Sometimes I just take for granted that everyone knows and thinks about the same things that I do, a belief that is often shaken when I am forced to actually
converse with people. For instance it shocked me to the core to discover my wife, who is twenty years younger than myself, had no idea who Plastic Man was.
Investigating further, I discovered she was somewhat aware of The Lone Ranger, but her 14 year old nephew was not.
How many of these characters from the past are really still a part of popular culture, and why?
Often these characters exist only as half formed concepts based on exposure to them from some other medium.Only bits and pieces of the original still float through the public consciousness. How is it that nearly everyone still thinks of the Frankenstein monster as looking like he did in the Universal films, though no one I questioned under the age of 30 remembers seeing one of those films? How is it so many people have heard, and even used a sentence like "The Shadow knows" without having ever heard of the Shadow?
In the interest of satisfying my curiosity, go ask people about some of the films and characters you know so well. You might be surprised to learn they have really had no idea what you've been talking about all these years.
How many of these characters from the past are really still a part of popular culture, and why?
Often these characters exist only as half formed concepts based on exposure to them from some other medium.Only bits and pieces of the original still float through the public consciousness. How is it that nearly everyone still thinks of the Frankenstein monster as looking like he did in the Universal films, though no one I questioned under the age of 30 remembers seeing one of those films? How is it so many people have heard, and even used a sentence like "The Shadow knows" without having ever heard of the Shadow?
In the interest of satisfying my curiosity, go ask people about some of the films and characters you know so well. You might be surprised to learn they have really had no idea what you've been talking about all these years.
