DVD Generation
My generation is very interesting. Really. No, I mean it! Movie wise, we are defined, like it or not, by a trilogy. No other generation, since the dawn of motion picture, can lay that claim. The one that follows my own is defined by Titanic. I know 90% of those born after 1980 would complain about that, but tough. It's the female half of your generation that made it the top grossing movie of all time so you're stuck with it. And the men can't complain because these are the women that they'll be sticking their collective penis in, so TOUCH.
Where was I? Oh yes, the Trilogy. I will capitalize it, like the Trinity, because the Trilogy actually has more meaning for the people my age than the Trinity. We can actually probably move that down to trinity. Here's the problem: the Trilogy does not exist as it once did. George Lucas, like John Hughes before him (who was the defining film maker of our generation [Breakfast Club, Sweet Sixteen, Ferris Bueller] until he made Home Alone) has sold out his devoutees. The Generation which was not his, but which he helped define.
I think that's the reason for the betrayal right there: neither of these men REALLY understood their core audiences, which in fact were one in the same. And how could they? They didn't grow up with us. They didn't get to have the same experiences at the same times. And as a result, there's no way for them to realize just how important their art was to defining those experiences.
And becasue 2 of my generation's cultural icons have been stolen from us, we've decided to usurp a cultural icon from the one that follows us: the DVD. The fact is, they owned it dead to rights. There's no reason to even pretend that my generation WASN'T when VHS beat down Beta max and tranformed the TV from an appliance to the center of the entertainment universe. That was my generation. The one after us featured the DVD beating down the VHS unmercifully. Thanks for the memories now go away.
But we're taking that, thanks. It just FEELS like it should belong to us. It's like the movies of my time were MADE for the format. And most importantly, THEE movies, the Trilogy, of our generation, was made for the format. Yet we'll never get to see it in the format. Ever. Becasue the old man who really doesn't understand us, is taking that away from us. It's not enough that he's bastardizing the Trilogy's name with his recent set of films (which I like, a lot, but would never try to defend as they are indefensible).
Yesterday a star wars trilogy (not capitalized on purpose) was released on DVD. But this is the flashier updated "finished" version. The version that Lucus feels is the actual trilogy. I haven't watched it yet, but I know already that it will be missing something. A certain quality that made it the Trilogy. Lucas would call it "datedness" but I call it "autheticity". What we're getting is a lie. My generation has gotten a lot of those. We're the first that was told in no uncertain terms that you're not going anywhere without a college degree. We're the first to live our entire lives without a deep rooted trust in our Government and our President. At least our parents got to Believe for the first 18 or so years of their lives. We're the first to have to deal with AIDS, something far worse than the clap or herpes, bad enough to keep us virgins a few years longer than required. And the current president, the seoncd from our parent's time, George Lucas's time, don't get me started.
So why should the DVD I bought yesterday not be a lie also? It's not REALLY THE STAR WARS TRILOGY. It is in fact a star wars trilogy. The one I grew up LOVING and ADORING was not good enough it seems. Think about that. It wasn't good enough so it needed to be changed. Does that make us NOT good enough, as a generation? Maybe. So we're going to take the DVD format and make it our own to make US better, too. We're going to watch 4 different versions of trailers, becasue we're the ones that made it so you get to have 5 or 6 of those things in front of your movie rather than just 1 or 2. We're the ones that LOVE the making of footage becasue we told HBO and Showtime to show behind the scenes specials in the 80's. We're going to eat up deleted scenes and directors cuts. Why? Becasue we know it's the whole that matters. And not always the finished product. And if you fall in love with something you love IT and the periferals that make up it (trailers, making-ofs and deleted scenes). Not what it's NOT (digital affects and Jabba the Hutt one Episode too early).
If anybody knows how to copy a VHS over to a DVD, I'd like to actually own MY Trilogy on MY format, leagal or other wise.
Reason # 302 not to vote for W: He's never sat through the Trilogy start to finish with a group of his friends on a rainy Saturday at the Cheeto.
Where was I? Oh yes, the Trilogy. I will capitalize it, like the Trinity, because the Trilogy actually has more meaning for the people my age than the Trinity. We can actually probably move that down to trinity. Here's the problem: the Trilogy does not exist as it once did. George Lucas, like John Hughes before him (who was the defining film maker of our generation [Breakfast Club, Sweet Sixteen, Ferris Bueller] until he made Home Alone) has sold out his devoutees. The Generation which was not his, but which he helped define.
I think that's the reason for the betrayal right there: neither of these men REALLY understood their core audiences, which in fact were one in the same. And how could they? They didn't grow up with us. They didn't get to have the same experiences at the same times. And as a result, there's no way for them to realize just how important their art was to defining those experiences.
And becasue 2 of my generation's cultural icons have been stolen from us, we've decided to usurp a cultural icon from the one that follows us: the DVD. The fact is, they owned it dead to rights. There's no reason to even pretend that my generation WASN'T when VHS beat down Beta max and tranformed the TV from an appliance to the center of the entertainment universe. That was my generation. The one after us featured the DVD beating down the VHS unmercifully. Thanks for the memories now go away.
But we're taking that, thanks. It just FEELS like it should belong to us. It's like the movies of my time were MADE for the format. And most importantly, THEE movies, the Trilogy, of our generation, was made for the format. Yet we'll never get to see it in the format. Ever. Becasue the old man who really doesn't understand us, is taking that away from us. It's not enough that he's bastardizing the Trilogy's name with his recent set of films (which I like, a lot, but would never try to defend as they are indefensible).
Yesterday a star wars trilogy (not capitalized on purpose) was released on DVD. But this is the flashier updated "finished" version. The version that Lucus feels is the actual trilogy. I haven't watched it yet, but I know already that it will be missing something. A certain quality that made it the Trilogy. Lucas would call it "datedness" but I call it "autheticity". What we're getting is a lie. My generation has gotten a lot of those. We're the first that was told in no uncertain terms that you're not going anywhere without a college degree. We're the first to live our entire lives without a deep rooted trust in our Government and our President. At least our parents got to Believe for the first 18 or so years of their lives. We're the first to have to deal with AIDS, something far worse than the clap or herpes, bad enough to keep us virgins a few years longer than required. And the current president, the seoncd from our parent's time, George Lucas's time, don't get me started.
So why should the DVD I bought yesterday not be a lie also? It's not REALLY THE STAR WARS TRILOGY. It is in fact a star wars trilogy. The one I grew up LOVING and ADORING was not good enough it seems. Think about that. It wasn't good enough so it needed to be changed. Does that make us NOT good enough, as a generation? Maybe. So we're going to take the DVD format and make it our own to make US better, too. We're going to watch 4 different versions of trailers, becasue we're the ones that made it so you get to have 5 or 6 of those things in front of your movie rather than just 1 or 2. We're the ones that LOVE the making of footage becasue we told HBO and Showtime to show behind the scenes specials in the 80's. We're going to eat up deleted scenes and directors cuts. Why? Becasue we know it's the whole that matters. And not always the finished product. And if you fall in love with something you love IT and the periferals that make up it (trailers, making-ofs and deleted scenes). Not what it's NOT (digital affects and Jabba the Hutt one Episode too early).
If anybody knows how to copy a VHS over to a DVD, I'd like to actually own MY Trilogy on MY format, leagal or other wise.
Reason # 302 not to vote for W: He's never sat through the Trilogy start to finish with a group of his friends on a rainy Saturday at the Cheeto.
posted by RauluaP at 1:52 PM
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