Is this an increasing trend or has it always been the case? I’m seeing tons of people online say they’ve never seen an Indiana Jones films and they don’t have interest because they’re “too old” they “can’t relate to it” and “don’t see themselves represented”.

I know when I was younger I was resistant to watching old movies but even I watched and loved the Indiana Jones movies as a kid growing up in the 2000s and 2010s. I had no problem relating to them or getting swept away by the adventure. It seems more and more like people are only willing to watch things specifically tailored to them and we’re losing the communal experience of everyone having seen a film.

Thoughts?

I think the pacing of older movies (pre-Jaws) is too slow for people who have been conditioned to modern media. Even brilliant artists like Kubrick and Hitchcock are hard to watch sometimes.

However, saying "you can't relate" sounds like immaturity and short-sightedness. The same way that people who think old movies are automatically better are stubborn and short-sighted.

When I grew up most movies before the 70s were hard for me to watch because the acting seemed more stagey and cheesy, before considering half of them were black and white. Therefore a movie from 1965 in 2007 seemed much more of an oldie than one from 1981 does now. Still, it's possible young people are seeing these films as more dated style and acting wise than we can pick up on.

When I grew up the Indiana Jones movies weren't "older movies". Still aren't to me. Anything pre-1970 is old to me. It's just the way my movie brain is wired.

I guess today's generation see anything pre-2000 as an "older movie", maybe as I would characterise a movie like, say, Shane. And I get it. The 80s and the 90s can seem like a completely different world to the way things are done today, it's just that I lived through it so to me it doesn't feel alien and therefore doesn't feel like something I don't need to observe like today's young people.

There's also a thing to remember that we are all film fans. Movies don't take up as much mental real estate for most people as they to us.

Definitely generational.

I find I can appreciate older music a lot more as the music industry lengthwise isn't that far off from songs even 60 years ago. Music videos were the big difference.

TV is the hardest compared to movies. I tried to watch some older classic TV shows since they were iconic but very hard to get into. The dated references and different nuances of those times make it sometimes hard to stay interested or follow. Murphy Brown is a good example. It was a hallmark of its time but the reboot felt so off. Friends and The Office only seem to be getting bigger. I could see people watching Friends 50 years from now. It's sort of like The Simpsons where it's so engrained in pop culture and the public psyche that they stay refreshing even years later in terms of people dynamics.

Movies can be mixed. I was blown away from some movies like Vertigo or Rebecca when I saw them but watching a movie like The Greatest Show on earth which is just Hollywood celeb appearances non-stop for that time was incredibly dull for me and dated. The black and white thing definitely is hard too just from being trained to see things in color. A movie like The Godfather though I feel would be just as good 50 years from now as it just feels so timeless.

I like the trend of Youtube reactioners, like The Reel Rejects, watching old movies for the first time.
hopefully it gets their fanbase to watch older movies more. #SeeMoreMovies

I'm sure these are sentiments shared by 'younger' generations for decades.

There are still plenty of big pre 1970 films I haven’t seen, but there are a lot of films from the 20s-70s that Ive seen most haven’t. I think you can really need to want to pursue a career in the arts to really get into tackling older films, because most casual audiences are always behind on current films and tv shows so they will always opt for them.

Also younger people will prefer pirates, mummy or national treasure to Indiana jones despite the fact those films exist because of Raiders. Older films tend to be more like Michelin star restaurants, if you don’t have the palate, you won’t care if you never try.

As a kid in the 80s - I grew up watching SW, Indy, Rocky Police Academy films which were all current or recent.

I also did watch the like of Jaws and King Kong (77 version) - which were the equivalent of watching an 2014-2016 film today.

The oldest film I'd watch regularly was The Ten Commandments - it was shockingly only about 28-32 years old at the time. Boggles the mind as that would be like watching T2, Jurassic Park or Braveheart today!!