Art / culture that unites generations

[alohadave]

Us Yanks fixed English for you. Feel free to honor us at our U-averse feet.

I always find it humorous how the Brits had such a reaction to us dropping u's from words that they added u's to words that never had them in the first place.

 

[anthrodisiac]

I assumed even non Trek fans at least understood the reference, kinda like "Luke, I am your father" is known even to people who never saw the film.

The interesting thing was how it evolved. In the original Trek series, anytime a redshirt extra beamed down with the main cast it was a pretty good possibility they'd be dead within minutes.

When The Next Generation came around, most of the main cast including the Captain wore read uniforms. But it still remained true that anytime an unknown security officer or whatever beamed down to a planet with a main character, that extra was pretty much only there to die.

This was such a common thing that Galaxy Quest poked fun at it with Sam Rockwell's character because he was one of those extras that died in an episode and so he spent the movie in fear he was about to die any minute.

There are people who haven't watched Star Wars??? Heresy!

People our age (yours and mine) remember the country as being unified by watching a handful of national channels. But that was only true for roughly a half century.Not having the whole country watching the last episode of M*A*S*H is the norm historically, no matter how normal that feels to us.

That last episode of M*A*S*H is such a gut punch. I've watched M*A*S*H easily 5 times through. It was on a lot in the hospital. You spend enough time there, you watch every episode of M*A*S*H, Cheers, and Fraiser...whether you want to or not.

 

[SimonDoom]

Food.

We all need it. And I think almost all of us enjoy it.

And this is one way in which the world is indisputably better than it used to be. There's more food than there ever was, and the variety and quality of it that's available to the normal person is light-years beyond what it was when I was a kid.

It speaks to all of us. Sit down and have a good meal with someone, and you can have a friend for life. Or a lover.

You can learn about other cultures and peoples by trying their foods.

It's a source of endless metaphors. It's practical, but also sensual and artistic.

 

[Rob_Royale]

For my son's and I it was music. I still remember when my youngest was about 12 and had a karaoke machine that played cassette tapes. He found my old boxes of them. I walked past his room to hear him playing Ozzy's Bark at the Moon.
"Dad! This is so great!"

 

[Cacatua_Galerita]

Food.

Especially Australian Lamb - it bridges the generation gap, according to a 2024 advertisement here.

On most Australia Days (26th Jan) since 2005, Meat & Livestock Australia (meat industry regulator and promoter) release an extended Australian Lamb advertisement, usually starring Sam Kekovich (ex-Australian rules football player).

2024’s ad was about closing the ‘generation gap’. The subtitles have errors (auto-generated) but the story starts in Boomer Town with a ‘boomer’ blissfully unaware that her phone torch (flashlight) is on, then works its way through many other generational stereotypes until common ground is found.

 

[ShelbyDawn57]

Especially Australian Lamb - it bridges the generation gap, according to a 2024 advertisement here.

On most Australia Days (26th Jan) since 2005, Meat & Livestock Australia (meat industry regulator and promoter) release an extended Australian Lamb advertisement, usually starring Sam Kekovich (ex-Australian rules football player).

2024’s ad was about closing the ‘generation gap’. The subtitles have errors (auto-generated) but the story starts in Boomer Town with a ‘boomer’ blissfully unaware that her phone torch (flashlight) is on, then works its way through many other generational stereotypes until common ground is found.

Odd factoid... At one time, a town in west Texas(San Angelo) was known as the wool and mohair capital of the world as the preeminent inland market for those products in the US (20% of the wool and 80% of the mohair). The surrounding are is covered with ranches raising sheep and mohair goats. What's odd is, nobody in that area eats lamb.

Yes, Australia is and was then the primary producer, they just sold it in the states through San Angelo.

 

[THBGato]

I think - and I made we’ll be proved wrong by someone more informed - that saber may well have been the original English spelling. Then there was a fad for Frenchifying words in England (hence the divergent pronunciation of clerk) which never made it to the colonies.

Sabre is the french spelling. Saber is the english one.
Now pompous brits say it the english was and spell it the french way.

A quick search suggests the word sabre did not exist in English until it was borrowed from the French: https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/sabre

US English changed the spelling (which makes a lot of sense, to be fair) but this isn't a case of English people Frenchifying a pre-existing English word.

