Paradigmatic Shift

[00:06] Oh, we do under Google rules that was the player super excited told us we had to
[00:17] said we said we signed up for it in the end it's gonna be better and more true
[00:25] than Google can give you. Do you want to do yours, Jason? What do you think?
[00:30] A couple of short ones? Yeah. Blockbuster. Where's the term Blockbuster come from?
[00:38] It's someone who busts blocks, I assume. But how is that connected to movies?
[00:46] A karate person. Sorry. Yeah, right, right.
[00:50] So I was thinking it was so the way I came about so is listening to the starters.
[01:02] Not just they're not the starters anymore. No dunks. Anyway, they were talking about
[01:06] potential trades and what would qualify as a Blockbuster trade. Would this be a
[01:12] Blockbuster trade? Would that be a Blockbuster trade? And I started thinking
[01:14] like what the heck does Blockbuster mean? Like obviously it means like, you
[01:19] know, from movies like this is a Blockbuster movie. Meaning a big hit like
[01:26] everybody's seen it. Then I was like what's going on with the block? What are
[01:31] we, what is the block that is being busted? We're busting a block of some sort.
[01:36] The simplest explanation seems to be, you know, it was a movie theater and the line
[01:42] wrapped around the block busted through the border. It's definitely the most
[01:47] literal interpretation. Right, right. Yeah, that's the only, like I always get a
[01:56] sense that it relates to like a neighborhood block. Oh, yeah, that's
[02:01] awesome. I didn't see that at all. Like you think I'm like a concrete block or
[02:05] something? Yeah, no, I mean I did sort of think of sort of the block as
[02:13] conventional wisdom or sort of what one expects. It's a block of sort of
[02:23] block of status quo. Status quo, block of status quo and we busted it up. Right,
[02:28] think outside the block, you know, sort of thing. So I didn't think of an actual
[02:33] city block. I like your guys's answer better. I was thinking that like sort
[02:37] of status quo sat in a block and we busted it up. So block was definitely
[02:43] also at some point slang for head, like knock your block off. Yes,
[02:49] definitely. Oh, nice. It could be like blow your mind. Blow your mind. Yeah.
[02:55] Oh, that's my favorite so far. Okay, I like that. Me too. I don't know if I do.
[03:02] It's a good suggestion though. I'm a fan.
[03:07] And the busting, like busting is a weird term for a line that goes around the block.
[03:12] It is. But it's just the alliteration of it that makes it sound good, I guess. Some journalists,
[03:18] like I'm sure just, you know, talked about Gone with the Wind or something. It was like,
[03:24] this was a real blockbuster. I see. Harper, that reminded me of,
[03:32] we watched one of the Peanuts specials last night here at home, the Halloween one.
[03:38] And something that I had forgotten was that the, you know, the slam in there is blockhead.
[03:44] That's what they're always like. Blockhead. Sure. Which means you're dumb, right?
[03:52] Yeah. Your head's blocky. I guess so, yeah. Stupid cartoons.
[04:02] You must have Apple TV, right? And that the only way you can watch Charlie Brown anymore?
[04:07] That was, that's on the Disney, I think. Oh, Disney?
[04:10] Actually, I don't even know. It showed up on the TV and then it got clicked on.
[04:15] Somebody brought it up. We have an Apple TV and
[04:20] maybe it's on Disney or Apple TV. I don't even know what I'm using to watch TV anymore.
[04:25] Right. I don't know. It's out of a box. It's on the TV. It's one big block.
[04:31] We busted it up. So you're saying anti-monopoly. Yes, I am. I'm all about that for sure.
[04:39] Okay. So I think it derives from movies, right? So we've got to be within the movie era.
[04:48] So we're 40s, 50s or even earlier. I mean, potentially it could be earlier
[04:55] with the Nickelodeon stuff, but like it wasn't, I mean, I think I would agree that it'd have to be
[04:59] more in the Gone with the Wind era than the, you know, silent era.
