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Discuss this article by @Thande here
Thanks for the comment. I'd be curious to know just how typical or not my experience is.A good article which largely chimes with my own experience. I'm a bit older though, so it wasn't until I was already at secondary school before taping films at home became an option and there were only three channels anyway, since Channel 4 was still in the future. The other problem with seeing films on the telly was that often the ones I really wanted to see were on far too late. That applied to series as well as films. I remember being allowed to stay up until well after midnight to watch V (now titled as V the mini-series) which was so impressive to me that when Independence Day's alien saucers appeared, they just looked like V rip-offs to me (though I'd already read Arthur C. Clarke's Childhood's End to which both owe a great debt, I think). I couldn't tape V though as we didn't have a video so it was a couple of decades before I was able to see it again, when it was released on DVD (actually as two separate releases, for some strange reason probably related to making more money off of people like me!).
I remember the furore when the BBFC introduced the 12 classification, which it seems was for much the same reason as the later 12A (it enabled Batman to be seen by under-15s), and there were therefore the normal complaints of "what is the world coming to" and "they're corrupting our children" etc.
(Strangely enough, regarding Bond films, which I also saw mostly on telly, when I first saw Goldeneye I also missed the first few minutes - it wasn't till years later that I saw the beginning, which did help explain a couple of things later in the film!)
This is very true - I often complain that the videogame history narrative is now written as though everyone lived in America, but there are plenty of other examples as you say here too.You can read articles about "growing up in the eighties/nineties" which talk about all the things you supposedly did, and you... didn't do them. You should know, you were there. But history insists differently. Sometimes, that's a factor of place - my Dad was a teenager in the "swinging sixties", but they didn't swing very much in Bishop Auckland. Sometimes it's a factor of economics. Sometimes, the narrative is decided due to things like your example: successful films essentially proving themselves out of repeat viewing for several years. The success often guarantees a place in the cultural memory (but doesn't always do so), but means anybody who missed it had a long wait to catch up.
I remember being allowed to stay up until well after midnight to watch V (now titled as V the mini-series) which was so impressive to me that when Independence Day's alien saucers appeared, they just looked like V rip-offs to me
Bigg City Port was almost as important as Sodor in my childhood. Literally none of my friends at school had ever heard of TUGS.
I've been trying to introduce my children to classics like these over the past few years. I never managed to get Mr Benn though - and they're a bit old for it now, unfortunately, so the phrase from my childhood ("as if by magic, the shopkeeper appeared") just won't resonate with them...Bagpuss, The Herbs, The Clangers, The Wombles, Towser, Ivor the Engine, Noggin the Nog...
Camberwick Green
I've got it on DVD somewhere. And the proper Mr Men series, narrated by Arthur Lowe. I need to hunt them down, as my little one is just reaching the correct age.I've been trying to introduce my children to classics like these over the past few years. I never managed to get Mr Benn though - and they're a bit old for it now, unfortunately, so the phrase from my childhood ("as if by magic, the shopkeeper appeared") just won't resonate with them...
I'm making sure any Thomas episodes have either Ringo or Michael Angelis on the voice-over. They're going down well. He's never been one for cuddly toys, really. Anything with wheels. In fact, he took a brio James the Red Engine (as well as a police car) to bed with him tonight.My sister showed the niece old Thomas the Tank Engine and new Thomas the Tank Engine, and Bagpuss (probably too young as she didn't care unless Bagpuss was on screen)
That's slightly different, but yes. My best friend had a similar experience because his older brother had taped all the kids' TV from the early 80s that was on just before he (my friend) was born, so he grew up with the 'wrong' generational experience.Funnily enough, my formative experiences of a decade later are completely different but equally chrononausical.
Things like Cartoon Network and Pokemon were stuff other people with sky had access to, whereas our vast collection of videos spanned most of Disney (including Song of the South!), and anything of classic kids TV available- Bagpuss, The Herbs, The Clangers, The Wombles, Towser, Ivor the Engine, Noggin the Nog...
Although we had to wait till DVDs to get a copy of Camberwick Green.
I should probably do an article specifically about that.An important point, @DocU.
From the 1990s onwards, the audience has become ever more fragmented. The common cultural touchstones have become rather eroded, even as the ability to consume the same media as others all over the world, and at any time one wishes, has increased.
I went to see an excellent stage adaptation of Mr Benn by students from the University of East Anglia once, it was amazing.I've been trying to introduce my children to classics like these over the past few years. I never managed to get Mr Benn though - and they're a bit old for it now, unfortunately, so the phrase from my childhood ("as if by magic, the shopkeeper appeared") just won't resonate with them...