WEBVTT 00:00:00.040 --> 00:00:04.360 Welcome back to overeducated and underemployed. 00:00:04.360 --> 00:00:08.140 I'm Fedden. I'm your host. And today we're getting 00:00:08.140 --> 00:00:11.060 back into our series on nostalgia. Today we're 00:00:11.060 --> 00:00:13.519 talking about movies and television. That being 00:00:13.519 --> 00:00:16.940 said, I do think that it's a good way to talk 00:00:16.940 --> 00:00:21.420 about all of these things. With movies, we live 00:00:21.420 --> 00:00:25.219 in the age of reboots and sequels. But I would 00:00:25.219 --> 00:00:27.420 argue that it's always been that way, in a way. 00:00:27.620 --> 00:00:30.469 We may have always... told the same stories over 00:00:30.469 --> 00:00:32.890 and over again. The difference now, I think, 00:00:33.250 --> 00:00:35.170 is that instead of just telling the same stories 00:00:35.170 --> 00:00:37.469 over and over again, we're doing it with the 00:00:37.469 --> 00:00:42.369 same characters. And we've created a modern mythology 00:00:42.369 --> 00:00:45.549 with our comic books and things like that, but 00:00:45.549 --> 00:00:48.030 we haven't really moved beyond that. You could 00:00:48.030 --> 00:00:50.929 argue that there's only so many stories to tell 00:00:50.929 --> 00:00:53.729 and that they've all been told. And what becomes 00:00:53.729 --> 00:00:56.030 unique about the stories are the characters and 00:00:56.030 --> 00:00:58.630 the places and the settings. I think about the 00:00:58.630 --> 00:01:00.909 movie 10 Things I Hate About You, for instance. 00:01:01.250 --> 00:01:04.370 It's a reimagining or retelling of The Taming 00:01:04.370 --> 00:01:08.170 of the Shrew, which is Shakespeare, but it's 00:01:08.170 --> 00:01:12.670 set in Seattle in the late 90s and it's a teen 00:01:12.670 --> 00:01:16.209 comedy. Same story, but what made it compelling 00:01:16.209 --> 00:01:19.650 was that it was completely different characters, 00:01:20.230 --> 00:01:23.010 completely different settings, and it was updated 00:01:23.010 --> 00:01:26.250 to be told in our time, so it was relatable to 00:01:26.250 --> 00:01:28.560 the people living. You could argue that a lot 00:01:28.560 --> 00:01:31.680 of comic book stories take, and some of them 00:01:31.680 --> 00:01:35.260 blatantly take, their inspiration from mythology 00:01:35.260 --> 00:01:38.500 and, like, North mythology, I'm thinking in particular, 00:01:38.540 --> 00:01:42.480 but certainly Greek mythology and Roman mythology 00:01:42.480 --> 00:01:45.840 as well. But the difference is, like, instead 00:01:45.840 --> 00:01:49.379 of having a reimagining with a new set of characters, 00:01:49.980 --> 00:01:52.599 we're having a reimaginings with the same sets 00:01:52.599 --> 00:01:55.620 of characters. Adam Conover recently released 00:01:55.620 --> 00:01:59.900 a video about how the age of the old Hollywood 00:01:59.900 --> 00:02:04.459 star was dead. And what he meant by that was 00:02:04.459 --> 00:02:07.400 that people no longer went to see movies because 00:02:07.400 --> 00:02:10.240 an actor was in them. Or if they did, it was 00:02:10.240 --> 00:02:13.500 still like the same actors from like the older 00:02:13.500 --> 00:02:16.599 Hollywood era. Now they go see the new Spider 00:02:16.599 --> 00:02:18.639 -Man, I think was the example. They don't go 00:02:18.639 --> 00:02:22.000 see Tobey Maguire, they go see Spider -Man. One 00:02:22.000 --> 00:02:24.620 might argue that some of those old Hollywood 00:02:24.620 --> 00:02:27.300 actors were pretty much always playing the same 00:02:27.300 --> 00:02:29.719 character and you were putting those characters 00:02:29.719 --> 00:02:33.939 into different settings but you could also argue 00:02:33.939 --> 00:02:37.240 that let's talk about the different ways nostalgia 00:02:37.240 --> 00:02:42.099 is used in films and tv the biggest way we're 00:02:42.099 --> 00:02:46.740 seeing lately is with reboots sequels that's 00:02:46.740 --> 00:02:50.180 the most like obvious way right so i think sometimes 00:02:50.460 --> 00:02:52.979 they're making a reboot of something where like 00:02:52.979 --> 00:02:55.539 maybe they couldn't fully realize the vision 00:02:55.539 --> 00:02:59.439 of the story in the first production or Maybe 00:02:59.439 --> 00:03:02.000 the original production was pretty cheesy and 00:03:02.000 --> 00:03:03.860 now they want to take a more serious take on 00:03:03.860 --> 00:03:06.300 it I'm thinking of something like Doctor Who 00:03:06.300 --> 00:03:10.300 or even Lost in Space Sometimes it's literally 00:03:10.300 --> 00:03:12.500 just to hold on to the intellectual property 00:03:12.500 --> 00:03:15.120 rights of something and that is when we start 00:03:15.120 --> 00:03:19.199 to go down the rabbit hole of productions that 00:03:19.280 --> 00:03:23.219 are basically awash from the beginning. Nobody 00:03:23.219 --> 00:03:26.080 cares about them from the beginning and so they 00:03:26.080 --> 00:03:29.620 basically just end up being a write -off for 00:03:29.620 --> 00:03:32.180 the studio, right? I think about the different 00:03:32.180 --> 00:03:34.719 sequels that have been made. Sometimes decades 00:03:34.719 --> 00:03:38.599 later, Mad Max Fury Road I think is a really 00:03:38.599 --> 00:03:42.060 good example of a movie that he wanted to make 00:03:42.060 --> 00:03:45.219 from the beginning, it seems like. Furiosa especially 00:03:45.219 --> 00:03:48.500 is a story he wanted to tell. a long time ago 00:03:48.500 --> 00:03:50.479 and never really had the money or the means to 00:03:50.479 --> 00:03:53.300 do it. I think that's a really good example of 00:03:53.300 --> 00:03:55.219 a movie that was made for the right reasons. 