But this happens to everything. Srsly: If I tried to assemble a list of where all I’ve encountered that sentiment, I’d get tired. Biker rallies used to be more fun. “I’m glad I went then - people today got no idea what fun we had!” That same sentence can be put to every kind of Con - SF, gaming, model-making, you name it. (Sometimes, yeah, they’ve got a case.)
“Origins / GenCon used to be fun - now it’s lame.” “WorldCon used to be…” &c. (Again, that’s true, for several reasons.)
You see this a lot on Imgur - “They don’t make TV shows like this any more…” (Look at 1966, the shows that ran then. Wow.) “Who remembers when SNL was funny?” (I do, and I witnessed the change - in 1984, when the producers decided that viciously hateful and unfunny anti-Reagan propaganda was more important than mere entertainment. Reagan won re-election by a landslide… They never regained the popularity or the viewers they lost, nor did they care - like Disney today, they had higher priorities.) +
The problem is, it’s not just gerry-boomer rose-colored glasses - in many cases it’s quite true.
In 21st century Britain, Bonfire Night is usually celebrated with a trip to an organised bonfire and firework display, with paid admission and controlled access.
Not so in the 1950s and 1960s. Bonfire Night was a hands-on celebration. Family bonfire parties and get-togethers with neighbours were the thing. And as for health and safety: well, apart from the annual safety lecture on BBC’s ‘Blue Peter’, common sense was the order of the day…
Whether because of population increase (or changing demographics), “there ought to be a law” (which includes Politically Correct self-appointed watchdogs, in the case of Cons) or “peak media,” aka simple information overload weariness, things used to be done, or done better, that are not now. Indeed, the only exception to this trend I know of is Dragon*Con, which is still climbing the bell-curve. A LOT MORE things happen now than did before.
Schools - and that’s very true. Even hitchhiking - across America, Europe, India - in the 1960s it was safe and fun. Not now.
It goes on all through history. It’s like lava: Every outbreak cools, hardens. Then a different, fresh outbreak happens - somewhere else.
+ A fallacy exists: Back in video rental store days, a friend of mine sighed at the Classics section and said, “Movies were so much better then…” And I said, “Not so. Casablanca, sure - but it was only one of fifty-two movies Warner Bros released that year. (That’s one complete movie every week of the year. They don’t call it an “industry” for nothin’…)
“Now, name any of the fifty-one others.”
Blank.
“You’re seeing the survivors,” I concluded. “They made stupid forgettable movies then just as they do today.”
Re: “The Magic Goes Away”
But this happens to everything. Srsly: If I tried to assemble a list of where all I’ve encountered that sentiment, I’d get tired. Biker rallies used to be more fun. “I’m glad I went then - people today got no idea what fun we had!” That same sentence can be put to every kind of Con - SF, gaming, model-making, you name it. (Sometimes, yeah, they’ve got a case.)
“Origins / GenCon used to be fun - now it’s lame.” “WorldCon used to be…” &c. (Again, that’s true, for several reasons.)
You see this a lot on Imgur - “They don’t make TV shows like this any more…” (Look at 1966, the shows that ran then. Wow.) “Who remembers when SNL was funny?” (I do, and I witnessed the change - in 1984, when the producers decided that viciously hateful and unfunny anti-Reagan propaganda was more important than mere entertainment. Reagan won re-election by a landslide… They never regained the popularity or the viewers they lost, nor did they care - like Disney today, they had higher priorities.) +
The problem is, it’s not just gerry-boomer rose-colored glasses - in many cases it’s quite true.
In 21st century Britain, Bonfire Night is usually celebrated with a trip to
an organised bonfire and firework display, with paid admission and
controlled access.
Not so in the 1950s and 1960s. Bonfire Night was a hands-on celebration.
Family bonfire parties and get-togethers with neighbours were the thing.
And as for health and safety: well, apart from the annual safety lecture on
BBC’s ‘Blue Peter’, common sense was the order of the day…
https://www.historic-uk.com/CultureUK/Bonfire-Night-in-the-1950s-1960s/
Whether because of population increase (or changing demographics), “there ought to be a law” (which includes Politically Correct self-appointed watchdogs, in the case of Cons) or “peak media,” aka simple information overload weariness, things used to be done, or done better, that are not now. Indeed, the only exception to this trend I know of is Dragon*Con, which is still climbing the bell-curve. A LOT MORE things happen now than did before.
Schools - and that’s very true. Even hitchhiking - across America, Europe, India - in the 1960s it was safe and fun. Not now.
It goes on all through history. It’s like lava: Every outbreak cools, hardens. Then a different, fresh outbreak happens - somewhere else.
+ A fallacy exists: Back in video rental store days, a friend of mine sighed at the Classics section and said, “Movies were so much better then…” And I said, “Not so. Casablanca, sure - but it was only one of fifty-two movies Warner Bros released that year. (That’s one complete movie every week of the year. They don’t call it an “industry” for nothin’…)
“Now, name any of the fifty-one others.”
Blank.
“You’re seeing the survivors,” I concluded. “They made stupid forgettable movies then just as they do today.”