Tomorrow's nostalgia

Parents routinely shove sauerkraut or some such down the throats of protesting kids, and after the gag reflex loses its force, gradually it becomes the taste of home and is associated with all the love and laughter that a home has to offer.


What would you consider a truly great movie? Some of the titles that regularly crop up in the critics’ estimations and lists are ‘Citizen Caine’, ‘The Godfather’, ‘Rear Window’ and ‘The Waterfront’. How about ‘Toy Story 2’? Where would you put that?

Rotten Tomatoes is an interesting website. It is best known for noting the worst movies. Currently, the worst movie of all time is ‘Ecks vs. Sever’ with a rating a hair-breadth above one percent. I would have thought it was John Waters’ ‘Pink Flamingo’, a terrifying exercise in transvestitism, and the sort of bad taste which steps well to the far side of truly and utterly horrifying. I know. I watched it in 15 minute weekly doses with my finger on the fast-forward button.

Interestingly though, its combined score, derived from noted critics who voluntarily contributed their pieces from reputable media across the world, was a healthy 79 percent. Obviously there was some merit in finding the boundaries and transgressing them shamelessly.

So where would you put ‘Toy Story 2’? Using the combined score from 105 major-league critics, it rates as the best movie of all time. There were many movies that achieved the 100 percent score. But ‘Toy Story 2’ beat out all the opposition. Rush out and hire it today. And even though you will be tempted, try not to hire ‘Ecks vs. Sever’, unless you are the intelligent type and want to know what could possibly be worse than ‘Pink Flamingo’.

It’s an interesting scenario. It was on my mind as I scrolled through my iPod song list this morning and came upon Marilyn Manson. Approaching 40, I should not enjoy Marilyn Manson, but his song ‘Rock is Dead’ actually does rock, like a monkey, though more like a rabid baboon. If you want to see Marilyn Manson speak, take out ‘Fahrenheit 911’ at the same time as you hire ‘Toy Story 2’ but try to avoid ‘Ecks vs. Sever’. He’s surprisingly lucid and sensible. Otherwise, hire the first ‘Matrix’ movie. ‘Rock is Dead’ was part of the soundtrack.

But enough of the movies, already. Too much watching can lead to brain death and falling asleep early and unproductively on the couch, regardless of whether it is high quality or not.

My question is this. Hundreds of millions of kids have grown up with Marilyn Manson and others like him. How will they want to revise what is culturally important? What music will they choose to add to the list of ‘the 100 greatest albums of all time’? And what music will fall away? Personally, I hope it is the Eagles ‘Hotel California’. It always irritated me. But that’s a personal thing.

The thing that strikes me is that we tend to fix culture by defining it in terms of elements that emerge from our memories of the past. And it becomes a thing of dearly beloved, maudlin nostalgia, like the scent of lavender water, or the wafting miasma of the tripe or sauerkraut that we so steadfastly refused to allow pass our lips once upon a long, long time ago.

Seen in this light, culture becomes something more than merit. Parents routinely shove sauerkraut or some such down the throats of protesting kids, and after the gag reflex loses its force, gradually it becomes the taste of home and is associated with all the love and laughter that a home has to offer.

It’s the same with music, films, design, clothing, dance, books, comics, politics, bad haircuts and so much more. Habituation makes it important. The initial spark of genius, although important, is not the most important thing.

‘Toy Story 2’ was beautifully constructed as a film, and its execution inspired people to new heights. It should be recognized for its spark, even though ‘The Godfather’ is the one that gets studied. And the audience numbers were an excellent gauge of habituation.

So what doe the future hold, if not for inclusion of someone like Marilyn Manson in the list of culturally significant things? My betting is a major rap hit using acoustic guitar. Strange but true. It’s happening now on the fringes of hip hop, and it’s sure to happen again.