00:03:55.900 --> 00:03:59.000 And it shows those movies were quite enjoyable. 00:03:59.240 --> 00:04:01.300 And I'm not even a fan of the original Mad Max 00:04:01.300 --> 00:04:03.960 movie. So that's a great example of something 00:04:03.960 --> 00:04:06.199 that was made for a new generation. There was 00:04:06.199 --> 00:04:09.340 no nostalgia factor at all for me. In fact, I 00:04:09.340 --> 00:04:11.610 tried to go back and watch. some of the old ones. 00:04:11.770 --> 00:04:13.610 They weren't enjoyable. It wasn't something that 00:04:13.610 --> 00:04:16.449 was interesting. But the new ones, both Fury 00:04:16.449 --> 00:04:19.470 Road and Furiosa, were interesting to me. They 00:04:19.470 --> 00:04:22.350 made me want to like those old movies but then 00:04:22.350 --> 00:04:24.949 I still couldn't do it. I really liked the world 00:04:24.949 --> 00:04:28.589 building in Furiosa. In Fury Road, I watched 00:04:28.589 --> 00:04:31.170 Furiosa first and then I watched Fury Road and 00:04:31.170 --> 00:04:34.949 I thought that Fury Road was not as good. But 00:04:34.949 --> 00:04:37.449 I do think that Fury Road is more like the original 00:04:37.449 --> 00:04:40.060 Mad Max movies. And that might be why I didn't 00:04:40.060 --> 00:04:42.899 like the original Mad Max movies that much. I 00:04:42.899 --> 00:04:46.339 liked the epic story of Furiosa, the world building, 00:04:46.740 --> 00:04:48.980 and I was really glad I watched it first, even 00:04:48.980 --> 00:04:51.620 though it did feel like it was a letdown to watch 00:04:51.620 --> 00:04:56.860 Fury Road second, just because I felt like the 00:04:56.860 --> 00:05:00.620 acting was great in both. But you could tell 00:05:00.620 --> 00:05:03.199 Furiosa was trying to be its own thing, whereas 00:05:03.199 --> 00:05:06.079 as like Mad Max, Fury Road, I could tell that 00:05:06.079 --> 00:05:09.490 they were especially... Max's character right 00:05:09.490 --> 00:05:12.810 like he was clearly the same character from those 00:05:12.810 --> 00:05:15.709 old movies and There was some of the same like 00:05:15.709 --> 00:05:19.329 stylistic Like fever dreamish shots where I felt 00:05:19.329 --> 00:05:22.870 like furious. It was much more Shot like an epic 00:05:22.870 --> 00:05:25.350 a traditional American epic or something like 00:05:25.350 --> 00:05:29.410 that and then the converse of that where you 00:05:29.410 --> 00:05:34.029 have an entirely original story that relies heavily 00:05:34.029 --> 00:05:36.850 on nostalgia I'm thinking of a movie like Wreck 00:05:36.850 --> 00:05:41.100 -It Ralph where essentially all the characters 00:05:41.100 --> 00:05:46.060 are either from other games or homages to characters 00:05:46.060 --> 00:05:48.819 from other games. And it relies heavily on the 00:05:48.819 --> 00:05:51.920 nostalgia factor of games, playing games in the 00:05:51.920 --> 00:05:54.319 arcade. But I think what's shifted in Hollywood 00:05:54.319 --> 00:05:58.500 is that actors used to almost be like an intellectual 00:05:58.500 --> 00:06:01.899 property. In fact, early on in the studio model, 00:06:02.199 --> 00:06:04.810 like... actors were bound to one studio at a 00:06:04.810 --> 00:06:07.310 time. And so I think what Adam Conover misses 00:06:07.310 --> 00:06:10.829 when he's talking about the way that the old 00:06:10.829 --> 00:06:14.790 movie star has disappeared, part of that is because 00:06:14.790 --> 00:06:17.189 the studios found that they no longer owned the 00:06:17.189 --> 00:06:20.089 actor and building up the actor was not as profitable 00:06:20.089 --> 00:06:22.269 for them as building up the intellectual property. 00:06:22.750 --> 00:06:24.850 So I think that when you look at someone like 00:06:24.850 --> 00:06:28.360 Harrison Ford's career, honestly like I don't 00:06:28.360 --> 00:06:30.500 know that Indiana Jones and Han Solo are much 00:06:30.500 --> 00:06:32.899 different characters. And I don't know that he 00:06:32.899 --> 00:06:37.220 really played anything but Harrison Ford playing 00:06:37.220 --> 00:06:42.079 X, right? And in a way, Harrison Ford was the 00:06:42.079 --> 00:06:45.899 character. He was Indiana Jones, he was Han Solo, 00:06:46.160 --> 00:06:49.399 but he was always the same speech patterns, the 00:06:49.399 --> 00:06:52.660 same kind of demeanor. I don't know that Han 00:06:52.660 --> 00:06:55.800 Solo was afraid of snakes, but he sure didn't 00:06:55.800 --> 00:06:59.170 like womp rats. So I just think like when Adam 