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20 films plots that would be quickly resolved by modern tech
Twentieth Century Fox

20 films plots that would be quickly resolved by modern tech

Text chats on screens, Zoom calls, ride-sharing — all of the aforementioned (and so many other) technological advancements have become the norm in entertainment. So much so that there was a whole movie based around one of them called Stuber. That’s the thing: They make sense today but had these inventions in tech come earlier, the plot of so many classic movies from the past wouldn’t have made much sense. In reality, the movie plots of the following would’ve been more than ruined because of modern technology.

 
1 of 20

‘Sixteen Candles’

‘Sixteen Candles’
Universal Pictures

Paper calendars were the norm when Sixteen Candles dropped in 1984, but they weren’t always looked at or remembered, for that matter. This is why Samantha’s family forgot her birthday. Had they had a family Google calendar set, they would have gotten a notification, and then Samantha’s teen angst couldn’t have grown, and the rest of the movie would’ve had to pivot.

 
2 of 20

‘Home Alone’

‘Home Alone’
Twentieth Century Fox

The phone lines were down, but a cellphone would have allowed Kevin to call his parents or for his mom to notice that his phone was still at home via a phone tracking app.

 
3 of 20

‘Adventures in Babysitting’

‘Adventures in Babysitting’
Touchstone Pictures

Chris would never have had to leave her babysitting duties if Brenda could have just gotten an Uber.

 
4 of 20

‘Cinderella’

‘Cinderella’
Walt Disney Pictures/RKO Radio Pictures

Cinderella’s evil stepmother might have been a little easier on her if she had been able to hire a housekeeper through an app like Thumbtack. 

 
5 of 20

‘Romy and Michele’s High School Reunion’

‘Romy and Michele’s High School Reunion’
Touchstone Pictures

High school reunions haven’t become obsolete, but it is getting harder and harder to convince people to spend the cash on them since Facebook keeps people up to date on their former classmates for free.

 
6 of 20

‘Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory’

‘Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory’
Paramount Pictures

In today’s world, Charlie would have had to have an app to enter some code to win, and that family could not afford a phone if they could barely scrape together food.

 
7 of 20

‘Footloose’

‘Footloose’
Paramount Pictures

In a world where the youth thrive off of dancing on the likes of TikTok, it’d be impossible to ban an app that thrives off dance.

 
8 of 20

‘The Santa Clause’

‘The Santa Clause’
Walt Disney Pictures

Ring cameras and the like would have caught Scott Calvin causing someone’s death off his roof, which would have gotten the authorities involved immediately.

 
9 of 20

‘The Truman Show’

‘The Truman Show’
Paramount Pictures

In a world where reality television is one of the most watched and beloved, The Truman Show would likely be just another in an endless sea, getting outshined by a Housewife or Kardashian.

 
10 of 20

‘Don’t Tell Mom the Babysitter’s Dead’

‘Don’t Tell Mom the Babysitter’s Dead’
HBO

The second their mother tried to call them via Zoom and saw no babysitter and that the house was running wild, she would’ve been on a plane back.

 
11 of 20

‘Rebel Without a Cause’

‘Rebel Without a Cause’
Warner Bros. Pictures

The beauty of Rebel Without a Cause is the connection the three teens have over their varied woes with life. Today, teens find that same level of connection — only it’s online. So, all of the characters' in-person interactions would be obsolete.

 
12 of 20

‘Taxi Driver’

‘Taxi Driver’
Columbia Pictures

In the modern world, Taxi Driver is Stuber, and maybe 15 people saw Stuber. So, yeah, the plot and movie would be ruined.

 
13 of 20

‘Pretty Woman’

‘Pretty Woman’
Touchstone Pictures

There are a few ways Pretty Woman fails to be Pretty Woman with tech. Edward would’ve just used a rideshare, so he would not have stumbled upon Vivian. He could have used an app to meet a woman, but anyone who’s dated online knows that perfect matches aren’t that magical. Lastly, her big shopping spree would’ve been done online, and there is no “big mistake, huge” without being in person.

 
14 of 20

‘The Breakfast Club’

‘The Breakfast Club’
Universal Studios

Even with the authority figure out of the room, a group of teens would not engage if they had their phones.

 
15 of 20

‘National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation'

‘National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation'
Warner Bros.

Clark Griswold could have spent more time with his family than on the lights had he had Taskrabbit.

 
16 of 20

‘Aladdin’

‘Aladdin’
Walt Disney Pictures

Jasmine would have done a quick social media deep dive and found out that Aladdin was lying.

 
17 of 20

‘My Girl’

‘My Girl’
Columbia Pictures

Thomas J would have just ordered Vada another mood ring off Etsy and called it a day.

 
18 of 20

‘Say Anything…’

‘Say Anything…’
20th Century Fox

The whole boombox scene kind of loses its charm when replaced by a phone or iPod.

 
19 of 20

‘Fight Club’

‘Fight Club’
Twentieth Century Fox

The narrator would have heard about Better Help or some other form of therapy on a podcast and realized their issues before things got out of hand.

 
20 of 20

‘Tommy Boy’

‘Tommy Boy’
Paramount Pictures

If Zoom had been around, Callahan Auto would not have had to send anyone for those business meetings, so the entire road trip of the movie would be dead and gone.


Kendra Beltran

Kendra Beltran is a pop culture obsessed writer who spent her youth tirelessly jotting down ‘Total Request Live’ data after school. She took that obsession and a useless college degree, and spun it into enough to pay her rent by writing for MTV Geek, Collider, Popverse, and more. Over the years her interest in pop culture has only grown, and today she finds herself baking while streaming ‘RuPaul’s Drag Race,’ running (slowly) while listening to podcasts about the ‘90s, and hanging out with her dog while taking in emo playlists

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