movie meme argh

Gacked from crazybutsound:

( the movie meme )

Which involves reading the movies everyone else has seen (argh! 240 films!!!), bolding the ones you have also seen yourself and adding five more that you have seen and that haven't been listed yet.

What disturbs me is the following:

a) People on my Friends' list and on my Friends' Friends' lists seem to be watching more kiddies' movies than I do, and I have two kiddies whom I take regularly (!)

b) 95 percent of this list consists of American movies. Yes, I know, the Cold War is over and now that's the only Superpower we have left -- but do we have to cave in quite so abjectly and spectacularly?

c) 92 percent of this list consists of films made after 1980. Does nobody watch older movies anymore???

I'm teaching History of cinema this semester, and I despair, I truly do. I did this test with my students, and practically nobody had even ever seen a film made before 1900, before 1920, yes, and even before 1960!! I went down through the decades and it was only when I got to 'who has ever seen a film made since 1990?' that the hands went up in droves.

And I didn't even ask them how many of those had been non-American or made with no American money involved...

So, yes, I've added my own little quintet, and mighty pretentious it looks in this company. Except they are all films I absolutely adore. So there.

This is not to gainsay Hollywood; it's just being despondent about the exclusivity of Hollywood-only. Because I've got Some Like It Hot in there, after all, and that's my top ten, but hey! Billy Wilder was German! And they say we don't haff a senz of yumour...