First of all, and sadly, the answer to the topic question is Yes. But that's normal, we are now 70 years and counting from the 1930s, about three generations. Knowledge of pop culture has everything to do with exposure and proximity.
The further away we are from the 30s, the less we see of 30s film and, of course, the smaller the number of people there are around who remember the era, either personally or second hand like myself. A while back, I off-handely mentioned Clark Gable's name to someone. She didn't recognize the name. I had to say, "You know, the guy who played Rhett Butler in Gone With the Wind." She got that but she'd never heard of It Happened One Night or The Misfits. Speaking of The Misfits (a b&w film made when every other movie was color), this bias against black and white films is one that always gets me. And it's not just "kids." I know a fair number of adults in their forties and fifties who simply will not watch a black and white movie. On the other hand, people who won't watch a film because it's not in color aren't likely to appreciate Sunset Boulevard, Double Indemnity, Paths of Glory or even The Last Picture Show, come to that. And it doesn't have anything to do with them only liking color movies. It's about taste. They just don't have any. Dave ----- Original Message ----- From: Glenn Taranto To: [email protected] Sent: Tuesday, February 10, 2009 11:53 AM Subject: Re: [MOPO] Will Film stars of the 30s be forgotten? One big part of the problem... You can't get kids to watch black and white movies. They'll never know the joys of THE THIN MAN, THE MALTESE FALCON, or whatever else you can think of... I absolutely know several actors who have never even seen IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE because it's in black and white. They've just never bothered to watch it. These are actors for God's sake. How can you expect anyone to know who some of these people are if they've never seen them... At that point you have to forget them ever watching a silent movie unless they are in a film class... So it adds up to the fact that they'll never know about these stars. That's just really sad. Glenn T. Visit the MoPo Mailing List Web Site at www.filmfan.com ___________________________________________________________________ How to UNSUBSCRIBE from the MoPo Mailing List Send a message addressed to: [email protected] In the BODY of your message type: SIGNOFF MOPO-L The author of this message is solely responsible for its content.
