Dan's Media Digest

MIND THE GAP...

The movie generation gap is widening for me. I'm 27. I was born in 1979. For me, every movie made in the 80's isn't "old-fashioned", just not at technically proficient. But it's worrying how many people I know (born in the mid-80s to early-90s) have such a strange perception of movies from the 70s and 80s...

A great example presented itself only yesterday. A friend born in 1987 was telling me how much he'd enjoyed Superman Returns, but when I mentioned it's a sort of sequel to Superman II he seemed a little confused. I reminded him of the seminal Richard Donner film from 1978 with Christopher Reeve, and its fondly remembered sequel... but he had only a vague inkling that these movies existed! What?!

My Superman DVD was quickly fired up and he was treated to the whooshing 3D credits and opening Krypton prologue with Marlon Brando... and a quizzical look filled his face. He just wasn't sure he could really watch a Superman movie with "cruddy effects".

I know, I know... anyone who gauges their enjoyment of a movie based on its technical merits has their priorities wrong. I turned the DVD off and suggested he watch it some other time, but made sure to whet his appetite by hyping up the brilliant story and acting (the superb Reeve is timeless). I'm sure he'll enjoy them, he's not a phillistine, and perhaps then he'll also see Superman Returns in a new light. I hope so.

But isn't it strange that someone not exposed to very much 80s films has a psychological distance to that film era? Mind you, if I'm honest, it's the same for me too. Films made before 1980 have to be either classics (2001: A Space Odyssey) or recommendations for me to watch them (The French Connection) –- I don't consciously just decide to watch an average film from the 50s and 60s, yet there are plenty of "average" 80s films that hold special places in my heart.

The generation gap is becoming apparent to me as a I approach my 30th birthday. I'm feeling a little old now... how can youngsters not have seen Superman? Are we going to soon be living in a world of teenagers who daren't watch Ghostbusters because of the "fake" ghost effects, or Back To The Future because they don't zip around in time enough, or get chased by prehistoric animals? Hmmm.

To end on a positive note, a 7-year-old I know is completely hooked on Star Wars, including the orginal 70s/80s instalments. It's undoubtedly because his dad is similarly fanatical about them, so perhaps the answer is that all parents must do their duty and ensure their kids are immersed in the modern classics before its too late and they start claiming Independence Day kicks the ass out of Close Encounters...