The Magic of Discovering 1980s Movies, The Peak of American Civilization
Introduction
My family is very old-fashioned. I am the youngest in my immediate family. As long as I can remember, we have always been subscribed to the movie channels on TV, like HBO, so I grew up watching movies on cable TV instead of on streaming services, that has become the norm in the U.S. As my siblings moved on with their lives, during my early teenage years, I still had one brother at home with my parents, who I was never that close to. I naturally made it a habit to go watch TV in his room with him every night because he was always watching something and I wanted to catch what was going on, and we eventually grew really close. He always liked to watch action movies, and they do a lot of 1980s, 1990s, and 2000s action and sci-fi movies on the movie channels. I began to find out about movies and I started to like action and sci-fi movies too. I learned about famous actors and actresses and noticed certain trends in movies from the different decades.
For a while, I have always been into 1980s action and sci-fi movies, like The Terminator, Predator, First Blood, Commando, and eventually even the lesser-known Jackie Chan movies. I also liked the Back to the Future trilogy, which were some of my Dad's favorite movies. He always had this DVD collection with the DVDs of all three movies. Sometimes my sister and I would watch one of the movies on a Saturday morning when she still lived with us. I don't remember how young I was when I first watched Back to the Future, but that could have been the first 1980s movie I watched because that DVD collection is probably just as old as I am. I think I started to like 1980s action movies because the characters in those older movies are so much more well-written and I always loved the thought of historical technological science fiction type of stories, which is also why I started falling in love with the lore around the Halo video game franchise, and later, Fallout. I also developed a love for military history and the history of the technologies involved, like guns and military vehicles. I realized I liked how 1980s were set in real history. Predator was all about the unrest in Central and South America in the 1980s and First Blood dealt with the harsh reality of many Vietnam veterans after the war. My knowledge of firearms directly came from watching my brothers play Call of Duty on the Xbox. My mother would never let me play, but I loved learning to identify weapons and certain details about them. My earliest memory of watching my brothers play Call of Duty was my oldest brother who was playing Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare with an M16A4 with a red dot sight, on our old square Sharp TV. Through 1980s movies, I saw the M16A2 in action, and the powerful M60 paired with insane bodybuilder biceps. It was so magical for a strong main character like that with a light machine gun, and it seemed like a cultural icon of 1980s action movies, which is strange for a firearm to be labeled as such.
It Officially Started with The Breakfast Club
While I have always liked action and sci-fi movies from the 1980s, I only started being seriously affected by '80s movies when I first watched The Breakfast Club in its entirety in August 2022, which dragged me into the rabbit hole of '80s coming-of-age films. A while before this, I do remember my brother once telling me that the movie was really good. We saw it on the TV guide and he turned to the channel it was playing on, but I only saw that one scene with Allison and Andrew after Allison closed herself off. It felt so different from action and sci-fi movies. I couldn't believe that it looked so grounded in reality and the characters had real reactions and emotions. Then, I finally came across the full movie when it was free in August 2022 on Xfinity Stream with my school account, so I knew I had to watch it. The effect that The Breakfast Club had on me and other '80s coming-of-age films was otherworldly. Seriously, the miracle in The Breakfast Club where the characters all overcame their differences and fears was so impactful, that those are the type of people you would trust to hunt the Predator with you and cover your back with their M16… that could be figuratively speaking, I guess. If I had a role, I would love to play the typical old guy who hates the kids. It sounds like a fun role to play a hated villain and act like someone you wouldn't be like. Oh, and I laughed at Ally Sheedy's line where she mentioned running away to visit places like "Israel, Africa..., Afghanistan!" in 1985... maybe not a good idea. That's like saying in 2023 you'd love to run away to Ukraine, Syria, or... Afghanistan, again. Or, Israel again, for that matter. War… war never changes. They didn't start the fire, it was always burning since the world's been turning.
I really want to use those computers and see if I can break them. Oh, by the way, I had never seen someone act the way that Ally Sheedy did as Allison Reynolds, a recluse with no friends. She blew the role out of the water. Her mannerisms were so genuine. She acted so tense when she was near other kids but she listened to the other kids' conversations, she noticed small details, and she also closed herself off when she was challenged. She was very artistic, and I learned that Cap'n Crunch and Pixie Stix existed in the 1980s when she made her hilariously healthy sandwich (not). Then, later, she tossed up her web of lies aimed at Claire to get her to admit her insecurities. That also blew me away. That was pretty damn good. I bet she also lied to Andrew when she said she drank vodka whenever. That goes for all the other kids. They were all smart in their own ways, even John Bender. The only screw that fell out was Richard Vernon, who is dumb as nails and would never respect the kids even if the Soviets were to parachute into Chicago and force him at gunpoint. He is the only one who never reflected on his actions to see who he truly was. Not even Carl the janitor could save his soul. Back to Ally Sheedy, when I saw her character in WarGames, she was a normal high schooler, the total opposite of the spectrum, and her performance there was also so genuine that it really blew me away. That was some amazing range that she had. Now, if you gave her a gun and threw her into the John Wick assassin universe, I bet she would kick ass. She has the skills of a movie assassin: she can think quickly, deceivingly choke up a story, be invisible, and notice small details to plan ahead. In a perfect world where you could be accepted into any job, it could be fun to explore all kinds of opposite roles no one would expect you in: One day, you’re a kid with no friends in high school, next you’re a squad leader during WWII, then you’re a sensitive lonely psychopathic villain trying to take over the world, and after that you’re a supporting character with two scenes part of larger group led by the main character.
