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Timeless. It\u2019s one of those words that people use to describe some of their favourite movies, books and albums. It\u2019s also used in those commercials with soft light trying to sell you a 2-CD set of the “most romantic songs ever written” while struggling actors hold wine glasses full of fruit punch and stare at each other, but I\u2019m here today to talk about the first example. Timeless is a very positive thing to say about a film but it\u2019s not just the same as \u2018really good.\u2019 Generally speaking I think for most people a timeless film has 2 distinguishing qualities:<\/p>\n
1) It remains relevant to you for your entire life.<\/p>\n
2) Eventually show to your kids and they\u2019ll like too.<\/p>\n
For the first point to be true, the movie can\u2019t be too tied up in issues that only seem relevant to you at a certain point of your life. Rarely films that are considered timeless are wrapped up in the issues of a certain age. There are no hard rules for what makes a movie timeless but it helps if it isn\u2019t focused strictly on things like teenage angst, starting a family, raising kids, growing old or age-sensitive things like that. For this reason a movie like The Breakfast Club can be a great film and a classic, but it\u2019s too focused on being 17 to be timeless. It can still be an enjoyable watch your whole life, and can even remind you of that time, but it doesn\u2019t resonate in an immediate sense when you\u2019re 65. Timelessness isn’t just the apex of filmmaking but refers to a certain kind of film.<\/p>\n
For the second point to be true, the movie can\u2019t be too concerned with the time it was made in. If your favourite movie is focused on dissecting what it was like to grow up in the 1990s, your kids who grew up in the 2020s aren\u2019t going to relate to it as well. (By the way, we really need to figure out this whole decade nickname thing. First, when can I start calling the 2020s just the \u201820s and not confuse people? Second, did we really land on \u2018the noughts\u2019 or \u2018the aughts\u2019 for last decade? I think it would be way\u00a0cooler if it were The 90s 2: Electric Boogaloo.) Of course, all good art is sort of timeless in some way. Someone in the 1970s making a Vietnam movie accidentally sort of made it about Iraq too because the situations are somewhat similar and if the emotions are right in the film, they\u2019d resonate with soldiers today. However, not everything carries over like this and even vague themes can be much more applicable to one generation than the next.<\/p>\n
When filmmakers dwell a lot on the specific issues and styles of a time it can go one of two ways. When done poorly, the resulting movie is what we would call ‘dated.’ The movie is a product of its time in the worst way possible as it seems to be comprised of all the worst things about when it was made. When done very well, these movies become ‘generational’ movies. It is a product of its time in the best way possible, becoming something of an anthem for whichever generation. To continue with The Breakfast Club, that film falls on the generational side rather than the dated side. Don\u2019t get me wrong, that movie is dated in the sense that\u00a0you’d be able to guess it was a 1980s movie in the first few minutes from the music and wardrobe, but while it is obviously 80s, it\u2019s not painfully 80s. Dated movies tend to take all the worst things that were trendy in filmmaking at the time and overuse them. Generational movies make people think \u201cWhoa, this movie really gets<\/em> me and my friends.\u201d (By the way, what are recent generational movies? Some people have said Garden State but it fails in an important sense because it blows<\/strong>. Others point to Fight Club but some argue it really only speaks to\/for white straight upper middle class males. The Matrix is actually a shockingly good candidate for an anthem for a recent generation, a rare feat for an action movie.)<\/p>\n