I Have a Car Problem With Gotham

"Mercedes Streeter" (smart)
09/02/2015 at 13:00 • Filed to: Gotham

If you like Batman, if you like origin stories, and if you like Fox; you probably like Gotham. And that’s not necessarily a bad thing, it’s a well crafted show. However, it has some quirks that I’m really having trouble with. They may or may not ruin the experience of the show, but with a show with such a high production value, these seem to be B-Movie type mistakes. Help me out?

The show does not give a definite confirmation of what period of time it takes place in. However, the design of the sets and locations seems to be that the theme of Gotham is a 1970’s-1980’s gritty New York-type city.

ETA: Yes, I know it’s intentional. The show is in an entirely different universe than anything Batman in the past. But the execution of it is terrible.

Furthermore, most characters are wearing attire from that area and more importantly: Are driving !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! .

So, one can conclude that based on the sets, the style of clothing every character wears, and the cats most of them drive, that Gotham is set in the 70s or 80s, right?

But then the show cheats.

Here is Penguin getting into a 1990s (like 1999) GMC Yukon.

It doesn’t get better...Cars in the background are very obviously modern. Look, a Kia Soul!

It gets weirder, with characters using cell phones that were most definitely made in the past decade, not 30 or 40 years ago.

A 1990s colour TV!

The show is chocked *full* of anachronisms. Now, many of them (the phones) do help move the plot forward. However, they are almost annoyingly out of place.

Some fans have told me “oh, that’s because there really isn’t a time period, it’s just Gotham. It can be any time”. That’s still a problem to me. If you’re going to create a realistic 1970’s setting, why half-ass it on even obvious details. When the characters are running around a setting from four decades ago, seeing them use a thin cell phone doesn’t sit right.

It almost seems like Gotham is present day, just every character is a hipster.

Usually in shows set in the past, there is a lot of work done to make sure that even background vehicles are period-correct. And if that can’t be achieved, then there won’t be any cats at all. But it’s weird to see our heroes piloting around old as hell cats, and seeing modern traffic in the background.

So what’s going on here? It almost seems like the show’s writers are giving absolutely zero fucks on whether or not anything actually makes sense in terms of time...as long as it looks dark and cool.

DISCUSSION (18)

EL_ULY > Mercedes Streeter
09/02/2015 at 13:02

lol I noticed the same thing. I gave up after the 7th episode to try and figure out what year this takes place in :]

CB > Mercedes Streeter
09/02/2015 at 13:03

I stopped watching after the first episode. The only thing I liked was the cop car.

spanfucker retire bitch > Mercedes Streeter
09/02/2015 at 13:05

It was crap like this that made me hate Ghost in the Shell: Innocence as well. The amount of different times and styles that were thrown together were jarring.

Wacko > Mercedes Streeter
09/02/2015 at 13:06

I think it just means that the producers are not Tech nor car guys/gals.

I noticed all that too, I asked myself the same questions. At first I was sure it was in the 70’s but then cell phones, and that same GMC. then I said to myself, forget it it’s fiction.

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > Mercedes Streeter
09/02/2015 at 13:10

The drawback of doing things on a budget: the inability to create “the late 70s” in a larger area than about a twenty foot radius. I think from a writing/planning perspective you can do this well or poorly - there are ways to sell a city as a “70s kind of city” in the modern day, but to do that (as portions of the MIB series and others did) you have to blend in the edges of what you’re doing. You can have a lot of 70s/80s cars, slums, and people out of fashion to create a tone, but you can’t just do a 70s-bubble. It’s just dumb.

itschrome > Mercedes Streeter
09/02/2015 at 13:13

It’s not based in our reality. they aren’t wrong by mismatching techologies/styles/period cars ect.. You’re wrong by assuming it represents any singular time in our world. I personally find that the time period of items associating character are more a reflection of the characters personality and what time they would probably exist in if it was our world.

