Post by drystyx on Dec 1, 2020 18:21:48 GMT
I don't know when I originally joined the original IMDB, but I believe it was in the nineties, and I surely noticed this and said it to others around 1992, when I began my health conscious turn around.
Already, "mainstays" were being a thing of the past, with the advancement of cable. Back in the seventies, only the most elite rich had cable, and most didn't even have color TV till about 1980. People got information and culture from Associated Press, the local radio station which used the same press outlets, the same three or four magazines in doctor offices and libraries, and three TV stations, if their antenna could even pick those up. The two VHS stations were all most people could see more than fuzz on.
There were maybe a dozen major movies made a year. Sure, there were more drive in movies, but only the elite rich could afford a drive in more than twice a year. And that includes those who climbed the wall to get into the drive in. Only the elite were allowed to stay in, same as today. The mob patrolled everything in those days, too.
So, you had what are known as "mainstays", phrases that over half the people at school or work would know. The same news, the same information, the same TV shows. Not everyone knew, but nearly everyone knew that Edith was a dingbat, that Rudolph had an elf and a miner for friends on the island of misfit toys, things like that. Nearly everyone knew all the character actors-Edgar Buchanan, Ben Johnson, Peter Lorre, Walter Mattheau, because there weren't very many. The pot only had a few hundred ingredients to remember.
But it was obvious in the eighties, with more people getting cable, that there were now thousands of ingredients in the pot, and thousands of pots, and no one could be expected to get the same information as someone else.
Hence, we came upon an age of "cult classic", because there could no longer be any "mainstay".
I remarked how there were practically no mainstays any more. And each person lives in a private little bubble. Many of these people expect everyone to know that bubble, because that bubble has a hundred other bubble dwellers from the billions of living humans today.
And why not? When a hundred people tell you that "everyone knows (insert name here)", you figure everyone knows that name, or that phrase, or that story. You've just spent all day joking about it with a hundred people.
I say this after scrolling down Face Book and seeing perhaps fifty me-me things, and not one of them did I understand, except for the usual "hate or love Trump" or "love animal" me-me. All of them that weren't generalized in such a way, I had no idea what was being presented. I don't even know if they were jokes or serious or based on something in a movie or what.
Now, lets take movies. I watch some movies just to review them and post on IMDB, and that's the only reason I know them. They aren't "mainstays" by any means, but there are many on this website who feel that some of these are well known, even though they aren't.
I try to be careful. I consider "Blazing Saddles", "Monty Python and the Holy Grail", "Dr. Strange Glove (I separate those words so I don't see that irritating spell check line)" and "Rocky Horror" all mainstays. They were near the end of the mainstay era.
But, maybe they aren't mainstays. With the birth of so many people since then, how are the new people supposed to know all the mainstays while keeping up with the dorks who insist on only the newest fad being worth anything. I know, I shouldn't label people "dorks", so lets call the opposite number, like me, "nerds" and "jocks", who like whatever works, and "dorks" the ones who just like whatever is new.
I used to be a dork, so I'm not being arrogant. When you're young, you want to fit in, but nerds and jocks just don't care. That's why dorks don't get much respect in real life. I'm amazed when I see some young squirt who isn't a dork. It's tough to go against the crowd when you're young.
Mathematically, there simply is no way any TV show or movie in this century can be a "mainstay", no matter how many awards it is nominated for.
What looks like "exceptions" aren't exceptions, because they're remakes of mainstays or of classic stories. You can make a new movie about Cinderella, Pinocchio, Lord of the Rings, Star Trek, and still be a mainstay because those were already mainstays.
But, we'll take a poll. Remember, in this poll, just pick those you think are "mainstays" that most people would know. As a criteria, I say use this: You're on a bus with ten people. There's an old man sitting next to you, making love to his tonic and gin, and he's a drunk. There's an old lady next to him, calling him names, but drinking his gin. There's an old Mexican couple who sit quietly, and when they speak, they speak broken English. These four are over old. I mean real OLD! They're like FORTY!!! (I used to use that line as a Grim Reaper in costume acts for birthday parties).
Four of the others are young people. One is a young man who sits in the back and jokes around. The girl sitting next to him jokes, but reads a book when he's not looking, and it's a Science Fiction novel. Another young woman is on her smart phone doing valley girl talk. The other young man wears a biker outfit, and is fairly quiet.
The other two people are maybe in their thirties. A married black couple who are well dressed, and read the Bible at times. They laugh with everyone else, and just sit near the front.
So, the "mainstay" is something you expect at least six of these people to know. Use that for a criteria. Yes, you can count the bus driver, Ralph, and his wife, Alice, who is also on the bus, before he sends her to the Moon.
Now, I put the phrase "IN DETAIL", which means you figure people envision the picture or the words, or both, of the characters.
