Seriously, folks. Now that we've got three (that I can think of off the top of my head), can we kill this "parallel stories of past and present" thing? Did anybody come away from Julie & Julia without thinking that everything was vastly more wonderful/wondrous/meaningful in Julia's time?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vjvJHsJD8ic

Ditto Sarah's Key. Yes, the past related there is horrific. But it's also gripping, and significant, in a way that the modern story cannot hope to be.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LzDZ9e3mGRE

And while I haven't seen W.E., well - it's hard to imagine future generations attending an auction of our iPhones and email records. As one commenter says in the bottomless well of wisdom that is the YouTube comments section, "I wish it was just about Wallis and Edward."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4lNg0cm69xU

Why, it's almost as if all this contributes to the romanticizing of the past, to the detriment of the present! Which is sort of exactly what Midnight in Paris was about!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BYRWfS2s2v4

I dunno. Sometimes I wonder if the modern-day parallel story is just a sad attempt to make the story "relatable." As if we wouldn't be able to relate otherwise. Because, you know, people were so different back then.