Even though the '80s started many things we have now (i.e. MTV, video games, CD's) and in many ways, it was the first true "modern" decade, I do feel they've begun to join the '50s '60s and '70s in terms of being respected now.

At the time, uptight Tipper Gore authority-types probably looked down upon what kids and teens were into. The '80s were like the "new kid on the block" that didn't hold a candle to how much better things were a quarter century earlier. Nowadays though, you'll sometimes hear U2 or Madonna get mentioned in the same breath as Elvis and The Beatles when people are talking about legendary recording artists, for instance. The same radio stations that play '60s music will also play "All Night Long" or "We Built This City" and it seems not too out of place.

Do you think it's just coincidental with time passing? Or perhaps because Gen Xers have somewhat joined the Baby Boomers as The Adults, so their stuff is more accepted or liked by the Boomers and the Silent Gens than it would've been when there were viewed as the punk 13-year old kids playing Pac Man in 1981 or being "corrupted" by Twisted Sister a few years later?

Even though the '80s started many things we have now (i.e. MTV, video games, CD's) and in many ways, it was the first true "modern" decade, I do feel they've begun to join the '50s '60s and '70s in terms of being respected now.

At the time, uptight Tipper Gore authority-types probably looked down upon what kids and teens were into. The '80s were like the "new kid on the block" that didn't hold a candle to how much better things were a quarter century earlier. Nowadays though, you'll sometimes hear U2 or Madonna get mentioned in the same breath as Elvis and The Beatles when people are talking about legendary recording artists, for instance. The same radio stations that play '60s music will also play "All Night Long" or "We Built This City" and it seems not too out of place.

Do you think it's just coincidental with time passing? Or perhaps because Gen Xers have somewhat joined the Baby Boomers as The Adults, so their stuff is more accepted or liked by the Boomers and the Silent Gens than it would've been when there were viewed as the punk 13-year old kids playing Pac Man in 1981 or being "corrupted" by Twisted Sister a few years later?



I agree with all of that. I also think it has something to do with people born in the '80s(specifically late '80s) who are too young to remember the decade. It seems like when those that too young to remember a decade grow up they always seem to 'respect' it.

I agree with all of that. I also think it has something to do with people born in the '80s(specifically late '80s) who are too young to remember the decade. It seems like when those that too young to remember a decade grow up they always seem to 'respect' it.


Yeah, I never really thought about that before, but I think you're right. I sort of feel that way about the '70s/early '80s myself. The time around when someone is born is nestled in that category of "too far away to remember it, but recent enough to relate to it".

Even though the '80s started many things we have now (i.e. MTV, video games, CD's) and in many ways, it was the first true "modern" decade, I do feel they've begun to join the '50s '60s and '70s in terms of being respected now.

At the time, uptight Tipper Gore authority-types probably looked down upon what kids and teens were into. The '80s were like the "new kid on the block" that didn't hold a candle to how much better things were a quarter century earlier. Nowadays though, you'll sometimes hear U2 or Madonna get mentioned in the same breath as Elvis and The Beatles when people are talking about legendary recording artists, for instance. The same radio stations that play '60s music will also play "All Night Long" or "We Built This City" and it seems not too out of place.

Do you think it's just coincidental with time passing? Or perhaps because Gen Xers have somewhat joined the Baby Boomers as The Adults, so their stuff is more accepted or liked by the Boomers and the Silent Gens than it would've been when there were viewed as the punk 13-year old kids playing Pac Man in 1981 or being "corrupted" by Twisted Sister a few years later?


You know I just was at this 50s themed retro resturant the other day, I was with a friend who is much older then you or I...he is like 55 or so.  Anyway in the corner of the 50s resturant was a Pac-Man game, with it's "copyright 1981" on the side.  It was so nostalgic for me.  The arcade looked so old, like it wasn't out of place AT ALL right next to the 50s jukebox.  In the 80s, this retro 50s diner would likely not have an arcade, for authenticity, the arcade would be too modern, even in the late 80s.  But today the arcade looks just as old as many 50s things, and it doesn't seem strange.  Strangely they also played 80s music in there from time to time, and I joked with my older friend about The Cafe 80s scene from Back to the Future Part II.  What was really weird was when he told me that he used to spend hours on arcade games back in the early 80s, some quick math and I realized he would have been about my age around 1982.  Yikes.

