Greed and Glitter: a journey through 1980s cinema, in 25 films. (Part I)
Part I of my series on what the cinema of the 1980s means, and where best to see it.
On my previous blog, which went defunct more than three years ago, I used to do a lot of articles about movies and cinema. I didn't do much of that on the short-lived Substack incarnation, and I haven't done much of it here, with some occasional exceptions--but lately I've had a hankering to change that. I am primarily a historian, but I watch a lot of movies and I think I know enough about cinema to be dangerous, especially when combined with historical context. Consequently, I'm going to start covering cinema a little more often, beginning with a series that I hope you will enjoy.
I recently taught an in-person class about the history of the 1980s and how that decade is integral to the development of our world as it is today. The cultural presence of the 1980s is somewhat infuriating. If I mention that decade, especially to people of a certain age, most likely a flood of images goes through your mind: big hair, Michael Jackson, E.T., Ronald Reagan, neon-colored clothes, pop music with a lot of synth. It’s natural that we think of these things, but frankly I believe it’s time to stop seeing this decade as little more than a grab-bag of nostalgic pop culture tropes. Indeed the decade in which I spent most of my childhood, and which is hard to believe is now 33-43 years in the past, is becoming increasingly recognized as an important era, culturally and politically, in American history. It also has–if you look closely–a sort of gestalt of its own when it comes to cinema. As both a film buff and a historian, I think we can learn a lot about a time period by analyzing its movies. Consequently, I’ve decided to do this series of blog articles, a tour of 1980s cinema through the choice of 25 notable examples.
Just a word of caution: this is not a “best-of” list. The films I’ve chosen here are not the most artistically superior of the decade (though a few are very high quality), nor are they necessarily my favorites, or the most popular. Instead, these are films that I think tap most directly into the various cultural and historical cross-currents of the 1980s, or which go the farthest to setting the cinematic conversation that was going on during that decade. While most of the films on my list are well-known, a few I’ve chosen precisely because they’re a little obscure, but still well worth watching. The journey will be in five parts, each article dealing with specific years of the decade. This first one is for the years 1980 and '81. Without further ado, here they are.
