Millennials Don't Really Care About Classic Movies

[The Modernist]

.
I'd say most modern films, with odd exception, are demonstrably worse than old cinema: Emptier, thematically facile and certainly aesthetically inferior.

I find it harder and harder to relate or get invested in films these days. There's few films that stands out for me or make me think "what a fucking film". I seem to often think that film don't offer anything really new, like have films really run out of original ideas? or are original ideas not being made in to film because film companies don't have the balls to do it?

Don't get me wrong I know older films followed suit, with musicals, westerns, gangsters etc but they had the luxury of film being relatively new. So it was still exciting.

Well there is that Mark. One of the problems is now the 'indiewood' model of the early 2000s is dead, those kind of low to medium budget films just don't seem to be getting made anymore. I don't know...digital technology and multiple platforms should be creating more opportunities than ever for a diverse cinema, but it's just so hard for films that are apart from an ever increasingly narrow mainstream to break out.
I heard an interview with David Lynch the other day and he declared that arthouse cinema was dead, that there just wasn't a place for it anymore.

[Bent Fabric]

Whatever the reality of millennial viewing habits (a valid conversation starter), I do notice that as a clickbait trope "Millenials ____" has gained enormous traction recently.

I have to push an awful lot of subtext AND "regular text" out of the way to even get to where I'm going with this (and keep driving through where I'm NOT going with this - another day, perhaps), but my general warmth towards the generation in question is only intensified by pieces like...

http://www.businessinsider.com/millennials-endanger-casual-dining-restaurants-2017-5

I mean, for fuck's sake:

"We are the fried cheese preservation society.
God bless ranch dip in all its different varieties.
We are the fresh frozen, well done steak consortium..."

[Penk!]

And you know what, all this realism can be annoying too. People mumbling away, shuffling about and all that shit.

Yea, are we reaching peak-mumble? Peak-realism. Tastes are changing but whatever comes next could be exciting too.

Post-realism. Tommy Wiseau was ahead of his time!

[The Modernist]

I was weaned on "old movies," thanks to my dad, and TV.

Everything's a product of its time, and "old movies" are what they are. There will always be enough film buffs to ensure the past won't be erased or destroyed, so I don't really care if a generation raised on video games can't see the value of anything from x time period. Their loss.
.

It doesn't really matter on an individual level. I'm not going to be too bothered about a young person with quite limited taste, any more than if I met a young rock fan who'd never heard of The Buzzcocks. Where it does matter is when these are the people directing or producing the films, which is increasingly the case and not just in Hollywood. That can (and is I'd argue) have a disastrous effect on film culture.

[Dr Markus]

Well there is that Mark. One of the problems is now the 'indiewood' model of the early 2000s is dead, those kind of low to medium budget films just don't seem to be getting made anymore. I don't know...digital technology and multiple platforms should be creating more opportunities than ever for a diverse cinema, but it's just so hard for films that are apart from an ever increasingly narrow mainstream to break out.
I heard an interview with David Lynch the other day and he declared that arthouse cinema was dead, that there just wasn't a place for it anymore.

I remember lamenting with my friends that there's no original character action adventure films anymore, like Indiana jones. There's been attempts, but are we really going to be talking about The rock in adventure based file like we do Indiana jones 30 years later? I think there's a shit load of factors like we've so many films to choose from now and if you know you're way around a computer they're readily available. On a slight tangent I will superhero films would fuck off.

[Snarfyguy]

I was weaned on "old movies," thanks to my dad, and TV.

Everything's a product of its time, and "old movies" are what they are. There will always be enough film buffs to ensure the past won't be erased or destroyed, so I don't really care if a generation raised on video games can't see the value of anything from x time period. Their loss.
.

It doesn't really matter on an individual level. I'm not going to be too bothered about a young person with quite limited taste, any more than if I met a young rock fan who'd never heard of The Buzzcocks. Where it does matter is when these are the people directing or producing the films, which is increasingly the case and not just in Hollywood. That can (and is I'd argue) have a disastrous effect on film culture.

My attitude about this sort of thing has more to do with my mood than anything else, and today I feel that while mainstream cinema may be zooming down a cul-de-sac, there will always be films of value made. We're just in a slump rather than a golden age.

Of course, tomorrow I might feel there's no hope whatsoever.

[Sneelock]

All it takes is for one person they admire to champion one great movie they haven't seen or valued.

[Tactful Cactus]

Post-realism. Tommy Wiseau was ahead of his time!

