Seen recently on TCM. The doc is about preservationists, amateur (for the most part), of film recovery and restoration, collectors who have rescued films that have been dumped as trash, in the process of being dumped, rotting in various archives, etc.
Some of the underlying currents in the doc, though, were that a) it’s a labor of love as b) there’s rarely any money in it, and c) the preservationist are mostly people who grew up in the ‘film era’. Thus, the preservationists are aging, dying, and the rescued films very possibly just going to be trashed once again, but with an ever decreasing smaller number of people willing to take them on. Not much that can be done about it, but I still find it a little sad.
I met a childhood friend recently who I used to make Super 8 epics with in the early 1970s. I asked him what happened to them and he said he spent a fortune getting them transferred to VHS in the early 1980s and didn’t think twice about throwing away the original reels. When it came time to transfer the tapes to digital media the quality was so bad he didn’t even bother and the tapes were eventually lost in a move.
Lots of people in the 1950s cared to preserve steam locomotives. Fewer in 1975, fewer yet in 2000, and darn near nobody here in 2025 gives a hoot about steam locomotives.
There are many many activities and artifacts from the e.g. 1600s -1800s that nearly nobody cares about now.
Films of the e.g.1940s-1960s are just following the well-worn path of all cultural and technological ephemera.
I’m not sure if that title makes sense. The phrase “The King Is Dead; Long Live The King!” Is about the succession. It refers first to the deceased, and then the new monarch who instantaneously succeeds them, most often their progeny.
If film is indeed dead, they should then follow it with Long Live [Its Successor]. Which is presumably Digital.
Hey hey hey, hold on there. The crowds following the restored UP Big Boy across the west and the dozens of revived restoration projects around the US suggest that there’s plenty of life left in this particular antique obsession.
Your overall point about dust to dust is well taken, however.
Granted steam locos still have some following. But compared to 50 years ago when I was a kid? It’s now pretty weak sauce.
And there are now large swathes of the country that have essential zero currently operating railroads. All the romance of railroading is hard to get behind if you get to be into your 20s before the first time you’ve ever seen a train except on a vid.
I went to graduate school for public history and one of my professors essentially said the same thing. No matter our efforts to preserve artifacts, at some point they were all going to turn to dust. We can’t beat entropy.
And to some extent, there’s a sort of time horizon in that at a certain point, the majority of the meaningful restoration is already done.
I’d bet that there’s a characteristic trajectory to historical restoration activity.
First, it goes out of service
Second , there’s a period of time where whatever it is is perceived as having little inherent value except to hardcore enthusiasts.
Third, interest starts perking up and restoration/preservation efforts begin
Fourth, preservation efforts peak.
Fifth, they start to wane as the easy/significant examples are preserved and the remaining ones are perceived as not worth the effort/cost.
Sixth, there’s a low but steady amount of preservation work done to keep the existing ones up to snuff.
