A change in cultural standards can invoke Values Resonance, as the work was simply too ahead of its time.
• The work's creator(s) make much more acclaimed works afterwards, which lead people back to it. Here, people may notice what worked in the latter work appeared there too.
• Better works based off of a work are created. Though in more cynical cases, it causes people to misattribute the accomplishments of works based off previously disliked work that very work.
• A later work provides other things to complain about, causing earlier works to be appreciated more. The process can be reversed by when even later work turns out to be better than the original ones.
• Having a more popular work feature or reference it.
• The work getting rediscovered.
• The work, while great, came out at the time when its genre's popularity was waning or at low point. Then the genre's revival put attention to that work.
• The work being rather different from its franchise, not meeting the demand of fans. Then a later work that does meet that demand can make the aforementioned work to be appreciated for what it is, rather than disliked for what it is not.
• The work being a big departure from the franchise, omitting key elements. Then later analysis proves that the work would have been received more well, if there weren't franchise's name attached to it.
• The work being similar to older entries, leading to complaints about it being formulaic. Then an entry featuring unpopular changes is released, and fans decide they'd rather have a work relying on a solid formula than a failed attempt to be more innovative. And when they're no longer in the "It's the Same, Now It Sucks!" mindset, they may notice more things the work did do to distinguish itself and refine the formula.
• Accidentally poor or deliberately misleading advertising initially attracts an audience who wound up not being into the work because they were expecting something else. Later, the work manages to gain a new audience who appreciated the work for what it was.
• The work was rejected or misunderstood because it was unconventional or didn't meet the expectations of the audience, who condemned it without giving it a fair shot. After the initial wave of bad faith criticism and misinterpretation has passed, the work is re-evaluated by people who are willing to engage with it on its terms and see it as a masterpiece that was once unfairly rejected.
• It becomes popular to hate on the work. Later, after the hate dies down, newcomers who don't come in with the same biases appreciate the work, and some of the people who realized they had just jumped on a hate bandwagon take another look at the work and realize they were too hard on it.
• And of course, good ol' nostalgia.