I stumbled upon "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner" http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0061735/on TV tonight. The movie was made in 1967. Every time I watch it, I marvel at yet again some aspect or another that I did not notice the umpteenth times I have watched it before.
Tonight, one of my marvels about this movie is how much our world has changed since 1967. It has been 45 years. Inter-racial marriages no longer cause the stir they used to. The President of the United States of America is black. Integration is a fact, racism still exists, and sometimes is hatefully subtle and cruel as ever.
My personal world is very vanilla. Although, I have to admit, I know a lot of gay or lesbians. That does not bother me. I do not have much color in my personal life. I would not object to color. I do not reach out much, so people who reach out to me are vanilla. But color would be nice.
I think this is part of what makes a classic movie: it makes us look at ourselves and how the story of the movie impacts us.
Recently, I watched another classic favorite, "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes" http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0045810/. This movie was filmed in 1953. There are a lot of stereotypes in the movie, and some fun is poked at stereotypes: The dumb gold-digging blonde. Her slightly smarter brunette friend. The dirty old rich man. The assumptions about available rich men. The "jocks." The movie really represented the cultural mores of the era regarding women and money. When Marilyn Monroe talks about how much easier it is to love a rich man, or for a man to love a beautiful woman, she says something about society that most of do not want to admit: these things ARE important, although are not always the defining aspect of relationships.
So this is what makes a movie a classic. It speaks to a human truth. One we all feel, know or think.
I am not a big movie fan, but there are some classics that I really enjoy.
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