{"id":1541,"date":"2014-09-28T16:33:20","date_gmt":"2014-09-28T23:33:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/?p=1541"},"modified":"2014-09-28T16:33:20","modified_gmt":"2014-09-28T23:33:20","slug":"what-have-the-romans-ever-done-for-us","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/2014\/09\/what-have-the-romans-ever-done-for-us\/","title":{"rendered":"What have the Romans ever done for us?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"stones<\/a>Think of your cultural consumption in your late teens. It was pretty great, wasn’t it? Favorite bands, and getting their new LP within days of release, favorite magazines about music and films and books, lining up to get tickets for the movie everyone in the papers was talking about. I have my own list of memorable moments, I think we all do. And we remember what was best – the great concert, the cover of an issue of Rolling Stone<\/em> you kept lying around for years after, the movie you talked about with your friends for hours following the screening, the first tastes of contemporary fiction written for grown-ups. I still have those worn paperbacks on my shelf, maybe my kids will read them, maybe they will be bored by them.<\/p>\n

And what has this new age, the internet age, given us? Something worse, we are often told. Sometimes the nostalgia is movingly written, as in the recent article in The Pitchfork Review<\/em> by Simon Reynolds<\/a>, on music magazines in Britain in the late 1970s, sometimes it is a mess, as in Will Self<\/a>‘s piece on how ‘The Novel is Dead’, and sometimes it reflects a frustration with the tastes of kids today and the corporations who feed that appetite, such as Kenneth Turan<\/a>‘s recent column on how crummy and narrowly focused Hollywood has become (notwithstanding an article in the same newspaper only days later on edgy new films<\/a>). I am close in age to Reynolds and Self, and so I ‘get’ their starting point, following which it has been a steady decline.<\/p>\n

But, to quote the same film twice in one piece, maybe we could look on the bright side of life? I remember good things about culture in the 70s and 80s, memorable experiences. But I also know that I paid far higher real prices for recordings, from a very limited selection, to hear on equipment much more expensive, and of much lower quality, than available now. The only place to see movies commercial-free was at the cinema, and even in the big (-ish) city in which I lived there was not a lot of selection. What books were available depended on the local library and small bookstores, the selection tended to be somewhat parochial, even if I didn’t know it, because there were few places to read about what was happening in world literature. Television had a limited selection of channels, and there is surely universal agreement it was simply not very good. News was limited to radio and television evening newscasts, local papers, and a few, pricey, magazines.<\/p>\n

