It was awesome when Jessica Rabbit sang it; it's awesome now:
Also, I've been thinking about what makes a RetroHead and these mindthoughts have been leading me back down the road of childhood movies from my past. Think about it: In the late '80s/early '90s there were quite a few retro-set movies (Who Framed Roger Rabbit?, A League of Their Own, The Rocketeer, Dick Tracy, and many more) and I was absolutely in love with nearly all of them. Formative years + Retro-style movies = Giant RetroHeaded Chica. Could this be why Mind Grapes resists the Retro? Did she miss out on the great Retro Revival of the George H.W. Bush years???
More to come...
Well, I LOVE Who Framed Roger Rabbit and A League of Their Own. Those are some of my favorite movies ever! Of course, you definitely seem to have the monopoly on loving retro-set movies. Maybe I needed to watch more than just those two, heh.
ReplyDeleteWell, I think it's more than just liking a few of these types of movies. I only mentioned a couple from that era, but there are actually a lot more (including television influences as well) that, when watched in such a concentrated, formative period of time may -- may -- have contributed to my overall taste in old movies in adulthood.
ReplyDeleteWhen did you first watch both of these films? I think that might have something to do with it (see below). Also, I think you're right: two movies does not a life-changing influence make. Not only was I watching WFRR? and ALOTO, but also The Rocketeer, Dick Tracy, the Indiana Jones trilogy, The Young Indiana Jones TV show, the Back To the Future movies, The Shadow, Swing Kids, Tucker: A Man and His Dream, and TV shows that had tons of retro influences, including Batman the Animated Series, Pee Wee's Playhouse, Muppet Babies, Duck Tales, Tailspin, Animaniacs, and Adventures of Pete and Pete.
I know you've probably seen quite a few of these too, but I don't think you were at the right age to really have them impact you in the way I'm suggesting (and I don't think you watched them all in a concetration of four or five years either; I suspect you saw some when you were younger and some where you were a little older and so on).
Too young and the retro elements pass you by, you can't recognize that these movies are all heavily influenced by the same era (roughly, 1930s-1950s); you can't necessarily make the correlation between these (at the time) new movies and the movies and media creations of the past era in which these movies are set. When you're too young, there's not enough awareness yet to see how the old and new fit together. At the right age (10-13 yrs old, roughly), the person watching these movies and shows is just beginning to make her own choices regarding media consumption, and she's seeing that the things she likes all seem to be set in a retro time. And there are so many of them coming out during this period (late 80s/early 90s) that they can't help but reinforce this particular taste in a budding young cinephile.
I've written enough for now, I think. I'll pick this up in greater detail in a new blog post.