Back on topic, "The Sound of Music". My kids like it, my parents like it, we like it. It seems that singing, falling in love and escaping fascist regimes are global tropes everyone can get behind.

 

[ronde]

For my son's and I it was music. I still remember when my youngest was about 12 and had a karaoke machine that played cassette tapes. He found my old boxes of them. I walked past his room to hear him playing Ozzy's Bark at the Moon.
"Dad! This is so great!"

I can't say that music has brought my kids and I more together, but I don't think it has separated us. We all like good music, be it classical to pop to country to techno. We don't all have the same favorites, but we can all recognize and enjoy the talent of the artists. Sorry if this offends some, but none of us like rap. None of us consider that to be "music" anyway..

 

[AchtungNight]

Has anyone mentioned erotic stories as art yet? I’m almost 50, Emily Miller is at least a decade younger, others are older, and we’re all on this board discussing the craft of creating such stories. I think it should count.

 

[ElectricBlue]

I can't say that music has brought my kids and I more together, but I don't think it has separated us. We all like good music, be it classical to pop to country to techno. We don't all have the same favorites, but we can all recognize and enjoy the talent of the artists. Sorry if this offends some, but none of us like rap. None of us consider that to be "music" anyway..

There's a thread elsewhere about music reaction videos.

Watched one the other day with a funky young girl drummer, in her mid twenties maybe, listening to Baba O'Riley without the drum track. She'd never heard of The Who, didn't know who Keith Moon was, never heard the most famous synth line on the planet. Calls herself a drummer? Anyway.

To be fair, Who's Next was released in 1971, so the album was at least twice her age, but still, a rock drummer... She actually gave a fair interpretation of the drum line, but when she eventually heard Moon's track, she could barely believe her ears. "But but but, he doesn't use a snare drum!"

I got the sense the recording guy was going to play Zep without Bonham next, for shits and giggles.

 

[ElectricBlue]

Has anyone mentioned erotic stories as art yet? I’m almost 50, Emily Miller is at least a decade younger, others are older, and we’re all on this board discussing the craft of creating such stories. I think it should count.

I discovered back in the eighties that letters to Penthouse aren't all written by staff writers (as a lot of people seem to think), when they published one of mine. Looking back, it was fairly typical EB, writing about a exchange visit one term break, when a busload of Californian co-eds stayed in the hall for a week.

 

[ShelbyDawn57]

I discovered back in the eighties that letters to Penthouse aren't all written by staff writers (as a lot of people seem to think), when they published one of mine. Looking back, it was fairly typical EB, writing about a exchange visit one term break, when a busload of Californian co-eds stayed in the hall for a week.

Staff writer for Penthouse Forum would have been a cool job...

 

[THBGato]

I can't say that music has brought my kids and I more together, but I don't think it has separated us. We all like good music, be it classical to pop to country to techno.

My wife and I share a Spotify account. On Spotify wrapped, our listening age was 30. Our teenage daughter has her own; her listening age was 64! She's really into Queen, Kate Bush, The Smiths, This Mortal Coil, Bauhaus! LOL! I mean, it was my wife that got her into most of those but still....!

 

[HordHolm]

It's really hard to find many candidates. It makes me yearn for the days when the whole family gathered to watch Your Hit Parade. All generations shared the latest pop songs. Those were the days. Oh!! Is Archie making a comeback anywhere?

Actually, much more than a divide in terms of music, I'm concerned at the way older films have faded completely from the consciousness. It can be impossible to find many of them. I have college level students, and none of them have any clue who, e.g. Errol Flynn was. He was long dead even when I was a kid, but when we only had a few TV channels, the beeb would reshow old films (at low cost to them, presumably) on Sunday afternoons. These had a low viewership, except when it was pouring (which it does a lot in jolly old England), and so we all had an education in those films. Now we can choose to stream whatever we want, those films are approaching lost media status. Hell, even stuff from the 1990s and early 2000s can be a hassle to find, if not impossible.

 

[InvisibleHarvey]

Actually, much more than a divide in terms of music, I'm concerned at the way older films have faded completely from the consciousness. It can be impossible to find many of them. I have college level students, and none of them have any clue who, e.g. Errol Flynn was. He was long dead even when I was a kid, but when we only had a few TV channels, the beeb would reshow old films (at low cost to them, presumably) on Sunday afternoons. These had a low viewership, except when it was pouring (which it does a lot in jolly old England), and so we all had an education in those films. Now we can choose to stream whatever we want, those films are approaching lost media status. Hell, even stuff from the 1990s and early 2000s can be a hassle to find, if not impossible.

