18 and Life
Local elections are taking place across much of the United States today, including in New York City, where one of the most pressing issues on people’s minds isn’t taxes or crime or healthcare or tolls, but the fact that an eighteen-year old child has never seen a thirty-eight year old film called The Princess Bride.
Ella Devi, age 18, drew immediate scorn when she posted a picture of herself and a friend canvassing for NYC mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani along with 81-year old actor Wallace Shawn, whom Ella correctly identified as “Dr. Sturgis from Young Sheldon.” Social media users then dod what social media users always do when things like this happen — namely, they turned it into the most important thing ever for five minutes, and mercilessly trolled this young woman for being unaware of Wallace’s iconic role in The Princess Bride. Ultimately, however, Ella clapped back with a post on Twitter that read, “Old people! if you have time to yell at me to go watch the princess bride you have time to canvass or phone bank.”
We see this same thing happen in horror fiction, of course. A young writer will mention they’ve never read ____________ and older writers wil clutch their pearls and be all aghast, and berate them as if they are utter monsters. And I’ve seen people do this in real life over the last couple of years, rather than keeping it confined to social media. A decade ago, we’d opine that “people can say things on social media that they’d never say in real life” but that clear dividing line is growing more and more muddled by the day. Social media is rewiring how human beings interact with ech other on a personal level, and the changes are not for the better.
And with everything else going on in the world right now, the fact that users from all socio-political walks of life would come together and decide that this kid never having seen a nearly four decades old movie is worthy of a level or scorn usually reserved for whomever’s turn it is inside the wicker man (that’s another old move reference) is, in the words of Wallace Shawn’s character, “Inconceivable.”
Except, it’s not. No really. It’s what I’ve come to expect from the mouth-breathing masses.
Kids, life is short. Consume the films and books and other art that you want to consume. I’m just happy you’re taking in anything that’s not TikTok or YouTube slop. Find things that speak to you or move you or entertain you. And at some point, when you get the chance, check out The Princess Bride, which is a very funny movie that old people used to enjoy before they spent all their time making your social media hang outs even more insufferable than they already are.
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Busy couple of days here at Casa Keenegiovanni, and yesterday was no exception. Canadian crime writer Beau Johnson and I hung out and had coffee and talked shop yesterday morning until it was time to take him to the airport. Then, after I got back from the airport, I began setting up the new Vortex Books & Comics warehouse in earnest, and moved a first round of inventory from the store to there. To be honest, that task put me in a sullen mood, but yesterday evening, Mary and I hung out with Laurel and Frank until late, and we laughed so hard that it was impossible for even me to be sullen for too long. We also played a variation of The Newlywed Game, which you will hear on next week’s episode of KEENEVERSATIONS.
