Raiders Of The Lost Generation

I travel on public transport every weekday, and occasionally like to share overheard conversations from fellow passengers that relate to TV or film. To that end, here's a transcript (only slightly embellished for comic effect) of a mild argument I overheard from two teenagers (a redheaded girl and her pink Mohican haircutted boyfriend).

Mohican: Why would I want to watch old movies? Old movies are pretty shit.
Redhead: No, they can be good! You should watch, like, the old Indiana Jones films.
Mohican: Ugh, no way. I've seen 'em.
Redhead: You haven't seen them.
Mohican: Well, I've seen the last one.
Redhead: That's the last one. That one wasn't good, but the old ones are so cool.
Mohican: But they were made back in the '80s, or something!

I think what troubled me about this moment of eavesdropping is that both people were probably 18, although the Mohican guy could pass for 25, and it suddenly dawned on me that there's a generation of people (born after 1990) who seriously haven't seen many films pre-1989. Even worse, isn't Indiana Jones an established classic that EVERYONE has seen? It kind of blew my mind to consider that, no, some people have only seen Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull and, because of how bad it was, have NO intention of seeing the original trilogy. Curse you, Lucas!

Basically, it annoyed me to realize that (a) some people are so limited in their tastes and consider "old movies" inherently crap, and (b) that modern sequels tarnish the originals in the minds of today's young moviegoers. Are there kids out there who haven't seen the original Star Wars, so just think about Jar Jar Binks and a CGI Yoda when they think "Star Wars"? Quite possibly.

And yes, it also made me feel very old, and I'm only 31. But clearly there's a generation gap opening up below me. And yes, when I was 18 back in 1997, was I interested in the movies of the '70s? Well, not so much. So maybe I'm being a hypocrit here, but... c'mon, THAT GUY HASN'T SEEN RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK, BUT IT'S LEGAL FOR HIM TO BUY ALCOHOL, DRIVE A CAR, AND VOTE!

It's just not right, is it?

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