Today? The selection and quality of recorded music (including all of your most-loved bands from the past), and the ways in which you can hear it, the availability of old and new movies from around the world, past and present, and convenience of seeing them, the world of books that can be delivered to your door on paper or to an e-reader at super speed, news and *good* reporting on issues that matter, also global and up-to-date (taking my own field of economics – the quality and quantity of solid reporting on economic issues available at my desktop is of countless magnitudes better than was available when I was a student), and excellent critical writing, on music, film, literature, and art, also at easy access, when in pre-internet days it would either not have existed, or would have been very difficult to come by. And all of this is available at very<\/em> low cost, in every case far cheaper in real terms than we had to pay back in the day. That’s what the internet and the economy around it have brought. The cultural critics who fail to see this, or who jump to ‘yes, but …’ claims about our diminishing attention spans, or the excitement of having to wait for a hard copy to appear on magazine racks, or how LP’s were just so much better with their warm sound, or how no one pays due attention to novels anymore, are missing a crucial element of sound criticism, which is a sense of perspective. To say that it is all going downhill, that culture is crashing, is to have lost perspective on the vast cultural riches that have become so widely available to us.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Think of your cultural consumption in your late teens. It was pretty great, wasn’t it? Favorite bands, and getting their new LP within days of release, favorite magazines about music and films and books, lining up to get tickets for the movie everyone in the papers was talking about. I have my own list of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1544,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[26],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-1541","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-issues","8":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/records.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3dIW5-oR","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2817,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/2023\/02\/can-you-scale-the-house-at-the-movie-theatre\/","url_meta":{"origin":1541,"position":0},"title":"Can you scale the house at the movie theatre?: Updated (no, you can’t)","author":"Michael Rushton","date":"February 8, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"US cinema chain AMC has announced it will start to have differential prices for movie seating: Three pricing tiers will soon be offered. For example, the highest-end \u201cPreferred\u201d tier are in the middle of the theaters and will be priced at a \u201cslight premium\u201d compared to its \u201cStandard\u201d tier, which\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "issues"","block_context":{"text":"issues","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/category\/issues\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"At the movies","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/rose-scaled.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/rose-scaled.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/rose-scaled.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/rose-scaled.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/rose-scaled.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/rose-scaled.jpg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":2824,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/2023\/02\/what-does-chatgpt-know\/","url_meta":{"origin":1541,"position":1},"title":"What does ChatGPT know?","author":"Michael Rushton","date":"February 10, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"In my last post I expressed skepticism that movie cinemas in the US could \"scale the house\" with much success (people were quick to tell me \"But in Europe, but in New York\", which is fair, but I'm talking the multiplex in Bloomington here). I mentioned in passing that cinemas\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "issues"","block_context":{"text":"issues","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/category\/issues\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/NorthridgeFashionCtr-GhostWorld-2.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/NorthridgeFashionCtr-GhostWorld-2.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/NorthridgeFashionCtr-GhostWorld-2.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/NorthridgeFashionCtr-GhostWorld-2.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/NorthridgeFashionCtr-GhostWorld-2.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/NorthridgeFashionCtr-GhostWorld-2.jpg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":2141,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/2016\/11\/breaking-away\/","url_meta":{"origin":1541,"position":2},"title":"Breaking away","author":"Michael Rushton","date":"November 20, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Can you remember the movie Breaking Away? From 1979, and set at that time, in my current home town of Bloomington, Indiana. Four lads just out of high school, all lacking a sense of purpose. It's a terrific movie, highly recommended. This week Alex Usher (you should follow him on\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "issues"","block_context":{"text":"issues","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/category\/issues\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"imagine their futures","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/breaking-away.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1100,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/2014\/03\/the-sunk-cost-fallacy-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":1541,"position":3},"title":"the sunk cost fallacy","author":"Michael Rushton","date":"March 7, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"You've got to know when to fold 'em. Yesterday at Indiana University we hosted Peter Frumkin, who talked about his new book (co-authored with Ana Kolendo) Building for the Arts: The Strategic Design of Cultural Facilities. The book contains a range of case studies of significant building or renovation of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "issues"","block_context":{"text":"issues","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/category\/issues\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"sunk","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/sunk-titanic.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/sunk-titanic.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/sunk-titanic.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/sunk-titanic.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/sunk-titanic.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":2902,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/2023\/06\/what-classic-movie-best-captures-the-usa-right-now-breaking-away-obvs\/","url_meta":{"origin":1541,"position":4},"title":"What classic movie best captures the USA right now? Breaking Away, obvs…","author":"Michael Rushton","date":"June 21, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"The New York Times asked 17 columnists to choose a single work. Maureen Dowd chose Invasion of the Body Snatchers, David French chose Arrival (great film, though I'm not entirely convinced as an answer to this question. But, and truly this is not hometown bias, the winner is a 1979\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "issues"","block_context":{"text":"issues","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/category\/issues\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/image-2.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/image-2.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/image-2.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1080,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/2014\/03\/what-is-a-movie-star-worth\/","url_meta":{"origin":1541,"position":5},"title":"What is a movie star worth?","author":"Michael Rushton","date":"March 2, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Is there pay discrimination against female movie stars? Helaine Olen at Reuters thinks so. She writes: Why should we begrudge [Robert] Downey a $50 million payday for\u00a0The Avengers? The film brought in $1.5 billion globally. Downey\u2019s take was a mere 3 percent of the haul. However ... Hunger Games\u00a0producers first\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "issues"","block_context":{"text":"issues","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/category\/issues\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"don't forget to negotiate a share of foreign box office","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/katniss-and-gale-katniss-everdeen-32304856-900-600.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/katniss-and-gale-katniss-everdeen-32304856-900-600.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/katniss-and-gale-katniss-everdeen-32304856-900-600.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/katniss-and-gale-katniss-everdeen-32304856-900-600.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1541","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1541"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1541\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1546,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1541\/revisions\/1546"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1544"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1541"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1541"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1541"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}