It mainly has to do with Gen Xers getting older and being in positions of power to influence the media.  Hell even some older hot shot Gen Yers born in the early 80s are in high ranking positions to influence the media.  So yeah the 80s are more respected now.  A lot of kids probably walk around thinking of the 80s as their parents decade or the time of "the adults".  Whereas when I was growing up in the 80s and 90s, that kinda thinking was meant for the 60s.
 

You know I just was at this 50s themed retro resturant the other day, I was with a friend who is much older then you or I...he is like 55 or so.  Anyway in the corner of the 50s resturant was a Pac-Man game, with it's "copyright 1981" on the side.  It was so nostalgic for me.  The arcade looked so old, like it wasn't out of place AT ALL right next to the 50s jukebox.  In the 80s, this retro 50s diner would likely not have an arcade, for authenticity, the arcade would be too modern, even in the late 80s.  But today the arcade looks just as old as many 50s things, and it doesn't seem strange.  Strangely they also played 80s music in there from time to time, and I joked with my older friend about The Cafe 80s scene from Back to the Future Part II.  What was really weird was when he told me that he used to spend hours on arcade games back in the early 80s, some quick math and I realized he would have been about my age around 1982.  Yikes.

It mainly has to do with Gen Xers getting older and being in positions of power to influence the media.  Hell even some older hot shot Gen Yers born in the early 80s are in high ranking positions to influence the media.  So yeah the 80s are more respected now.  A lot of kids probably walk around thinking of the 80s as their parents decade or the time of "the adults".  Whereas when I was growing up in the 80s and 90s, that kinda thinking was meant for the 60s.

Great minds think alike! I was thinking of the Cafe 80s scene relating to that story, even before you'd mentioned it. ;) That is a weird realization all around though. Even folks about your friend's age, who were 30 in the early '80s is still weird for me to grasp them being in their mid 50s now.

I vaguely recall a couple years ago, someone posted on one of the BTTF boards asking why Old Biff would be at the Cafe '80s instead of something relating to the '50s. Someone responded to the effect of what we are - that by then, everything in "the past" probably blended together for him.

Maybe it's just me, but aside from some of the tech like that (especially some of the huge, clunky looking computers, lol), the '80s still have an "older brother" era vibe about them as opposed to really "parental" the way the '70s might be. Again I'm guessing it's because so much that's still around or modified today took off then.

The only people I'd think would truly look at the '80s as parental are, like 12 year old kids basing it solely off numbers, or those who don't know any better - i.e. mistaking all songs on oldies stations as being from the same time.

Today in 2006 I have accepted the 80s being "retro", whereas during the 1999-2002 time I was muich more freaked out by people daring to suggest the 80s are classic or retro.  I kept thinking, my god the late 80s were only a little over 10 years ago.  That's way too recent. 

But now, eh, it doesn't phase me as much.  1986 was 20 years ago.  Seeing girls dress 80ish and wear those little ballerina type shoes (I don't know the real name for them) has made me realize this.  I remember back around 2001 some of us were talking that the 80s were NOT retro, it was in limbo as an era whose time had merely passed.  But I remember we agreed that by the late '00s, the 80s would be retro.  I think 2006 is the first year where this has begun, and it has become true.  It's an old decade, I guess it is retro, and I wouldn't debate it anymore with some teenager the way I would have back in 2000. 

It is a bit scary how certain things from the 80s could just blend in together with past eras.  Kids may have already started thinking that we grew up with all of that (thinking jukeboxes were common in the 80s and such) and may not differentiate the eras very well.  I know that diner was around in the actual 1980s, and I don't *think* they would have stuck an arcade game in the corner.  But today it sorta does blend together, and that is kinda unsetteling.  An arcade, especially a Pac-Man one, looks as old as a jukebox.