00:06:59.170 --> 00:07:02.430 Conover talks about how the shift of Hollywood 00:07:02.430 --> 00:07:05.990 went from the actor to the intellectual property 00:07:05.990 --> 00:07:11.990 and like our desire to go see an actor diminished 00:07:11.990 --> 00:07:15.149 as the rise of the intellectual property. I think 00:07:15.149 --> 00:07:17.829 that's intentional by the movie studios because 00:07:17.829 --> 00:07:20.649 old Hollywood had a lot of stake in building 00:07:20.649 --> 00:07:23.269 up their actors. New Hollywood has a lot of stake 00:07:23.269 --> 00:07:25.129 in building up their intellectual property and 00:07:25.129 --> 00:07:28.089 milking it for everything they can. So while 00:07:28.089 --> 00:07:31.990 I know and recognize that Harrison Ford was not 00:07:31.990 --> 00:07:35.230 contractually obligated to any one studio, that 00:07:35.230 --> 00:07:38.350 model was still in place, were still in existence 00:07:38.350 --> 00:07:42.449 for actors to build up themselves as somebody. 00:07:43.029 --> 00:07:45.769 You still don't have anybody like that now. You 00:07:45.769 --> 00:07:49.990 had, obviously, icons throughout film history 00:07:49.990 --> 00:07:53.550 from Marilyn Monroe to Meryl Streep to... Actors 00:07:53.550 --> 00:07:55.589 and actresses who would the point Adam was making 00:07:55.589 --> 00:07:58.350 is actors and actresses who would draw Ticket 00:07:58.350 --> 00:08:00.529 sales just because they were in the movie I think 00:08:00.529 --> 00:08:02.709 he rightfully points out that doesn't really 00:08:02.709 --> 00:08:04.889 exist anymore And then when it does it's still 00:08:04.889 --> 00:08:08.269 the same actors that were doing it 20 years ago 00:08:08.269 --> 00:08:12.509 the studios realized that milking the actor and 00:08:12.509 --> 00:08:15.649 the actor being the draw didn't give them the 00:08:15.649 --> 00:08:19.829 same security as the intellectual property being 00:08:19.829 --> 00:08:23.180 the draw right well Marilyn Monroe may have been 00:08:23.180 --> 00:08:27.100 tied to one studio, Harrison Ford was not. And 00:08:27.100 --> 00:08:30.379 so as time went on, the studios started shifting 00:08:30.379 --> 00:08:32.519 towards building up their intellectual properties, 00:08:33.139 --> 00:08:36.679 i .e. Star Wars over Harrison Ford, i .e. Han 00:08:36.679 --> 00:08:39.779 Solo over Harrison Ford, Indiana Jones over Harrison 00:08:39.779 --> 00:08:43.220 Ford. Sometimes these are just cash grabs. One 00:08:43.220 --> 00:08:46.740 thing that's unfortunate about things being politicized 00:08:46.740 --> 00:08:50.419 in film and like all this argument about representation 00:08:50.419 --> 00:08:54.210 and things being woke or not woke is like when 00:08:54.210 --> 00:08:57.090 people criticize like ridiculous things about 00:08:57.090 --> 00:09:00.850 a film the little mermaid being black you then 00:09:00.850 --> 00:09:04.350 you can't really critique the movie in any real 00:09:04.350 --> 00:09:07.730 way without people just assuming that might be 00:09:07.730 --> 00:09:11.509 your motivation so it's really harmful to everybody 00:09:11.509 --> 00:09:15.090 involved because you can't then give a fair critique 00:09:15.090 --> 00:09:18.580 of a movie without it being some kind of political 00:09:18.580 --> 00:09:21.259 statement or being perceived as one at least. 00:09:21.679 --> 00:09:23.559 And you can't make fair criticisms of a film. 00:09:23.720 --> 00:09:26.080 I haven't seen The New Snow White, okay? I've 00:09:26.080 --> 00:09:29.980 heard it's not great. But I also don't know what 00:09:29.980 --> 00:09:33.360 the motivation of those people are that tell 00:09:33.360 --> 00:09:35.519 me that it's not great. Because, I'll be honest, 00:09:35.679 --> 00:09:38.759 I believe that it probably isn't great. But I 00:09:38.759 --> 00:09:42.159 don't believe that just because they altered 00:09:42.159 --> 00:09:46.039 it or they made it a different story. For one, 00:09:46.350 --> 00:09:50.090 It's probably not for me. Now, you might say 00:09:50.090 --> 00:09:52.490 duh, but I'm actually somebody who really enjoys 00:09:52.490 --> 00:09:55.070 a lot of Disney movies, a lot of Pixar films. 00:09:55.649 --> 00:09:58.889 I love animation. I might even watch the Snow 00:09:58.889 --> 00:10:01.070 White movie at some point. It's not something 00:10:01.070 --> 00:10:03.570 that I was like excited or upset that they were 00:10:03.570 --> 00:10:06.490 doing though. But when people criticize it for 00:10:06.490 --> 00:10:10.789 artificial or hateful reasons, it makes it impossible 00:10:10.789 --> 00:10:13.830 to give a fair critique of the film without having 00:10:13.830 --> 00:10:16.690 your motives questioned. So, like, the people 00:10:16.690 --> 00:10:19.509 that really don't want to like the movie, they 00:10:19.509 --> 00:10:23.269 complain about it for absurd reasons, are doing 00:10:23.269 --> 00:10:25.269 themselves a disservice, because there's probably 00:10:25.269 --> 00:10:27.870 things about the movie that they could be critiquing 00:10:27.870 --> 00:10:30.289 that are