If movie and TV shows reflect their times, what does it mean when they're dusted off and re-presented to the public? The Albany (N.Y.) Times Union presented that question to a group of cinema scholars - rather, make that a group of staff members who have watched a lot of movies and TV shows (their parents might tell you they watched too much). What they've discovered is that these cultural artifacts can tell us about who we were, who we are and how the world has changed - or not. Movie: “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull” (opened last week) First appeared: June 12, 1981, in theaters, “Raiders of the Lost Ark” Primary fan base: Bright-eyed 12-year-old boys who hated Nazis, thought bullwhips and fedoras were cool, and felt awe-inspired by the alcohol-swilling dream tomboy Marion Ravenwood (Karen Allen). Who they are today: Graying-at-the-temples boyish men who still think bullwhips are cool (and Karen Allen remains hot) ... and their sons. World then: The US is locked in a proxy war against the Soviet Union in Afghanistan (featuring: Osama Bin Laden). Meanwhile, Iraq battles Iran, where Americans had recently been taken hostage - leading the US to lend support to Saddam Hussein. Who are Indy's nemeses? Nazis. World today: The US has new enemies now, but Indy is stuck in the past, fighting Soviets. He uses his archaeological prowess in seeking out the Crystal Skull, but maybe Americans who spent nearly $4 per gallon of gas to drive to the cineplex would rather see him dig for oil or some kind of clean renewable energy source. Movie: “X-Files: I Want to Believe” (Opens July 25) First appeared: Sept. 10, 1993, Fox-TV Primary fan base: 20-somethings who trolled Internet bulletin boards with the blazing speeds of 14.4K modems, but who knew a 28K modem would arrive soon. Who they are today: Either millionaires who cashed before the dot-com bubble burst or Webmasters of “Lost” fan sites, which they run out of their parents' basements. World then: Terrorists bombed the World Trade Center. The FBI stormed the Branch Davidian compound in Waco, Texas. And the Clintons' Whitewater land deal made headlines, Paula Jones claimed sexual harassment and White House Deputy Counsel Vince Foster committed suicide - events that seemed to be part of what Hillary Clinton called, in 1998, a “vast right-wing conspiracy.” World today: With covert CIA prisons, extraordinary rendition, waterboarding and clandestine surveillance by the FBI, welcome to the “X-Files” world. Movie: “Get Smart” (Opens June 20) First appeared: Sept. 18, 1965, on NBC Primary fan base: Early adopters of the “age of irony” and the Mad magazine-inspired stick-it-to-the-man ethos as Cold War survival mechanisms. Who they are today: The man. World then: The US was a paranoid power in a world rife with violent polarization and obsessed with miniaturization and gadgetry. World today: See above.
