>Almost all culture, old or new, is designed for consumption by people under 40.
I wonder how you would even do that? I mean if I'm writing a book or a movie or such how can I design it to be consumed by 35 year old but not 45 year olds given their behaviour is much the same? There must be some trick I'm missing.
The trick is not taking a statement at 100% face value.
He even says "ALMOST ALL". Most records, most movies, most books, most magazines, etc are for people under 40.
>how can I design it to be consumed by 35 year old but not 45 year olds given their behaviour is much the same
Again, taking it too literally. You picked two nearby points (+- 5 years) for your question as if they present a binary, whereas it's more a continuum. A movie made for 35 year olds will be consumed OK by someone at 40, less ok by someone at 45, much less by someone at 50, etc.
And that's a film made for 35 year olds -- most films are targeted at even younger people, and modern Hollywood does most of its blockbusters to sub-20 -- which is evident even in the ages of the stars (given that stars are typically 10-15 years older than the target audience). That's not even some dark secret, it's common ad demographics.
It was kind of an illustration that it didn't make sense. I mean I can understand targeting teenagers vs adults but as a 52 year old I watch / read much the same stuff that I did as a 25 year old. I think the whole thing that they are targeting under 40s rather than 'adults' is kinda bollocks.
>It was kind of an illustration that it didn't make sense. I mean I can understand targeting teenagers vs adults but as a 52 year old I watch / read much the same stuff that I did as a 25 year old.
Yes, but the difference is, this time it's not made for you. E.g. same way I could still watch the teletubbies -- even enjoy it and look forward to the next episode, it doesn't mean it was made with my demographic in mind.
The idea is most movies will show sub-40 people, sub-40 aspirations, sub-40 plots, sub-40 situations, be based on sub-40 concerns, and sub-40 fashion, etc.
Though younger actors doesn't necessarily mean they are making it just for a younger audience. Old folks with walking sticks would rather see someone fit play superman than a doddery version.
If it's Superman it's already for a younger audience.
Of course with the infantilization of culture that's difficult for a lot of people to fathom, and it even needs to be masked a little (that's what causes the need to have people like Nolan to instill dime-store "darkness" into superhero movies, which supposedly makes it "deeper", while it's still 10 times as shallow as e.g. "The Searchers").
I wonder how you would even do that? I mean if I'm writing a book or a movie or such how can I design it to be consumed by 35 year old but not 45 year olds given their behaviour is much the same? There must be some trick I'm missing.