Author Topic: Can a Movie Really be Dated?  (Read 10122 times)

Lobby

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Re: Can a Movie Really be Dated?
« Reply #10 on: October 18, 2011, 12:21:50 PM »
I don't think old technology, crappy special effects, black and white and such matters. It adds a lovely patina and can even give beauty and maturity to a movie. No problem.

When I think of "dated" I think more of stereotypes of for instance gender. While I think that those movies need to be valued from the context they were made in, I can't deny that it takes away a bit of a pleasure of watching them. Or rather - I can only put up with ever so much of them before I feel that I've had an overdose. Hence for instance my lack of participation in the Bond marathon. While I can think that an occasional Bond movie has its charm, too much of it just gets on my mood.

Interesting enough there are movies made even this year that are pretty much dated in their views on gender and sexuality. I have less patience with those than with movies from the 60s expressing the same thing.
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FroHam X

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Re: Can a Movie Really be Dated?
« Reply #11 on: October 18, 2011, 12:24:51 PM »
Ugh, verBALs, subjectivity is a given. I just don't feel the need to add "for me" to the end of every sentence. It should be assumed that not everyone would agree with what I'm saying. I'm simply talking broadly about the idea of the term "dated" being relatively neutral until it poses a hinderance to the effectiveness or enjoyment of a film.
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Sam the Cinema Snob

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Re: Can a Movie Really be Dated?
« Reply #12 on: October 18, 2011, 12:29:27 PM »
All I know is that Days of Heaven is timeless.  ;)

FroHam X

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Re: Can a Movie Really be Dated?
« Reply #13 on: October 18, 2011, 12:33:07 PM »
Days of Heaven is dated. It fits into the ouvre of 70s American cinema quite easily. It looks like a film from the 70s because of the film stock, and the sound is the same. The acting is different from the kind of acting we're used to today. Ultimately, because it was made when it was made it is inherently dated. But it is a dated film that completely overcomes that date to be, as you said, sort of timeless.
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MartinTeller

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Re: Can a Movie Really be Dated?
« Reply #14 on: October 18, 2011, 12:34:24 PM »
I think films can be dated in ways that bother you and ways that don't.  I find films from the silent era more difficult to get into because they are presenting interactions between characters in inefficient ways.  But I'm not bothered by the lack of dialogue in a Ming-liang Tsai film because they are so often about the lack of communication, or characters in isolation.  Fashions of the 80's are gaudy and call attention to themselves.  Fashions of the 50's are sophisticated, aesthetically pleasant, and in their conformity, less distracting.  A synthesizer score can sound inappropriate to the material.  The washed-out color palette of American films of the 70's is visually unappealing to me.  The eye-popping hues of the Technicolor era are a visual delight.
« Last Edit: October 18, 2011, 12:40:21 PM by MartinTeller »

verbALs

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Re: Can a Movie Really be Dated?
« Reply #15 on: October 18, 2011, 12:37:02 PM »
Ugh, verBALs, subjectivity is a given. I just don't feel the need to add "for me" to the end of every sentence. It should be assumed that not everyone would agree with what I'm saying. I'm simply talking broadly about the idea of the term "dated" being relatively neutral until it poses a hinderance to the effectiveness or enjoyment of a film.
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jim brown

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Re: Can a Movie Really be Dated?
« Reply #16 on: October 18, 2011, 12:40:23 PM »
If I watch a movie that I feel is "dated" - it does not necessarily diminish the pleasure I get from the movie.  Sometimes it enhances it.

When I watch The President's Analyst, for example, I relish all the stylisms and attitudes of the 60s. 
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Bondo

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Re: Can a Movie Really be Dated?
« Reply #17 on: October 18, 2011, 12:59:26 PM »
This reminds me of my one appearance on the podcast, calling with feminist concerns of Rashomon). The guys basically said it isn't fair to apply this modern concern over a film of that era, but I couldn't help it. Rashomon was really offensive in its treatment of the one woman in the film and it leads to pretty bad interpretations.

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Re: Can a Movie Really be Dated?
« Reply #18 on: October 18, 2011, 01:01:58 PM »
In my opinion, a film is not dated, but rather reflects an historical perspective that is different from those of the current time in which the film is being viewed. Some people will call that dated, and that is fine, but I do disagree with it as a criticism. And sometimes that difference in perspective either does not exist or is, as they say, timeless.

And as for things like dated effects or styles, that falls under the same category too. It must be taken into account that a film made in the 70s is not going to have the same polished look of effects produced today. And sometimes the film is better for it. These things do not diminish my enjoyment of any particular film, and in fact can sometimes add thoughtful reflection when taking history into consideration.

But I also accept people who think differently than I do, like my entire group of friends who struggle with anything over about 20 years old, have any language other than English, and isn't a film everyone has heard of. But I assume we all have friends like that. I have come to accept the fact that any silent, foreign, or black and white film will probably be watched by myself.

P.S. To directly answer the question posed, if you want to date a movie, go for it, I usually go for girls though.

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oldkid

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Re: Can a Movie Really be Dated?
« Reply #19 on: October 18, 2011, 01:05:19 PM »
Of course, a sense of being "dated" is subjective.  But still, what is it?

To me, it isn't the idea that I notice that the film was made in a particular era.  That only enhances a film, as far as I'm concerned.

Rather, it is a cultural disconnect between the past and my present that draws me out of a film.  An old horror film (with some exceptions) might be perfectly dated because I can laugh at the whole thing-- The Thing From Another World is like that for me.  The costumes are hokey, but the whole thing has a comedy feel, so it all is thrown in together.

Where I really feel a "dated" film is when it pulls me from the film.  I may be connecting to the characters and going with the story when suddenly there is something so unrealistic that it jars me out of the haze I was in.  Time travel movies do this all the time, not because of their portrayal of the "present" of a film, but their portrayal of the future or (especially distant) past.  BttF avoided this, but not the second one, where the portrayal of the future was just silly-- and even Doc's wardrobe at the end of the first one was awful- however that might fit Doc's character.

Special effects falls in this area because the technology may seem so dated that it no longer feels realistic or innovative so it pulls us out of the film.  So the important factor, to me, is the "jarring effect"-- that's when a movie is "dated" in a bad way.
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