Why don't modern audiences understand how to watch older movies? I'm constantly reading these idiotic posts where people put down older movies because they don't have modern production values or reflect the modern zeitgeist. How and when did people get this stupid?
shareDon't know. But it's been that way since at least the 80s. I've always loved old cinema and none of my peers could ever be bothered with it.
shareI grew up in the 70s and 80s. My peers and I never judged older movies by comparing them to contemporary movies. We inherently understood technology and society were different and the movies reflected that.
shareWhat do some of these posters write Salem? Are they on this site?
shareIndeed they are. Just start going through the boards on movies made before this morning.
shareThe posts that stood out to me was the original Alien being boring and slow, Dirty Harry being unrealistic because he survives shoot outs and is "dated" overall, and the costume designs in the original 1979 Star Trek being something or another.
I get where you're coming from. It's very annoying to look for serious film discussion and appreciation but to be greeted with lame brained, one sentence posts as if written by some bored teenager.
"Dirty Harry being unrealistic because he survives shoot outs and is "dated" overall"
Wow.This made me lough.I agree it does sound like something a pretentious bored teenager would write.So a movie made over 40 years ago is dated.Well thanks for letting us know captain obvious.And Dirty Harry surviving shoot outs is a 1000 times more realistic than the crap i see Vin Diesel doing in those fast and furious movies.
Yeah it really sounds ridiculous. I guess cars out running CGI explosions or whatever are a model of realism compared to a seasoned detective and expert marksman surviving a gun fight...
share"So a movie made over 40 years ago is dated.Well thanks for letting us know captain obvious."
This never fails to crack me up amongst the comments I see on a fairly regular basis. Imagine, a 40-year-old movie being dated! If instead they commented that it didn't hold up over time, that's a fair enough criticism. But dated??
Yes, the Dirty Harry board is what compelled me to finally write something. As expected, I've been accused of 'shaming' people for having 'different opinions.' When a culture at large has become this dumb, it's best to pop some popcorn and watch Rome burn...
shareWell you do have to admit that you probably don't watch a very wide selection of older movies. You probably mostly watch the hits, the ones that made a name for themselves and became classics.
I like older movies to a degree, but I wouldn't want to take time to watch the middle-of-the-road average 1950 theatrical release that I have never heard of.
The point is that I'm sure you ignore plenty of older movies, and some people ignore more of them, some people ignore all of them. There's no real fine line there, the only other complete option other than "ignore them all" is "only watch movies from a certain time period, and all of them over time if possible."
Some people don't like movies at all, so what can we say? People like different stuff.
"Well you do have to admit that you probably don't watch a very wide selection of older movies."
Excuse me? Where in the world would you get the tenacity to assume any such thing? Your entire comment is baseless and vapid.
"probably" means I didn't assume. Learn to read, sheesh.
Learn context too, the title of your topic, because your viewing habits aren't exactly important to the overall point and you could easily match one of the other possibilities I listed.
Thus "entire comment" seems like something you didn't actually read, or comprehend.
Talk about baseless and vapid, seriously. You're a self-centered idiot who only focused on the words that related to you.
No wonder you think people with different tastes are stupid, the entire point of your topic. I honestly didn't even want to reply, because this topic was pretty bland and brainless in the first place. I just felt like typing, I guess.
I won't make the mistake of replying to you anymore, I knew better already.
"You're a self-centered idiot"
Ad hominem renders your entire comment void. Nice work.
It's just the narcissism of the current age... And we thought 60s boomers (me generation) were self centred... wow... Sorry boomers, you've been surpassed...
I think it's a combination of being raised on reality TV and social media... The models they see of human behaviour are narcissistic and the nature of engagging with media is self centred...
Current audiences can and do appreciate older films, but it isn't as widespread a phenomena anymore, because they are used to having "content" that relates to themselves... Fanboy movies that are focus-grouped to be likeable, passble and pleasing to the audience member...
Movies in the past frequently challenged their viewers... But audiences were ready for that, as it was part of going to the movies, listening to music, visiting gallaries and such... You leave yourself open to have an artist express their sensibility to you...
Movies, music, art and such today are for the most part too concerned with playing the social media game of pleasing an audience and conforming to ideologies or fanboy mythologies...
I think there is a certain maturity that has been delayed when it comes to current era movie goers... Partly because in the early 2000s studios stopped producing adult centred movies and adults started to go less to the theatre... The movie culture has become infantalised...
I think it is a phase... i think with time and given the accesibility of being able to watch older movies, people will come around to appreciate it... it's just a 15 year stunted development...
Excellent response.
shareI don't want to fall into stereotyping today's youth but I generally agree with your viewpoint. It is widely noted that the social media age and multi purpose phones have brought instant gratification and shortened attention spans (not only with the young). Couple that with the decades long infantilization of popular cinema and Hollywood's loss of profit from competiting interests, and we have a catering to juvenile fanboy fare and endless CGI action, reinforcing the view that something needs to happen every five minutes or so to be interesting.
shareI wasn't targeting young people in general. There are plenty of old farts who say insipid things like, "I ain't gonna watch a movie if it was shot in black and white..." I've also met many young people who love older films.
shareYeah, that's alway gotten under my skin too, but if you just remember that there are a lot of morons out there, you'll feel better. Haha. I love movies from any era, and a lot of fun from watching older movies is taking yourself into those eras of film. They are the originals! On The Waterfront is one of the most amazing films I've ever seen, regardless of the time period!
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