Question:
You only have one rental credit left—which movie are you grabbing from the "Classics" shelf?
Option 1: Frankenstein and the Monster from Hell (1974)
votes: 1
Option 2: Animal Farm (1999) (TV Movie)
votes: 0
Option 3: How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying (1967)
votes: 0
Option 4: Mark of the Vampire (1935)
votes: 0
Option 5: Two Moon Junction (1988)
votes: 0
Option 6: Let It Ride (1989)
votes: 0
Option 7: A Kiss Before Dying (1991)
votes: 0
Option 8: Supervixens (1975)
votes: 1
Option 9: Jesse James (1939)
votes: 0
Option 10: Crossing Delancey (1988)
votes: 0
Option 11: Dream Lover (1994)
votes: 0
Option 12: Harlan County U.S.A. (1976)
votes: 0
Option 13: Creature (1985)
votes: 0
Option 14: Mississippi Masala (1991)
votes: 0
Option 15: The Outfit (1973)
votes: 0
Option 16: How to Get Ahead in Advertising (1989)
votes: 1
Option 17: Firelight (1997)
votes: 0
Option 18: Pin (1988)
votes: 1
Option 19: The Thief and the Cobbler (1993)
votes: 0
Option 20: The Sum of Us (1994)
votes: 0
Round two. You're standing in front of the Classic Section (again). Which one are you taking home tonight?
Better selection than last time (although the store's definition of "classics" still mystifies me... I'm guessing it means any movie released before 2000).
According to AI
QuoteMovies are often called classics because they serve as a perfect time capsule for a specific decade's aesthetic. When a young viewer calls an 80s film a "classic," they are often acknowledging that it represents the peak of that specific "old" look, regardless of whether the movie is actually a masterpiece.
A movie often earns the "classic" label when it is no longer part of the active cultural conversation.
Contemporary: Everyone is talking about it now.
Modern: It came out in the last 10–15 years; your older siblings or young parents remember it clearly.
Classic (Old): It belongs to the "parents" or "grandparents" generation. If a teenager sees a CRT television or a corded phone in a movie, it is immediately categorized as "classic" because it represents a world they don't recognize.
It helps to distinguish between the two ways we use the word:
Critical Classic - A film that changed cinema or had massive cultural impact.
Chronological Classic - A film that is simply old enough to feel like it's from a different world.
I guess the store is mixing both, Critical and chronological (old), under the "classics" umbrella term. :wink: