Movies and generations...

[Dusty Ayres]

It could be that older movies aren't great to younger generations because of the stereotypes and racial images shown in them (ask a younger person of color what they think of most movies on TCM), or the fact that people try to say (like 23skidoo) 'everything was better back then'. Sorry, but it wasn't. The reason people say that is because of the insidious way nostalgia has enfiladed North American life in a way that would have been unthinkable generations ago (back when people actually looked towards the future!) This constant reverence for and wanting to live in that past is the reason why, compared with Europe and Scandinavia, North America is actually backward when it comes to things like the environment, government, taking care of others, health care, and so on. And why sci-fi & fantasy films have a hard time being accepted by the Academy, or anybody else. Not to mention any non-genre movie as well.

A blogger put it best with this blog post from last year:

We all do it.

We fall in love with the beautifully enchanting portrayal of the past that we encounter in novels, historical fiction, and on the big screen. We get lost in the dashing gentry, the voluminous hoop skirts, the lazy Sunday evenings. This fantasy past, however, is quite far from the reality most of us would have encountered in the “good old days.”

In fact, if I were alive during the long lost past, I would probably be an incredibly unhappy camper.

But there was a time when I could not see the forest for the trees. I would sit there with my classmates penning my “If I were to travel in time…” essays for English class or fantasizing about the Baroque period in Humanities class. I would travel to the deepest, darkest Africa with Cecil Rhodes in my History class. Yet as I got older and became more seasoned in the realities of global race relations, the beauty of the past faded. I knew for sure that no matter how beautiful an outfit, hairdo, or even lifestyle may have seemed, my participating in the nostalgic longing to return to the past was, in fact, an art I had picked up from the privileged.

If I were to go back to any time in American or European history, even the 1980s (Reaganomics….) or 1990s (LA Riots, anyone?) at my present age, I would face considerable challenges as a result of my race. As a black person, I would not be provided the same access to a happy life. It would most likely be thwarted by systematic oppression or social alienation. And with the rights I presently possess, I would not be willing to give those up for even a minute of sipping mint juleps in the antebellum South or listening to a live concerto in 19th century France. The reality is that I would not be welcome.

Nostalgia: A Sport for the Privileged

Might want to think about that the next time you wonder why a younger person doesn't get something from the past.

 

[Harvey]

Citizen Kane might look interesting in 3-D. The deep focus photography would probably lend itself well to the process. On the other hand, all the 2-D films I've seen converted to 3-D have looked fake, so what's the point? Oh, right, it's a cynical studio cash-in on something that is popular (and financially lucrative) right now. At least they haven't colorized the film. Blech.

As far as Trek Remastered goes, I think the rationale behind it is a little more complex than what you propose, 23skidoo. But, since the blu-rays are forward thinking enough to include both versions, there's not much to argue about, I don't think.

As for racism embedded in older films, there's no denying that some films run into that problem. I'm reminded of the "Abraham" song and dance number in Holiday Inn. On the other hand, recent films aren't exactly an oasis from such imagery. I'm thinking of the Nigerians complete with witch doctors and cannibalism in District 9 and the jive-talking robots in both Transformers movies.

No, I think the dismissal of older films has more to do with the dismissal of older techniques of filmmaking: black and white photography, dialogue-heavy pictures, longer shots and scenes than in contemporary films, heavy use of melodramatic music, etc.

Of course, I'm 22, and love older films just as much as I like newer films, but I've already seen 59 movies this year, so it's safe to say that I'm not an average viewer.

 

[Kegg]

On the subject of race that Dusty Ayres observes: True essentially, but there are fun exceptions, like Gannibal, the 'Ethiopian Prince' who was rather popular at the Russian court. He may be the exception that proves the rule but one disgresses.

Nostalgia for the past does cover up the fact the past was overall less good; every other Hollywood film that valorizes the good old hardships of primitive life (from Man of Aran right on down to Avatar) is also guilty of this.

What movie do you like, scifi or not, that, for some reason, those who are younger than you just laugh at and..well..crush your spirit!!!

Being 23 I'm a little hard pressed to find films contemporary to my youth that'd still be considered old enough for teenagers to mock; but kids these days, no respect for... uh... Lord of the Rings? I don't know, I've just heard negative things actually said and concurred on other message boards, and in teen geekdom it was unanimously agreed the Nolan Batman films were the best of the decade with Jackson's epics getting barely a blip on the radar.

...still some of the damn best fantasy filmmaking in movies for my money.

Older movies are differently paced. They're slower, a bit more static, and tend to convey information verbally rather than visually--much like the stage productions they evolved from.

Except when they're nothing like that. Not unconcidentally, the even older films that bear little resemblance to those pictures - silents - are frequently my preferred cuppa.

 

[Too Much Fun]

It's one of the rationales Ted Turner used back in the 80s when he started to put out colorized versions of movies. I'll never forget John Huston, virtually making his last gasps before dying a few weeks later, tearfully telling a news conference he didn't want to see his classic films colorized. Orson Welles had a similar reaction when there were plans to colorize Citizen Kane.

YES! I remember reading Welles quoted as saying, "keep Ted Turner and his goddamn Crayolas away from my movie!" That quote and his resentful description of his role in "Transformers: The Movie": ("I play a big toy who attacks a bunch of smaller toys" ) are just proof of how relentlessly awesome Orson Welles was all the way up to his death.