# Adult Entertainment **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 26, 2006, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/adult-entertainment/346177 "2006-02-26T15:10:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2006, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/adult-entertainment/346177/1 "2006-02-26T15:10:33Z")
Nope, not that kind, you mouse-over perv – move along. I’ve been thinking the last couple of days about entertainment – books and movies, mostly, but other things probably qualify – that no one under the age of 25 is going to fully appreciate. (And the “25” cutoff is probably skewing a little young – there may be works that you need to be 40 or 50 or, who knows, even older, to really “get.”) What started me thinking about this was an exchange I had with **FlyingRamenMonster** in the _Brokeback Mountain_ thread: > [@Flying Ramen Monster](#): > > I just saw it a little over an hour ago. It was not brilliant. It was not sad. It was like sitting around watching The Passion of the Christ and trying to be sad, but failing. > > For what it’s worth, I didn’t mourn when my grandma died, so maybe the problem lies with me. I guessed s/he was definitely under 25, probably under 20, which s/he confirmed (without specifying which). My point, which I continue to think is legitimate, is that no one who hasn’t had his her heart broken beyond all possible hope of repair, more than once, is going to really appreciate that movie. Another example of a work that no kid – no matter how smart, no matter how mature – is going to really get is Herman Hesse’s _Magister Ludi_. I first read it when I was in high school, and loved it – omigod, I could imagine nothing cooler than playing the Glass Bead Game. But I_totally_ didn’t get the ending – why did he leave it all behind? I reread it again 15 years or so later, around the time I left academia (having gotten a Ph.D. and taught for a few years, and realizing that that wasn’t actually how my life was going to go – and having had some other stuff go on in terms of my own spirituality, as opposed to the theoretical stuff on religion I’d been studying for the previous decade) – and I got to the end and smiled, and said, “Ah, yes, of course.” So, in retrospect, it’s clear I hadn’t really understood the book the first time I read it. Thoughts? ---
**Author:** ![pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a9a28c/32.png) [@pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pseudotriton_ruber_ruber)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2006, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/adult-entertainment/346177/2 "2006-02-26T15:17:48Z")
Thoughts? Yes, I’ve had some. I just had one, in fact, on your subject–I spent most of my recent vacation reading Robertson Davies’ Deptford Trilogy, and was blown away by his wisdom and in-depth discussion of life’s meaning, the importance young people falsely place on appearance (of all kinds), and other such mature-audiences-only stuff. I realized that it might be wise NOT to recommend any of this reading matter, excellent though it be, to my daughter or my better students, although they’re certainly bright people, some far brighter than I was at that age. But I don’t think they’re ready for Davies’ wisdom yet. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2006, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/adult-entertainment/346177/3 "2006-02-26T15:40:06Z")
Hm, you’re not the first person to recommend Robertson Davies to me – sounds like someone I need to check out. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2006, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/adult-entertainment/346177/4 "2006-02-26T16:32:11Z")
The Little Prince The Velveteen Rabbit Winnie the Pooh All classics we like to think our kids love, but most kids don’t. I think the real truths in these works are for those of a Certain Age. ---
**Author:** ![Baine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Baine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baine)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2006, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/adult-entertainment/346177/5 "2006-02-26T20:03:16Z")
Not a great example, since you don’t need to be older than 25 to appreciate this, but as a kid I always felt that A Charlie Brown Christmas was dull and depressing. I couldn’t understand why Charlie Brown wouldn’t be excited about Christmas. As I became older it made a lot more sense to me. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2006, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/adult-entertainment/346177/6 "2006-02-26T20:13:41Z")
> [@twickster](#): > > Nope, not that kind, you mouse-over perv – move along. I only came into this thread to confess: you got me fair and square. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2006, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/adult-entertainment/346177/7 "2006-02-26T21:33:50Z")
> [@jjimm](#): > > I only came into this thread to confess: you got me fair and square. 😃 Good to have you back, sweetie. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2006, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/adult-entertainment/346177/8 "2006-02-26T22:14:57Z")
This phenomenon definitely exists; I find that my tastes change as I age. I mostly want to point out the counter-phenomenon, though: there are some works of entertainment that teenagers love and that adults find useless. It’s easy to think, for example, that Kahlil Gibran offers an immature, glib philosophy; however, I wonder if instead there are some things that adults stop being able to appreciate as they grow older, and if that’s not a shame. Adolescents, I think, tend to appreciate stories told with pure motives and overwhelming emotion. Adults tend to appreciate stories with complications, setbacks, and a desire for quietness instead of a great charged yearning. Neither, I’d suggest, is inherently superior; rather, they reflect different stages of life, and should both be respected. And now I want to reread _Magister Ludi_: I had the same experience as you when I read it at 19, and would really like to give it another go. Daniel ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2006, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/adult-entertainment/346177/9 "2006-02-26T22:26:07Z")
Pre-child I was “Can’t they just kill the kid - once? PLEASE???” Nowadays, if the kid has any possible chance of coming to harm, I can barely watch. There’s a scene in _Crash_ that was really hard to take - if you’ve seen the movie, you know which one. Same thing with AI - my wife saw that _while pregnant_ and left the theater crying, never finishing the movie. Sorry, honey. ---
