During the last few days I have been thinking quite heavily at how things were different in the 80's, the decade which has informed me the most. During that time I was heading into my teens, and I was about the same age as The Goonies and getting to be like Marty McFly.
Of course, I do realise that things have changed since, the fashion, music, society. But what I was thinking mainly about was the emotional attitudes of us as kids in relation to now, and I think that some of the difference comes from the media we were exposed to then and what we have now.
Looking at the top ten movies in the US during the 80's, there are two sequels; all the other movies are original content. Contrast that to the top ten for the last ten years and only one movie is an original, all the others are sequels.
Further still, while sci-fi is still the genre that brings us in, there was only one comic book movie in that 80's list, whereas in the last ten years we have had 3.
Now, this has got me wondering if there is a correlation to what we were like in comparison to today, and that we had heroes in our movies of the 80's who we could relate to. Unlike the new Star Wars and the super-powers of the Avengers. When we take in the heroes of the top ten list of the 80's, you have the likes of Tom Cruise as Maverick; Eddie Murphy as Axel Foley; Harrison Ford as Indiana Jones; plus Michael J Fox, Tom Selleck, and then Michael Keaton. All the main characters were humans we could emulate, and had stories which we could believe. Unlike now for instance, were there is no chance any one of us can become a super-soldier or build an iron suit.
I do wonder if this has any affect on our current kids state of mind. Now I don't believe the much lauded theory that kids today spend too much time on their computers. I had a computer when I was a kid, and I played games on it and I stayed up late sometimes and didn't leave the house for a day. So to use that excuse for kids behaving as they are is lazy and rubbish. Those same parents telling us that are my age, and probably spent a good portion of their childhood on a computer. But I do think that the media and arts has changed, and that popular movies from the 80's had better characters, and a better message.
I wanted to be Marty McFly, and I could; then I wanted to be Maverick, and I could do that. I could be cool and flippant like Eddie Murphy; I wanted to go on a road trip across The States, like in Rain Man, and I could. I wanted to be Indiana Jones, and I could do that.
These characters were held up as models for teens to emulate, you could watch the movie and then play the character. It was achievable. Whereas, I cannot be Captain America, or Black Panther, or Hulk. While they were interesting, they were not achievable, and therefore, not real. Tom Cruise was real.
What I am trying to say is how the movies have changed and how it affects the audience. While the Marvel movies are great, they are not giving us a dose of our reality. The Star Wars movies are tired retreads, and not worth the investment, they lack the excitement which the only sequels in the top ten of the 80's had.
Story was key back then, right up through the 90's it was story and originality which got us going and got us excited. That seems to be lacking now.
Perhaps now is the time we need real heroes. People with flaws and stories and goals to get to. Not world destroying events but life events, learning and laughing and failing and trying.
TOP 10 80's Movies in the US (taken from Box Office Mojo)
1980 - The Empire Strikes Back
1981 - Raiders of the Lost Ark
1982 - E.T.
1983 - Return of the Jedi
1984 - Beverly Hills Cop
1985 - Back to the Future
1986 - Top Gun
1987 - Three Men and a Baby
1988 - Rain Man
1989 - Batman
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