What Defines A Movie As Timeless?

One of the biggest compliments you can give a movie is to describe it as timeless, basically meaning that even generations from now, people will still be praising it the same way they did in times gone by. But what exactly defines a movie as timeless? I mean there are plenty of movies that though still talked about today, that could be a number of reasons. Taxi Driver for example is a dated movie, but i don't mean that in a bad way, it's set in New York City during a time when New York was considered a giant scum bucket, it's story and characters are molded by what New York was like, nowadays, while not a perfect city by any means, it's gotten a lot better since then. So even though everyone loves it and it will be talked about for decades to come, can you really call it timeless?

There are tons of movies like this that we look back on either as a reflection of an archaic society or just nostalgia for the tropes and styles of that time period, take Back to the Future for example, if that movie was made for the first time today, it would be a completely different movie due to the changes in the industry and social norms, i.e. a teenage boy hanging out with a strange old man who then invites him to go to an abandoned location in the middle of the night, alone, is really creepy. But that can be said about every movie, if Fantasia were made for the first time today, even if it was still drawn by hand, used the same music and the same stories, it would still look different and the context surrounding a movie's release date would still affect how people view it. People looking back on a movie with the context of it being released affects people's judgement of what's acceptable, this is one of those movies that would be both heavily criticised and praised if it were released today. But sometimes they don't have to make the whole movie timeless, just certain elements. To Kill A Mockingbird for example is one of my all time favourite films, though it clearly was filmed half a century ago and is set even further than that, the message and commentary the film holds still rings true to this day (Sad, i know, but true). That's what makes it timeless, and while that is part of what makes it good, that's not the whole thing, even if the message wasn't relevant, it's still a good message, especially for the time period it was made, combine that with great characters, direction and performances and you have an outstanding film.

So the idea of a film being timeless doesn't really effect how everlasting your movie is, it's certainly a compliment and shows how strong your film is, but sometimes the idea or learning more about historical values or feeling nostalgic for a bygone era is enough to make your film, ironically, last forever.

-Danny