You're a funny guy, Sledge, that's why I'll kill you last.



I think a lot of the problem with "old" movies no longer appealing to audiences is two-fold. First, as has been touched on, a lot of the important aspects, twists, and plot points have already become part of the cultural Zeitgeist, and so their ability to impact the audience is lost. Think of how hard it must be for The Empire Strikes Back to shock a new viewer today, who's likely been hearing "Luke, I am your Father!" their whole life. Even techniques pioneered in some films lose their strength, especially if they were successful and adapted in other films. It becomes a situation of "seen it before" with the first (and sometimes, clumsiest) use of a device.

The other problem facing classic cinema is that films are a reflection of their times. True, there are some films that are truly timeless (at least for now), but the vast majority of films date themselves. It's arguable that this is a necessary evil, and that this kind of temporal or cultural basis is required to make a connection with the audience, but as times and customs change, it becomes more difficult for a film to "reach" people. Its great as a way of studying cultural ideas from the past, though.

I don't think its necessary for a film's status as a classic to be absolute, but I think its important for a person to be film-literate to judge a picture. A great story is fantastic, and can make even the oldest film enjoyable, but a film, like a book, may require historical and technical context in order to be properly analyzed. This, sadly, takes it past the reach of many "average" audience members, however. We talk about using films for education as examples, and in the same breath stating we don't enjoy them. The same as literature, is film for entertainment, or art, or both?

 

Aernoroth everytime I read your posts it makes me think you have some sort of superhuman intelligence.

Whatever I can comprehend from your post, you made a very good point.

 

The vast majority of what I said has already been alluded to in one way or another in this thread. I'm really not putting all that much more into it.

Here's another line of discussion for the thread, though. Is Citizen Kane a cautionary tale for all those who seek wealth, or just an interesting character study, or a mixture of both?

 

For myself, Frank Capra's the closest thing to that. I haven't seen a movie by him I haven't liked, but I confess I've only seen about 60% of his resume.

 

Peter Jackson's movies have been good too. The entire LOTR series has had pretty positive reviews, and King Kong was an epic freaking masterpiece, despite being a bit too long.

A bit of both it seems. Not sure how to put it into proper words though lol.

 

I guess there really is a first for everything, but I agree with ya, Godzi. I really enjoy Citizen Kane, but it doesn't rank anywheres near one of my favorites.

 

Never seen it. Which I'm kind of ashamed of since all my friends and family consider me to be a movie buff.
It's on my 'to watch' list though.

 

Holy shit...
 

You... you agreed with me. You actually agreed with me for once... we actually agree on one thing... no sarcastic insulting remark, nothing... despite our rivalry on these boards...

I'm dead serious. It's like the fabric of space-time in my own little personal universe that is my mind has ripped apart like a tissue dissolving in water. I need a moment to collect myself...

There truley is a first for everything smkspy, there truley is...

 

I love Citizen Kane. Different strokes for different folks.

Also, obligatory:



One movie I will never understand why everyone likes it? Casablanca.

 

Casablanca is just one of those movies that's full of interesting characters that you can relate to easily.

Though The Dark Knight blew every movie out of the water according to some  

 

I don't really care about Citizen Kane.

 

That's fine, it can be long and a tad pretentious at times. If you said Metropolis, you might have some people take issue (The silent movie, the anime was just too WTF for me.)

 

I'm one of the few people on the face of the planet who hasn't seen Citizen kane.

Man, I need to really catch up with the classics. Probably next summer.

 

Never seen it. Probably never likely to. Maybe if it crops up on telly again I might give it a punt since it'll be free.

Maybe some time in the future when enough people haven't ever seen it it might drop off the list of all-time classic movies. That said, I'm sure there'll still be people saying something is an all-time classic simply because that's the label it's had on it for years, and not because of the merits of the actual thing itself.

 

I think as we accell further and further into the future many of our beloved classics will be forgotten. I can see Gran Torino popping up on that list within the next 50 years, same for The Dark Knight.