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"Who's Cary Grant?"

posted 5 years ago by Catbookss (13664)
61 replies | jump to latest

Recently I was at a dog park and got into a nice conversation with another dog owner. I told her that a few people have commented that my dog is "The Cary Grant of dogs." (He is. He's extremely social with both people and other dogs, friendly, charismatic, very good looking, and can be funny.)

The woman was maybe in her mid 20s, intelligent, and to my surprise didn't know who Cary Grant was.

It surprised me because I grew up knowing the names of famous actors from eras before I was around. Is this a thing, or was this more of a one-off?

Maybe she's not into movies 🤷‍♀️

[–] samoanjoes (58601) 5 years ago

When I was in college studying film, our professor brought up the film "Fargo". My friend asked what that movie was and I said: "William H. Macy, Frances McDormand and Steve Buscemi are in it. The Coen Brothers wrote and directed it." He looked at me and said: "dude, I don't know who any of those people are." It wasn't the first time a classmate of mine did this.

[–] Catbookss (13664) 5 years ago

In a film class?? 😱

That's much worse than my story.

[–] samoanjoes (58601) 5 years ago

Not to toot my own horn, but it was maybe me and two other guys who actually knew stuff about film. The class didn't know Sidney Pollack and when they checked him up on IMDb, they went: "oh, the guy from Will & Grace."

[–] Catbookss (13664) 5 years ago

😂😱

[–] [deleted] 5 years ago

[deleted]

[–] samoanjoes (58601) 5 years ago

Honestly, he probably didn't even know who Jim Carrey was. Before I started college, I thought I was going to get destroyed in my knowledge of films, but I realized that almost everyone in the class didn't know a thing. They were only interested in Tarantino movies and Fast and the Furious.

[–] Forky (1739) 5 years ago

why would she, if she is in only her 20s

[–] Mrmojo4700 (21718) 5 years ago

Because I’m in my 40’s and I know who Cary Grant was even though he was before my time.

[–] Forky (1739) 5 years ago

A 20s girl has the exact same knowledge and experience as a 40s internet nerd?

[–] [deleted] 5 years ago

When I was 40, I knew the names of most of the old silent stars. Plus all the early 40s and 50s actors.

It's just a matter of making oneself aware of things beyond one's immediate circle of interests. That's how we grow.

[–] wheelin176 (2056) 5 years ago

It's an age thing

[–] Catbookss (13664) 5 years ago

I think it's gotten worse. In the 50s there was an infatuation with modern and new, but it's more pronounced now because technology is driving culture and something a year old is now old and out of date.

[–] MrRipEager (94) 5 years ago

It's either likely that she isn't into movies or that she doesn't know the actor by name, but would probably know of his performance in films like North By Northwest.

[–] Catbookss (13664) 5 years ago

That's what I figured. I told her to Google him because she'd probably seen some of his movies and would recognise his face.

[–] Quasimodo (16388) 5 years ago

Maybe it's down to the major decline of free-to-air television as the King of media. The majority of people going back used to watch a lot of television and so there was a shared common experience and knowledge. Now that has all pretty much gone and society is a good deal more fragmented because of it.

[–] Catbookss (13664) 5 years ago

Good point. Unless someone goes out of their way to watch a classics channel, or otherwise seek out classic movies, they're essentially invisible.

Generations have always had differences and their own culture, but there was also a good chunk of shared culture. Now there's less of that.

[–] [deleted] 5 years ago

That is a very good point.

The shared common experience now is limited to the most base reality tv concepts. I bite my tongue daily when the women in my office have to debrief over last night’s episode of The Bachelor or I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out of Here.

[–] Stratego (31081) 5 years ago

Lol, I probably would've thought you were suggesting your dog was a closeted gay!😆

I was 16 in 1998 and one of the girls in my class had a t-shirt on with a picture of Che Guevara. I asked her "Are you really wearing a t-shirt with Che Guevara on it???" Her reply: "Yeah, my mother told me he's some guy, but I only bought it because I liked the way it looked." Seriously, the guy has such an ugly mug and you don't even want to know who the heck he is first???

Not exactly the same, but I was talking about Andy Garcia one day and another classmate thought I meant Richard Grieco.😑

And every time I hear Tom's Dinner I get annoyed at the fact that Suzanne Vega had no clue who William Holden was!🙄

[–] Catbookss (13664) 5 years ago

LOL!

I forgot to mention he's also a very good-looking dog (added now). When I think of CG, I think charming, handsome, and funny, and I know that's what they were saying 😊

""Yeah, my mother told me he's some guy, but I only bought it because I liked the way it looked.""

😀

She confused Andy Garcia with Richard Grieco? 🤔

Okay, Suzanne Vega had no excuse to not know who William Holden was!

[–] sslssg (35194) 5 years ago

My friend was visiting from out of town to go to a convention so she could meet Christian Slater. We were in a restaurant and the waitress was interested in our conversation but she had no idea who he was. I think he had just won an award for Mr. Robot too. She'd never heard of Heathers either. I was sad.

[–] Catbookss (13664) 5 years ago

Sheesh, it's happening faster now. There are probably people who don't know who Leonardo DiCaprio is either.

[–] AndyKing1967 (39852) 5 years ago

Didn’t he like invent stuff in the olden days?

[–] Catbookss (13664) 5 years ago

See? YOU know! 🙌

[–] AndyKing1967 (39852) 5 years ago

Or maybe he was a Ninja Turtle? It’s all so confusing.

[–] PaladinNJ (21781) 5 years ago

When I was first dating my wife, we were at a party and I was having a conversation about John Wayne. My wife walks over and listens for about a second. She says "Who's John Wayne?" Everybody with hearing range stopped what they were doing and looked at her. They didn't believe her.

However in her defense she was only born the year before he died.

[–] Catbookss (13664) 5 years ago

Wow. I thought he was still a cultural icon 🤷‍♀️

[–] PaladinNJ (21781) 5 years ago

Should have clarified. This was 25 years ago.

[–] Catbookss (13664) 5 years ago

Oh. That makes more sense.

[–] PaladinNJ (21781) 5 years ago

No problem. I saw the posts and realized I opened myself up for that.