The Best Classic Movies for People Who Don’t Watch Older Films — IndieWire Critics Survey (IndieWire)

Interesting article about millennials not caring about older films. IndieWire highlights a list of “one film — the right film — could change their minds.” From IndieWire,

A recent article (based on a very unscientific poll) argued that millennials don’t really care about old movies. Maybe that’s true, and maybe it isn’t, but the fact remains that many people disregard classic cinema on principle. These people are missing out, but it only takes one film — the right film — to change their minds and forever alter their viewing habits.

Later in the piece Vadim Rizov (@vrizov), Filmmaker Magazine writes,

I also don’t understand why millennials need to see older films. There’s an assumption here, I guess, that it’s valuable to have some kind of shared national cultural reference points, the “shared monoculture as uniter” concept, but I’m not so sure that’s true.

I’m not sure why it’s important for anybody without the interest for something outside of their cultural intake comfort zone to sit down and watch “Rear Window.” I’m sure they can find other things to do with their time, and not everybody needs to care about movies. They already don’t.

The other thing is that people used to sit and watch older movies on TV for hours at a time simply because they had nothing better to do. Now people have tons of “content” they can consume, so they’re not sharing a collective, inertia-driven intake of older movies, and that’s not coming back, so it’s logical that fewer younger people would be watching older movies.

If you don’t enjoy film, I get the comments above. If you’re consumed only with media created by and for your generation, your youth, I also get that. But to lump an entire generation into one category seems as limiting as assuming everyone needs to watch classic film. I know many people who don’t embrace classic film. That’s fine. But I disagree completely with the idea that since we all have access to streaming services on the device in our pocket, we no longer need to see Hitchcock films. I watched very few classic films in my 20’s. It wasn’t until I moved to NYC in my 30’s and had access to Kim’s Videos and Two Boots Video that I began delving into classic film. I never hit the retrospective theaters until after I discovered classics at home on VHS. So it’s fine to give millennials space to come to the party late like I did. But as a media blogger, I would continue to encourage any one at any age to give older films a try. We live in an era where a certain type of film gets made. These films don’t appeal to many people. Perhaps another group of films from another time may speak more authentically to those alienated by superheroes and violence. I know I’m generalizing here, but hopefully you catch my drift.

Read the full article on IndieWire.
Browse Reel Charlie’s category Classic (which doesn’t always mean older films).