Maybey Doc said the Cafe 80s "were not done very well", because the managers in 2015 were some 23 year old born in 1992 that didn't bother to be authentic and real, so they blended the decades together and passed it all of as "here's our 80s cafe".  For all I know there could be a ton of other things wrong with that diner, but only people that were around in the 50s or researched the decade well enough would know the difference.  How am I to know if the little red tricycle they had propped up on one table was from 1955 or instead from 1947 or 1965?  I don't, it looks old and looks like it belongs there.       

Hey Marty, since we were talking BTTF, if you look at one of the documentaries on the BTTF disc one of the production designers on the set of Hill Valley circa 1955 talks about how some people would "think it's too early" to do "a period piece" on the 1950s.  I think the interview was shot in 1984.  It was always interesting to me.

Hey Marty, since we were talking BTTF, if you look at one of the documentaries on the BTTF disc one of the production designers on the set of Hill Valley circa 1955 talks about how some people would "think it's too early" to do "a period piece" on the 1950s.  I think the interview was shot in 1984.  It was always interesting to me.


I do remember that now that you mention it (the DVD's had some great extras on it like that). Even though as we've all mentioned before, the '50s were so much more old, alien and different in the '80s than something 20 or 30 years ago would be now, I sorta see what he's saying. The Disco scene would feel too early to do a period piece on now, even if they're definitely up for grabs on being retro cool (the '70s comeback in reality was maybe 1993-2002).

Then again, maybe he said that because of the emphasis on "differences" between the '50s and the at the time present of 1984/85.

I do think they are. There has been a massive "critical reappraisal" of '80s music, particularly new wavers like Gary Numan/The Tubeway Army, Tears for Fears, The Smiths, and even bands like Duran Duran and ABC that were particularly looked down on in the '90s. A 1994-or-so published book I have of Rolling Stone essays that proclaims to be a history of rock basically overlooks the synthpop and new wave scene of the '80s, devoting a few paragraphs to Elvis Costello and the Smiths, who now are considered part of the "rock pantheon" of genius performers, and giving no respect to the synth-pop groups like Depeche Mode. Now, "critical reappraisal" happened, starting around 1998 or 1999, and it's put them in their respected place. As well, hipsters have taken on the '80s as their retro decade of choice.

I agree that Gen Xers getting older, having kids, and getting respected positions has something to do with this change. Somebody born in 1965 is 40 or 41, for example....they're roughly at the same position boomers were c. 1986, when the first boomers were turning 40. Gen Yers who respect and are reviving the '80s as a retro trend is another part of this, people born during the '80s and early '90s who are heavily interested in them. I think the '80s are sort of newer today than the '50s were in the '70s. As I've said before, the '80s saw the changes that led us to where we are today, for better or for worse, including the rise of conservatism, the faltering of the middle-class, heavy duty sprawl and corporatization, the rise of total media, yuppification, and many technologies that we take for granted today. 

About the period piece thing...I just read The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton, published in 1921 about 1871, which was just after the civil war, and seemed like an incredibly ancient time by then. The country had little heavy industry, not all the southern states were even part of the union, and there were next to no Southern and Eastern Europeans in the country. By 1921, it was post world war I, women had the right to vote, there was prohibition, everything was fully industrialized, there were cars and airplanes and railroads everywhere, and southern and eastern europeans were everywhere. It's about the same as somebody writing a book about the mid-'50s now. By 50 years, something seems quite old.

The '90s are in the same position now that the '80s were in the '90s. Old, but not retro...in the limbo between current and "retro." I was watching a Tori Amos video compilation, and watching "Crucify"'s video made in 1992, and it's in that in-between state. The spare, rather wintry graphic feel with alot of blacks and pales and the "trendy" photographic manipulations of the early '90s, the cheerleader and wood crate motif, Tori's dreadlocky dyed red hair all sort of scream 1992. But you still couldn't honestly call it retro.

