By: Rory Zeman

Culture Editor

Everyone is familiar with the experience of watching a film with an older family member and witnessing them glorify the movie, referring to it as a classic. But, are these films truly great? In truth, they usually aren’t. Classic movies are films of past generations that viewers praise for their revolutionary and timeless attributes. However, films should not earn praise for their age and popularity, but rather for their quality. So-called “classic movies” do not deserve their grandiose reputations in comparison to modern films because they carry dull plots, weak acting, and a weak display of special effects.

When determining the quality of a movie, the plot is of superb importance, yet classic films tend to lack the same storyline depth that the new age of film encompasses. According to IMDB, the average film length has substantially increased over the time in which movies have been around, with the average film in 1930 clocking in at about 90 minutes, and the average film in 2010 being about 120 minutes. Additionally, according to a Statista survey done on Americans of all age groups over 18, most Americans believe that films should be over 90 minutes long to have an ample plotline. These numbers portray the inadequate plot lengths of many classic movies, which fail to meet the standards of the modern film industry and also give less time for a fully developed story. 

Classic movies also tend to lag behind in the domain of acting. As the film industry became more widely accepted and expanded throughout the United States, acting became a more serious and established profession. According to a chart by the Educational Theatre Association, the percentage of schools in America that offer theater arts courses has increased from 37 percent in 1970 to 79 percent in 2012. Not only does this show how much the acting industry has improved, but also how it has become more competitive and therefore advanced. With more actors and actresses clawing for lead roles, the industry accepts only the most highly trained and emotionally captivating stars to lead new films, whereas old films had predominantly theater actors and actresses with minimal training in front of cameras. 

In the most obvious category of all, modern movies decimate the old films in the realm of special effects. New developments in filmmaking such as CGI, 4k quality, and diverse, altered sets provide the greatest quality gap between classic and modern motion pictures. For instance, the movie Oppenheimer utilizes micro recreations and visual effects to create massive explosions and the film The Shape of Water uses a combination of CGI and advanced puppeteers to produce an underwater-like effect. Modern technology allows movie production to reach new heights, and give viewers stunning visuals that were simply impossible to generate in the era of classic films.

Although the early and classic stages of movie-making are in some ways revolutionary in the world of entertainment, they are in no way comparable to the elevated film production of the modern day. Classic films do not deserve their high levels of appreciation in comparison to new films because they lack effective writing, acting, and visuals.

(Sources: Educational Theatre Association, IMDb, Metacritic, Rotten Tomatoes, Statista)