10 Trends That Are Killing Movies

9. Overt Pop-Culture References

We like to blame Seth MacFarlane for making the pop culture reference a piece of storytelling, what with his Family Guy rather lazily using it to weave "random" narratives that don't usually make a whole lot of sense, even if they are often rather funny. The knock-on effect is that new adaptations of old franchises in particular now seem to be unable to rely on their classic charm, and instead imbue themselves with more pop-culture references than you can shake a stick at; just look at the likes of The Smurfs, Alvin and the Chipmunks, Garfield and Yogi Bear. Between them, they've got a depressing amount of product placement and references to the popular culture in general. This has even transpired into live-action films recently; take the dreadful horror sequel Paranormal Activity 4. The film isn't content to be the latest needless sequel in a horror series nobody is asking to continue, but it wants to be relevant and hip, so has a large set-piece revolve around Microsoft Kinnect, not only a tawdry bit of product placement, but an indication of a desperate need to encompass the popular culture of the time. We can't just have a scary, timeless film, can we? When we watch Paranormal Activity 4 in a decade - not that we will - we'll laugh at how shamelessly it tried to capture the cultural milieu.