The case for the adjusted box office.

Recently I really got into the concept of adjusted box office totals.  It put things into perspective.  But I still like the unadjusted box office receiving primary attention. 

Its main strength is keeping the focus on the here-and-now.  It helps new things seem relevant.  If we really were guiding ourselves by the adjusted box office, we'd realize how much times really have changed, that it really is tough to compete with the past.  And listen, I see that enough already.  Music critics remain frozen by the popular acts of yesterday.  The stuff they like today is all indy stuff, stuff few people enjoy.  Really, only the critics and hipsters.  It's different with books.  Keeping the classics alive and relevant in that context means a much bigger window: centuries and even millennia.  That's definitely worth preserving.  But movies aren't that old.  And the art of filmmaking has definitely changed since its origins a little over a century ago.

Gone with the Wind remains, with the adjusted box office, the most popular film ever made.  I think it's a terrible movie, except for Clark Gable, for too many reasons.  It doesn't work as well in 2018 as it did 1939, and all its rereleases.  It just doesn't, and it would be horrible to try and insist it does.  It would be one thing if its period-specific qualities reflected well, or commented insightfully, on its times.  But they don't.

Most of the other adjusted box office hits have aged much better than that, and that's great.  In terms of how easy it was to rack up a lot of money, hey, there used to be a lot more money available.  You don't realize that until you look at stuff like adjusted box office totals.  It isn't really that there's a lot more stuff to entertain us in 2018.  We still have big hits.  We just have shorter attention spans, and we're a lot more vicious now, I think, than we have been since movies became the popular art form.  We spend a lot more time talking about the stuff we hate.  And maybe it's also because of changing demographics.  There are fewer babies being born.  That shifts things considerably right there.  An aging population will naturally have less patience, without any help from an increased cynical outlook.

So it's good to have the illusion that what we like matters.  It does matter, in the present.  It drives us to seek new things, even if it seems we spend all our time rejecting it.  It keeps everyone striving for new challenges, especially if we keep rejecting everything.  I mean, you couldn't ask for a better audience!  A hungrier audience!  An audience that never feels satiated is one that will always be looking for the next big thing.  Eventually something truly big happens.  That's going to be the biggest surprise of all.  We haven't been close in years. 

So while I've gained newfound appreciation for the adjusted box office, I think I'll keep my focus on the unadjusted one.  It's the most fascinating game in town.