Contemporary films fared poorly in BBC Culture’s poll of the greatest US films: the most recent movie in the top ten is The Godfather: Part II, released 41 years ago. Only six films from the 21st Century made it into the top 100, chosen by critics from around the world.

　　当代电影在BBC文化专栏发起的“史上最伟大的美国电影”投票中表现不佳：前10名中，年代最近的电影是《教父：II》，该片于41年前上映;来自世界各地的评论家只挑出了6部制作于21世纪的电影入选前100名单。

　　Why is this? “Movie studios don’t make ground-breaking films any more,” cultural critic Noah Gittell tells Tom Brook. “There are still ground-breaking films being made, but they’re independent films. While critics may be unanimous in their praise of some of these films, they don’t impact society as a whole to the same degree that some of these older films do.”

　　为什么会这样?“电影制片厂不再制作那些有独创性的电影了，”文化评论员诺亚·基特尔告诉汤姆·布鲁克，“现在还是有产出一些具有独创性的电影，但那些电影都是独立电影。评论家们可能对其中一些独立电影给予一致好评，然而总的来说，那些电影无法像同等水平的老电影那样对社会产生影响。”

　　A movie’s reach can help it move up the rankings. “If you look at the top ten movies, these are movies that for the most part impacted society all at once, collectively, and movies just don’t do that any more,” says Gittell.

　　一部电影的影响力可以帮助提升它的排名。“如果你观察前10名的电影，你会发现：这些电影几乎是同时一起对社会产生了极大程度的影响，而电影本身却不做任何多余的事，”基特尔说道。

　　“I think that critics really feel that time sanctifies, and that it’s only with the passage of some years – maybe even decades – that we truly understand what constitutes a classic,” BBC Culture’s deputy editor Christian Blauvelt believes.

　　BBC文化专栏的副主编克里斯蒂安·布劳维尔特认为：“我认为评论家们实际上是把那段时期神圣化了，而这起码要过几年——甚至几十年——我们才会真正认识到是什么构成了一段经典。”