[05:05] See, I think I'm later than that. Like, I don't think we thought about movies as like summer
[05:11] blockbusters until the 70s. Like, I think, I really do think that like Star Wars and Jaws and stuff
[05:18] was the stuff that changed cinema. So I'm going to, I'm going to say that this is a 70s term
[05:26] connected to movies. Because before, I mean, like Gone with the Wind, yes. It's like the highest
[05:34] grossing movie of all time if adjusted for inflation, right? But like, I don't think they
[05:39] considered it a blockbuster. Like, I just don't think that's how they thought about it. I think,
[05:43] I think summer movies because there was only like one movie would come out. Yeah, exactly.
[05:49] They had nothing else to do. Give me your five cents, watch this movie, whatever.
[05:53] I mean, it was a paradigmatic shift, though. Oh, for sure. For sure. But I also think,
[05:59] which is why you would coin a new term. Yeah. And I think you coin a new term in the 70s for
[06:04] the way that cinema changed is what I'm going to go with.
[06:07] All right. I kind of like that argument. It just seems like an old timey term.
[06:13] See, that's why I like that. Right. It just feels like some blockhead, right?
[06:16] Sort of thing. Yeah, some old timey. Like in the 70s, they would, I can't even,
[06:21] I'm not creative enough to think of what they would have called it, but
[06:27] disco. All right. Time magazine.
[06:36] You see, when I'm saying that it was like originally for bombs. Oh, God.
[06:43] I guess that were so-called name because of their ability to destroy an entire city block.
[06:49] So I've got in the May 9th, 1943 issue, Time used the word to describe a movie not for its box
[06:56] box office take, but for its content. The film adaptation of former ambassador Joseph
[07:01] Davies, best selling mission to Moscow was audacious in the extreme, as explosive as a blockbuster.
[07:09] Wow. Now that is according to time who actually used it.
[07:17] Writing about their own writing.
[07:26] Yeah, so I am catching that the original is the original term is from explosives.
[07:36] Wow. That were high enough explosive to bust up cinder blocks.
[07:42] So I'm seeing on Wikipedia, its first known reference to films was in 1943
[07:48] when advertisements in Variety and the motion picture, Harold described the
[07:53] archaeo film Bombardier. Was that the same movie as the blockbuster of all action thrill service
[08:02] shows? I mean, the same one is the time that the time. No, no, they were talking about
[08:10] the mission of Moscow. Okay, right. Yeah.
[08:14] I mean, I guess what makes sense that in the, you know, 40s, everything related to weaponry.
[08:24] Right. Interesting. Wow. Okay. So yeah, it's, it first appears in the American press
[08:36] in the 1940s referring to aerial bombs capable of destroying an entire block of buildings.
[08:46] What's up? Can you restate how I get the the explosives bar? How does it relate to a movie?
[08:56] It was so incendiary that it was like a blockbuster. Okay. So it's just.
[09:04] So I'm seeing that an alternate explanation pertains to the practice of block booking,
[09:10] whereby a studio would sell a package of films to theaters rather than permitting them to select,
[09:16] which films they wanted to exhibit. This practice was outlawed in 1948, before the term became
[09:25] common parlance, while pre 1948 high grossing big budget spectacles may be retrospectively
[09:35] labeled blockbusters. So so what so they would just put out a bunch of movies at once and hope
[09:45] one of them hit sort of thing? Well, I think it's like, make them buy your crap with your
[09:50] good stuff. Yeah, exactly. Which is what they still do, right?
[09:55] That's humble. And many industries along the way have, this is how the cable industry.
[10:00] Shut up. You want ESPN? Oh, you got to buy all this other crap. Right.
[10:09] Talk shit about the Ocho. How dare you.
[10:15] So we're saying the, so we're saying the 40s was when it came in and it was connected to
[10:22] wartime bomb dropping, blowing up blocks, and then also around the same time also connected to movies.
[10:29] So we're going with. Yeah, but you're so give you some shout outs Coalson. So
[10:35] on the Wikipedia page, they have a thing about the blockbuster era. Okay. And there they say that
[10:41] in 1975, the usage of blockbuster for films coalesced around Steven Spielberg's jaws.
[10:48] Yes. It was perceived as a new cultural phenomenon. Yeah, it definitely was for sure.
