The public domain rules are a bit hazy at times, depending on where you live, how old the material is, and whether or not the copyright holders bothered to maintain them. For example, Steamboat Willie, the first Mickey Mouse cartoon, is locked down by Disney, and they won't let that copyright go even if they have to lobby Congress to change the copyright laws (which they've done before). That cartoon came out in 1928, and about twenty years ago, Disney lobbied to extend copyright from 75 years to 95 years to keep Mickey from falling into the public domain.
By contrast, Warner Bros. let several of their cartoons fall into the public domain by not renewing copyrights. Some of those cartoons include some early Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck cartoons. Go ahead, check it out here. Not to mention old movie serials, like Flash Gordon and Dick Tracy. Sure, they're old, but they're fun, too. And of course, even in the United States with its excessively-long copyright time frame, anything that was published, printed, or filmed prior to 1925 is now in the public domain. That includes early issues of Weird Tales magazine, tons of classic silent movies (including Nosferatu, The Mark of Zorro, The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, and a bunch of Charlie Chaplin shorts), and tons more. And best of all, it's entertainment that won't cost you a dime.
Now, I know what you're thinking: This guy's a writer who wants people to buy his books. Why is he telling us to get a bunch of free stuff instead of plugging his own books for us to buy? Well, what I write is inspired by the pulp stories. I want people to read those stories, to watch those movies, and to be entertained by them in a way that today's society doesn't match up with. Sure, we've got bigger special effects today, but special effects don't make a movie great if the story sucks. And even primitive special effects can fascinate and entertain if they're done right.
Here's an example, a short film I downloaded for my twelve-year-old to watch with me. He's the one who is most like me in that imaginative sense; his older brother is more practical, machine-oriented, and a worker, and his younger brother is autistic and spends most of his time in his own world. So, I grabbed some early stuff, such as this film from 1900, The Enchanted Drawing. It's less than two minutes long, so it won't take up much of your time. It's ridiculously simple by our modern standards, but when you look at it in the context of the time, it's magical. And my son grasped that right away.
Now, I've spoken about the decline of quality in pop culture before, and I'm sure people have waved that off as just being some old guy's rants about kids getting off his lawn. Well, I won't deny that's a possibility, but let's face it, there ain't nothing original anymore. I just read an article where Hollywood has announced thirty movies to be released by spring of 2021. All thirty of them are sequels. Not one of those thirty movies is an original story. I don't know if I've ever heard of such a thing. I don't think I ever imagined something like that could happen. Thirty movies, all of them sequels?
Avatar 2, Jurassic World: Dominion, Fast 9, Rush Hour 4, Black Panther II, Captain Marvel II, The Boss Baby 2, Coming 2 America, Sing 2, Fantastic Beasts 3, Minions: The Rise of Gru, Peter Rabbit 2, Escape Room 2, G.I. Joe: Snake Eyes, Halloween Kills, Godzilla vs. Kong, Matrix 4, The Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard, Thor: Love and Thunder, Wonder Woman 1984, Hotel Transylvania 4, Baby Driver 2, Tomb Raider 2, Aquaman 2, Hobbs & Shaw II, Aladdin II, Star Trek 4, John Wick 4, The Croods 2, and Venom II.
A sequel to Eddie Murphy's Coming to America? Rush Hour 4? PETER RABBIT II?!?!?!?!
We've reached peak ridiculous, folks. And it's only going to get stranger.
And now comes the book-shilling part. My newest book, Cold Star, is available on Amazon right now; check it out, and support indie publishing, because the traditional media is doing that list I just gave you. We can do better; give it a try.
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