Checking in with a username that references a Jimmy Stewart film.

I feel like there's a divide between those of us who remember the 20th century and were constantly exposed to a century of media, and the Children of the Algorithm who have only ever known the content that was trending.

 

[StillStunned]

But what about the opposite, things that cross generations.

Shannara.

 

[MrStill]

Somewhat back on topic, I'm about as far away from the source as possible, but where the Bulls Number 23 singlet is still pervasive

 

[Dodola]

There's a thread elsewhere about music reaction videos.

Watched one the other day with a funky young girl drummer, in her mid twenties maybe, listening to Baba O'Riley without the drum track. She'd never heard of The Who, didn't know who Keith Moon was, never heard the most famous synth line on the planet. Calls herself a drummer? Anyway.

To be fair, Who's Next was released in 1971, so the album was at least twice her age, but still, a rock drummer... She actually gave a fair interpretation of the drum line, but when she eventually heard Moon's track, she could barely believe her ears. "But but but, he doesn't use a snare drum!"

I got the sense the recording guy was going to play Zep without Bonham next, for shits and giggles.

But, there is snare drum in baba o'riley, so I don't get what she meant?

Edit: never mind, I found the video you're talking about. The engineer pointed out some cymbals that he didn't use, that were/are typically part of every kit (hihat and ride cymbal).
She did a good job on the song, good drummer.

 

[EmilyMiller]

Shannara.

 

[SimonDoom]

Especially Australian Lamb - it bridges the generation gap, according to a 2024 advertisement here.

On most Australia Days (26th Jan) since 2005, Meat & Livestock Australia (meat industry regulator and promoter) release an extended Australian Lamb advertisement, usually starring Sam Kekovich (ex-Australian rules football player).

2024’s ad was about closing the ‘generation gap’. The subtitles have errors (auto-generated) but the story starts in Boomer Town with a ‘boomer’ blissfully unaware that her phone torch (flashlight) is on, then works its way through many other generational stereotypes until common ground is found.

That was cute, and dead on.

I haven't had Australian lamb barbecue, but I'd sure like to try it.

Food can bring not just generations together, but different countries and cultures.

 

[SimonDoom]

Has anyone mentioned erotic stories as art yet? I’m almost 50, Emily Miller is at least a decade younger, others are older, and we’re all on this board discussing the craft of creating such stories. I think it should count.

Definitely.

One thing I've discovered about getting older, that surprises me a bit, is you don't get less horny. True in my case, at least.

I think younger people aren't always aware of this. To be honest, when I was 25 I never thought of people over 40 as sexual or sexually attractive, and I probably just assumed that most of them lost their sex drive after a while. Damn, was I wrong about that.

So, yes, erotica is a language we all speak and can share.

 

[EmilyMiller]

Emily Miller is at least a decade younger,

*cough* nearly two *cough*

 

[old_prof]

Checking in with a username that references a Jimmy Stewart film.

You should look at my about. I quote your movie.

I feel like there's a divide between those of us who remember the 20th century and were constantly exposed to a century of media, and the Children of the Algorithm who have only ever known the content that was trending.

One of my goals as a college prof was to expose the younger generation to a broader range of culture, especially including movies. I was a film major at one point.

I think movies can reach out across generations once people get over the "I don't like black and white movies" thing.

 

[old_prof]

Shannara.

Unites generations in hating it?

 

[InvisibleHarvey]

One of my goals as a college prof was to expose the younger generation to a broader range of culture, especially including movies. I was a film major at one point.

I think movies can reach out across generations once people get over the "I don't like black and white movies" thing.

It sounds like you understand it better than I do. From my limited experience, it seems like the problem is the culture of consumerism we're immersed in.

I was very fortunate to grow up around people who were anti-consumerist and valued making and discussing art. I developed an appreciation for bad art and a toolset to find the good in it.

That was in the days before social media. Before the corporate internet. Before native advertisement. I feel like it's harder for young people to even recognize and discuss consumerism. Trying to discuss consumerism with them is like trying to talk to a fish about drowning.