legitimate, that maybe they wouldn't 00:10:30.289 --> 00:10:32.590 show their cards so much, or something like that. 00:10:32.730 --> 00:10:35.889 Then it becomes this totem pole for, oh, these 00:10:35.889 --> 00:10:38.169 people don't like it because of this, so I'm 00:10:38.169 --> 00:10:40.370 gonna like it because of that. And then, all 00:10:40.370 --> 00:10:43.539 of a sudden, you stop being like... critical 00:10:43.539 --> 00:10:46.600 of the film as a film and it becomes this like 00:10:46.600 --> 00:10:49.519 tent pole for whatever you think it stands for 00:10:49.519 --> 00:10:52.519 and that's We're talking about a Disney movie 00:10:52.519 --> 00:10:55.580 here folks. It's absurd I feel like I've gone 00:10:55.580 --> 00:10:57.240 down a rabbit hole here, but I think it's important 00:10:57.240 --> 00:11:00.620 to point out that when Something like the Ghostbusters 00:11:00.620 --> 00:11:03.639 remake is critiqued for having a female cast 00:11:03.639 --> 00:11:06.600 that's irrelevant, but it makes it really hard 00:11:06.600 --> 00:11:11.779 to lob legitimate criticisms at the film without 00:11:11.779 --> 00:11:13.779 just sounding like you're one of the people that 00:11:13.779 --> 00:11:16.460 are jumping on that bandwagon. And I think it's 00:11:16.460 --> 00:11:19.220 really silly to even give those people a voice 00:11:19.220 --> 00:11:21.159 in the first place. We're talking about a handful 00:11:21.159 --> 00:11:24.659 of people on Twitter. It's not news. But it makes 00:11:24.659 --> 00:11:27.179 it also, I think, impossible for a studio to 00:11:27.179 --> 00:11:29.159 sometimes evaluate whether or not their work 00:11:29.159 --> 00:11:33.139 is worth doing because they get on this mission 00:11:33.139 --> 00:11:35.519 like, oh, we're gonna rewrite this story. And 00:11:35.519 --> 00:11:38.179 it all becomes something way more than just like 00:11:38.179 --> 00:11:42.450 a kids movie. man one reason i try and keep political 00:11:42.450 --> 00:11:45.730 debate current events out of this podcast as 00:11:45.730 --> 00:11:47.789 much as i can although i might be violating that 00:11:47.789 --> 00:11:50.250 right now is because i don't think that everything 00:11:50.250 --> 00:11:52.649 needs to be politicized i don't think everything 00:11:52.649 --> 00:11:54.450 needs to have a message i don't think everything 00:11:54.450 --> 00:11:57.169 needs to be political i think it's great and 00:11:57.169 --> 00:11:59.870 this is somebody who's my favorite band is one 00:11:59.870 --> 00:12:03.529 of the most political bands out there and most 00:12:03.529 --> 00:12:07.419 of the music i listen to is political but I don't 00:12:07.419 --> 00:12:09.519 necessarily want my movies and television to 00:12:09.519 --> 00:12:12.019 always be political, too. And I don't always 00:12:12.019 --> 00:12:14.720 want my music to be political either. I don't 00:12:14.720 --> 00:12:18.039 necessarily need to listen to punk rock 24 -7 00:12:18.039 --> 00:12:20.460 or listen to something that's making a statement 00:12:20.460 --> 00:12:23.419 all the time. In fact, once the statement has 00:12:23.419 --> 00:12:25.559 been made and it becomes integrated into my, 00:12:25.559 --> 00:12:27.519 like, worldview, this is why I'm doing a three 00:12:27.519 --> 00:12:29.620 -part series, because the lines are definitely 00:12:29.620 --> 00:12:32.509 blurred between... what nostalgia is for all 00:12:32.509 --> 00:12:34.690 these three things and really nostalgia was just 00:12:34.690 --> 00:12:36.450 a way for me to group these things together and 00:12:36.450 --> 00:12:38.809 talk about them. Now on the other hand I have 00:12:38.809 --> 00:12:40.409 not seen this either but I've heard that the 00:12:40.409 --> 00:12:42.769 new Looney Tunes the Porky Pig Daffy Duck movie 00:12:42.769 --> 00:12:45.830 is fantastic. I'm actually probably gonna watch 00:12:45.830 --> 00:12:48.149 it this weekend so I will probably review that 00:12:48.149 --> 00:12:49.970 along with a couple of concerts that I've been 00:12:49.970 --> 00:12:52.269 talking about reviewing and a few other things 00:12:52.269 --> 00:12:54.740 on next week's episode. But to me, it sounds 00:12:54.740 --> 00:12:56.580 like they went back to basics on that. Instead 00:12:56.580 --> 00:12:59.259 of trying to make a movie about all of the Looney 00:12:59.259 --> 00:13:02.620 Tunes, they just made like a really good Porky 00:13:02.620 --> 00:13:05.659 Pig Duck movie. And I don't even know if it's 00:13:05.659 --> 00:13:07.799 got Porky Pig and Daffy Duck. I think it does, 00:13:07.879 --> 00:13:10.600 but I haven't seen it. But I've heard that they 00:13:10.600 --> 00:13:13.019 just focus on a couple of Looney Tunes characters 00:13:13.019 --> 00:13:15.159 instead of trying to put the whole cast of characters 00:13:15.159 --> 00:13:17.679 into a movie, and it becomes this convoluted 00:13:17.679 --> 00:13:20.340 mess where it's like... the stakes become too 00:13:20.340 --> 00:13:23.600 high for a Looney Tune and all of a sudden you 00:13:23.600 --> 00:13:25.840 have something that's