Cornershot

We of the older (or late bloom of youth) generation often have our differences with the younger one over musical tastes, whether we read books on paper or electronic devices, and a number of other generational divides.

Now we can add one more: Whether we like or dislike the new “Lone Ranger” movie.

We who remember the radio, TV, comics and novels featuring the Lone Ranger and Tonto take exception to the liberties taken by the movie with all of those. But younger movie-goers of my acquaintance loved the over-the-top parody and computer-graphics action.

At least I thought that was the case, until I went to a Western movie convention in July at Winston-Salem, N.C., a bastion of fans of the older version.

But a retired teacher from Salem and his daughter, a musical theater teacher there, bravely defended the new version during one of the panel discussions as bringing young viewers to the genre.

People also found Flash Gordon and Buck Rogers space opera as old hat, the retired teacher reminded everyone, but then along came “Star Wars.” He predicted a similar revival of the Western.

Maybe this generational divide isn’t as wide as I thought.

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