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'Movies try to escape cultural irrelevance'

Discussion in 'Anything goes' started by Dick Whitman, Oct 29, 2012.

  1. Azrael

    Azrael Well-Known Member


    Hollywood wasn't making 'Andy Hardy' (or the aforementioned 'Beach Blanket Bingo') for an adult audience. Movies have always courted teens. It's the most American date night imaginable.

    And the 'blockbuster' mentality of the studios started long before 'Jaws' ever arrived. The first wave of 3-D came in 1953. As did widescreen. They were fighting TV then and they're fighting it now.

    But it pays to remember that Hollywood makes the TV, too.
     
  2. LongTimeListener

    LongTimeListener Well-Known Member

    I took this "cultural irrelevance" to mean much more than declining ticket sales. For one thing, there are also a lot more movie theaters, which I figure means more movies in the theaters, than in 1997. So the impact of any one movie is going to be down.

    But I think it's more the conversation that ensues. In recent years I think "Avatar" is about the only movie that had huge and broad appeal like that, but I can't really think of a famous line or a catch phrase (largely because that was such a bad movie). Really, what's the last catch phrase that made it into wide circulation with the movie in the theaters? "I'm king of the world"? "Show me the money"?
     
  3. Dick Whitman

    Dick Whitman Well-Known Member

    That's a good question. Maybe, "I wish I knew how to quit you." Maybe, "Why so serious?" But even those aren't in the same league.
     
  4. Buck

    Buck Well-Known Member

    The relative importance of film as a medium is less than 100 years old.
    If we are going to lament the passing of something, let's choose something with some real history - poetry, theater, painting.
    Film is a medium of popular entertainment. It is very rarely a medium for art.

    It is something with which I grew up, so I might miss it at some point, but I don't mourn its potential passing as a huge loss for future generations.
     
  5. Iron_chet

    Iron_chet Well-Known Member

    Pre-kids I went to movies constantly, at least once a week, now, not so much.

    I am not a real comic book guy so most of the big block busters have not had a huge appeal for me but I absolutely love watching comedies in a semi-packed theatre.

    I think there is something about communal laughing that makes things funnier or at the very least gives permission to laugh out loud and not worry about standing out.

    Most of my movie viewing at the theatre now involves bailing from work and playing hooky from work to se something that I know my wife will hate (Borat, Inglorious Basterds, etc)
     
  6. Dick Whitman

    Dick Whitman Well-Known Member

    "Borat"!

    That was movie with a lot of catch phrases.

    "Very nice!"
     
  7. LongTimeListener

    LongTimeListener Well-Known Member

    Sexy time!

    I don't think I'd even put that in the top 20 movies of the 21st century for catch phrases or recognition. It was popular to all of us here, and maybe to the juvenile side of men everywhere, but had very little reach across the broad spectrum.
     
  8. Dick Whitman

    Dick Whitman Well-Known Member

    Maybe some Will Ferrell movies?

    "We're going streaking!"
     
  9. Buck

    Buck Well-Known Member

    Are catch phrases an indication of cultural relevance?
     
  10. LongTimeListener

    LongTimeListener Well-Known Member

  11. Azrael

    Azrael Well-Known Member

    Shazbot! I was going to say they aren't.
     
  12. PCLoadLetter

    PCLoadLetter Well-Known Member

    "Tammy Lynn?"
    "Oui."
    "SACRE BLEU!!"
     
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