Tuesday, January 27, 2009

From my Generation to Yours

The purpose of today's blog post is twofold.
One, to illustrate how things in our society are passed from generation to generation.
Two, to share with you what may be the coolest music video ever.
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You, of course, learned the kids phrase "Liar, liar, pants on fire, hanging from a telephone wire" when you were a child.
You probably did not teach this line to your children. Never the less, one day they will come home from school singing it to a sibling, and you will wonder "How the heck did the learn that and how is it possible that kids are still saying it?'
The truth is that while we don't know why the pants are hanging from a telephone wire, children will be singing this verse until they don't know what a telephone wire is.
Our culture has it's own form of natural selection in what is passed on to the young generations. The things that are passed on are not always the highest caliber of ideas that we would like our children to learn, which is evidence of the imperfection of our society.
None the less, many of the best and worst traditions are shared with the up and coming leaders of tomorrow's world.
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One such example, this time of one of the greatest things, was made shared with my children yesterday, through a cartoon.
First, in order to understand the greatness of what is being shared, please watch the following video.
This is Fatboy Slim's "Weapon of Choice", starring Christopher Walken.
(I apologize for the poor video quality, it was the only one available to embed. But please check out the related videos if you want to watch one that is better).
I truly think this is one of the coolest music videos ever made.
And I must not be alone, because last night, while my kids were watching a cartoon called "6teen" this came on:

The guy in this video is called Ron the Rent a Cop.

I was thrilled to see that one of the greatest moments in music and dance from my generation was passed on to my children, albeit through a cartoon mall security guard.

This only serves to illustrate that while the generations carry on what they find valueable, they also manipulate these things as it serves them.

What things from your childhood have your children picked up, and what elements of our culture are you trying to pass on to your children?

2 comments:

Victoria said...

Weapon of Choice. That is MY favorite music vid of all time as well! When iTunes offered it for sale a couple of years ago, I bought it. I don't even know why I like it so much. It just makes me happy :) The question you pose is also interesting. I have found that when I have tried to pass on some of my favorite movies, from "my" era, I am shocked at the amount of profanity they contain. For instance, I LOVED the movie "Roxanne" with Steve Martin. It is rated PG. It has so much innuendo and profanity that it was almost unwatchable with my kids! Hmmm...

Shauna said...

Are you in Utah? Did you read about the lunch this Saturday?