I stumbled upon this very interesting/fun video. Keep an open mind: it's absolutely not about the inherent quality of movies shifting through time, but about the way cultural discourse moves around them. *Raging Bull* is one of several examples used, in its case specifically because it's one of the movies that, over time, has experienced the most dramatic fall in the Sight & Sound ranking. That ranking is, again, not used as an indicator of quality (nor does it claims to be), but as a snapshot of cultural taste at a given time (every 10 years, to be exact).

And it kind of connected with something I'd noticed: *Raging Bull* is a less-discussed film than it was when I was a teenager. There are many reasons for that, several of which are discussed in this video, but the most interesting are probably related to what the movie is (as unflinching as it is empathetic in showing how ugly masculinity can get) and to what it came to represent (the apex of a male-dominated, broody brand of filmmaking, the apex of method acting...). And those things probably make it less interesting to discuss (especially since they've already been discussed to death) for many current movie circles, in favor of other films.

Although I don't want to paint with too broad a brush: I'm sure that for every person sensitive to questions of violence, domestic or otherwise, who would watch *Raging Bull* and say "*The fuck am I supposed to take away from this?*", there's another, equally sensitive person who would say "*Yep, it's as honest as it gets, and therefore worth seeing*."

And honestly, it's for the better, for Raging Bull. Snatched from the lofty heights of frictionless, canonized movies, it's as interesting today as it ever was, worthy of contemplation, reaching new meaning and cultural significance through time. It'll never disappear from the Sight and Sound ranking, I don't think, but it's good that it's still moving within it: it shows it's still alive.

Which films are slipping out of the canon of 'Best Movies Ever Made'?