Since it's mainstays, you can choose more than usual. I'm putting the cap at "34" though, just to keep people from just choosing all of them. That's over two thirds, or close to two thirds.
Already, "mainstays" were being a thing of the past, with the advancement of cable. Back in the seventies, only the most elite rich had cable, and most didn't even have color TV till about 1980. People got information and culture from Associated Press, the local radio station which used the same press outlets, the same three or four magazines in doctor offices and libraries, and three TV stations, if their antenna could even pick those up. The two VHS stations were all most people could see more than fuzz on.
There were maybe a dozen major movies made a year. Sure, there were more drive in movies, but only the elite rich could afford a drive in more than twice a year. And that includes those who climbed the wall to get into the drive in. Only the elite were allowed to stay in, same as today. The mob patrolled everything in those days, too.
So, you had what are known as "mainstays", phrases that over half the people at school or work would know. The same news, the same information, the same TV shows. Not everyone knew, but nearly everyone knew that Edith was a dingbat, that Rudolph had an elf and a miner for friends on the island of misfit toys, things like that. Nearly everyone knew all the character actors-Edgar Buchanan, Ben Johnson, Peter Lorre, Walter Mattheau, because there weren't very many. The pot only had a few hundred ingredients to remember.
But it was obvious in the eighties, with more people getting cable, that there were now thousands of ingredients in the pot, and thousands of pots, and no one could be expected to get the same information as someone else.
Hence, we came upon an age of "cult classic", because there could no longer be any "mainstay".
I remarked how there were practically no mainstays any more. And each person lives in a private little bubble. Many of these people expect everyone to know that bubble, because that bubble has a hundred other bubble dwellers from the billions of living humans today.
And why not? When a hundred people tell you that "everyone knows (insert name here)", you figure everyone knows that name, or that phrase, or that story. You've just spent all day joking about it with a hundred people.
I say this after scrolling down Face Book and seeing perhaps fifty me-me things, and not one of them did I understand, except for the usual "hate or love Trump" or "love animal" me-me. All of them that weren't generalized in such a way, I had no idea what was being presented. I don't even know if they were jokes or serious or based on something in a movie or what.
Now, lets take movies. I watch some movies just to review them and post on IMDB, and that's the only reason I know them. They aren't "mainstays" by any means, but there are many on this website who feel that some of these are well known, even though they aren't.
I try to be careful. I consider "Blazing Saddles", "Monty Python and the Holy Grail", "Dr. Strange Glove (I separate those words so I don't see that irritating spell check line)" and "Rocky Horror" all mainstays. They were near the end of the mainstay era.
But, maybe they aren't mainstays. With the birth of so many people since then, how are the new people supposed to know all the mainstays while keeping up with the dorks who insist on only the newest fad being worth anything. I know, I shouldn't label people "dorks", so lets call the opposite number, like me, "nerds" and "jocks", who like whatever works, and "dorks" the ones who just like whatever is new.
I used to be a dork, so I'm not being arrogant. When you're young, you want to fit in, but nerds and jocks just don't care. That's why dorks don't get much respect in real life. I'm amazed when I see some young squirt who isn't a dork. It's tough to go against the crowd when you're young.
Mathematically, there simply is no way any TV show or movie in this century can be a "mainstay", no matter how many awards it is nominated for.
What looks like "exceptions" aren't exceptions, because they're remakes of mainstays or of classic stories. You can make a new movie about Cinderella, Pinocchio, Lord of the Rings, Star Trek, and still be a mainstay because those were already mainstays.
But, we'll take a poll. Remember, in this poll, just pick those you think are "mainstays" that most people would know. As a criteria, I say use this: You're on a bus with ten people. There's an old man sitting next to you, making love to his tonic and gin, and he's a drunk. There's an old lady next to him, calling him names, but drinking his gin. There's an old Mexican couple who sit quietly, and when they speak, they speak broken English. These four are over old. I mean real OLD! They're like FORTY!!! (I used to use that line as a Grim Reaper in costume acts for birthday parties).
Four of the others are young people. One is a young man who sits in the back and jokes around. The girl sitting next to him jokes, but reads a book when he's not looking, and it's a Science Fiction novel. Another young woman is on her smart phone doing valley girl talk. The other young man wears a biker outfit, and is fairly quiet.
The other two people are maybe in their thirties. A married black couple who are well dressed, and read the Bible at times. They laugh with everyone else, and just sit near the front.
So, the "mainstay" is something you expect at least six of these people to know. Use that for a criteria. Yes, you can count the bus driver, Ralph, and his wife, Alice, who is also on the bus, before he sends her to the Moon.
Now, I put the phrase "IN DETAIL", which means you figure people envision the picture or the words, or both, of the characters.
Since it's mainstays, you can choose more than usual. I'm putting the cap at "34" though, just to keep people from just choosing all of them. That's over two thirds, or close to two thirds.