supposed to be silly and 00:13:25.840 --> 00:13:29.559 fun becomes this action -packed adventure that's 00:13:29.559 --> 00:13:31.879 really not anything to do with what the spirit 00:13:31.879 --> 00:13:34.159 of the Looney Tunes was I'm thinking about the 00:13:34.159 --> 00:13:36.600 movie Back in Action with Brendan Fraser which 00:13:36.600 --> 00:13:39.480 was really an odd film that they put out in the 00:13:39.480 --> 00:13:42.720 early mid -2000s it had a really hip soundtrack 00:13:42.720 --> 00:13:46.009 had a bunch of bands on it that were like But 00:13:46.009 --> 00:13:47.950 they were too old to really care about a Looney 00:13:47.950 --> 00:13:50.769 Tunes movie, too. So it was like this marketing 00:13:50.769 --> 00:13:53.470 thing where they tried to access every demographic. 00:13:54.049 --> 00:13:56.350 They had Brendan Fraser in it so the parents 00:13:56.350 --> 00:13:58.629 would be interested. Then they had the Looney 00:13:58.629 --> 00:14:00.730 Tunes for the kids. And then they had this soundtrack 00:14:00.730 --> 00:14:04.730 of all this pop punk from the mid -2000s, early 00:14:04.730 --> 00:14:08.389 2000s that would make it so all the young adults 00:14:08.389 --> 00:14:10.620 would want to go. It worked. I went and saw it 00:14:10.620 --> 00:14:13.039 in theaters, and it was garbage, but I loved 00:14:13.039 --> 00:14:16.059 seeing my friends, or seeing bands I loved, like 00:14:16.059 --> 00:14:20.159 seeing their music on the big screen with the 00:14:20.159 --> 00:14:22.000 looney tunes. It was cool. I'm not gonna say 00:14:22.000 --> 00:14:24.679 it didn't work, but it was objectively a terrible 00:14:24.679 --> 00:14:26.899 movie. And I think this is the problem that we've 00:14:26.899 --> 00:14:29.779 run into with Hollywood, is they've relied too 00:14:29.779 --> 00:14:31.980 much on the intellectual property sometimes. 00:14:32.500 --> 00:14:35.120 I think it is coming back around. I think Back 00:14:35.120 --> 00:14:37.899 in Action was 20 years ago plus, and... This 00:14:37.899 --> 00:14:40.440 new Looney Tunes movie is sounds like they went 00:14:40.440 --> 00:14:42.960 back to the original formula of Looney Tunes 00:14:42.960 --> 00:14:45.860 to make it so that's really hopeful. Let's talk 00:14:45.860 --> 00:14:48.480 about another way that nostalgia is used in film 00:14:48.480 --> 00:14:50.899 and television though. We've talked about the 00:14:50.899 --> 00:14:54.379 marketing aspects of it. We've talked about how 00:14:54.379 --> 00:14:57.019 it's kind of shifted from the intellectual property 00:14:57.019 --> 00:15:00.799 from being more actor or more people focused 00:15:00.799 --> 00:15:03.379 but I think the thing that's been lost in all 00:15:03.379 --> 00:15:05.440 of this is like the retelling and then I'll go 00:15:05.440 --> 00:15:07.669 back to talking about Something like ten things 00:15:07.669 --> 00:15:11.210 I hate about you. Why not tell Shakespeare with 00:15:11.210 --> 00:15:13.870 spider -man? I'd like I don't like I'm not a 00:15:13.870 --> 00:15:16.750 screenplay writer, but like why wouldn't we? 00:15:17.049 --> 00:15:20.490 start to do a complete retelling and a modernization 00:15:20.490 --> 00:15:25.409 of it or Why wouldn't we do? modern reimaginings 00:15:25.409 --> 00:15:28.730 of Even American classics and update it for the 00:15:28.730 --> 00:15:32.629 modern world. I imagine some Faulkner or Steinbeck 00:15:32.629 --> 00:15:36.440 being transplanted to a modern America And I 00:15:36.440 --> 00:15:39.620 feel like the point of both of those authors 00:15:39.620 --> 00:15:42.019 was just explore the human experience. Like I 00:15:42.019 --> 00:15:43.820 said, I'm not a screenplay writer, but I can 00:15:43.820 --> 00:15:46.299 imagine something like that would be done. And 00:15:46.299 --> 00:15:48.620 not even call it East of Eden, or not even call 00:15:48.620 --> 00:15:52.179 it of Mice and Men, or just have a complete reimagining 00:15:52.179 --> 00:15:55.539 of these stories. Whether you're using intellectual 00:15:55.539 --> 00:15:58.000 property to tell them or not, I don't think that 00:15:58.000 --> 00:16:01.340 matters. I think what's happened is they've gotten 00:16:01.340 --> 00:16:04.210 too focused on the intellectual property. while 00:16:04.210 --> 00:16:06.710 the actor when they focused on the actors and 00:16:06.710 --> 00:16:09.090 Enriching the actors career making them the kind 00:16:09.090 --> 00:16:12.250 of tent poles of the studios those actors would 00:16:12.250 --> 00:16:16.110 play a variety of stories and a variety of Settings 00:16:16.110 --> 00:16:20.029 and even if Harrison Ford was playing kind of 00:16:20.029 --> 00:16:22.870 the same person He still traveled across the 00:16:22.870 --> 00:16:25.149 galaxy and went back in time And when I say went 00:16:25.149 --> 00:16:28.110 back in time back to Nazi Germany and also Star 00:16:28.110 --> 00:16:30.370 Wars was a long time ago I will remind you of 00:16:30.370 --> 00:16:33.980 that as well, but my point is that The actors 00:16:33.980 --> 00:16:35.860 at least had