Mike Teacher
11-02-2003, 11:03 AM
Ron is good. Very good.
This week there was quite a lot of talk of movies. And a bit about an article about people who were legends in the 1950s who are unknown now, not because they died, but because they're still alive and all but forgotten.
ANYway, here's an example of good 'time-machining' meaning the ability to remember not only a movie, but the societal Vibe that they movie created.
Example: He brought up Poltergeist. He shows it to someone young, and theyre like, huh? what?
But Ron remembers, as do I, that even though Poltergeist in 2003 may come off as a snoozer, when this movie came out of theatres, it literally exploded.
Like Alien, and Jaws, and others, but not Many others, it was like there were NO other movies playing.
Did you Hear about it?
Oh my God I heard the part about the swimming pool.
I heard it's way too scary for anyone under 21
This is what people were saying, and saying it all over. If you were grabbing your smokes in the 7-11 and you mentioned you were on your way to see Poltergeist, youd get a reaction from some people in line. Bars? Clubs? You mentioned it, you knew you had yourself a conversation started. It was That Hot.
Maybe, it's as they discussed, movie trailers today often are a compilation of the Very Best Moments of the movie, and who wants to see that ahead of time. Remember getting surprised???
THIS is another reason Movies like Poltergiest and ALien worked, and caused such a social stir.
You didnt know Shit about the movie before you went in. The internet? in 1979? I dunno, was it ARPANET still? But there were No discussion groups, no downloads of the movie, no press kits with practically the entire movie plot given away in text and pictures. Basically no spoilers; it was not difficult to go into Alien, or Poltergeist, with absolutely No idea what it was about, or what it looked like.
Hell, the Trailers didnt show Shit.
Example: Alien.
No one else remembers how badly people were freaked about this movie? I mean people debating whether to see it or not as they watched the crowd leaving who just saw it, watching people who obviously had had the shit scared out of them.
The Alien Trailer and TV commercial? A Picture of an Egg, and the words 'in space, no one can hear you scream'. That was it. Poltergeist? Cant remember for sure, but I think the entire Trailer was the snowy TV and the girl saying her line.
I remember Time or Newsweek had a story on Alien, and the pictures they had showed almost Nothing. And no one gave it away.
All I know is I saw it in theatres 3 times when it came out. All three times Not a Soul relaxed during the movie. I mean, people were nervous and dreading whatever the fuck it was that was so bad you could hear the screams from way out here in the lobby.
And as for the has-been who faded away. It is indeed difficult to remember but there was a time where people we laugh at were The Shit. I mean IT. Everyone wanted them.
The Osbournes. The day after the first show aired, America went Osbourne. It didnt last long, but it was fucking everywhere. It's all you heard about.
Weird.
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This message was edited by Mike Teacher on 11-2-03 @ 3:14 PM
This week there was quite a lot of talk of movies. And a bit about an article about people who were legends in the 1950s who are unknown now, not because they died, but because they're still alive and all but forgotten.
ANYway, here's an example of good 'time-machining' meaning the ability to remember not only a movie, but the societal Vibe that they movie created.
Example: He brought up Poltergeist. He shows it to someone young, and theyre like, huh? what?
But Ron remembers, as do I, that even though Poltergeist in 2003 may come off as a snoozer, when this movie came out of theatres, it literally exploded.
Like Alien, and Jaws, and others, but not Many others, it was like there were NO other movies playing.
Did you Hear about it?
Oh my God I heard the part about the swimming pool.
I heard it's way too scary for anyone under 21
This is what people were saying, and saying it all over. If you were grabbing your smokes in the 7-11 and you mentioned you were on your way to see Poltergeist, youd get a reaction from some people in line. Bars? Clubs? You mentioned it, you knew you had yourself a conversation started. It was That Hot.
Maybe, it's as they discussed, movie trailers today often are a compilation of the Very Best Moments of the movie, and who wants to see that ahead of time. Remember getting surprised???
THIS is another reason Movies like Poltergiest and ALien worked, and caused such a social stir.
You didnt know Shit about the movie before you went in. The internet? in 1979? I dunno, was it ARPANET still? But there were No discussion groups, no downloads of the movie, no press kits with practically the entire movie plot given away in text and pictures. Basically no spoilers; it was not difficult to go into Alien, or Poltergeist, with absolutely No idea what it was about, or what it looked like.
Hell, the Trailers didnt show Shit.
Example: Alien.
No one else remembers how badly people were freaked about this movie? I mean people debating whether to see it or not as they watched the crowd leaving who just saw it, watching people who obviously had had the shit scared out of them.
The Alien Trailer and TV commercial? A Picture of an Egg, and the words 'in space, no one can hear you scream'. That was it. Poltergeist? Cant remember for sure, but I think the entire Trailer was the snowy TV and the girl saying her line.
I remember Time or Newsweek had a story on Alien, and the pictures they had showed almost Nothing. And no one gave it away.
All I know is I saw it in theatres 3 times when it came out. All three times Not a Soul relaxed during the movie. I mean, people were nervous and dreading whatever the fuck it was that was so bad you could hear the screams from way out here in the lobby.
And as for the has-been who faded away. It is indeed difficult to remember but there was a time where people we laugh at were The Shit. I mean IT. Everyone wanted them.
The Osbournes. The day after the first show aired, America went Osbourne. It didnt last long, but it was fucking everywhere. It's all you heard about.
Weird.
<IMG SRC="http://members.aol.com/miketeachr/sig3">
This message was edited by Mike Teacher on 11-2-03 @ 3:14 PM