If it's 20 years old or more, then its fair game to be called retro.  I called anything at least 20 years or more retro when I was a kid.  It still weirds me out to hear the 80s being thought of as retro, classic or "my mom and dad's time", not as much as it did back in 2000 or so...but yeah it can still give me that melancholy feeling that time has passed.  But right now, I am becoming more accepting of it.  I did the same thing for anything 20 years or more when I was a kid, so I can't hold it against current kids for doing the same. 

But Marty, I know how you are feeling, it all sneaks up on you.  Every once in a while I think back to when I first started college in the 1993 and 1994 years, a lot of people from back then that were still in their 20s and acting loose, carefree, basically still like "kids",...are today these middle aged looking late 30s or 40-41 year olds.  So much changed in 12-13 years.  Even in the last 9 or 10 years.  Believe me, I know what you are feeling.  

If it's 20 years old or more, then its fair game to be called retro.  I called anything at least 20 years or more retro when I was a kid.  It still weirds me out to hear the 80s being thought of as retro, classic or "my mom and dad's time", not as much as it did back in 2000 or so...but yeah it can still give me that melancholy feeling that time has passed.  But right now, I am becoming more accepting of it.  I did the same thing for anything 20 years or more when I was a kid, so I can't hold it against current kids for doing the same. 

But Marty, I know how you are feeling, it all sneaks up on you.  Every once in a while I think back to when I first started college in the 1993 and 1994 years, a lot of people from back then that were still in their 20s and acting loose, carefree, basically still like "kids",...are today these middle aged looking late 30s or 40-41 year olds.  So much changed in 12-13 years.  Even in the last 9 or 10 years.  Believe me, I know what you are feeling. 


However, I don't think for most teens today the '80s are their parents time. I'd say the average parent of a classmate of mine was born 1958-1962 or so, and came of age in the mid-late '70s.

However, I don't think for most teens today the '80s are their parents time. I'd say the average parent of a classmate of mine was born 1958-1962 or so, and came of age in the mid-late '70s.



Yeah, that's about right I'd say. My parents time was in the '80s, but the parents of most of the people I went to school with were born in the late '50s early '60s.

However, I don't think for most teens today the '80s are their parents time. I'd say the average parent of a classmate of mine was born 1958-1962 or so, and came of age in the mid-late '70s.


Yeah, the only current teens with '80s teen parents would be people who had a kid at age 17 or 19 in the late '80s maybe (which some did). But it's not "the norm" and won't be for at least a few more years. '70s teens are definitely still the average age for the parent of a teen now.

If it's 20 years old or more, then its fair game to be called retro.  I called anything at least 20 years or more retro when I was a kid.  It still weirds me out to hear the 80s being thought of as retro, classic or "my mom and dad's time", not as much as it did back in 2000 or so...but yeah it can still give me that melancholy feeling that time has passed.  But right now, I am becoming more accepting of it.  I did the same thing for anything 20 years or more when I was a kid, so I can't hold it against current kids for doing the same. 

But Marty, I know how you are feeling, it all sneaks up on you.  Every once in a while I think back to when I first started college in the 1993 and 1994 years, a lot of people from back then that were still in their 20s and acting loose, carefree, basically still like "kids",...are today these middle aged looking late 30s or 40-41 year olds.  So much changed in 12-13 years.  Even in the last 9 or 10 years.  Believe me, I know what you are feeling.  

Isn't it also an odd feeling if you haven't seen someone for awhile too? And hence, are still picturing the person from when you last knew them.

When I was a kid, I tended to think of anyone under 30, and even a few older than that, as "cool" or "young" (based on certain people we knew - i.e. babysitters I had from the neighborhood who were maybe in their 20s at the time and still did dumb things like donuts in the parking lot with their car, lol). I have to remind myself that those youthful acting 27 or 28-year olds in 1989 would be in their mid 40s, and quite possibly married with 3 kids and working at a Fortune 500 company. I've slowly gotten used to that, as strange as it is.