more flexibility to tell different 00:16:35.860 --> 00:16:39.379 stories, to grow with their films and not always 00:16:39.379 --> 00:16:41.639 be playing the same characters. Because no matter 00:16:41.639 --> 00:16:43.700 who's playing Spider -Man, Spider -Man is Spider 00:16:43.700 --> 00:16:46.039 -Man. And no matter who's playing the Hulk, he's 00:16:46.039 --> 00:16:48.279 still Hulk. And there might be different elements 00:16:48.279 --> 00:16:50.600 of the character in different imaginings or different 00:16:50.600 --> 00:16:55.419 takes, but it's much more constricted than reimagining 00:16:55.419 --> 00:16:58.120 a story with new characters altogether. And so 00:16:58.120 --> 00:17:01.279 I think studios have become so focused on nourishing 00:17:01.279 --> 00:17:03.879 their intellectual property and making us feel 00:17:03.879 --> 00:17:07.619 nostalgic about their intellectual property that 00:17:07.619 --> 00:17:10.259 it's just gotten to where we cannot have new 00:17:10.259 --> 00:17:13.019 stories anymore. Or if we do have new stories, 00:17:13.660 --> 00:17:16.019 they're re -imaginings of the same stories that 00:17:16.019 --> 00:17:18.960 we've been telling. One way that studios have 00:17:18.960 --> 00:17:22.740 tried to take nostalgic property and turn it 00:17:22.740 --> 00:17:25.900 into something new is with this multiverse concept. 00:17:25.920 --> 00:17:29.099 And this has happened. not just in Marvel and 00:17:29.099 --> 00:17:32.240 I haven't been to a Marvel movie in years but 00:17:32.240 --> 00:17:35.660 I think it's something that started in science 00:17:35.660 --> 00:17:39.700 fiction and has moved to even being like a concept 00:17:39.700 --> 00:17:43.339 in romantic comedies and horror films like we 00:17:43.339 --> 00:17:46.779 had a couple of time traveling coming -of -age 00:17:46.779 --> 00:17:50.069 films and We had that Aubrey Plaza movie called 00:17:50.069 --> 00:17:52.809 My Old Ass and then we had that other one with 00:17:52.809 --> 00:17:56.450 Marv from Home Alone with I think James versus 00:17:56.450 --> 00:17:59.589 his future self. Both of them were honestly they 00:17:59.589 --> 00:18:02.069 were both the same movie but one was like for 00:18:02.069 --> 00:18:05.269 men and one was for women. The Aubrey Plaza one 00:18:05.269 --> 00:18:08.349 she takes mushrooms and her future self comes 00:18:08.349 --> 00:18:12.789 and basically shows up and shows her as a spirit 00:18:12.789 --> 00:18:15.950 guide. James versus his future self much more 00:18:15.950 --> 00:18:19.630 brash about it. And he's much more confrontational. 00:18:20.190 --> 00:18:22.049 There's a bit of violence. It really did feel, 00:18:22.230 --> 00:18:24.109 honestly, I watched those two movies pretty close 00:18:24.109 --> 00:18:26.849 to each other. And it was a weird way of incorporating 00:18:26.849 --> 00:18:29.769 nostalgia into these films because they tapped 00:18:29.769 --> 00:18:32.849 into more the emotional nostalgia of just being 00:18:32.849 --> 00:18:35.829 young. What it's like to pursue your dreams or 00:18:35.829 --> 00:18:40.170 to focus on family or whatever it is that they 00:18:40.170 --> 00:18:44.170 felt they had regretted doing more or less of. 00:18:44.170 --> 00:18:47.430 Too much or too little of. And... Well, both 00:18:47.430 --> 00:18:50.450 those two films were very similar. They, together, 00:18:50.569 --> 00:18:53.250 were pretty unique, I thought. But they still 00:18:53.250 --> 00:18:56.430 were very nostalgic, in a way. Shows like Stranger 00:18:56.430 --> 00:18:59.970 Things are another good example of a new story 00:18:59.970 --> 00:19:03.490 that uses a lot of nostalgic elements, but in 00:19:03.490 --> 00:19:06.049 a different way. I think if you're talking about, 00:19:06.049 --> 00:19:08.549 like, My Old Ass and James Vs. His Future Self, 00:19:08.609 --> 00:19:10.829 I think that's the name of the movie. If you're 00:19:10.829 --> 00:19:13.630 thinking about those two movies, it's more about 00:19:13.630 --> 00:19:17.539 the emotional connection with your... past in 00:19:17.539 --> 00:19:20.960 a nostalgic way, whereas I felt like Stranger 00:19:20.960 --> 00:19:24.940 Things was trying to connect to somewhat of a 00:19:24.940 --> 00:19:28.099 more material, not always, right? I don't just 00:19:28.099 --> 00:19:32.720 mean the Eggo Waffles, but I do mean things like 00:19:32.720 --> 00:19:34.940 playing Dungeons and Dragons with your friends 00:19:34.940 --> 00:19:38.200 or riding your bike around the neighborhood unsupervised 00:19:38.200 --> 00:19:42.680 or just a way of life, I guess, in less an emotional 00:19:42.680 --> 00:19:46.119 way and more of a practical day -to -day this 00:19:46.119 --> 00:19:49.220 is what life was like kind of way these are two 00:19:49.220 --> 00:19:51.720 examples of the way nostalgia can be used effectively 00:19:51.720 --> 00:19:54.420 without being gimmicky without relying on intellectual 00:19:54.420 --> 00:19:58.700 property to drive the narrative and you can take 00:19:58.700 --> 00:20:01.019 that kind of formula it's almost