When I was a kid, Happy Days was a popular TV show. My mother ruined the fun, however: âThe 50s were horrible,â she said, âThat Fonzie guy would have been called a âGreaserâ and nobody would have been friends with him. Ugh.â I didnât really understand her objection to the show.
Now I understand. I personally remember the 1980s as being a 12-year version of 2008, only with no internet. My first job was the position of secretary in a welfare office which was immediately de-funded and shut down. Throw on âI Donât Care About Youâ by the band Fear, cut to scenes of resumes going out via snail mail, and thatâs my 80s montage right there.
Still, you have to admire a time that manufactures its own gooey nostalgia before the future gets around to it.
My god mailing resumes. I remember being fresh out of school looking for a job right when the recession hit just mailing out resumes for everything knowing I would never hear anything.
Ahh the joy of being 18 trying to get a job as a stock boy and waiting in line for 3 hours with people who were in their 30âs and couldnât get work anywhere.
I feel my horrible luck of being a young adult/teenager at a point when no young adult and teenagers could get a job has stalked me much of my life. People a few years older than me squeaked through and people a few years younger then me were able to build an employment history.
Great to see Heathers get some play in this! (âFootball season is over, Veronica. Kurt and Ram had nothing left to offer the school except date rapes and AIDS jokes.â)
But no Porkyâs? Apparently Bob Clark only rates some love when he tells A Christmas Story about pre-teens. (âMr. Carter, I think I have a way out of this. We, uh, call the police, and we have âem send over one of their sketch artists. And Miss Balbricker can give a description. We can put up âWantedâ posters all over school⌠"Have you seen this prick? Report immediately to Beulah Balbricker. Do not attempt to apprehend this prick, as it is armed and dangerous. It was last seen hanging out in the girlsâ locker room at Angel Beach High School.â")
Needs more Wargames. Letâs not forget the 80âs were a scary time even for teenagers. Maybe thatâs why there was so much nostalgia for the 60âs among my peers who were too young to have even been alive in the 60âs. Thatâs why they didnât remember the Cuban missile crisis being much more terrifying than made-for-TV movies like The Day After.
Some I just donât recognize, others I canât remember. Please help complete this list!
The Breakfast Club
Sixteen Candles
Goonies
Risky Business
Fast Times at Ridgemont High
Ferris Buellerâs Day Off
Weird Science
Real Genius
Bill and Tedâs Excellent Adventure
Teen Wolf
Dirty Dancing
Say Anything
Back to the Future
Footloose
That Corey Haim Movie
The karate Kid
Stand by Me
Heathers
Beetlejuice
Wargames was in there?
Pretty In Pink
Iâm terrible at this game.
âRisky Businessâ? âFast TimesâŚâ? By definition, a teen movie should be viewable by teens. Both of those were rated R. Might be one or two others in there as well.
True, but I seem to remember the 80âs being a time when it was very easy to get into any movie. Buy a ticked for something PG, walk into any movie playing. Heck, stay in the theater all day and watch a few movies!
Speaking as someone who was a teenager in the 80s, I can tell you that the R rating only made them more viewable.
And on a sidenote, looking at these movies and goofy archetypes now, its really scary how much influence they had on everyone at the time.
I was definitely an 80âs teen, turned 14 in 81, and as such I can vouch for the fact that in my world at least 80s teens didnât watch movies unless they were rated R. Boobs, language and occasionally violence. PG13 meant it was for 10 year olds, and no self respecting 80s teen watched a G or PG rated movie under any circumstances⌠Besides most movie viewing was done on cable rather than in the theater in my world at any rate.
Not many female protagonists in the 1980s if this is anything to go by. Unless they are kissing of course.
American Werewolf in London
The Lost Boys (Corey Haim movie?)
Think you got it otherwise
Better Off Dead & One Crazy Summer were in there.
Adventures in Babysitting showed up near the end.
I wouldâve had more fun with this with about 3x as many movies.
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