Loving the 1980s: PART ONE

Reaganfan
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Loving the 1980s: PART ONE

« on: August 29, 2011, 05:23:41 PM »

If anybody has heard of myself, Reaganfan, than you will know I hold the decade of the 1980s in high regard. This is for a number of reasons of which I would like to share to help give those who may not be all that enthusiastic about the decade a little new light into what made the 1980s so spectacular.

Popular culture.

For sure, pop culture is the most memorable aspect of the 1980s. Remember, at the time, most of the entertainers, film-makers, ect were those who grew up in the 1950s and 1960s, thus the amount of "Happy Days" pop culture reflecting on the "Glory Days" of the 1950s and 1960s.

Everything from "Back to the Future" (escaping the present and going into the happy days of 1955) to hit songs like "Summer of '69" (despite having nothing to do with the year 1969) and "'65 Love Affair" where teens in the 1980s were somehow supposed to reflect on love affairs they had in 1965. That song clearly was aimed at those who were already in the 30s and 40s, and was originally titled "'55 Love Affair".

The popular culture combined the traditional Reagan-era family values with the retrospecting of the 1950s to allow a picturesque decade.

It was a decade where people embraced business and opportunity. Even film villain's like "Gordon Gekko" became almost a protagonist to the viewer. Indeed, his return in 2010's "Wall Street 2: Money Never Sleeps" almost shows him a savior of the Obama era who can help bring us back to the days of Reaganomics.

It was a decade where even liberal music agenda's were embraced as patriotic. Ronald Reagan's re-election campaign jumped the opportunity with Bruce Springsteen's "Born in the U.S.A." and people drowned out the verses which clearly spoke a nihilistic attitude towards the era of Ronald Reagan. But people heard simply, "BORN IN THE U.S.A." as a patriotic anthem of sorts coinciding with the right-wing President's prodigious and colossal re-election victory.

Even Madonna can be added into the mix. As Reagan began his second term and continued to try and boost the economy further from the gains made in the first four years, radio's blared out with such phrases as, "We are living in a material world".

Styles. Oh boy. I'm gonna get scalded for this one. YES, I like the styles, especially women's hairstyles, in the 1980s. Keep in mind out here in Ohio, much of these hairstyles continued until around 1994 or so when the "Rachel from Friends" look was in. Even as a boy, I was not pleased and I remember saying so a good 10-15 years ago, even.

When teens in the 2010s try to throw 80s parties, they fail miserably. Sure, they put on leg warmers and make their hair look big, but they miss just how insanely peculiar the styles of the 1980s were.

Look at the woman on the left:

I think she's smokin' hot. Gorgeous. Of course that's my personal opinion, but that is an authentic yearbook photo from 1987.

Now some teen girls throwing their 80s party think that THIS is 80s hair:

...it's not.

If you wanna throw an 80s party and you're a teenage girl, go into your mom's closet. Find her curling iron, pump high heels, some black or tan pantyhose, a tight skirt and a blouse (without shoulder pads, even die hard 80s fans detest those) and then put in some of her hoop earrings and then maybe you can pull it off. That's 80s fashion, not "like...OMG...WTF....I have leg warmers LOL".

Another thing about girls of the 80s.

Look at this woman:

Beautiful, glamorous, mature, elegant woman. 29, 32, 35 years old? Maybe 40 years old? right?

Wrong. That is a photo of an 18 year old girl from her senior yearbook. What a difference from 18 year old girls today who essentially look like kids.

Indeed, given my history and my predisposition for dating older women, I'd much rather prefer 18 year olds still looked like this:

Basically, girls looked older.

Everything in the 1980s was old. Indeed, movies had older stars, the characters they played were often older, musicians whom teens were listening to the radio were older, girls looked older, and the President of the United States was the oldest in history.

Take the film "Three Men and a Baby". Three men all near 40 having to take care of a baby left on the doorstep. How much you wanna bet that if they remade that (shudder) they would have Zak Efron in talks to be one of the guys? It wasn't "Three Dudes and a Baby".

Or how about the film, "Look Who's Talking"? Kirstie Alley plays a 33 year old woman who has an affair with her 50-something year old boss and John Travolta plays a cab driver in his late 30s who becomes a father figure. If they remade this, how much you wanna bet frickin' Miley Cyrus would play the part once played by a 33 year old woman? It's all about the age that makes the difference.

People young and old are always asking, "Why does the pop culture today suck?" The answer is because it's kids who aren't even old enough or intelligent enough making it all the way. Who cares how many times Kim Kardashian has been diddled, or about the girls who are sixteen and pregnant. They reap what they sow but thrusting it (no pun intended) down people's throats is unwarranted.

It seems we had lots of things that were just naturally older or more laid back in the 1980s. Could that be why the 80s were so conservative? I disagree. I think the liberalism of the 1960s and 1970s permanently moved America towards conservatism.

TO BE CONTINUED....

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