I remember listening to a recent episode of the movie podcast Battleship Pretension where they mentioned how odd some '80s movies can look. You can see a natural progression form the '60s to the '70s but aesthetics take this 180 degree turn around 1983 or so (the year of my birth actually).
It was an interesting thought. I brought it up to some of my co-workers recently. The '80s was high school for them. It was explained to me that everything was a reaction against the '60s and '70s. One guy actually told me about how some people tucked their pant legs into their shoes becuase flared jeans were seen as contraband.
That's when it clicked for me. Growing up my Dad kept the '60s alive, filling the house with The Beatles, The Rolling Stones and Jimi Hendrix. By the time I was into pop music that era was heralded as the greatest of all time. I remember buying an issue of Guitar World magazine devoted to all the major albums released in 1969 (Led Zeppelin I, Abbey Road, three CCR albums). But when the man who wanted to bomb Berkeley was president no one wanted to hear about the Age of Aquarius (God, imagine what Lennon would say if he was alive during the Reagan years!).
Now I see why films of the '80s referenced the '50s so much (Back to the Future, The Buddy Holly Story, La Bamba). I also understand what Chuck Klosterman was writing about in Fargo Rock City when he reveals that in the '80s it was actually cool to be conservative (in particular he is referencing Alex P. Keaton from Family Ties).
I worry that calling myself a pop culture anthropologist makes me sound like a pretentious dilettante. But this is what I'm interested in, learning about human culture starting with what's pop. It's not a perfect science and people take it too far (I join Sean T. Collins in bemoaning the wave of recent articles that looked to horror films to get a sense of America's foreign policy). But sometimes you stumble on something like this and human behavior is put into something of a perspective.
Was the '80s a backlash that went too far? When I see a film like Michael Mann's Manhunter I see a cool story ruined by certain artistic choices that only could have made sense at the time (that synth score is so overblown). The pendulum swung too far in the other direction. Artifice was worshiped. Is something similar happening today, when the digital world of smart phones and viral videos demand so much attention. Is there anything less organic than the sounds of New Romantic pop music coming from a box on your computer screen only a few inches tall?
Ah don't worry about it. That out-of-tune riff in "(Keep Feeling) Fascination" is pretty damn cool. Permanent Link: 11:25 AM |
0 comments
