You Couldn't Make This Today

Submission 14,646

Part of a series on Cancel Culture. [View Related Entries]

About

You Couldn't Make This Today refers to a catchphrase and parodies of a common trope in media criticism in which a person views an old piece of media, usually a film, and opines that its content would be too edgy to be accepted by modern audiences due to cancel culture. In February 2022, when a Twitter user wondered if Quentin Tarantino's Pulp Fiction could get made today, others began to parody the phrase by applying it to more absurd pieces of media.

Origin

On February 6th, 2022, The Atlantic writer Tom Nichols^[3] tweeted, "I’m watching pulp fiction right now and wondering, 28 years later, if you could make this movie today." The tweet was ratioed, gaining over 290 retweets, 2,000 quote tweets and 5,000 likes in three days (shown below).

Precursor

The opinion "you couldn't make this today" has long been a common take about old pieces of media, usually with a sense of humor that would offend modern sensibilities. Mel Brooks' comedy Blazing Saddles is often a target of this sort of opinion.^[1] On June 30th, 2021, Twitter user @BudrykZack^[2] joked about the common line, writing, "You could never make Blazing Saddles today, the actors would read the script and they'd be like 'hey, this is just Blazing Saddles, it's already a movie'" (shown below).

Spread

Twitter users were quick to mock Nichols' tweet in early February 2022, with many noting that Quentin Tarantino's recent films like Django Unchained and The Hateful Eight had already surpassed the boundaries pushed in Pulp Fiction.^[4] Others posted jokes parodying the wording of Nichols' tweet. For example, Twitter user @Jav0lta^[5] made a quip about how it is too much work to make a film in one day (shown below, left). Twitter user @missahaddow^[6] then joked that everyone already knows the movie, so it would be pointless to remake it (shown below, right).

Nichols' tweet also inspired others to make jokes about absurd things that "could not be made today." For example, on February 8th, 2022, Twitter user @Lubchansky^[7] made a joke using 1984, gaining over 1,000 retweets and 20,000 likes in less than 24 hours (shown below, left). Twitter user @Adequate_Scott^[8] then posted a joke reading, "you could never make lead-based paint for residential use in today's woke climate," gaining over 440 retweets and 3,000 likes in the same timeframe (shown below, right).