The way people interact has definitely changed with the times. Whole plots of twentieth-century fiction and cinema would now be unlikely or impossible in the smartphone era, for instance.
replySure, the plot devices might be rendered moot by technological change but the underlying motivations remain the same.
replyTechnology has changed, but humans haven’t.
I'm not sure about that, either. It's common to see Gen Z made uncomfortable by the intense flirtation and amorous pursuit shown in so much classic cinema, because that kind of sexual behavior is declining in developed countries (plausibly due to, among other factors, the ready availability of porn as a way to blow off steam, and the greater risk in the social-media age of getting one's reputation tarred if an advance proves unwelcome).
replyCultural ages of relative sexual liberation and suppression is normal too. It's a material world so yeah there are material causes, but the way people are and respond to those pressures never change because we're still the same creatures as we were hundreds of thousands of years ago.
replyThat feels like a broad generalization, but in either case that’s cultural. The underlying desires are still there, whether expressed or not.
replyI'm struggling to imagine how that's common to see
replyTrue. Just look at the graffiti in Pompeii and by Romans on the pyramids etc.
reply