On the flip side of the fence, I also find it strange how I'm relating to people several years younger than me and no longer thinking anything of it (even though I'm pretty easygoing and can get along with almost anyone). Like I can hang out with 18 and 19-year olds from community plays that I do or class, for instance, and I don't feel like the "older", out of place guy in the group or anything. Yet, when I was 17 and they were 10 or 11 where I would've thought they were just little kids, that seems like a milisecond ago too.

...
As I've said before, the '80s saw the changes that led us to where we are today, for better or for worse, including the rise of conservatism, the faltering of the middle-class, heavy duty sprawl and corporatization, the rise of total media, yuppification, and many technologies that we take for granted today.  

About the period piece thing...I just read The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton, published in 1921 about 1871, which was just after the civil war, and seemed like an incredibly ancient time by then. The country had little heavy industry, not all the southern states were even part of the union, and there were next to no Southern and Eastern Europeans in the country. By 1921, it was post world war I, women had the right to vote, there was prohibition, everything was fully industrialized, there were cars and airplanes and railroads everywhere, and southern and eastern europeans were everywhere. It's about the same as somebody writing a book about the mid-'50s now. By 50 years, something seems quite old.

The '90s are in the same position now that the '80s were in the '90s. Old, but not retro...in the limbo between current and "retro." I was watching a Tori Amos video compilation, and watching "Crucify"'s video made in 1992, and it's in that in-between state. The spare, rather wintry graphic feel with alot of blacks and pales and the "trendy" photographic manipulations of the early '90s, the cheerleader and wood crate motif, Tori's dreadlocky dyed red hair all sort of scream 1992. But you still couldn't honestly call it retro.


Excellent post. I also agree, since the '80s introduced, or at least "household-ifyed" so many things we have today that we don't even think twice about, I've always felt that makes them only old by virtue of numbers. As a time itself, it seems not too long ago for people knowledgeable on it (and not a 10 or 12-year old kid who blends the older decades together out of not knowing).

I mean, let's just say a typical 2006 looking person with their Ipod and typical street clothes was sent back to about 1982. Aside from the tech gadgets or some common hip hop slang phrases everyone kinda uses now, I don't think they'd be too out of place. But someone from 1982 in 1969, would probably be lost. Or if they were sent two full decades to 1962, forget it. That'd be beyond ancient on many political and world levels, not just tech.

^ Again, I think that was part of BTTF's appeal and its magic. The two times felt like totally different eras just connected by common teenage themes. That wouldn't feel so weird with 2006 and 1976. Point out the '80s to someone and it's basically just "Oh man, they had such wild hair" or something. ;D

Excellent post. I also agree, since the '80s introduced, or at least "household-ifyed" so many things we have today that we don't even think twice about, I've always felt that makes them only old by virtue of numbers. As a time itself, it seems not too long ago for people knowledgeable on it (and not a 10 or 12-year old kid who blends the older decades together out of not knowing).

I mean, let's just say a typical 2006 looking person with their Ipod and typical street clothes was sent back to about 1982. Aside from the tech gadgets or some common hip hop slang phrases everyone kinda uses now, I don't think they'd be too out of place. But someone from 1982 in 1969, would probably be lost. Or if they were sent two full decades to 1962, forget it. That'd be beyond ancient on many political and world levels, not just tech.

^ Again, I think that was part of BTTF's appeal and its magic. The two times felt like totally different eras just connected by common teenage themes. That wouldn't feel so weird with 2006 and 1976. Point out the '80s to someone and it's basically just "Oh man, they had such wild hair" or something. ;D


The '30s-'60s seem to be so commonly referenced in the '80s that whenever I'm reading something about that era, I start thinking about it as '80s, and then I'm like "Wait, it's just the '80s perception of something older that I'm thinking of." On the split level that the '80s were the most ruthlessly modernity-obsessed decade since the '50s, in terms of trying to absorb new technology and lifestyles, they also were obsessed with a "simpler time", really anything before 1970.

I was watching Sixteen Candles a little while ago, actually, and I remember that it seemed very applicable to '00s teen life, in some ways more than the '90s. Just substitute "new wave" for "emo/indie", say. There's also a scene where Molly Ringwald's little brother is going around totally distracted on his walkman, which you could easily substitute an iPod for.

