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TV / movies 📺 Cultural touchstones you're largely ignorant of

Maister

Maister

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What important cultural touchstones have you had no part in? What culturally significant movies and tv shows that almost everyone has seen but somehow you've never really watched? What popular organizations have you never belonged to? What ubiquitous toy did all your friends have that you either didn't have or couldn't have cared less about? Tell us how profound your cultural ignorance truly is.

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I think my problem is that I'm aware of them. I just don't care about many of them. So I forget or just can't connect with people about it. This goes for a lot of movies and music when I was in the Navy. I was deployed so much I missed a lot of the cultural crap going on. Did you see that movie? Nope? How could you not see it?
 
Taylor Swift. If she is on the radio, I would not know it is her.

Never had a video game system growing up. Friends had Atari, Intellivision, or Nintendo NES. Parents would not buy.

Never had Polo shirts, Guess jeans, or Nike Cortez shoes.

Got on the Seinfeld bandwagon four years into the series. Was never interested in Friends.

Could not tell you what Stranger Things is other than a show.
 
DVD said:
I think my problem is that I'm aware of them. I just don't care about many of them. So I forget or just can't connect with people about it. This goes for a lot of movies and music when I was in the Navy. I was deployed so much I missed a lot of the cultural crap going on. Did you see that movie? Nope? How could you not see it?
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This is what I'm talking about. Being AWARE of something isn't the same as functioning as a touchstone - that refers to a shared experience. Like I am aware of the fact that Taylor Swift is a big name in the music business. But I don't think I could name a single song she's done. It's possible I may have heard one and didn't realize it was her, but Taylor Swift would not be a touchstone for me like it would for virtually any millennial. Similarly, people can utter the words 'may the force be with you' and may even know that the line comes from the original Star Wars movie but beyond that have no clue as to its meaning or context.

Movies like: Gremlins, Goonies. or Risky Business were all released while I was in the Marines. It would not have been easy to see these films when/where I was serving. As a result, I didn't see them then, and never bothered to watch them since. They're not touchstones to me. You really can't absorb this culture through osmosis
 
Maister said:
Movies like: Gremlins, Goonies. or Risky Business were all released while I was in the Marines. It would not have been easy to see these films when/where I was serving. As a result, I didn't see them then, and never bothered to watch them since. They're not touchstones to me. You really can't absorb this culture through osmosis
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I think the Soviet's were the bigger fish to fry at that time, so no loss on your part. Risky Business is horrible anyway.
 
I consumed a ton of media until about 40. I would watch most of the big shows, see all of the major movies, and kept up with bands in my preferred genre. Streaming and getting old have largely killed this. I see a kids movie once a year in the theater. I may watch popular shows if we have that app now. I have been to one concert in 3 years and haven't bought an album/cd/download in at least 10 years.
 
Game Time Pokemon GIF

Too old by the time it was introduced in the US (~1996) and when my boys took interest in the IP during the 2010s, I only participated slightly.
 
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