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Staying Power




Why is it that some artistic endeavors survive the test of time better than others? If you have been on this Earth for more than thirty years, this is probably something that you have experienced first-hand. Music, movies, or TV shows that seemed great when you were a kid, make you cringe now. You can’t blame it all on the fact that the show or music was aimed at a young audience and you are an adult now. No, some of it just didn’t age well.

Sometimes it can be blamed on changing cultural sensibilities. James Bond’s quasi-raping of Pussy Galore doesn’t go over as well today as it did in 1965. In fact, the early James Bond films had a lot of moments like that. I truly do cringe when I see that now, and I know I didn’t the first time I saw it. The later James Bond films still objectified women, but at least the rapeyness was gone. Similarly, minority stereotypes are a tough sell to today’s audience, like dumbed down black servants that were played for comic relief in 1940’s movies. Such a scene ruins the movie for a modern viewer. The world has changed.

I have always been a fan of science fiction. Science fiction on screen usually requires special effects. Special effects have evolved greatly over the past 70 years. From wobbly models of rockets dangling on wires to stop motion animation of dinosaurs, to modern CGI: special effects help paint the picture. When I was younger, special effects were part of the attraction. We gauged how good a show was by how good the effects were (things blowing up were always a special treat). There is no question that old movies with cheesy special effects just look silly today. But good believable special effects were no guarantee that the show was going to age well. Example: Every Irwin Allen TV show from the 1960’s:   Lost in Space, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, The Time Tunnel, Land of the Giants. In these shows the production design and special effects were excellent and hold up well even today. It is not the effects that are the problem, it is the scripts. Some of the characters are just too dumb to be believed. Scientist say things that no scientist would ever say. Plus, they all tend to follow a formula. Someone told me once that if Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea started at 7:30, he could guarantee that there would be an electrical fire at 7:35.

In the music world, I think people just get tired of a form or style after a while. 1950’s pop songs were resplendent with piano chords that would repeat continuously throughout the song. In the 1960’s Surfin’ music was king for a while. The 1970’s had disco. All of these things (and more) wore out their welcome.

It is easier to figure out why certain pieces or performances have not aged well, than it is to figure out why some have aged well. Why are Shakespeare’s plays still popular 400 years after his death when almost all of his contemporaries and almost all of the playwrights that followed for the next 300 years have been nearly forgotten? Why can Unchained Melody by the Righteous Brothers, still pack the same emotional punch it did when it was recorded in 1965? Why does 2001: A Space Odyssey look and feel like it could have been made last year? The simple answer is: quality. They were able to touch the human psyche in a way that most cannot. But how to measure, quantify or predict quality is as elusive as
“. . . the sweet sound
That breathes upon a bank of violets,
Stealing and giving odor . . .”
What makes an artistic endeavor good, as opposed to one that is simply popular for the moment, I leave to the philosophers.
“O time, thou must untangle this, not I.
It is too hard a knot for me to untie.”

Thank you to Mr. Shakespeare for the use of his quotes that have stood the test of time.

(My science fiction novel Star Liner, is now available in paperback or as an e-book through Amazon and other online sources).

Link to Star Liner

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