Excellent post. I also agree, since the '80s introduced, or at least "household-ifyed" so many things we have today that we don't even think twice about, I've always felt that makes them only old by virtue of numbers. As a time itself, it seems not too long ago for people knowledgeable on it (and not a 10 or 12-year old kid who blends the older decades together out of not knowing).

I mean, let's just say a typical 2006 looking person with their Ipod and typical street clothes was sent back to about 1982. Aside from the tech gadgets or some common hip hop slang phrases everyone kinda uses now, I don't think they'd be too out of place. But someone from 1982 in 1969, would probably be lost. Or if they were sent two full decades to 1962, forget it. That'd be beyond ancient on many political and world levels, not just tech.

^ Again, I think that was part of BTTF's appeal and its magic. The two times felt like totally different eras just connected by common teenage themes. That wouldn't feel so weird with 2006 and 1976. Point out the '80s to someone and it's basically just "Oh man, they had such wild hair" or something. ;D


Well the culture itself was VERY different in the 1950s and 1960s America.  There was a much more conformist mentality, you had racial segregation and discrimination.   More sexist attitudes and just an overall old fashioned mentality.  Maybey that's why it was so hard for me and perhaps you to hear the 80s are "20 years ago".  When I was a kid, "20 years ago" was the 60s and that looked and felt like a world away.  You at least had laptop computers in the 80s, but in the 60s they were still getting excited over "a computer that could fit inside a single room". 

Here's what I used to think of people older then me when I was a kid:

I thought 30 year olds were like middle aged, and 40 and over was old.  But then I got to my mid 20s, and realized that 40 is only 15 years away and pretty damn young!  I turned 31 this year, and realized that I took my first real step to 40.  Amazing how fleeting time is.  And I remember when I entered my mid 20s I wondered if teenagers would still think I am cool, in recent years I don't give a rats ass anymore what some kid thinks.      

^ The '50s and 60s definitely, while modern in basic ways, had so many old-fashioned things about them too that would've been totally inapplicable to life a mere 2 decades later. Just the thought of having to sit in the back of a bus because you're black must've seemed like this ancient barbaric 19th century thing. So 20 years ago sure felt old then.

Yeah, 40 isn't the old age people sometimes make it out to be. I'd say 85 or 90 is about the typical lifespan for a healthy person now, so that's not even the midpoint of life for most people. Plus, there's alot of late 20s, 30s and even a few 40-somethings who still act somewhat like "kids", so that does give it a younger air to it than a 40-year old in 1955, whom would've probably seemed ancient and blowharded.

I know what you're saying about the appearing cool thing in the past, too. I wouldn't say I so much felt it with teens (personally, I always viewed anyone within about 12 years of me was like an older/younger sibling type), but I definitely did with little kids a few years ago. Like, when I was 18 or 19 and I'd have some 7-year old kid at work call me "Sir", that freaked me out a little like Geez kid, I'm not your dad's age!, but now it's no big deal.

I know you are in your mid 20s, and for many that can be a hard transition time.  I know it was for me.  I didn't like realizing that I was getting older and no longer a "kid" or truly part of the youth culture the way you are as a teen.  I even remember looking at people your age and feeling bad, because I didn't get all the N'SYNC, BSB and Britney stuff that was the rage in the early '00s.  It felt so bad to feel as though you were kicked out of the youth culture because you're 25 or so.  But as you get older, I think some of it becomes easier to accept. 

The reason it's hard is because you never think you will get older as a kid, and it's a surprise that you do, and it's a surprise to watch babies and little kids grow up,...when you sorta would think they would stay that way.  Believe me, back in the early 00s I was freaking out that I was in my mid 20s with 30 in my rear view mirror.  Then you turn 30, and realize it was no big deal at all.  There's so much more life to live, and it's not such a big deal that the kid years are gone.   