like what the 00:20:01.019 --> 00:20:04.519 sandlot did a generation before right original 00:20:04.519 --> 00:20:07.960 movie that relied on nostalgia heavily for the 00:20:07.960 --> 00:20:11.410 parents i think there are ways that nostalgia 00:20:11.410 --> 00:20:13.289 can be used effectively and there are ways like 00:20:13.289 --> 00:20:14.970 I'm not saying we should never have a new Spider 00:20:14.970 --> 00:20:18.130 -Man movie or a new Marvel but obviously we've 00:20:18.130 --> 00:20:20.369 been inundated with this stuff for so long at 00:20:20.369 --> 00:20:22.829 this point and the Hollywood numbers are showing 00:20:22.829 --> 00:20:26.349 it right it's not just COVID it's not just home 00:20:26.349 --> 00:20:29.390 theaters and streaming there haven't been movies 00:20:29.390 --> 00:20:33.769 that people want to go see as like an event as 00:20:33.769 --> 00:20:35.670 much as there used to be at all just because 00:20:35.829 --> 00:20:38.190 even when the new Star Wars movies came out like 00:20:38.190 --> 00:20:40.309 that was an event but now there's been so many 00:20:40.309 --> 00:20:43.630 of them like it's lost its shine. I think about 00:20:43.630 --> 00:20:47.529 the movie Fight Club when it came out and how 00:20:47.529 --> 00:20:50.410 it was not a successful film really and I think 00:20:50.410 --> 00:20:52.430 it was marketed poorly and I'm not even gonna 00:20:52.430 --> 00:20:55.869 I watched that film recently again and in some 00:20:55.869 --> 00:20:59.390 ways you could say that it led to the incel movement 00:20:59.390 --> 00:21:01.710 but I think the other thing that you can say 00:21:01.710 --> 00:21:05.569 about it is that it was a movie that Nobody had 00:21:05.569 --> 00:21:08.890 seen anything like it. You took an original novel, 00:21:09.109 --> 00:21:12.569 you took an original director, and they truly 00:21:12.569 --> 00:21:15.950 made something unique. And over time, that movie 00:21:15.950 --> 00:21:19.690 became a cult classic for a lot of people and 00:21:19.690 --> 00:21:23.930 really launched Chuck Palahniuk's career as an 00:21:23.930 --> 00:21:26.910 author even further. Not that he was successful 00:21:26.910 --> 00:21:29.009 before then, but he's been riding that wave ever 00:21:29.009 --> 00:21:31.509 since. They did make another movie off of one 00:21:31.509 --> 00:21:33.509 of his books, but I don't think it did well at 00:21:33.509 --> 00:21:36.109 all. And don't get me wrong, we still see movies 00:21:36.109 --> 00:21:38.630 being made off of books, but a lot of the time 00:21:38.630 --> 00:21:41.670 they're just your generic New York Times bestseller. 00:21:42.049 --> 00:21:44.950 So I think there are effective ways to use nostalgia. 00:21:45.009 --> 00:21:47.369 Sometimes, though, they're just relying on gimmicks, 00:21:47.549 --> 00:21:50.009 right? They're just relying on the intellectual 00:21:50.009 --> 00:21:53.690 property to carry it through. And sometimes they 00:21:53.690 --> 00:21:57.589 make a movie that is literally just to create 00:21:57.589 --> 00:21:59.829 an intellectual property. I think about something 00:21:59.829 --> 00:22:03.000 like the Emoji movie. which is obviously everybody 00:22:03.000 --> 00:22:04.559 knows that movie never should have been made. 00:22:04.599 --> 00:22:07.019 And I've never seen it. It could be fantastic, 00:22:07.019 --> 00:22:10.000 I don't know. But the point that I'm making is 00:22:10.000 --> 00:22:15.200 that there's simply no real way to look at that 00:22:15.200 --> 00:22:17.220 movie and take it seriously. There's anything 00:22:17.220 --> 00:22:19.519 other than just a cash grab. I just wanted to 00:22:19.519 --> 00:22:21.339 talk about a bunch of shit that I like or don't 00:22:21.339 --> 00:22:23.559 like or observations about these industries. 00:22:24.140 --> 00:22:26.680 I think what it comes down to is like dishonest 00:22:26.680 --> 00:22:29.700 marketing when it comes to music, unoriginal 00:22:29.700 --> 00:22:33.730 plots. and relying too much on intellectual properties 00:22:33.730 --> 00:22:36.269 when it comes to movies and television. On the 00:22:36.269 --> 00:22:38.069 other hand, that can actually be done really 00:22:38.069 --> 00:22:40.950 effectively. And I'm going to... I've been talking 00:22:40.950 --> 00:22:42.869 a lot about Harrison Ford and Indiana Jones. 00:22:43.029 --> 00:22:45.210 They put out an Indiana Jones game last year. 00:22:45.569 --> 00:22:47.690 And I'm gonna leave this episode off with this 00:22:47.690 --> 00:22:49.930 because it's a great transition from the movies 00:22:49.930 --> 00:22:53.049 to the games. I haven't seen the last two Indiana 00:22:53.049 --> 00:22:58.009 Jones films. I'm sure they're fine. But I'm also... 00:22:57.980 --> 00:23:00.359 very aware that they couldn't be anything as 00:23:00.359 --> 00:23:02.660 good as the original. I'm a big fan of the original 00:23:02.660 --> 00:23:05.180 three. And honestly, when I heard there was aliens 00:23:05.180 --> 00:23:08.039 in Crystal Skull, I just didn't see it. But when 00:23:08.039 --> 00:23:10.400 this game came out, they didn't ask Harrison 00:23:10.400 --> 00:23:13.220 Ford to voice it. They got some guy to do basically 00:23:13.220 --> 00:23:15.599 his best Harrison Ford impression. They used 00:23:15.599 --> 00:23:18.259 Harrison Ford's likeness in making the character. 