Recently I re-watched the 1952 musical Singin' In The Rain and felt oddly refreshed, as though my brain had taken a drink of water after walking around for two hours in NYC's July. I hadn't realized I would feel any different at all after watching the movie. I went into it only with the knowledge that I loved it and hadn't seen it in ages. Something about the movie's simplicity made me feel better; the easy way that the character's feelings are clear and the comedy is sprinkled throughout made me feel good about the world. Modern movies, even comedies, have a grittiness under them that older comedies don't usually have. There's always a basis in "reality" for most movies now that wears on my tolerance for hardship and heartbreak. However, this feeling of wear and tear may be exclusive to me and a small group of people my age at this point in time, because few people I know seem to even watch older movies, let alone prefer them to new ones occasionally.

I had a friend who told me about an encounter she had with one of her roommates at college once, involving a discussion about old movies. My friend mentioned an older movie in passing, in reference to the conversation she and her roommate were having. The roommate inquired about the movie, saying she'd never heard of it (I don't recall the movie exactly, but I think it was something like White Christmas). My friend described the movie to her, and her roommate said "Oh, you like those gray movies don't you."

Now, what degree of removal one must have from the human race's past to think that black and white movies are called "gray movies" is beyond me, but the story stuck with me for years due to incredulity and shock. I still can't believe that anyone would have seen so few older movies that they not only had no interest in, but didn't know anything about the genre. It blows my mind, but I'm beginning to think it is the modern reality (there's that word again). Most people my age that I have come across seem to be totally immersed in current popular culture, a culture that I have grown to loathe more and more as the years go by. With the growth of faux friendship and desperation for visibility, we lose more and more of older cultures. I don't necessarily think this is bad and it's certainly not unexpected. Every new generation must burn the previous one to the ground to form their own community, but I think by doing this over and over again we're going to lose some things we might want later, throwing the proverbial baby out with the bathwater, etc.

I find that old movies often provide a comfort and stability that really gives a much-needed break from the current zeitgeist. They have a simplistic nature that simultaneously leaves room for depth, and the comedies take your mind off things in a way that few other sources of entertainment can. Even the serious ones, like Casablanca and It's A Wonderful Life will take you away. The Philadelphia Story, Singin' In The Rain, Abbott and Costello's works, Fred Astaire's films and the like, those are all some of the most delightful diversions I've had the pleasure of experiencing. Their happy endings bring light to me and others, and god knows most of us need a happy ending once in a while.