Then and Now Bloghop

Then and Now," a blog hop hosted by The Armchair Squid, Suze, Nicki Elson and Nancy Mock.  Tell us about a movie you loved when you were younger and have come to see differently over time - for better or for worse. Check out the entire list here.

I picked a movie that's only 15 years old but one that I look at differently now that I'm a writer. You've Got Mail starring Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan is a romantic comedy about a big box bookstore that looks a lot like Barnes and Noble and how it puts a small independent bookstore out of business. Tom Hanks is the CEO of Fox Books and Meg Ryan owns and runs the cute little Shop Around the Corner Bookstore that she inherited from her mother.

The first time I saw it, I appreciated it as a very cute romance story with two excellent actors. But as I've rewatched it (many times) other things touch me. The battle between the independent booksellers and Fox books, a battle the small store can't win. The true love of books demonstrated so perfectly by Meg Ryan's character. Tom Hanks' dysfunctional family and his search for true love. The references to classics like Jane Austen and The Godfather. And the colorful secondary characters especially Jean Stapleton as Birdy. The development of a friendship leading to the romance. Most of all, the growth of both main characters. Joe Fox faces the reality of what his business model does to others and learns to apologize. Kathleen Kelly suffers failure and the loss of her beloved store but discovers she is a writer. She also learns to forgive Joe Fox. So many of those elements are the perfect ingredients for a great romance story. The outdated technology always feels nostalgic to me rather than annoying or distracting.

Did you ever see this movie? What did you like or not like about it? Is there a movie you loved as your younger self that you still enjoy or one that appealed years ago but no longer does?

N: Not the News

I have some movies I really like and watch them over and over again.  One of my favorites I found on TV last week.  'You've Got Mail' with Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan is a silly and sweet romance with the classic romance plot of rich boy and poor girl forming a bond without realizing who the other person really is.  If you haven't watched it before you should give it a try.  But...

If you know the movie, you can guess the but part.  The movie was made during a time when AOL email was the big technological means of communication rocking the world.  The main characters meet in a chat room somewhere and start up a pen pal type relationship using email.  Today with all texting being the latest way to keep in touch, immediate and cheap, the plot using email at the center is very, very dated.

Almost everything else in the movie fits fine into the modern world, even the clothing style.  The health club scene, the coffee shop and the plot device of big package store bankrupting the little family-owned business works in a nearly timeless fashion.  But...that one little technology thing.

I don't write contemporary but I read lots of contemporary suspense and mysteries.  I think all writers hope their books live forever and authors of contemporaries must be careful how they weave scenery and objects into their story so they don't date it.  Even books written a few years ago are behind on the capabilities of cell phones without even considering advances like iPads.

On the other hand, if your characters are as clever and engaging as Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan, maybe it won't matter if the rest of your world is ten or fifteen years out of date.  If you use a news event as a background event or perhaps even the inciting incident in your novel, you will put a block in the way of your story not being as timeless as you'd hoped. Unless it hangs around long enough to become a historical rather than contemporary tale.

Have you read a novel recently where you found the technology outdated?  If you write contemporary how do you handle the difficulty of keeping it real but designing to still be relevant in a few years?