I was cruising the geekfest that is Your Mom’s Basement and read the following, Your Mom’s Basement: Look Back In Anger: HIGHLANDER, which took the much beloved movie and tore it a new orifice. This, after reading a forum where someone bashed West Side Story, which happens to be one of my favorite musicals, got me to thinking about the reverence we have for our childhood favorites.

I’m sure that we all have things, be they movies, music, books, or toys that we thought were the absolute pinnacle of cool once upon a time that might now cause us to shudder in shame/revulsion if we were to revisit them with fresh eyes. Take the aforementioned example. I know that Highlander isn’t a great film. I never suffered under the idea that it was. It was and is a Kurgan-sized load of fun and yes it suffers very much from the drawbacks that he mentions, but I come not to praise Connor, nor to bury him.
I don’t have a problem with taking a movie that you loved as a child, hermetically sealing it and the memories it conjures, and putting it on a shelf. I think taking it down and revisiting it from time to time can be a fun thing to do, much like we would with old polaroids. Of course much like those family photos (if I can stretch the metaphor) some are going to be poorly shot, faded, torn, spindled, and/or mutilated. That would be a bad time to don your critic’s hat and eviscerate them. Just take them for what they are.
Now there’s nothing wrong with critiquing old media fairly. That’s also a beneficial and very healthy thing to do. It’s one way that artists can improve their craft. It’s also a way to create new media as they did with the Highlander concept. Of course most of its spin-off stuff is drek and I hear that there are sequels which are probably drek as well, but this is not the place to speak of such things. So critique away! Care must be exercised in those sorts of endeavors, though.
In dissecting things we often end up killing them. We may learn a great deal from the process, but we must be willing to make that sacrifice. The above critic seems willing to make such a sacrifice, though it seems that this has made him reluctant to watch Flash Gordon in case the same thing happens. As well it should. After all, coming to realize how truly un-awesome The Goonies is doesn’t make you a better person or the world a better place. This world is becoming rapidly more cynical I think it’s a shame to rush the process.
Avoiding a critical eye entirely isn’t the answer either though. Some people put a movie on a pedestal such that it becomes an idol. I’ve seen this happen most recently with the Transformers. I loved the toys and the TV series, but I’m thinking primarily of the movie here. Somehow I missed it growing up and I don’t have any plans to rectify that on the near future, but apparently it’s some sort of geeky touchstone. As a result many fans are decrying Bay’s attempt at turning it into a live action movie. For many they won’t get to enjoy what will probably be a great bit of mindless fun (c’mon Bay + giant robots + explosions = teh awesum) because they will only be able to see how much it isn’t the cartoon. And that’s a shame. Selling something short out of some misguided sense of loyalty isn’t a good idea either. After all, if the Bay movie does suck, you still have the orignal. Unless, that is, it sucks as bad as The Prequels. But what are the odds of that, really?
When you love something from your childhood days, defend its merits if you feel it necessary (it almost never is). Don’t be blind to its imperfections, but don’t let those blemishes cloud your feelings. Love it unabashedly. Frankly, there’s not enough of that kind of love running around. Enjoy it. Scrutinize it if you have to (you almost never should). Don’t feel like that love has to be a twisted sort of monogamy. It’s not marriage after all. And if you run into someone who loves something that you despise, remember your own skeletons and give that brother some space.
Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m gonna go watch The Mummy.