Short-throw Granny Shifter is 2 #blessed 2b stressed > Mercedes Streeter
09/02/2015 at 13:16

They are trying to do the same thing as the movie Se7en, in that the time and place of the setting is deliberately obscure, more an amalgam of different eras and cities rather than one specifically. However, then went about this too crudely, and the anachronisms are too jarring that it makes the show look lazy.

It would have been more interesting and special if they went neo-Art Deco, like in Batman: the Animate Series, instead of the weird late 70’s with early 2000’s aesthetic.

Birddog > Mercedes Streeter
09/02/2015 at 13:20

I noticed this from day one. There is no continuity in the background. I think they’re doing it on purpose.

It hasn’t hurt my love of the show at all. It actually keeps me a little more involved than Id normally get with other shows. I think Supernatural is the only other show I try to pay extra attention to like that.

(BTW, I saw you on 290 yesterday afternoon. Sharp looking little car!)

Mercedes Streeter > Birddog
09/02/2015 at 13:25

Oh snap! What time? I was either picking up or dropping off Miss Tesla :D

Birddog > Mercedes Streeter
09/02/2015 at 13:28

Right around 6:30 or so by the 83 exit.

I saw a Smart and said to myself “wouldn’t it be neat if”. Then I saw the back window.

Mercedes Streeter > itschrome
09/02/2015 at 13:28

This is correct. I’d even say it’s intentionally done!

But I mean, it seems poorly executed. Most shows and movies are more obscure or subtle with it. Gotham shoves it in your face and tells you “deal with it”. That said, I still watch the show, probably just to see how many anachronisms I can find.

Mercedes Streeter > Birddog
09/02/2015 at 13:29

Oh shit, down to the correct time! :) That was me, picking up the lovely Miss Tesla!

Atzilla > Mercedes Streeter
09/02/2015 at 17:10

Come on, it is obviously intended.

Quote from the showrunner:

http://www.ew.com/article/2014/07/20/gotham-fox-batman-prequel

– Gotham is not set in any particular time period : Okay, this has been out there a bit, but Heller had a nice quote elaborating on the show’s timeless quality: “It’s a mash-up, to use the modern phrase,” he said. “If today Batman exists, then this world is the past. But it’s everybody’s past, an 18-year-old’s past and a 54-year-old’s past. So in your memory, the past is all mashed up together. So in this Gotham, it’s a kind of timeless world. It’s yesterday, it’s today, and it’s tomorrow all at the same time, because that’s the world that dreams live in.”

Atzilla > itschrome
09/02/2015 at 17:13

yep, word of god says so.

I like it.

Mercedes Streeter > Atzilla
09/02/2015 at 17:37

I know it’s intended, but that doesn’t mean it makes sense. That said, that bit about “...it’s everybody’s past, an 18-year-old’s past and a 54-year-old’s past...” does make make the element about it not making sense actually...well, make sense. xD

Camshaft Chris: Skyline/McLaren/Porsche Fanboy > Mercedes Streeter
09/02/2015 at 17:43

I’m not the only! Hallelujah! It seriously bugs the hell out of me too. I absolutely love the show, but pick a time period and stick with it already!

Although, I can understand the whole “Gotham can be any time period” arguement as Batman has been around since 1939. It’s kind of hard to keep the same story line for 70+ and make it stick to one specific time period.

Axial > Mercedes Streeter
09/02/2015 at 21:33

They are pulling a Sterling Archer: timeless in that it is literally not set in a single time period.

Batman: The Animated Series was also incredibly anachronistic, but wasn’t as awkward about it.

MontegoMan562 is a Capri RS Owner > Mercedes Streeter
09/04/2015 at 13:34

I’ve thought this too!

But I think the show is really set in the late 90s early 2000s, no smartphones, but cell phones.

Then the cars are from an era that just...look cool. I think they’re picking land barges for gangsters because we all associate land barges with gangsters. And Gotham seems like the place where it’s a lot cooler to roll up in an old caddy or lincoln than in a new benz.

Has the new season started?!