[10:57] The first film of the blockbuster era founded the blockbuster film genre.
[11:04] It came out around the 4th of July. It's about the 4th of July. Everybody went to see it.
[11:09] Yeah. Yeah. And now people trying to create these event films with wide commercial people.
[11:20] You say event like this is like you, you make a movie knowing it's going to come out. It's going
[11:25] to be your summer, you know, like your independence day. It's your summer. Sure. Sure. Batman. Yep.
[11:32] Sure. Your Ghostbusters, different Marvel movies. Right. What do you, what do you feel like the,
[11:40] like, what do you feel like the differences between like a Chris, like a Christmas movie,
[11:46] not like Christmas, you know, but like one that comes out in the winter versus like the summer
[11:51] ones. Is there like a difference in like genre or anything like that? Well, I would say yes,
[12:00] until the recent, um, like Star Wars movies, right? There was a lot on Christmas.
[12:06] Oh, Christmas or whatever. Yeah. Um, but yeah, typically around like the Christmas and
[12:14] I guess I would say Thanksgiving to Christmas. That's like Oscar season, right? Right. Um,
[12:20] you want all your prestige movies, all your prestige. Yeah. The, the like high class movies.
[12:25] Or whatever you would think family movies too. Yeah. And family. And since Star Wars didn't have
[12:30] any aspiration of Oscars, they could go late. Yeah. And they still fall into sort of that family
[12:38] thing. Right. Yeah. I was taking my nieces and nephews and for sure mom and sisters to
[12:50] Star Wars for years. Right. We've been going to the, uh, IMAX downtown. Yeah. When the new ones
[13:00] come out. So it's fun. Wait, freaking huge, huge, huge. Um, I assume you haven't done that recently
[13:10] because they don't just don't do movies anymore. I don't know. I mean, I definitely have not done that
[13:16] recently. I'm still, they keep, they keep kicking my Marvel movies down the road. Like I'm,
[13:22] I'm ready. Yeah. I mean, I just, just release them on my local TV and I'll pay you 30 bucks.
[13:27] It's fine. Do we need more Marvel movies? Yeah. Take my money. I want more Marvel.
[13:33] Just give it to me. Just give me Marvel. Take my money.
[13:41] Catherine and I are, uh, before we get out of here, Catherine and I are, uh, working our way
[13:45] through the X-Men movies. I don't know if I told you guys that, but, uh, how far are you in?
[13:51] Uh, we watched, uh, days of future past. So, so did you see X-Men one, two, and three?
[14:00] Yeah. Okay. Yeah. And then we're watching them in the order they came out. Right. So Dave's future,
[14:05] you should probably stop now. I think that was, I think I'm pretty sure that was the last good one.
[14:11] Pretty sure. Well, in that series is, uh, Deadpool, uh, one and two, which I've seen,
[14:16] and I liked both of those a lot. Right. I'm just saying stop. Logan. Just stop.
[14:19] Logan is in that girl, which I've, I've heard is great. So you're telling me that there's three
[14:24] movies that I should not watch. Yes. Just go straight to Logan. Demonstrably good. No,
[14:27] just go straight to Logan and, and skip, uh, the last four X-Men movies. Un,
[14:31] uh, unmitigated blockbusters is what those are. Uh, Dark Phoenix is fine. It's fine.
[14:43] That's good enough. Fine. Listen, you know what, you know what this gives us? It gives us the, uh,
[14:51] we don't have to deal with choosing a movie. We, every, at least once a week,
[14:54] we watch a movie together and we don't have to choose. That's like the worst part. It's huge.
[14:58] Super easy. So I, when we decide, we say, let's watch this, this series of movies. I print out a list,
[15:05] put it by the TV. What's up next? Here it is right here. Oh, nice. Otherwise, without that,
[15:11] scrolling through Netflix. Yeah, it's half the time. Oh, that's where you start. Then you move
[15:17] over to HBO. That's good. Move over to Hulu. Then you got the Apple one. Then you're on
[15:22] Amazon Prime here. I found the movie I want to watch. What? We got to pay $5 to rent it.
[15:27] I'm not renting it. That's exactly how every night goes. Welcome to COVID.