_trailer_1.jpeg)
I'm sorry darling. I don't know if they
want some of this treasure?!
Thanks Errol… I’ll take it from here. With all the new films coming out nowadays, the majority of people (or in this case, people in the 18-35 age group) have practically forsaken any films made prior to 1970. Films that at one point, moved mountains and changed the cultural landscape, are tragically fading away. In most cases even films made between 1970-2000, are being abandoned. For instance, there is a whole generation of cinephiles who are just now finding out how monumental Goodfellas is. This disturbing pattern started slowly at the beginning, mainly because of the slow pace new content was created. Then practically overnight, streaming services came in and the classics were indirectly told to hit the road. Now these classics are endangered and there must be some kind of intervention. Some say “Oh well, these films had their time. Give the new creators a chance”. To that I say, what choice do we have?! Sure present day filmmakers, are the ones who hold the reigns. Streaming services and other major media conglomerates are only interested in the new new. So when it comes to film, the term obsolescence takes on a whole new meaning. It seems apparent that the new content and the classics of yore cannot cohabitate. Why you ask? Answer being, there’s no financial gain from championing the classics.
“Waddaya mean you ain’t seen Goodfellas?!”
Why would a streaming company spend their marketing budget trying to promote Gone with the Wind, when Marvel is going to release a new film? Who would watch the silent film classic, City Lights when you could watch (yet another) Fast and the Furious sequel? So where does that leave us? Well, for all of us who still love classics, the people in charge brainstormed and came up with a not so brilliant idea. Lets “remake” the classics (I’m looking at you Disney)!…🤨🤨🙄🙄. The perverse idea here is that by simply remaking the classics for a younger audience, that that might spark enough interest in the original film. While in theory this sounds like a promising compromise, in the end, it’s completely pointless. Let’s say, a major studio/streaming service decided to remake Bruce Lee’s Enter the Dragon (God that would be awful). People who might not be familiar with who Lee was, could watch the remake and equate it with the original. In most cases however, a remake is poor substitute for the original and just comes off as a quick money grab.
Hi everyone! These are my pals Charlie and Bruce. You might have heard of them?!
Fortunately, there are a number of prominent (and older) filmmakers who ardently promote the validity of the classics. Men like Martin Scorsese, Steven Spielberg, and countless other reputable filmmakers, have noticed this disappointing trend. They have stepped up to the plate and formed an alliance of filmmaking Avengers. These giants have set up The Film Foundation. This organization is making great strides towards ensuring the actual film these classics were shot on, don’t deteriorate before they’re transferred to a reliable medium. While their efforts have been instrumental for the cause of ACTUAL film preservation, what they haven’t figured out yet is how to ensure that these preserved films (God, preserved is a creepy word…) are actually WATCHED by generations of future cinephiles? Fortunately, there might be a way out of this conundrum. With streaming services like the Criterion and Mubi, and of course the TCM channel, more people could have access to vast collections of aged treasures. Libraries across the country, are now stepping up to put their movie collection available to stream, and you know they have all the classic goods. Most importantly is that more and more current filmmakers are noticing that when they let the classics influence their aesthetic and techniques, their work becomes transcendent. Filmmakers like Michel Hazanavicius and Damien Chazelle, who won Oscar gold for their respective films, The Artist and La La Land are clear examples of this. So the moral of the story here ladies and gents is quite simple. Don’t be afraid to explore the “oldies.” Just because some of the themes and other aspects might seem dated, these are still treasures. And we all know, you wouldn't turndown buried treasure.
