MovieChat Forums > Midnight in Paris (2011) Discussion > What's your Golden Age?

What's your Golden Age?

posted 12 years ago by rfresa
118 replies | jump to latest

I thought this movie made some very interesting points about nostalgia, and how every era had an earlier era they considered the "golden age".

When I was a teenager I was fascinated by the middle ages, and played out elaborate scenarios in my head about how I would get by if I was suddenly transported back in time to Europe in the 11th century or so. I love the old dresses, the castles, and the stories. I really felt like the present was boring and I had been born in the wrong time. I'm sure some of it was just feeling like I didn't fit in, like any teenager, and thinking I'd rather do needlework and pottery (some of my hobbies) than go to school and feel like an outsider.

I am still very interested in this period and like to imagine living in it, but I think part of growing up has been realizing and appreciating how good the present really is. Like Gil pointed out, we have antibiotics now! I can vote, have a good job, car, and apartment, and do so much that I wouldn't have been able to do even 100 years ago, let alone 1000! I've also met someone like Inez, a complete realist who can't comprehend that need to escape from the present. We didn't get along, but trying to understand her opened my eyes a lot. People had just as many problems then, only theirs came with smallpox, oppression, and ignorance.

Are you a realist or a nostalgiac? What time period/place would you visit if you had the chance?

[–] Pure-Form 12 years ago

The Renaissance in the early years of 15th century in Florence.

[–] DmannammD 12 years ago

I think I'd have liked to grow up in the 50s. Perhaps been born in 1940 and lived my teenaged years in the 50s. But I'd also like to have been the age I am now (early 20s) in the 70s.

[–] jdown-1 12 years ago

The short stories of my favorite science-fiction writer, Jack Finney, have a common theme: people traveling back in time to a simpler era, wanting to escape the stress of the modern age. He wrote these stories in the 1950s.....

[–] thedudeslady 12 years ago

My golden age is the post-war era, the 1940's tea dresses and suits, the stockings, red lipstick and hair. Everything about the fashion from that era just speaks to me. The music, the beginnings of Hollywood's golden age - devine!

Bernard. Bernard. Bernard. Bernard. Look. I'm a prostitute robot from the future!

[–] Ricardo-36 12 years ago

The early 90s. Those were the days.

If it MUST be a time I wasn't born yet, then the late 60s.

"You keep him in here, and make sure HE dosen't leave!"

[–] arvindh-mani 12 years ago

I would go back to the year 1970, specifically for one event: Black Sabbath's live concert in Paris. My favorite rock concert ever! (those of you who are interested can check it out on YouTube - the full concert has been uploaded)

"Andy Dufresne - who crawled through a river of *beep* and came out clean on the other side."

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[–] Master_G 12 years ago

1990 rave scene in england

[–] clubsamwich 12 years ago

I would like to go way, way, way back and get as far away from modern society as I could. When going to work meant working out in the fields for a few hours, followed by a fresh food lunch with family and friends, then a nap in the afternoon. Preferably before money and the pursuit of more money was so prevalent in society.

[–] fang123horn 12 years ago

I want to go back and meet J.R.R. Tolkien and the Inklings and have a drink with them before Tolkien and Lewis wrote Hobbit and Narnia

I would also go back to the 70s just because the music was better and everybody had a fight in them.

[–] iseepinkelefants 12 years ago

You'd have to go really far back then. Since the dawn of time there have always been the haves and the have nots. Money didn't really change that. It just gave it a new form.

If we don't believe in freedom of expression for people we despise, we don't believe in it at all

[–] clubsamwich 12 years ago

I won't disagree with the haves and have nots, but they didn't always have mortgages or recessions or high unemployment or foreclosures.

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[–] piceras 12 years ago

I've seen a few people post on here the 1960s -- for me as well, but the early 1960s. MadMen kind of time. My mother and father lived as they did, and they do claim that it was as fun back then as the show implies (nevermind all the bad things that were happening -- that's why this is a fantasy) -- but to live in the times where people still dressed nicely and that was the era of the Rat Pack. People were generally optimistic about the future (what will it be like in 2000?) -- It's an absolute favorite of mine.

[–] richopp 12 years ago

So interesting to read these posts. I am the old person here and lived in the '50s as a young school kid. It was a very nice time for US because we were middle class and did not want for things. Our housekeeper/nanny was a nice lady from across town (Mennonite community) and my mom played golf and cards all day at the club, where my dad would go after work to get in a few holes in the summer or to play cards, etc., in the winter.

We walked about 10 blocks to school every morning with our neighbors, crossed the "busy" street with the help of the safety patrol, and had great recess periods playing dodgeball and baseball. We collected baseball cards, played outside after school every day--no homework in those days for elementary kids, and generally had a great life.

My dad worked in a big department store as a manager, so we would go there every week for shopping, etc. It was a very nice time to be a kid. As for being an adult, I guess it was OK, but of course how would I know? Anyway, it was a fun time and I would go back in a heartbeat. I had the good fortune to help invent the first small computers, and to this day I do not like them very much. I understand today's generation--I have a 17 year-old daughter getting ready to go to college--and I appreciate their world, but I think that the world today is way too complicated. I guess they call that progress. Finally, I found the hospital bill for my birth. The doctor charged $5.00, and the hospital charged $7.00 for a 4-day stay. I think an asprin was 10 cents--probably an outrage at the time, right?

[–] layamaheshwari 12 years ago

I really loved your post. It was very descriptive and evocative. You make that era sound extremely attractive. I wish I could go there too!

BTW, have you seen "Pleasantville"? The first half of that film depicts a life similar to that you just described!

If more of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world

[–] richopp 11 years ago

One of the best films ever made and one of my personal favorites. Of course, like all men, I am in love with Reese, but that did not change the way I felt about the film. I made many comments on it, as well, on these boards.

Thanks!

Cheers,

Rich