It can still be a melancholy feeling for me, but like I said you realize there is so much more to life then staying in some piddly youth culture where the latest song/slang word or fad is the most important thing in life, and being a weekend warrior, getting drunk is all there is.

^ Well said. I felt that way from age 17/18-21 moreso (i.e. feeling weird that I was an actual kid less than a decade ago, and here I suddenly was an "adult" with responsibilities) but I still identify with that feeling.

I was never deep into any of the so-called "teen oriented" stuff anyway, so transitioning wasn't as hard for me there. My personality is definitely "big kid" in some ways, but it's subtler, so it's nothing that'll look out of place when I'm 35 or 40. I never really had to change myself and grow up out of my wild ways (when they weren't really there to begin with, lol), if you know what I mean.

The '30s-'60s seem to be so commonly referenced in the '80s that whenever I'm reading something about that era, I start thinking about it as '80s, and then I'm like "Wait, it's just the '80s perception of something older that I'm thinking of." On the split level that the '80s were the most ruthlessly modernity-obsessed decade since the '50s, in terms of trying to absorb new technology and lifestyles, they also were obsessed with a "simpler time", really anything before 1970.

I was watching Sixteen Candles a little while ago, actually, and I remember that it seemed very applicable to '00s teen life, in some ways more than the '90s. Just substitute "new wave" for "emo/indie", say. There's also a scene where Molly Ringwald's little brother is going around totally distracted on his walkman, which you could easily substitute an iPod for.

That's true, isn't it? The '80s wanted a mix of '50s-styled innocence with futuristic technology.

Yeah, as exaggerated as they may be, alot of those John Hughes movies are very, very applicable to teen life with slight modifications. They do also seem to fit in more with the '00s than the '90s, now that you mention it. Sabrina's little brother Mike, kinda reminds me of some of the typical obnoxious 10-year old kids (although he'd be about 30 or 31 now!). The Breakfast Club could be made today probably, too.

That's true, isn't it? The '80s wanted a mix of '50s-styled innocence with futuristic technology.

Yeah, as exaggerated as they may be, alot of those John Hughes movies are very, very applicable to teen life with slight modifications. They do also seem to fit in more with the '00s than the '90s, now that you mention it. Sabrina's little brother Mike, kinda reminds me of some of the typical obnoxious 10-year old kids (although he'd be about 30 or 31 now!). The Breakfast Club could be made today probably, too.


Hmm, what about it do you think makes it that it would fit in better with the '00s than the '90s, exactly? I think it has something to do with the preppie/"bohemian" contrast and the very dramatic, corny element that was despised in the "whatever" '90s. Clueless is the archetypical '90s teen movie.

As I've said before, the '80s were very conflicted between wanting the innocence of earlier generations, which to them really meant anything pre-1970, and having the sense of obsession with futurism only matched by this decade and the '50s and early '60s. I was reading about the obsession with frozen vegetables because they were "modern" in the '50s...people back then had a serious obsession with it, copied by the '80s and '00s obession with conspicuous gadget consumption.

Hmm, what about it do you think makes it that it would fit in better with the '00s than the '90s, exactly? I think it has something to do with the preppie/"bohemian" contrast and the very dramatic, corny element that was despised in the "whatever" '90s. Clueless is the archetypical '90s teen movie.

As I've said before, the '80s were very conflicted between wanting the innocence of earlier generations, which to them really meant anything pre-1970, and having the sense of obsession with futurism only matched by this decade and the '50s and early '60s. I was reading about the obsession with frozen vegetables because they were "modern" in the '50s...people back then had a serious obsession with it, copied by the '80s and '00s obession with conspicuous gadget consumption.

Yeah, the '80s were very "preppie", just the look in general (i.e. being obsessed with fashion, especially the wilder the better). I think that, and the general high school stereotypes, seem to be more '80s/00s than '90s, where it was more cool to, say have that homeless guy look with a goatee and wear flannel in the Summer. Both the '80s and '00s were more tech obsessed and materalistic too.

