Thursday, August 17, 2017

I suspect the same goes for books

Millennials don’t really care about classic movies: A new study finds that less than a quarter of millennials have watched a film from start to finish that was made back in the 1940s or 50s and only a third have seen one from the 1960s.

15 comments:

Jeff Meyerson said...

I miss the old days.

In the early 1980s, with the VCR (ask your parents, whippersnappers), suddenly a lot more old movies were easily and cheaply available. I watched nearly everything I could get my hands on from the 1930s and '40s, not only classics but stuff like Blondie movies, cheesy horror, you name it.

And keep off my damn lawn!

Jeff Meyerson said...

Only 28% have seen CASABLANCA.

That's just sad, dude.

mybillcrider said...

I'm with you Jeff. They're missing a lot, but they the probably think I'm missing a lot because I don't listen to the same music they do.

Jeff Meyerson said...

You call that music? Ha!

*gets back on the geezer bus*

Matthew said...

I think I might be considered an a millennial and I've seen a ton of old movies. Even if true I've never saw the point of these articles except to look down on people for being younger.

Greg Daniel said...

Proud to say that I have two of them there Millennials under my roof (for a little longer I hope) and BOTH are fluent in black & white movies. The lass was an early adopter, actually making lists of the stars'names so that she could remember them. The lad was a little slower to come around but he is an advocate now as well. Of course, they didn't have much choice as TCM has been the default background noise in the house since they day they were born.

mybillcrider said...

You've taught them well.

SangorShop said...

I would guess that the 33% who have seen a 50 year old movie now is a lot higher than those who had seen a 50 year old movie in the 1960s. At least I found it hard to find folk who had back then - and those who had had the same reaction young folks complain about today: They are odd and boring. I suspect that young folks 50 years from now would say the same about 2010 movies.

Steven R

Deb said...

My kids are millennials, but--because I had them so late in life--it's as if they were raised by their grandparents. They were raised with boomer pop culture along with the idea that you have to understand what came before in order to understand what came after. They saw plenty of old movies (thank you, TCM)--but some of their friends don't even realize that old movies are in black-and-white!

Anonymous said...

I'm 50 and had never really got into classic movies until a few years ago when I got TCM. Before that, I just couldn't take the terrible picture quality and mushy sound (complete with constant hissing in the background). It's the remastering of the movies that has made me a huge fan.

mybillcrider said...

TCM does have some great-looking prints.

Jeff Meyerson said...

Sorry, but quality is overrated. I saw some great movies in soso (at best prints) - BEAUTY AND THE BEAST (Cocteau's 1946 classic), DIABOLIQUE and THE WAGES OF FEAR, THE BICYCLE THIEF, just to name a few foreign language classics worth seeing under any circumstance.

How have you never seen an old movie? I grew up on New York's Channel 9 with its Million Dollar Movie. They showed the same movie every afternoon for a week and ran it repeatedly on Saturdays. I watched KING KONG and MIGHTY JOE YOUNG ("Put him down, Joe!") over and over.

Now get off my lawn!

Cap'n Bob said...

I watched old movies for much of my youth. They were the ones that informed my movie watching tastes. I won't claim they were all good, but most of them entertained me and I liked their style, pace, and dialogue. I'd watch an old black & white movie over a modern color job any day.

Don Coffin said...

I started watching old movies in grad school...my parents controlled the tube when I was a kid, and, as an undergrad I had no TV. The grad school TV was a 12-inch B&W with a speaker to match. So picture and sound quality were not an issue-whatever was being broadcast our picture and sound were lousy. And no cable. Availability of something to watch was. And so I saw a lot of what one of the Pittsburgh stations...a lot of old westerns (I think I saw everything John Ford ever made), some late 1940s/early 1950s noir...

J. Juday said...

Not all of them. My 12 year old has not yet seen Casablanca, but he watched Errol Flynn's Robin Hood when he was 8, and loved it. He has done acting work, classes and camp, all as a result of seeing that movie!