I love the poem, but I wonder whether that’s because it was the first work I read that made my standard teenage social anxieties into something profound- the fear of becoming an adult who blends into the scenery, an acquaintance to all but an intimate to none. (Note that Eliot himself was extremely young when he wrote it.) If some other work did the same thing for you, then you couldn’t have the same experience again with Prufrock. It’s much better done than the sort of thing that most teens project themselves into, of course, but it’s still as fundamentally a teenage work as most rock songs are.
I think it’s for the same reason that most people who never saw Star Wars when they were a kid don’t see what the fuss is about when they watch it as an adult.
Good point. For me, the huge SFX jump in my childhood was Jurassic Park- I can’t imagine that someone who grew up after the early 90s would attach as much emotional valence to such a corny story as I did, now that its disbelief-shattering CGI is commonplace.
My younger brother and I were indeed duly impressed by the effects in Jurassic Park… but we also thought the movie itself was rather silly.
When I went to see Star Wars in the theater during the re-release, I was rather surprised at how little there was to it, especially when compared to all the other things set in the same universe that I’d already been exposed to. I basically had the same reaction to the original trilogy that it seems that most people had to the prequel trilogy. (Of the six movies, Attack of the Clones was actually the one that I liked the best; it was the only one that even tried to have Hidden Depths.)
I love the poem, but I wonder whether that’s because it was the first work I read that made my standard teenage social anxieties into something profound- the fear of becoming an adult who blends into the scenery, an acquaintance to all but an intimate to none. (Note that Eliot himself was extremely young when he wrote it.) If some other work did the same thing for you, then you couldn’t have the same experience again with Prufrock. It’s much better done than the sort of thing that most teens project themselves into, of course, but it’s still as fundamentally a teenage work as most rock songs are.
I think it’s for the same reason that most people who never saw Star Wars when they were a kid don’t see what the fuss is about when they watch it as an adult.
The other thing about Stars Wars is that it was a huge jump in the quality of special effects.
Even though I was past the age to really imprint on it, seeing that battle cruiser go past and past and past overhead is a treasured memory.
Now, big special effects sf movies are routine.
Good point. For me, the huge SFX jump in my childhood was Jurassic Park- I can’t imagine that someone who grew up after the early 90s would attach as much emotional valence to such a corny story as I did, now that its disbelief-shattering CGI is commonplace.
My younger brother and I were indeed duly impressed by the effects in Jurassic Park… but we also thought the movie itself was rather silly.
When I went to see Star Wars in the theater during the re-release, I was rather surprised at how little there was to it, especially when compared to all the other things set in the same universe that I’d already been exposed to. I basically had the same reaction to the original trilogy that it seems that most people had to the prequel trilogy. (Of the six movies, Attack of the Clones was actually the one that I liked the best; it was the only one that even tried to have Hidden Depths.)