I’m around the age group that connects to it, but I simply never saw it at that age, so it totally missed me. A lot of people around me did, and have a strong affinity for it because they connected with it while in high school.
It’s worth a watch just to know what other people are talking about. Objectively, it’s well-made and tells an interesting story. That being said, you’re probably not going to connect with it. It’s a product of its time and the social issues affecting mostly Gen X kids. Exploration of young people’s personal traumas and issues was, at the time, sort of novel. Today it might seem trite and surface-level.
It’s a little bit like the movie St. Elmo’s Fire, where it’s a “one of each type of people” ensemble movie before that became an over-used trope, haled as a classic, but if you don’t connect to the characters or the time, it’s easy for it to overshoot you entirely on an emotional level.
NaibofTabr@infosec.pub 4 weeks ago
Hmm, at this point it is a period piece. It struck a chord in its day because it captured pieces of teenage life and the culture of its time period that were relateable for many people. There are representative character archetypes that are timeless, and at its core it is a coming-of-age story that is always relevant, but the culture that it is set in is now the past and may not feel as relatable if you’re younger and/or not American.
If you are a movie enthusiast, it is worth watching because it has well-written characters, because it is a highly referenced piece, and because it is representative of its time period.
lobut@lemmy.ca 4 weeks ago
Thanks for your insight. I watched Ghost In The Shell this year as a part of my blast of the past viewings. I felt if I watched it closer to when it came out I would have had my mind blown. Now, I’m still impressed with what they came out with but I definitely can’t appreciate it in the same way.
I’ve also noticed how some older movies can feel quite sexist or abusive towards women. However I still like watching them regardless. I still like seeing what the zeitgeist was at the time. I think Breakfast Club has a lot of pop culture references to it as well and I enjoy catching up on those (albeit decades late). There’s so many movies that pierce the cultural barrier lately (or it could be my lack of keeping up) so I enjoy seeing it. So I’ll keep what you said in mind! 🫡
NaibofTabr@infosec.pub 4 weeks ago
You’re welcome.
On the topic of Ghost in the Shell (assuming you mean the original 1995 animated version, not the 2017 live action) I want to point out that it helped establish the cyberpunk genre, and was an inspiration for many works that came after (such as The Matrix). If the ideas presented in it didn’t feel so compelling to you, it is probably because you were already exposed to them through other media which drew from GitS originally. I think the animation still holds up well today, and the music is masterful.
I think it’s also important to understand that at the end of the movie, Motoko’s origin (human or artificial) is uncertain, and this is intentionally unresolvable. Without the ambiguity, the conflict between Motoko and the Puppet Master doesn’t matter, and the conversations they have don’t make sense. The story hinges around Motoko’s humanity.
Don’t watch the live action version.
This is certainly true, and I think it’s important to watch those examples in order to understand where we came from, and how we got to where we are today, and to help identify similar behaviors in the present. When you grow up with something it seems normal, but seeing the same thing in a less familiar context can break it loose from that perceived normalcy and make the problem more obvious. When you notice those problems in older media, take them as lessons.
It’s also worth noting that acting as a profession has long been a home for progressive thinking. I think this is because portraying different characters in a believable way requires the examination of human behavior. In order to play a bad, antisocial character on the stage you must observe and study bad, antisocial behavior. Acting becomes reflective of human society.
The point being that some of the examples of sexism or abusiveness that you’re referring to are intentionally so. That behavior was not included in the plot by accident. Writers and actors put them into their stories as a commentary on the social norms of the time when the work was made. Portraying them for an audience made the problem visible, it held a mirror up to society, it made people talk about it, it forced people to address it in some manner rather than continue to ignore it. If it seems less relevant in the present, that is because society became aware of itself, and the behavior changed.
muzzle@lemmy.zip 4 weeks ago
2017 gits is just RoboCop with an Asian skin.
Thebeardedsinglemalt@lemmy.world 4 weeks ago
That’s a bit of an issue of this movie, and a lot of other movies of the era. Sexual assault was so normalized it’s usually played for laughs, and is often a reason people use the phrase this film can’t be made today. One of which is the original Revenge of the Nerds. I’m going to guess you haven’t seen that one either, but just some minor examples without real spoilers…not only does a group install cameras in the showers of a women’s dorm and causally watch them with someone underage, but they also openly sell nude stills of those women in the shower on campus without consent and the worst thing that happens is one of their boyfriends gets casually mad…and it’s never mentioned again.
absGeekNZ@lemmy.nz 4 weeks ago
The soundtrack is pretty great also.
ChickenLadyLovesLife@lemmy.world 4 weeks ago
“Don’t You (Forget About Me)” might be the best '80s song ever, complete with the band (Simple Minds) originally hating the song.
SubArcticTundra@lemmy.ml 4 weeks ago
Which cultural elements have gone?
Kolanaki@pawb.social 4 weeks ago
Big hair, muscle cars, oversized sweaters, hair bands, etc.