It's closest I'll ever get to time-traveling

August 25, 2012 9:49 PM

Is there a resource online for searching films/shows by time period depicted?

Often films or shows will put me in the mood for a time period. I experience this when watching another film/show that succeeds in creating an intoxicating, convincing reconstruction of the past, this place that is so remote from us and yet so intimately connected to us at the same time. It's closest I'll ever get to time-traveling.

For instance, I have been hooked on the show "Boardwalk Empire" recently, and I've become fascinated with the cultural landscape during Prohibition Era in the US. The post-war disillusionment, the rise of women's rights, the early automobile technology, the racism, the gangs, the immigration, the wealth, even just the clothing fashion. I really admire the (well-funded) show's ability to evoke the past with such rich and meticulous attention to period detail. The visual effects were actually showcased on MeFi.

So, then I started thinking about the atmosphere created by Downton Abbey, which is also set around World War I, and how the cultural movements described above played out in the UK.

Help me time travel.

posted by stroke_count to media & arts (2 answers total)

IMDb's plot keyword search will find these for you. For example, here is "1920s", which defaults to being sorted by rating. You can combine keyword searches, too. Or 1920s + Prohibition. Downtown Abbey uses Edwardian Era for its keyword.
posted by cgc373 at 10:55 PM on August 25, 2012

Downton. Bah. For some other examples, here are Weimar Republic; 1920s + China; 1920s + Chicago; and 1920s + San Francisco.
posted by cgc373 at 11:08 PM on August 25, 2012