00:23:18.700 --> 00:23:21.940 And instead of it being set when Indiana Jones 00:23:21.940 --> 00:23:24.819 is 70, I believe it's set between the events 00:23:24.819 --> 00:23:27.180 of like Temple of Doom and The Last Crusade. 00:23:27.480 --> 00:23:31.160 And so you're back to Indiana fighting Nazis 00:23:31.160 --> 00:23:34.440 in a world where there was less technology and 00:23:34.440 --> 00:23:37.880 more the world that Indiana Jones was born in. 00:23:38.180 --> 00:23:39.819 If you think about the beginning of a movie like 00:23:39.819 --> 00:23:43.119 Jurassic Park, the paleontologist there, Alan 00:23:43.119 --> 00:23:46.140 Grant's really mad about all this new technology 00:23:46.140 --> 00:23:49.180 that's coming out. It's going to make it so they 00:23:49.180 --> 00:23:50.559 can't, they're not even going to have to dig 00:23:50.559 --> 00:23:53.660 anymore. He's upset about this. And I think Indiana 00:23:53.660 --> 00:23:55.980 Jones in the real world would have a similar 00:23:55.980 --> 00:23:59.549 sentiment. There's something about his swagger 00:23:59.549 --> 00:24:02.809 that relies on using a bag of sand rather than 00:24:02.809 --> 00:24:06.890 some precision device, or his whip rather than 00:24:06.890 --> 00:24:11.009 a taser, or a map rather than a cell phone. And 00:24:11.009 --> 00:24:14.289 I think when you take him out of that time and 00:24:14.289 --> 00:24:17.190 place, and when I say time and place, pre -World 00:24:17.190 --> 00:24:21.369 War II, Europe, America, whatever, something 00:24:21.369 --> 00:24:23.490 gets lost because the character is a product 00:24:23.490 --> 00:24:26.039 of that time and place. And so when they brought 00:24:26.039 --> 00:24:29.900 the game back to that time period, that version 00:24:29.900 --> 00:24:33.279 of Indiana Jones, that type of mission, that 00:24:33.279 --> 00:24:36.640 type of story, where you're unlocking secrets 00:24:36.640 --> 00:24:40.519 that you could Google the answer to now, there's 00:24:40.519 --> 00:24:43.259 something really to be said about a new level 00:24:43.259 --> 00:24:46.220 of nostalgia. So not only are you watching something 00:24:46.220 --> 00:24:49.529 that makes you remember the old movies, but now 00:24:49.529 --> 00:24:52.849 you get to be Indiana Jones and play around in 00:24:52.849 --> 00:24:55.970 the world of the old movies and be the guy beating 00:24:55.970 --> 00:24:58.630 up the Nazis and discovering the relics. So it 00:24:58.630 --> 00:25:00.690 offers an experience that was never available, 00:25:01.230 --> 00:25:03.710 but because of the technology and a really good 00:25:03.710 --> 00:25:06.309 voice actor, they've been able to capture the 00:25:06.309 --> 00:25:09.210 spirit of the original films in a different medium 00:25:09.210 --> 00:25:13.140 and give the players an experience that you would 00:25:13.140 --> 00:25:15.359 never be able to have just watching the films. 00:25:15.859 --> 00:25:18.359 Hey, I recognize that these solo episodes are 00:25:18.359 --> 00:25:20.920 a little bit rambly right now. I think they will 00:25:20.920 --> 00:25:23.880 get more structured over time as I get used to 00:25:23.880 --> 00:25:27.160 just talking to myself a little bit more. I appreciate 00:25:27.160 --> 00:25:29.059 y 'all listening. The third part in our series 00:25:29.059 --> 00:25:32.099 is gonna be about video games, retro gaming, 00:25:32.799 --> 00:25:35.480 nostalgia in games and how it's used and honestly 00:25:35.480 --> 00:25:37.819 I think that there's at least one gaming company 00:25:37.819 --> 00:25:41.160 that's found a way around their old games being 00:25:41.160 --> 00:25:44.059 terrible. sometimes. And they found a way to 00:25:44.059 --> 00:25:47.319 make them interesting and enjoyable in the modern 00:25:47.319 --> 00:25:50.299 age, even if they don't necessarily stand up 00:25:50.299 --> 00:25:52.660 as games today. I'll talk more about that in 00:25:52.660 --> 00:25:55.599 the next episode. This is Fedden. Thanks for 00:25:55.599 --> 00:25:57.839 listening to overeducated and underemployed. 00:25:58.059 --> 00:26:00.960 Make sure to check out fedden .net. Go on there 00:26:00.960 --> 00:26:04.079 and check out my blog, check out ways you can 00:26:04.079 --> 00:26:06.599 contribute. I do travel to do a lot of these 00:26:06.599 --> 00:26:08.880 interviews. So if you want to contribute and 00:26:08.880 --> 00:26:10.420 support the podcast, there's ways for you to 00:26:10.420 --> 00:26:13.460 do it there. Thanks. Have a good day and stay 00:26:13.460 --> 00:26:17.099 tuned for the next episode of Nostalgia and Video 00:26:17.099 --> 00:26:20.220 Games. And remember, if you want me to answer 00:26:20.220 --> 00:26:23.420 a question on the podcast, go ahead and send 00:26:23.420 --> 00:26:26.980 it over to FeddenXR at gmail .com.