Character & Unity
1980s movies are very unregulated compared to today's movies, so the characters are written to be very human and genuine, and that shows in the actors' performances. There are a lot more meaningful interactions between characters, as they are all involved in and even support the main character(s) with their goals. The dialogue, some of which would be sensitive today, really sounds like what high schoolers and young people would say to each other, without making them seem forced or cringe-worthy. The comedic dialogue isn't forced or overdone like how it seems in all Marvel movie trailers. Today's movies are a lot more individualistic, some may seem to have less meaningful characters especially those who support the main character, and have female protagonists who can't have people interfere with their storyline or else somehow society thinks it means they aren't strong and independent (Captain Marvel, live-action Mulan, etc.). These aspects are like taking a step in the direction of making characters less human and have less growth (like a machine), because naturally, humans are sociable creatures, and life doesn't revolve around one human, correct me if I'm wrong. If a character doesn't learn or grow in the story in a meaningful way, then what's the point? If God skipped Adam and Eve and created 8 billion humans on 7 continents and wound the clock to 2023 CE, then what's the point of having a Christianity? The United States of America, one of the most influential countries ever, was founded partly because of the will to practice religion freely without strict regulations, so this is a big deal.
I also like how it seemed to be common for '80s movies to have music officially written for the movie itself. Simple Minds' Don't You Forget About Me was written for The Breakfast Club (1985), a few songs including Berlin's Take My Breath Away was written for Top Gun (1986), Starship's Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now was written for Mannequin (1987), and much more. I couldn't believe when I found out how common this was. My reaction is like this: "Hey, I think I heard this song from my parents or they played it in the car radio when I was a little kid, so THAT's where the song came from!" Nowadays, I only hear of Hans Zimmer ripping on his piano, which is still nice, but nothing gets you pumped up and want to drive at high speed (safely) in a beautiful gloss black and chrome 1970 Dodge Charger R/T with a 426 HEMI like '80s music does. The first time I watched Mannequin, the ending song, Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now, blew me away. That totally made the whole movie. It gave me chills. It made me want to drive at high speed on the couch. Specially written music that's so good just gives the movie so much more character. Claire's dance on the stairwell in The Breakfast Club when they discover they are really not alone is so iconic, without even trying to be. The 1980s spilled its musical influence into blockbuster movies that isn't as common anymore. Also, importantly, the lyrics often pertained to what the movie characters were experiencing, which makes things even more emotionally powerful, not just any dumb pop song they threw in there.
Along with coming-of-age films, even a lot of action or sci/fi movies have such great meaning within them, dragging you into a different world with 3 dimensional characters, like Predator (1987), Back to the Future (1985), WarGames (1983), and First Blood (1982), just to name a few. I like to think Die Hard (1988) had one of the best villains of all time because I was blown away by how calm, professional, and intelligent Hans Gruber was. Unfortunately, a lot of action movies have turned into meaningless CGI-infused violence, that the genre has to be saved by old men like Tom Cruise and Keanu Reeves. Well, maybe I'm exaggerating. It also doesn't help that TV series and streaming services have become popular over movies and going to the theater. I can confidently say, without having even touched the Earth during this time, that '80s movies made history, and they are some of the greatest cultural relics from the peak of American civilization. Like Morpheus and Agent Smith hinted at, the peak of human civilization was the turn of the 21st century. 20-30 years full of pop culture. We can remember our cultural relics by taking advantage of the internet, where all this information and countless other histories are stored as free knowledge, and spreading it to our friends and family. We cannot be afraid of technological and cultural progression, but what’s most important is that we as humans must stay united despite all our challenges and understand each other.
In time, we'll be dancing on the streets all night... All night! All night! Bill & Ted was such a most excellent adventure with very well written dialogue and story. Commando (1985) and Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure (1989) showed me that 1980s malls had enough cops to repel a small scale Soviet invasion. You can also notice when they kiss the beautiful babes from England that the one in blue is so mesmerized by Keanu Reeves and she almost can't take her eyes off him.
P.S.
I wrote most of this originally on March 16, 2023 on a family social media group because I wanted to share that the movie Vision Quest (1985) was free on YouTube Movies and I had just watched it. Vision Quest is about Louden Swain, a high school wrestler who wants to lose weight to compete with the defending state champion in a lower weight class, and at the same time he falls in love with a girl, Carla. The movie stars Matthew Modine, whose character as Louden Swain is actually very similar to his character, nicknamed Joker, in Full Metal Jacket (1987), which I found very interesting. I am fascinated by Vision Quest because despite the mishaps and differences between the coach and wrestling team members as Louden works toward his goal, they all support each other in the end. Their relationships and Louden and Carla's relationship show immense growth over the span of the movie. The movie also stars Madonna briefly as herself and includes Journey's Only The Young.
Comments
Post a Comment