So who's excited for the new Miami Vice movie? Or how about Poseidon? Yet two more motion pictures in a string of 70's and 80's television shows and movies redone and moderized for today's sophisticated movie goer. Do we really need this? Is Hollywood so intellectually bankrupt that is has to crank out retreads and treatments of old television shows on an almost daily basis?
I guess the only way people between the ages of 25 to 45 (a very key advertising demographic, by the way) will go to the movies without their kids is if they are drawn by pure nostalgia. It is sad when people's sense of being is wrapped up primarily in the programs and movies they watched growing up. (Don't get me started on all the 70's and 80's music popping up in commercials...)
Remember the 50's wave of nostalgia that whipped through in the 70's? American Graffiti started it, and along came Happy Days and Laverne and Shirley and a host of other shows and products reminiscent of the 1950's. What makes that wave different is that it was based on a time and aura. They evoked memories of the way life was lived (though idealized). People re-lived their memories of their lives and lifestyles. Today, people are re-living the memory of the lives they lived vicariously through characters in tv and movies--things that already idealized (or parodied) the times in which they were set.
There seems to be a 15-25 year lag now between when something is popular and when Hollywood repackages it and sends it back out to the masses. So what shows or movies will we see 20 years from now?
Where did it all start? I blame The Brady Bunch Movie. There may have been others, but for me, that where this downward spiral began.
You know what? There will be more movies using video game licenses. There have been a few, unsuccessful ones so far, but with kids these days living vicariously though video games instead of tv, you know that movies based on the games will be popular 15-20 years from now. Are you ready for Madden '99: Big Hits on the Big Screen in 2018, or the Kingdom Hearts live-action movie in 2021? They are coming. Maybe even sooner than you think...
I guess the only way people between the ages of 25 to 45 (a very key advertising demographic, by the way) will go to the movies without their kids is if they are drawn by pure nostalgia. It is sad when people's sense of being is wrapped up primarily in the programs and movies they watched growing up. (Don't get me started on all the 70's and 80's music popping up in commercials...)
Remember the 50's wave of nostalgia that whipped through in the 70's? American Graffiti started it, and along came Happy Days and Laverne and Shirley and a host of other shows and products reminiscent of the 1950's. What makes that wave different is that it was based on a time and aura. They evoked memories of the way life was lived (though idealized). People re-lived their memories of their lives and lifestyles. Today, people are re-living the memory of the lives they lived vicariously through characters in tv and movies--things that already idealized (or parodied) the times in which they were set.
There seems to be a 15-25 year lag now between when something is popular and when Hollywood repackages it and sends it back out to the masses. So what shows or movies will we see 20 years from now?
- 7th Heaven (starring Freddie Prinze Jr as the father)
- Shawshank (a remake of Shawshank Redemption)
- Idol: Making of a Superstar (We may see this one this summer!)
- Frasier (starring James Van Der Beek as Frasier)
- NYPD Blue (but set in Vegas)
- Who Wants to be a Millionaire (Yes! A gameshow becomes a movie!)
- Friends (starring any kid who is on Nickelodeon now)
Where did it all start? I blame The Brady Bunch Movie. There may have been others, but for me, that where this downward spiral began.
You know what? There will be more movies using video game licenses. There have been a few, unsuccessful ones so far, but with kids these days living vicariously though video games instead of tv, you know that movies based on the games will be popular 15-20 years from now. Are you ready for Madden '99: Big Hits on the Big Screen in 2018, or the Kingdom Hearts live-action movie in 2021? They are coming. Maybe even sooner than you think...
posted by BG at 13:49
2 comments
