Is everything that’s new automatically bad? Are old things better by default?

We remember the good old stuff because the bad old stuff wasn’t worth remembering. But we see the good and bad new stuff both as it’s happening.

So old stuff is automatically better but only because the bad stuff got throwed away already.

The good ole days …
Growing up, our home had no A/C during summer.
We had three TV channels: ABC, NBC, and a static filled CBS.
FM was not around. AM was Top 40, Country, EZ Listening or Religious.
Movies. Two theaters, one screen each. One theater was constantly shut down for showing after-hours porn.
Internet? Are you kidding?
The military filled ranks with a draft.
At night, the overhead clouds often turned bright orange as molten iron slag was dumped into the river.
To earn enough money to enroll in college, I worked the coal fields. Strip-mining. I worked with the explosives crew, where we blew the tops off mountains to access the vein of coal.
Black lung? What’s that? Most everyone smoked 3 packs a day, anyway.
When we went on picnics, we always brought Jarts. The most lethal toys ever. Banned now.
It was what is was, certainly not golden.
Nobody knew what tomorrow would bring.
Still that way.

Anchorhead said:

Age of the person commenting would make this discussion a lot more honest. People in their 20s and 30s aren’t going to be able to speak to the question in an informed manner. Until you’ve passed through time, you won’t understand it. You just can’t. No amount of reading, studying, researching, interviews, etc is going to change that. Until 40 or 50 years have passed, you can’t even begin to comprehend what the good old days even are or how much your world will have changed.

To me, someone who has been around for many decades, nearly everything is better now. Cars, motorcycles, technology, healthcare/medicine/medical, communications, home entertainment, food safety, air quality, water quality, workplace environments & safety, and many others I’m probably forgetting.

The only thing better 40 years ago was the amount of time I had left in the journey.

And yet, if you believe the surveys over the past 20 years, people are less happy these days. Most of the stuff you mentioned above are simply related to technological improvements; very ironic given the fact that most of us on this website vastly prefer Star Wars from “the good old days” to the new Star Wars stuff.

You still remain an awesome dude Anchorhead.

Hal 9000 said:

We remember the good old stuff because the bad old stuff wasn’t worth remembering. But we see the good and bad new stuff both as it’s happening.

So old stuff is automatically better but only because the bad stuff got throwed away already.

I think you hit the nail on the head. It’s exactly the same reason why old music seems so much better. The old movies you watch are just the best stuff at the time it was made. Sure, the old days got Star Wars, but also got crap like Slapstick of Another Kind and forgettable experiments like Modern Problems.

Now, I prefer the aesthetic of older movies (mainly pre-1985), but that’s just a preference and doesn’t say anything objective.

Another reason could be the shift in style of films. Everything changes, and so does film, and so it’s also likely your inner misoneist judging new movies.

Also, the MCU stands for Milked Cow Udder.

I think the Angry Video Game Nerd has the best explanation for this subject! Be warned, though. The clip contains a few naughty words, but is worth watching outside of work hours:

https://youtu.be/-XtToNPFU1E?t=23m20s

I still have a fondness for bad movies.
Not films that are deliberately trying to be bad (eg: Troma).
Films that are honestly trying to be good, such as Ed Wood’s output.
Or Lifeforce! Sheer awesomeness.
Bad cinema I can enjoy, but bad television - no.