Why do some films seem to date/age so badly?

//An aside: Today, when I read/listen to Baradwaj Rangan these days, I wish I had that final year’s time to watch the Japanese, French and whatever movies he mentions. Alas, I have a child, a family, a job and almost no time for all this. But, but, but… I somehow found time to watch all three seasons of Bridgerton AND read all 8 books from which the series are being made. Clearly, I can’t claim I don’t have time. When I take a break someday, I shall start with the works of Godard et al. Speaking of Bridgerton, yes.. I confess it’s not content I would confess to watching ( heck , I just did.. on a public platform) but when you read the books, you feel weirded out by the treatment: while the industrial revolution was playing havoc with the ordinary man during that time, here is an fantasised account of Mayfair’s Dukes, Earls, Viscounts and barons. Butlers let visitors in (to the lords’ and ladies’ houses) and valets help their earls put on and remove shoes. Maids, chaperones, balls and male heirs. Virgins falling for rakes and vice versa. Makes no sense today. Reality would have been a hotbed of STDs. Anyhow, the series is a tremendous success and yours truly has read them all, watched them all. //

Why do some films seem to date/age so badly?

Most Tamil movies, even the seemingly progressive ones are all written with no input from a woman. So, you have male perspectives on pretty much everything. And that’s why you have a thousand versions of Taming of the Shrew. And women who conveniently drop dead when the script feels they are burdens. And worst of all, chastity, virginity and purity! Vasanth’s ‘Rhythm’ had a widow and a widower finding love. But it’s laughable that he had to portray the widow as a virgin! Speaking of Vasanth and widowers, why couldn’t Radhika’s character have been a divorcee in Keladi Kanmani? Tamil Cinema cannot quite comprehend women and sexuality. And all these movies which touch upon these, age very badly. How on earth did K Balachandar design a script that had JKB’s wife stay with him, raise his child (born to his mistress) in Sindhu Bhairavi? In Gunaa, I can understand the woman feeling some amount of gratitude for Gunaa but why does she decide to be his ‘Abirami’?

Is it better for 2nd generation Western Muslims to marry someone from their parents' country or a western Muslim who was born and raised in the West?

Thanks for the request, Nagarajan Srinivas Sir.

Closer home, consider Kannatthil Mutthamittaal… when I watched it, I decided it was the best thing I have watched. Ever. Today, you realise that Thiruchelvan (Maddy from the handsome days, caught seductively on screen by Ravi K Chandran) was an idiot, to shock Amudha one fine day, to tell her she was adopted… My friend who has adopted a child last year, tells me that adopted children need to be told the truth right from the beginning to ensure that they aren’t shell shocked all of a sudden. In fact, the UK government runs a looooong program to test, select and train adoptive parents and then entrusts them with children.

I doubt I could have savoured Citizen Kane without understanding the technical restrictions of the 1940s. Today, if someone were to make a movie that made heroes of Mafiamen, I would have qualms. But the second movie of the Godfather franchise, I fell in love with. So much that I included Sicily while honeymoon-ing. With films like The Graduate, I swear I was sweating bullets when Benjamin Braddock, played by Dustin Hoffman, ran to the church screaming, ‘Elaine, Elaine’. But today, I feel a sensible Ben would have left Elaine alone. In fact, if there had been a realistic sequel to the movie, it would have Ben and Elaine headed for separation, uncomfortable moments amidst Elaine, Elaine’s mother and Ben… somewhere, I read that Ben was the visual medium version of Holden Caulfield. Made a lot of sense back then. Still does.

