These days I don't watch a lot of TV and don't see many movies but that wasn't always the case. In fact, I whiled away many a youthful hour locked up in the vivid scenes conjured from someone else's imagination. Most of those years have been subsequently locked up away from my own prying eyes in the bustle of daily existance. So well, it seems, that I can barely recall much of my pre-college days--probably for the best.
It's been a long weekend (thankfully) and I caught two shows on the History Channel. Yesterday was Star Wars: Empire of Dreams. Today was Star Trek: Beyond the Final Frontier. I don't know what it was about those two productions but it reminded me of the wonder I had of cinema and TV that I've all but forgotten. Maybe it was Wil Wheaton's Blog which I discovered a couple months ago (it's on the must-read list). Maybe it was his commentary on ST:TNG. I dunno.
The prevailing theme through all of that was that those two pieces of fiction changed the world. I'm not sure that anyone who lived in this country who were at least as tangentially aware of popular culture as I am would argue against that. So what happened? The only thing I can think of that comes even close was the Lord of the Rings trilogy but even that was written a really long time ago (I doubt many people realize that it was originally written in the WW2 era). Are we so focused on the glitz and the glam that we've lost track of the bigger picture?
I don't know when the hell it was that I got old, but I find myself longing for simpler times; the kind of times that I barely remember.
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