**Author:** ![deevee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/57b2e6/32.png) [@deevee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/deevee)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2006, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/adult-entertainment/346177/10 "2006-02-26T22:27:34Z")
> [@twickster](#): > > Hm, you’re not the first person to recommend Robertson Davies to me – sounds like someone I need to check out. Let’s hear it for Can-Lit!! I was 16 years old when I had to read **Fifth Business** which is part 1 of the Deptford trilogy, for school. I was so taken with it that I read the other 2 of my own volition. **The Manticore** (part 2) segued from small town boy in WWI to Jungian analysis and still kept my 16 year old dumbass self enthralled. Check him out. ---
**Author:** ![deevee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/57b2e6/32.png) [@deevee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/deevee)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2006, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/adult-entertainment/346177/11 "2006-02-26T22:30:27Z")
I guess my response runs counter to the op. I was just so excited to see one of my underrated faves recognized that I got all giddy. Sorry. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2006, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/adult-entertainment/346177/12 "2006-02-26T22:37:47Z")
> [@Left Hand of Dorkness](#): > > I mostly want to point out the counter-phenomenon, though: there are some works of entertainment that teenagers love and that adults find useless. It’s easy to think, for example, that Kahlil Gibran offers an immature, glib philosophy; however, I wonder if instead there are some things that adults stop being able to appreciate as they grow older, and if that’s not a shame. Another major example of “you’ve got to read it while young” would be _Catcher in the Rye_, I think. And yeah, give _Magister Ludi_ another try – I’d be curious to know what you think. Part of me wants to read it a third time, another 20 years further on – a part of me is deathly afraid to, since it meant so much to me the second time. ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2006, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/adult-entertainment/346177/13 "2006-02-26T22:53:49Z")
I appreciated _A Glass Bead Game_ (20ish when read), not a favorite but that has to do with my personal politics on high literature and not the message of the book. Personally I think that disallowing books with a story for the nobel prize is a cop-out as it takes more skill to write something that is deep, beautifully written, and entertaining than just the former two. So while I could see the beauty of the book; particularly in the context of its message, it struck me as a good bit self defeating. A spoonfull of sugar helps the medicine go down, and that’s not a bad thing. ---
**Author:** ![Hostile\_Dialect](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e495f1/32.png) [@Hostile\_Dialect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hostile_Dialect)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2006, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/adult-entertainment/346177/14 "2006-02-26T22:56:07Z")
This discussion is irrelevant because I, at age 19, happen to know everything. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2006, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/adult-entertainment/346177/15 "2006-02-26T23:03:03Z")
**Sage Rat** – I don’t have any idea what you’re talking about. 😕 ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2006, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/adult-entertainment/346177/16 "2006-02-26T23:13:06Z")
> [@deevee](#): > > Let’s hear it for Can-Lit!! The Fifth Business knocked my socks off. Nothing less than a revelation. Another Canadian writer who wouldn’t be appreciated by youngsters is Margaret Laurence. I read the Manawaka books and went “Yep, that’s it, exactly honey”. My twenty-something self would have dismissed them as boring and depressing. ---
**Author:** ![mahj](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@mahj](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mahj)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2006, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/adult-entertainment/346177/17 "2006-02-26T23:16:02Z")
Well, I’m quite a young’un, but I had a similiar thing reading Calvin comics. I used to read them in the newspaper and loved them while I was 12 or so, but now I’ve re-read them at about twice that age I find that there’s new stuff to find in every comic. (There was also a huge thread about this a month or two ago, I believe.) ---
**Author:** ![mahj](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@mahj](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mahj)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2006, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/adult-entertainment/346177/18 "2006-02-26T23:17:04Z")
Calvin and Hobbes comics, to be precise. ---
**Author:** ![Rigamarole](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/77aa72/32.png) [@Rigamarole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rigamarole)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2006, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/adult-entertainment/346177/19 "2006-02-26T23:21:18Z")
> [@twickster](#): > > Another example of a work that no kid – no matter how smart, no matter how mature – is going to really get is Herman Hesse’s _Magister Ludi_. I first read it when I was in high school, and loved it – omigod, I could imagine nothing cooler than playing the Glass Bead Game. Well, you apparently were, and (are) light years ahead of me. I read it in high school too, and just remember thinking I might as well have been reading it in German. (I don’t speak German) ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2006, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/adult-entertainment/346177/20 "2006-02-26T23:28:22Z")
> [@twickster](#): > > **Sage Rat** – I don’t have any idea what you’re talking about. 😕 The book is largely a lament of not being able to share knowledge; and then written in a format that is dense and unapproachable. Regardless of whether I can feel for the author and that he has written his lament beautifully, that still is a big :smack: when you think about it. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/adult-entertainment/346177.md?page=2)