Imagine what "The Lord of the Rings" - the movie - would have been like if it were directed by a woman. Or somebody 20 years older than Peter Jackson (who was born in 1961). Or a 30-something. Get the picture?
Not that this column is about the Tolkien-Mania. But the movie trilogy made me think about priorities. Priorities as experienced by people of different genders, different nationalities, different generations. What's the most important thing in life? Success? Love? Health? The answers will usually reflect those differences.
People who were raised in the pre-World War Two world, for example, come from a background of saving pennies, being loyal to one employer and having large families on only one income. In those days, people didn't care about exotic travel or education. They didn't have TVs and they didn't need them, either. Traditions were important, gender rules were there not to be broken and any cultural differences were insurmountable. There was a mould and you had to conform. By the time you hit your 30s in the pre-war era, you were middle-aged, in spirit if not in body. You would have in all probability said "no more babies" to your husband and concentrated on raising your brood through the early teen years. Your children would have left home a lot earlier than today, too.
Today's 30-somethings establish their education, careers and homes well before they start raising families. We live life to the full, selfishly and self-centredly. We believe the world owes us long holidays overseas, interesting jobs and happy lives. We believe we deserve to find love, to keep our health and to live forever. If something doesn't conform to the rosy picture, we'll move on: quit jobs, get a divorce or pop a few pills until our perception of reality is what we can accept.
Now, today's teenagers, the 30-somethings of the future - what are they like? They don't remember a world before email or CD players. They are visually insatiable. They have cell phones. They are the "instant" generation who can't wait, who don't want to wait and whose attention span is that of a two-year old. What will they be like at 30? And how will they remake "The Lord of the Rings"?
I can definitely wait to see.
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