I totally agree that 80s movies have a certain flavor to them.
I think a large part of it is the technological innocence. Starting with pagers, then cell phones and the Internet, we've forever lost that very Romantic sense that a person can be an island. The 80s are still recent enough that in spite of the hairdos and fashion, we recognize the psychological milieu of the characters even as we're conscious of a fundamental tech divide between us and them.
Finally, the 80s were in large part Reagan's sunny optimism (like him or not), "Morning in America", etc.
Excellent points. I certainly agree with the general gist of them, esp. the overaching political/national climate.
By the time the wounds of the Great Recession, 9/11 and the current wars finally heal (could take decades, IMO), we'll still have all our tech, and we'll still face Neo's existential terror of a plugged-in life.
This is true... part of me wonders if the reason we see this "problem" is simply because we're old enough to have known a different way of living, and more, whether we're just older, full stop, and so have a less idealistic worldview. Will today's movies "feel" the same to today's children/teenagers as the 80s ones felt to us? I would say no, but that may just be age showing.
But, in films if nowhere else, we'll always have the 80s.![]()
