The 1980's Are Back

I think the resurgence in 80's nostalgia is driven by a couple of factors:

1. The phenomenon of quarter-life crisis lends itself to recapturing feelings of a simpler and happier time. For people coming out into the workforce over the last few years, this means the mid-80's when we were kids. This is why GI Joe, Transformers, Thundercats, etc are popular again. They remind us of a "better" time when the only responsibility we had was to watch TV, play with friends, and do what our parents told us.

2. The entertainment industry seems to be catering to the children of the 80s with all of the comic book inspired movies and now the TF movie. All have done well at the box-office and have a common theme - a more or less idealized present / future where characters bigger than ourselves make the world right.

3. 9/11/01. The events of that day and the fallout afterwards has irrevocably changed society. I think it has contributed in a major way to the type of entertainment we seek and the themes that interest us.

I'm not sure if any one of these items explains the resurgence of 80's pop culture, but I'm sure that they work in combination, probably with others that I haven't mentioned.

I'm interested to see what other people think.

I agree with everything except the third point. It may have changed the society in the U.S., but it didn't do too much to the rest of the world besides the inconveniences imposed by the said society after what happened on September 11, 2001. All in all, we are seeing a nostalgia trend of a decade like the one we see for the music scene in the 1990s when we were inspired by the music of the 70s.

There is a couple of things the article left out:

1.Lack of real original TV programming. In an age where the average TV viewer is inundated with reality TV, people are looking for something different. The 80's had an influx of every sort of TV show ranging from dramas to sitcoms and all sorts of genres from sci-fi to crime stories. So instead of coming up with something new, why not take something already out there and is tested for them?

2.There were really less broadcast restrictions back then. You could, technically, get away with alot more on TV back then than you can now in a PC-post-Janet Jackson Super Bowl incident era. Plus the 80's were a time where no one heard of "political correctness".

3.LAck of original & new music: The 80's were a time where there was alot of music out there thanks to MTV and their idea of a band getting their song out there just by creating a flashy or cool music video for it. You had all sorts from rock to pop to rap.
Nowadays, music is pretty much corporate and stale. It mostly sounds the same. Why do you think alot of today's bands are re-doing old 80's songs? Also new band have no where to play their music cause if you don't have a label, you won't get airplay.(MTV doesn't play music anymore. So much for the M in MTV!). Plus music is so corporate that 20 or 30 year old TV shows have to rip out music from their shows when they go to DVD because they couldn't afford to pay the royalties to music label companies. Shows such as "Married With Children" couldn't even have their theme song played in the DVD!

4.Alot of people who grew up in the 80's are now the ones making money. Plus, alot of them have families now. So why not appeal to them? A movie like "Transformers", the parents will take the kiddies to show them something they grew up with. Thus getting them hooked on the whole Transformers thing. And by doing that, bringing more profits to Hasbro & Paramount.
Pretty smart formula if you ask me.

It's all part of the "This is Heavy" theory, which states that the awesomeness of all things decreases the further one gets from the original release of Back to the Future.

We're 7 years into the 80's retro trend, and she's just catching on now?

Good story though.

I remember one thing from Megazone 23 (the Anime OAV that failed at being 'Robotech the movie') and there was one line that really hits a note:

"The late 1980s was the highest point in Human culture. There was no strife, no hostilities, and everyone lived well."

Despite the obvious false notes; nobody's lived in peace, no cultural highlight that didn't piss someone off, etc.

meantime, The Transformers represent that outer band of collective fans. Not everyone who watches "sci-fi" are Star Wars fans or Trekkies, nor do some of us subscribe to the Melo-political drama of Battlestar Galaxitive.
Like some of the film's cast have said, its because of Transformers that we've had such advancements in machinery and technology, machines are our greatest achievements, we honor them with this film.
80s Nostalgia, its a bandwagon affair but TFs isn't reinventing the wheel, its just writing a new chapter. Its an 80's franchise but this is its 2000s contribution.

How many times were the 80s back now ? I counted 3, at least.

Technically, the '80s didn't end in '89. They spilled over into the next decade, the Thrice Accursed '90s.

As opposed to the '70s-'80s conversion, when everyone was preparing for the '80s in '79.

At least, that's what "That '70s Show" told me.

Shadowman wrote:Technically, the '80s didn't end in '89. They spilled over into the next decade, the Thrice Accursed '90s.

As opposed to the '70s-'80s conversion, when everyone was preparing for the '80s in '79.

At least, that's what "That '70s Show" told me.

twas a bit different my boy. but that's 70's show didn't lead you too astray

Sloptank wrote:It's all part of the "This is Heavy" theory, which states that the awesomeness of all things decreases the further one gets from the original release of Back to the Future.

This is the funniest thing I have ever heard. Thank you.

The equation is pretty simple really. The 25-35 demographic rules the world. And that demo fell in love with the 80s. Some of the greatest cartoons ever came out of that decade why not celebrate it? Hell why you look at the toy aisles today not much has changed from then to now. So of course since the 25-35 year old rule the world as they always have the industries cater to us.

What the heck is he talking about? The '80s weren't threatening? This was an era during the cold war in which having a nuclear war was an every day threat! Lorenzo shows his stupidity again!

I even remember having nightmares about the Russians invading home with paratroopers and in school they used to make us practice that get under your desk drill. Although, to me, getting under your desk never made any sense. How is that going to help you from a freakin' bomb?!?

Hot_Rod wrote:What the heck is he talking about? The '80s weren't threatening? This was an era during the cold war in which having a nuclear war was an every day threat! Lorenzo shows his stupidity again!

I even remember having nightmares about the Russians invading home with paratroopers and in school they used to make us practice that get under your desk drill. Although, to me, getting under your desk never made any sense. How is that going to help you from a freakin' bomb?!?

The force is strong with this one.

I felt the same way as a child. Though, it did not help that I watched the film Red Dawn. [/b]