Hi everybody! I have been looking at posts on narcs and narc abuse on here and if has really helped me out a lot. I am currently struggling with my situation and need some advice/support. I met a narc last year, everything seemed to good to be true. Love bombing, always texting calling and taking me on dates. Everything changed when someone warned me about him out in public in front of him and who he is. This caused a conflict with us and the love bombing seized. he would tell me that everything is okay and i can come and talk. He would set a time limit on me and kick me out after that. he would then text me like everything was fine and we hung out again and after that he completely ghosted me for one week. He came back and texted me a week later laughing about the ghosting and acting like nothing had happened. he continued to text me ( not like in the beginning) make plans with me, then on the day of the plans he would just ghost me. One day he would act interested the next silence. i contacted him a month later and he acted like nothing happened. He was on a vacation and sent me a picture of another woman ( someone he allegedly met on the trip) to strike a reaction but i never gave him one. After the trip he came to my place and was extremely rude, accusing me of going on dates with a bunch of men. The next day he accused me of being an alcoholic and that he wanted nothing to do with me but said well maybe we can be "friends" then ghosted me i assumed at this point it was over and i would never hear from him again. He contacted me on the holiday a month later acting like everything was great. We ended up hanging out a month or so later and when we hung out it went well, i thought things were going in the right direction. after we hung out.. silence. I would try to text him and if he replied it would be very short then he just stopped replying. He ghosted me for almost three months. I thought he was done this time and of course he popped up again like nothing happened. At this point i was getting sick of if so i questioned him as to why he dissapeared and always does this. Of course he had some sob story about a injury and family member dying of cancer. I felt pity for him and he gave me an apology.. so i took him back stupidly. things seemed to be going smooth for a couple months, of course until his family member died and his injury got better he never contacted me and was distant. Menawhile, i was there for him during the difficult time for him. He lied to me about the funeral and never wanted to chat. I was chasing him and he would always claim nothing was wrong but when i said i thought he used me when he was down he could not handle it and would always tell me he didnt care and to go away. I would get so upset i would try texting him to work it out he would barelt respond and if he did he would not be nice about it. we did hang out a couple times after that, he would ignore me after. One day i was like hey i think you are seeing someone else, and i was like well ixam seeing someone so no problem if you are he said " buy bye good luck with your new guy stop contacting me" i was devastated and tried to get into contact with him for weeks then i just gave up and accepted it was over. He ended up contacting me a month later acting like everything was fine. He wanted to go out and have drinks i told him i would. He and i both seemed to have a great time. He ends up ignoring me again. I kept texting him trying to figure out what was wrong. He kept saying everything was fine and i said ok can we hang out again? He said maybe i was like why? He just kept saying maybe … our last conversation we had… i said what is wrong ? He said nothing is wrong everything is fine. I asked him why he keeps saying maybe. He said " maybe but i dont want to see you right now" i said why? He saix " im just not feeling it, if i wanted to date i would" i said why did you contact me less then a week ago wanting to go out? He said i didnt.. even though he did. So i said should i just move on or what? He said whatever you want to do. So i said that he was really confusing me and asked him if he had anything more to say before i move on? My messages were turning green so i panicked he blocked me and reacted irrationally. I said " omg did you block me? My messages are not going through. Even texted him on my work phone asking what was up. And called him twice ( please dont judge me i know it is pathetic i never was this type of girl before him) so he replied and said " Ok I'll block you now" then immedietly blocked me. He has never blocked me before since I have met him he will just ghost. Is this ths final discard aka " grand finale? Did i just push him too far? this has upset me so much its hard to even function.

‘Relevance’ changes every couple of years or so. Feminism/socialism/individualism/LGBTQ was all new once upon a time… truly radical in the previous generations. But today, while there are varying perspectives on all these thoughts, it is all out in the open. This is why, old films look stale to the watcher. During my final year of engineering, when most of my mates were busy with their project work, I had a different goal: to complete watching the top 100+ movies from IMDB, AFI etc. Along with this, I watched Tamil classics and the odd Indian other language classics like Kokila. And guess what? With every movie I watched, I was transported to the time and place it was made in.

The great romances from 80 years back don’t make any sense at all in 2024. People do not fall in love eternally or treat lost loves like that today. But, when I watched Casablanca, It Happened One Night, Roman Holiday etc, I lapped it all up. And looked dreamily at the walls and ceilings until my mum felt I had to be exorcised.

Films don’t age like fine wine. Unless it is MMKR.

Do snipers lay on top of tank turrets during combat?

Unless it’s comedy because humour is ageless. That’s why my generation watches Michael Madana Kamarajan dozen(s) of times and can recite the jokes like it’s our national anthem. And similarly, the previous generation watches Kadhalikka Neramillai. A close second is mystery but I can’t watch mysteries over and over again… for example, Psycho is brilliant BUT, your heart rate does not enter Zone 5 with the screeching violin soundtrack during subsequent watches.

Non HD is not the only reason you cannot stomach an old movie. ALL films age badly in varying degrees.

Looking at very recent films that will age badly, there’s Vikram. Gayathri, why, why and how did you fall for Amar when you don’t even know what he does for a living? I like handsome and smart men just as much as you do, Gayathri. But!!

What was Easter day like for you as a child?