Things that have aged well and things that haven't

Aged very well, Radio Shows -
0) Duffy's Tavern:
the humour is timeless, the guest stars are wonderful, and the overall writing is so sharp. Ed Gardner did a superb job "moidering" the English language, and he was a high school English teacher before his radio work.
1) Amos and Andy:
The comedy was universal and even more importantly respectful. A very large percentage of the shows in the 1920's to 1940's that had white actors portraying black characters were just minstrel shows broadcast over the airwaves. To quote from Wikipedia "Minstrel shows lampooned black people as dim-witted,lazy, buffoonish, superstitious, happy-go-lucky, and musical."
Freeman Gosden and Charles Correll portrayed the multitude of male (usually) black characters they voiced in a manner that treated them with respect not often seen then. The two main characters are the timeless ever scheming one and his not too bright friend that always helps him out that has been played out in countless variations over the years.

On that note, not aged very well -
The multitude of shows on vaudeville and the radio from that same era that were the epitome of negative stereotypes and portraying black folks in anything but a positive light.

 

Held up well: Ros Serling's insights into and visions of the myriad facets of the human condition. I would hold up as exemplars People Are the Same Everywhere, and one of my can't-miss favourites, The Obsolete Man.

Held up not quite so well: (bracing myself for a barrage of dirty looks) Star Trek, original series. Hear me out before you retaliate! Gene Rodenberry's vision of the future has earned the admiration of at least four generation--my own included--and it is well-deserved. Some of the history, equipment, and FX haven't transitioned into the present well. The Eugenics War was supposed to be in 1996. The padds that the occasional yeoman will proffer to the captain are....well, ridiculous. My 5-year-old can watch cartoons on a device half the size, a fifth the thickness. My fav, though is this: the fights scenes. During hand to hand fight scenes, it would cut to a wide-angle shot of the action in which stunt doubles would perform most of the rough stuff. On, say, a 16 or 20 inch TV screen, it might be fairly convincing. But on a 42 inch screen, there isn't the remotest resemblance between the characters and the stunt doubles.

 

Brutalist architecture has not aged well.
I don't think it even got off to a good birth, but who's to say?
--- merged: Jul 18, 2012 at 7:41 PM ---
Brutalist architecture has not aged well.
I don't think it even got off to a good birth, but who's to say?

 

only able to think in little terms about this question at the moment....

those cheesy presets that steely dan used in many of their songs instead of a horn section have really not aged well. i can't explain it. maybe there's an irony wave that has yet to hit that'll make them sound differently.

richard brautigan's writing has aged well, in part because the hippie nonsense that once shaped how people read it has long ago fallen away.


on the other hand, u2 seems to transcend this sort of binary opposition. they have sucked from jump and continued sucking, in various ways, ever since. now they're copies of themselves in the ways they used to suck, so have found a new and improved way to suck.

but i digress.

 

Perhaps you still haven't found what you're looking for...

 

Annie Leibovitz's work has aged well. Her best work never fails to be unique, evocative, & transcendent. She also seems to have a wicked sense of humour and that never goes out of style. I'll have to come back for things that didn't age well.

25 years ago (approx.)


30 years ago:

25 - 30 years ago:
(below)


40 years ago:


Leibovitz's first professional job. (above)


More recent:







Have not aged well: Cigarette pants. Born in the 1950's, only long-legged ladies could wear them without them looking like a human fashion faux pas. They've been revived a few times since (including currently) but still you must have a perfect shape including long legs for them to look 'right' making 95% of those poor souls both male and female who wear them, fashion victims.

 

Don't you find that most good, actually great music ages well? Even if it is from another era, if it is done well it still is recognized today as great music. Elvis, the Beatles, Gershwin, Dvorak; great then, great now. Vanilla Ice still blows, years later.

 

I'm a fan of brutalist architecture and I think you might be inclined to agree with me when I say that, from my perspective (being born decades after the style originated,) that it hasn't aged at all.

 

I wasn't aware that this is the style that you speak of:

Brutalist-style house by GH3 Architects

I do recall reading that the neighbours complained to the press but the type of architecture was never named.
Now I have a name, so thanks! (I perused a number of photos of buildings and Brutalist-inspired art as well. The name is apt, though I don't dislike it.)

 

I am with MSD... I like a lot of brutalist architecture. I won't say it's my favourite but I like a lot of it and think it ages well.

U of T Scarborough Campus


Trellick Tower - London


Habitat - Montreal

 

Vanilla Ice is more important than you think.

 

Who Framed Roger Rabbit is forever awesome. Accept it.

 

The Union Oyster House, one of my favorite restaurants in Boston (established in 1826) has aged well.



The Old Ebbitt Grill in Washington, DC not so well

Then (from the 1860s to 1970s)


Now

 

I have tended to hate nostalgia and the way it colours things. I think I first became aware of its cloying taint in the wake of The Big Chill. Music I would have otherwise enjoyed was altered by hearing it through the overwhelmingly nostalgia-laden ears of baby boomers (not to mention marketeers and Michael Bolton covers).

That said, as I hit the age where I am in the sweet spot for nostalgia goggles, I find its siren call hard to resist or deny. The remedy is to try and stay connected to new things and not wallow in the past too much... balance in all things.

 

I beg to differ about great music aging well. The Doors, would be my exception to this rule. As much as I appreciate them for having a truly unique sound, the only songs that are not sickningly dated are the ones where Manzarak holds back a bit on the carnival-like keyboard (i.e. Crystal Ship is one, LA Woman, another). Makes me want to nosh on 'shrooms, man.

 

The slinky has not aged well.