Tuesday, September 01, 2009

Pop culture references

They can be indexed to which age cohort has the dominant voice in the entertainment media. Hence it seems like 1984 was a hugely significant year for film, rich in lasting reference points. But that's only because the people who were watching those movies as teenagers are now injecting the references into the current culture. But a look at this well-intentioned but naive series of video essays shows how much young film lovers have lost sight of in the 1980s, and how distorted the notion of its lasting relevance will become. Experiment: try watching Ghostbusters now and see if you laugh.