Five things I miss about the '80s
Jun. 2nd, 2010 11:27 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
coyotegothI had a random conversation with the apartment mate recently; in the course of it, I happened to start listing things I missed about the '80s. Accordingly, I've put a list behind the cut; I intentionally kept it down to the first things that happened to hove through my mind. (If you feel like making such a list in return (granted that not all of my flist were alive back then), I'd certainly be curious to read it.)
1) Steve.
2) The Claremont/Byrne work on X-Men; I don’t think either man surpassed the work they did on this comic in later years.
3) The feeling of mad optimism I had when I first saw Purple Rain, and was stone-cold convinced that a) Prince was going to take over Hollywood, and b) he was going to take director/editor Albert Magnoli with him. It really seemed as though they'd finally taken the rock musical beyond A Hard Day's Night- where would he go from here? As it happened, Prince went on to direct and star in Under the Cherry Moon, which flopped; Magnoli directed American Flyers, and then finished Tango and Cash after the original director was let go; afterward, he pretty much fell off the radar. As for Purple Rain itself, I rewatched it recently: great photography, wonderful soundtrack, dazzling editing... and a whhhooooole lot of nonactors (granted that Clarence Williams III, who plays the father, is an exception- he gives lines such as “Never get married.” more force than they deserve).
4) First seeing a space shuttle take off, and being convinced that it was the path to the future of space travel.
5) Julie.
Special mention to: a sense of innocence about just how badly George Lucas could strip mine the mythology he had created.
1) Steve.
2) The Claremont/Byrne work on X-Men; I don’t think either man surpassed the work they did on this comic in later years.
3) The feeling of mad optimism I had when I first saw Purple Rain, and was stone-cold convinced that a) Prince was going to take over Hollywood, and b) he was going to take director/editor Albert Magnoli with him. It really seemed as though they'd finally taken the rock musical beyond A Hard Day's Night- where would he go from here? As it happened, Prince went on to direct and star in Under the Cherry Moon, which flopped; Magnoli directed American Flyers, and then finished Tango and Cash after the original director was let go; afterward, he pretty much fell off the radar. As for Purple Rain itself, I rewatched it recently: great photography, wonderful soundtrack, dazzling editing... and a whhhooooole lot of nonactors (granted that Clarence Williams III, who plays the father, is an exception- he gives lines such as “Never get married.” more force than they deserve).
4) First seeing a space shuttle take off, and being convinced that it was the path to the future of space travel.
5) Julie.
Special mention to: a sense of innocence about just how badly George Lucas could strip mine the mythology he had created.
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Date: 2010-06-02 04:48 pm (UTC)1) The space program, especially pre-Challenger, and having a sense of hope and optimism about our future in space. I was a huge space nerd. I had a Planetary Society membership and subscription to at least two space nerd magazines and thought I still had a chance of being a space scientist. (Footnote: also miss Carl Sagan.) (And Heinlein.)
2) Teenager movies that gave you more than a few good laughs, and maybe even a sense of hope or at least the ability to make a difference. Pump Up The Volume. Footloose. Maybe I'm just missing the ones that do come out, but Jay and Silent Bob or (gag) Twilight are not about making a difference in the world.
3) Despite India's nuke test, it still looked to me then as if we had a chance of controlling the proliferation of nuclear power, especially if the Cold War came to a good resolution. I no longer believe we can actually achieve a nuke-free world, thanks to terrorism and proliferation.