After what we've been through in the past year, we're due a political masterpiece starring Tommy Wiseau

[Tactful Cactus]

I remember lamenting with my friends that there's no original character action adventure films anymore, like Indiana jones.

Don't waste your life lamenting that the youth are missing out on the joys of your childhood. They don't give a fuck, neither did you when you were 15.

[harvey k-tel]

I read yesterday that Millenials aren't interested in breasts. What's wrong with these people??!?

[Tactful Cactus]

Not me! Love 'dem titties

[Minnie the Minx]

We saw Vertigo on Tuesday and are going to see Lawrence of Arabia today at a beautiful old cinema in Austin. The audience was fairly wide ranging in age - plenty of millenials though. I'm not sure the section of people we saw was particularly representative of global millenials as a whole as Austin considers itself painfully hip.

[Davey the Fat Boy]

All it takes is for one person they admire to champion one great movie they haven't seen or valued.

This is true. But what's sad is the fact that they won't ever find anything much accidentally.

When you and I were kids, we only had a few channels...and generally what was on most of them didn't appeal directly to us. So we'd watch whatever was on. I wasn't specifically interested in Jimmy Cagney movies, and nobody I trusted my age told me to seek them out. They were just the only thing on sometimes - so I watched them.

Today's young person has more choice than any generation ever. But they also have the freedom to choose to watch Zombieland again.

[Tactful Cactus]

Today's young person has more choice than any generation ever. But they also have the freedom to choose to watch Zombieland again.

Choice anxiety is the worst. You don't feel comfortable pressing play unless its the exact, perfect film for that moment. So you end up not watching anything because you can't decide

help

[hippopotamus]

I think I must still be one of the youngest members of the board and of course I'm almost a cliché for choosing "classics" for my all time favourite films.

But I grew up with them and very early on established a strong context to understand where they were coming from. I watch each decade, or period of film differently, with a different set of expectations.
But even EYE seem to have not many older films recently. There s a lot of good stuff out there. There are complete series of really good television right there to binge on... where any film would be limited and maybe changing ones perspective to allow for chronological incongryences is just too much like hard work.

I went through such a phase of exploiting YouTube for all the access to old films... But I think they are less easily available. Nowadays you have to specifically CHOOSE a film to download or buy... you can't just go down to the video store and see what's there. There s also not a great selection of classics on steaming sites.
Also old movies are getting older... 1970s films are now almost 50 years old... hardly modern.

[Dr Markus]

I think I must still be one of the youngest members of the board

Whoa, are we talking physically or mentally?

[Insouciant Western People]

There's TV to consider as well. Millennials have grown up in a very strong era for TV shows and a poor era for mainstream movies.

Yep. TV is where almost all of the really great stuff happens now, in terms of filmed drama. We're absolutely spoiled for choice.

[Goat Boy]

All it takes is for one person they admire to champion one great movie they haven't seen or valued.

This is true. But what's sad is the fact that they won't ever find anything much accidentally.

When you and I were kids, we only had a few channels...and generally what was on most of them didn't appeal directly to us. So we'd watch whatever was on. I wasn't specifically interested in Jimmy Cagney movies, and nobody I trusted my age told me to seek them out. They were just the only thing on sometimes - so I watched them.

Today's young person has more choice than any generation ever. But they also have the freedom to choose to watch Zombieland again.

I was thinking about this the other day and the lack of decent movies on terrestrial telly.

Growing up we only had 4 channels, a vhs recorder and the video shop where my folks would go maybe once a week and that was it. If you were hungry for movies you’d take what you could get but then terrestrial TV also catered for movie lovers back then – I’m talking the 80s and 90s here. You’d actually get a real range of films – from newer blockbuster stuff to art house, cult films, obscure stuff etc and it was all free. When you look at freeview these days – in the UK anyway - the choice is so limited. Film 4 shows some decent stuff but that’s about it (occasionally you’ll get something good on Horror).

You also had shows that curated films for you like Moviedrome which seems like an old fashioned concept these days when everybody is their own critic, free to pick and choose what they want. Because you were into films you’d watch what was shown, even if it was something you’d never heard of. So I remember watching Q: The Winged Serpent but also Belle De Jour and spaghetti westerns and so on.

Zombieland is actually really fun by the way.

[clive gash]

Moviedrome was fucking great, I remember Cox's ranting about Wild at Heart.

Kids will discover great films if they're interested. That's always been the case.

[Goat Boy]

True but there is also something to be said for having less choice I think.