Maybe it's just purposeful for the effect of these certain movies, but have you noticed that both many '80s and '00s movies tend to portray parents of teens as being either extremely "old fashioned/uncool/strict" or freewheeling and too wild (usually the former, though)? I've seen several Lifetime movies of the '00s that have the "out of touch parents" commonality to them.

I agree the '50s-1963 era was very futuristic looking in a "world" sense. That was also when mass amounts of people tried predicting what the year 2000 would be like, or becoming obsessed with space travel, or Jetsons-like household gadgets they thought we'd all have in 30 or 40 years. JFK, before his assassination, I think immortalized this "innocent but futuristic" worldview. Kinda like "Hey, the world's gonna be alright, but we don't want to push the envelope too much either". Circa 1962 was the beginning of the Civil Rights movement really picking up steam, but the times were still really conservative too.

Jerry Springer once commented on this era, when he started college, saying the world seemed alot bigger and limitless, and how even by 1965, that all seemed to change for everyone. I sorta see what he means.

Yeah, the '80s were very "preppie", just the look in general (i.e. being obsessed with fashion, especially the wilder the better - I think that, and the general high school stereotypes, seem to be more '80s/00s than '90s, where it was more cool to, say have that homeless guy look with a goatee and wear flannel in the Summer).

I wonder what would be a typical '90s Breakfast Club, c. 1994?

I agree the '50s-1963 era was very futuristic looking in a "world" sense. That was also when mass amounts of people tried predicting what the year 2000 would be like, or becoming obsessed with space travel, or Jetsons-like household gadgets they thought we'd all have in 30 or 40 years. JFK, before his assassination, I think immortalized this "innocent but futuristic" worldview. Kinda like "Hey, the world's gonna be alright, but we don't want to push the envelope too much either". Circa 1962 was the beginning of the Civil Rights movement really picking up steam, but the times were still really conservative too.

Jerry Springer once commented on this era, when he started college, saying the world seemed alot bigger and limitless, and how even by 1965, that all seemed to change for everyone. I sorta see what he means.


I think the "Claire"/Molly Ringwald character would be sort of like Alicia Silverstone's role in Clueless. The "Andy" character would be "Andy" in a backwards baseball cap and a varsity jacket. The Anthony Michael Hall/"Bryan" character would be a sort of a video store clerk type gaming nerd. The "Bender"/Judd Nelson character would be a really rebellious, gritty grunge-y type. Ally Sheedy's character would probably be some "riot grrl" Courtney Love/Liz Phair type. Maybe an additional two characters for the movie would be a hip-hop guy and some folk-y Tori Amos type.

I think the "Claire"/Molly Ringwald character would be sort of like Alicia Silverstone's role in Clueless. The "Andy" character would be "Andy" in a backwards baseball cap and a varsity jacket. The Anthony Michael Hall/"Bryan" character would be a sort of a video store clerk type gaming nerd. The "Bender"/Judd Nelson character would be a really rebellious, gritty grunge-y type. Ally Sheedy's character would probably be some "riot grrl" Courtney Love/Liz Phair type. Maybe an additional two characters for the movie would be a hip-hop guy and some folk-y Tori Amos type.


That sounds right. Do you think the comic book guy from The Simpsons is a certain stereotypical '90s type? Video gaming and card collecting, and even computers in general were kind of a "nerdy/dorky yet cool" thing in the pre1997 '90s.

That sounds right. Do you think the comic book guy from The Simpsons is a certain stereotypical '90s type? Video gaming and card collecting, and even computers in general were kind of a "nerdy/dorky yet cool" thing in the pre1997 '90s.


Yeah, I think he fits into that. The '00s version of BC would be:

Claire-A preppie princess obsessed with The O.C. and going to parties with college boys.
Andy-Basically, the same thing as Andy. That one doesn't change. Maybe a little bit preppier and likes rap alot.
Bryan-Basically unchanging....but likes dorky emo and alternative emo like Bright Eyes.
Allison-Sort of a "fringey", vaguely emo type.
Bender-Has gouged ears and lots of piercings and likes nu metal.

Maybe some hipster type, too.