Cultural Classics
Books, films and music particularly may become a classic, where an equally well-known painting would more likely be called a masterpiece. A classic is often something old that is still popular. Some examples would be the book The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain, the 1946 film It's A Wonderful Life, and the song Heartbreak Hotel by Elvis Presley. Lists of classics are long and ranging, and would vary depending on personal opinion. Classic rock is a popular radio format, playing a repertoire of old but familiar recordings.
Contemporary works may be hailed as an instant classic but the criteria for classic status tends to include the test of time. A cult classic may be well known but is only properly appreciated by a minority.
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Famous quotes containing the words cultural and/or classics:
“By Modernism I mean the positive rejection of the past and the blind belief in the process of change, in novelty for its own sake, in the idea that progress through time equates with cultural progress; in the cult of individuality, originality and self-expression.”
—Dan Cruickshank (b. 1949)
“There is a difference between dramatizing your sensibility and your personality. The literary works which we think of as classics did the former. Much modern writing does the latter, and so has an affinity with, say, night-club acts in all their shoddy immediacy.”
—Paul Horgan (b. 1904)