EDITORIAL: Everything old should be new again

Life was simpler before. So it seemed, more joyful, more delightful, more pleasureful. Even Hollywood concurs that the old days were happier days. The entertainment center of the world is trying to return to those happier times by producing sequels based on past successes in hopes of repeating them. The remakes are poor copies of past gems. The latest CGI and AI technologies (Computer Generated Images and Artificial Intelligence) fail to bring back the excitement and energy of the original, simple stories made into simple entertaining productions.

Two notable examples…
Arnold Schwarzenegger, 75 years old, stars in a newly released Netflix’ series, Fubar, a remake of the very entertaining original, True Lies, co-starring Jamie Lee Curtis. Hollywood thought it could cash in on the popularity of the movie with a TV series. Poof! Wrong. The series never made it past season one, too glitchy, trying too hard to cash in on the simpler production of the original movie.

Fubar is another failed attempt at cashing in on the success of simpler times, simpler productions. It fails. The reasons are varied. Ageism may be one reason but more likely it is the yearning for the productions of the past, productions that were simpler, more direct and better written. A full review of Fubar may be best left for a detailed Internet review of the series. For now, best to say Hollywood is trying to recapture the success of simpler times and failing. Today’s society is trying to do the same.

Hollywood trying again.

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull was very successful. Entertaining, popularly successful, a very good movie with action, suspense, terrific stunt scenes and wonderful engagement.

Hollywood declares, “Let’s try it again.” Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, the latest remake of the Indiana Jones success, dies on the vines. Read the reviews on the Internet lamenting everything from the second-rate CGI cinematography to the digital makeup do-over of its 80-year-old star, Harrison Ford.

Puleeeeze…at the risk of sounding ageist, Sean Connery, Roger Moore and even Daniel Craig recognized that Father Time cannot be ignored and retired from the role. Harrison Ford should do the same.

However, the point of all this is that the old times were simpler and are viewed as better times. There is much to accept and admire about the world today but the past seems more favoured. There was more of the positive things and less of the negative. There was more of people being engaged with one another rather than the social media polarization dividing our society as it has. There was more acceptance of contrary points of view rather than malevolent or violent reactions to it as today.

Wrong way, Jose?
We reminisce about those past times with so much enthusiasm and verve but are we doing it the best way? Rather than revisiting the past and lamenting it as history, can we revive those days? Can we find ways to compromise, collaborate and corroborate on issues, current problems and the way we live without resorting to extreme reactions, volatile verbiage and aggressive actions in response? Can we return to the gentler times where we said, “Yes sir, yes ma’am. That may have validity. Let me think about it.”

What do you think?

 

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