The gap of generations

The Top 250 of IMDb is a regular follow-up to get suggests for good movies. I was recently reviewing them and noticed something peculiar. There seems to be an extraordinary number of movies after the year 2000 to have made it to the Top 250. Till about 4-5 years back the ratings were very well distributed across various decades and even genres. The genre distribution is more subtle to notice though.

It does have seem to have skipped me how so many "good" movies were released in the last few years. I never even watched many of these or did not bother to after watching their trailers.

What disappoints me the most is that it makes all the really well made movies slip down the charts and slowly move out of them altogether. Since most raters these days have barely watched any of these movies and would not care to the justification of why these movies should be removed from the list beats me. Ratings are very personalized and one cannot truely compare the quality of the different ratings for the same movie. For instance, some users may tend to rate even the movies they dislike with the overall averages. Most importantly, given that users have no knowledge or any inkling about what they are ranking down, its just not fair to do so. If we were to truly establish the quality of a movie it must only be done if watch a substantial number of the others we are implicitly giving the thumbs down to.

There can be reasonable statistical features incorporated which can reduce this bias but the best approach would be to release a list endorsed by body of film critics, buffs and organizations. A user list can be kept separate. The problem arises when a database like IMDb becomes an authority but relies on such dubious mechanisms as user ratings to establish worth.

The underlying problem of course is the gap of generations which means that since we would never entirely understand the scenarios, cultures and lifestyles of people a few decades prior we cannot expect to express a unbiased opinion on them. Star Trek fans who are avid followers of the series despise the Star Trek movie where as the uninitiated love it for the action and drama. Only folowers of Star Trek series can judge the resemblence to the original and correctness of not only fact, but significance paid to characters and plots. Non followers would rate is as jsut another movie but followers know the benchmark and what it needs to stand for and how tall.

Several of the old movies are pictured in the backdrop of major political and social events that shaped the world and are also excellent masterpieces of acting, presentation, ingenuity and plots. Old actors are still known for their legendary one liners, trademark expressions and costumes. The whole task of movie making seemed to be much more involved and creative not just in one or two dimensions. There is much to learn about the times gone by from these movies. One's knowledge and general awareness increases several fold by just watching and reading about these movies. Unlike newer movies which are a race against time to get as much sensory appeal as possible. There are several more arguments we can make here as to why the oldies are so important.

The obvious consequence is that new movie buffs would never be informed of these movies and they would probably get lost with time. People will never realise or get to appreciate and witness great pieces of art and movie making. Forums and databases like IMDb must think about this.

Concrete walls of a shaky education system

After several weeks of mental torture I have decided to pen down my thoughts on an issue I am extremely pained by. Let me elaborate.

My academic endeavors have led me into meeting a multitude of personalities, queer, interesting and inspiring. To my good fortune till this date I have come across individuals who have been sources of knowledge, thoughts and inspiration to me. Interacting with these minds has been enriching to me and my experiences in life, so much that I naturally developed the daft hypothesis that most people I will ever come across in my professional and personal life, read people of my background and interests, would share a greater if not similar curiosity in the 'world'.

To my misfortune this belief has become so ingrained in me that I feel terribly depressed and agitated when these beliefs are invalidated. The cause of my current 'discomfort' is the apparent lack of knowledge and interest I find in the people around me. I do not refer to the ability to produce a decent program in code or analyzing an algorithm or anything complex in academics, but to the basic abilities of logic and reason 'one' would attribute to an engineer.

I refer to the knowledge of our being, our world and our surroundings. Facts, figures and trivia we would pick up in the fifth grade or so. Where is Brazil? Why are houses in cold countries made of wood? What is the country Hitler was from? The no brainers, the rapid fire questions in an ill prepared quiz at junior school. Apparently, these are no brainers only for us. I was shocked there are my dear friends who didn't know their facts right.

Whats amiss where? Are they illiterates , certainly not. Are they not smart, not if you go by their resumes. Then what went wrong here. It seems to me that there is a large gap in our education system, ever widening. There seems to be no reward and merit for knowledge gleaned not from the latest syllabus books. All this when, whatever knowledge (which I sincerely feel is huge) the secondary and junior school syllabus in India provides is more than sufficient to establish a basic knowledge of the world. Where did the amnesia or disinterest settle in from?

Was there a disinterest from the very beginning just because showing interest, curiosity for learning would not fetch anything tangible or socially appreciable? Was there never a desire to explore and learn more? Much saddening was there no one friends or family who ever talked about these things? Random discussions on objects, events, personalities....no one to indulge in those?

Perhaps there are a billion other questions I could jot down, all of which true to an extent. Parents, family and friends are the greatest source of knowledge and wisdom. One spends most of their childhood around them, a stage when lots to be learnt. If things are not inculcated, interests are not piqued and encouragement is not given to the various faculties of the human mind, what good is a world class professional degree?

If one conversation with a stranger outside your field of interest cannot last beyond a minute you have lost the essence of life. You are a subject matter expert not a generalist and for me, failed the test of life. Awareness of the self and of most things in this world is important. If not the knowledge only awareness if sufficient to instill a desire to know more at a later convenient date.

Ignorance is definitely not bliss. What are we leading into? A society of extremely polarized minds - whose awareness and curiosity is strictly restricted to the demands to activities leading to material gains. Sad, really sad.

I feel tired and sapped out to even wage this war against ignorance. Giving all my effort to erase it. perhaps I should find my cocoon, my comfort zone around the people I know. But now I am victim of my own principle, my awareness of what lies outside the comfort zone, will discomfort me and horrify me.