"Your" time captured in a scene

[MyCylon]

I apologize if the title is a little confusing and I hope to be able to provide a little more clarity right here (though I'm not yet convinced I will succeed .

Anyway, let me begin by saying that I think every person has a period of time in their lives that they feel was 'their' time. As in, somebody like myself who grew up during the 80's/90's will probably always feel that this was 'their' time.

The music, the movies, the entire culture back then, the feeling of what it was like to grow up during that time period - or rather how you remember it - will always be a part of you.

For me, anyway, it's also this feeling that everything is possible, all opportunities, the whole amazing world is open to you, and nothing in your life has been decided yet. Essentially, it's where you go when nostalgia takes a hold when the here and now become uninteresting or unbearable.

For me, for some reason, there is a scene, a single scene, in "Total Recall" that seems to almost completely capture the feeling of experiencing that time (fortunately, it's not one of the ultra violent scenes ).
When Hauser/Quaid walks into the building housing the Rekall offices, it just totally sends shivers down my spine. The architecture, the lighting, the clothing, Arnold, the weird music, the subtle sounds, everything just seems to be soaked in that time, 'my' time.
And I don't mean this feeling of, "wow, it's so 80's". It's a lot stronger and a lot more real to me than that. It's a joyful and terrifying experience all at once. Joyful because it brings me right back to great feelings and memories connected to that time. Terrifying because it also carries in it the realization that that time has passed and is never coming back.

So, after much writing on my part (as well as hope that you don't think I'm completely insane and have at least a slight idea of what I'm trying to get at), I'm curious to know if there are any scenes in movies or TV shows, or maybe even pieces of music, that have the same effect on you, that put you right back there in that time, in 'your' time?

 

[Holdfast]

I think I get what you mean.

Off the top off my head: probably various bits of BTTF, esp. the chase around the square where Marty's in 1955 and improvises the world's first skateboard. That was so cool and a very 80s moment somehow. Either that, or the Apollo/Rocky bits of Rocky III, or the hoverboard from BTTF2. Or the opening scenes and other dogfights from Top Gun. Or maybe bits of Return of the Jedi, esp. the opening Tatooine scenes and the chase sequence on the Endor moon.

In terms of music, New Order's Bizarre Love Triangle, or The Touch from Transformers. Come to think of it, reading any of the Transformers comics instantly flashbacks me to that time, too, esp the Decepticon Dambusters, Dinobot Hunt & Target 2006 storylines. From the latter the sequence where Scourge is captured really sticks out in my mind as being highly evocative of the era, as are the last two comics of that story.

I think that's as rambling a post as yours!

 

[sojourner]

The final scene of "Real Genius" with Tears for Fears "everybody wants to rule the world". Which was strangely twisted in Watchmen with the scene in Ozymandias' office where that song is playing as muzak. Sort of like seeing through a mirror darkly.

 

[Beagleman]

All the scenes taking place in the control room in Jurassic Park, that whole set-design screams early 90s.

 

[Nardpuncher]

I think I know what you mean OP.

Another Arnie example is T2. That movie came out when I was 18, and it's now a 19 year-old movie but it reminds me of that summer and it still feels and looks to me like a new movie.

 

[WillsBabe]

Here are a few off the top of my head: The Alien bursting out of Kane's chest in Alien; Roy Batty dying in the rain in Bladerunner; David Soul landing on the hood of the car from the opening credits of Starsky and Hutch.

 

[Nardpuncher]

I was just remembering the other day about how I felt when Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade came out in May, 1989.
I was 15, and even then, it felt to me a little bit like they made that movie a little too late. Since the previous Indy movie was in 1984, the should've made the third one in 1986 or '87 I felt. I still enjoyed it, but I had that feeling of them having missed the boat or something. I don't want that last part to come off too strongly, as part of the feeling is the fact that I saw Raiders at the age of 7 and Temple of Doom at 10, so that's a magical time to see a movie, and at 15, well, you don't come out of the theater running around pretending you're Indy.

Then we had Indy movie 2 years ago. Ugh. Even that one should've been made no later than 1996. So it makes all those feelings I had about Last Crusade pale in comparison.

 

[The Borgified Corpse]

All the scenes taking place in the control room in Jurassic Park, that whole set-design screams early 90s.

The strongest childhood memories I have about being in movie theaters usually involve Jurassic Park or The Lion King.

THE movies that most instantly transport me back to my childhood no matter how old I am are the Back to the Future trilogy & the 1st couple Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movies. As far as I'm concerned, these movies haven't aged at all. If today you made a period movie about the 1980s, if you did it right, it would look exactly like Back to the Future.

The movie that most reminds me of my childhood attitudes & what I kinda wanted to be like (and this is really sad): Rushmore. For some reason, I've always admired Max Fischer. I guess it's his ability to accomplish things with nothing but raw enthusiasm & willpower. Plus, his relationship with Ms. Cross is about as far as my love life has ever progressed.

...

 

[Kirby]

For me I have a couple:

1. Fletch - There are so many scenes in this movie, but the scene at the tennis club where he first met Gayle Stanwick was classic. The bad tennis, Ted Underhill, the Bloody Mary, Steak Sandwich, and the Steak Sandwich...

2. Late Night with David Letterman - back when Dave was funny and inventive. He was working the drive through at a fast food place and was pissing off customers left and right. Sarcastic, snarky, and funny as hell.

Those were both around the same time, and it was also my senior year in high school where I just had a complete blast.

 

[Mojochi]

I think I get it

I'd say that there are a great many moments in "Close Encounters Of The Third Kind" that scream to me "You are not the life that you are living" And that life is the one I knew, as I grew up.

I seriously don't think I've ever seen a movie family that reminded me more of my own childhood family, than the Nearys, & a main character, who I've come to identify more with, than Roy Neary. His reactions are so truly real, his behavior so genuine, & his character history so inescapably American, of that time, that when he finally is allowed to break free, you feel like you are breaking free with him. His struggle is the struggle of an extraordinary spirit, trapped in a carbon copy of someone else's life

The scene which exemplifies this the most is when he is trying to convince his family to all go to watch Disney's Peter Pan, but they all want to play goofy golf. The moments of struggle, like that, make his breakdown at the dinner table, after becoming obsessed with his mashed potatoes, all the more gripping, with the eldest kid on the verge of tears, because their reality, fragile though it was, is shattering, & perhaps was never anything more than an illusion, to begin with

It is the first film that made me fall in love with cinema. Incidentally, I am only 6 months older than that little boy in the movie, & 2 months younger than the kid in E.T.

 

[Nerys Myk]

Hard to pin down. Any number of movies or Albums ( including some comedy) released between about 1976 and 1983. Movies were a weekly ritual back then and always seemed to be something good out. Though movies about groups of friends (be it Grease, the Big Chill or St Elmo's Fire) tend to strike a chord because my group of friends was pretty tight back then.

 

[scotpens]

The cheesy sci-fi and monster movies the local theater used to show at their Saturday matinee for 35 cents. (No, that's not a typo.) Journey to the Seventh Planet, Reptilicus, First Spaceship on Venus, Beyond the Time Barrier -- those will always remind me of growing up in the Valley. And Goldfinger, the first James Bond picture I saw, with that cool Aston-Martin and that pulsing, haunting theme song. (My interest in the Bond babes came a couple of years later.)

 

[Kirkman1987]

Lots of late 80's and early 90's Arnold flicks do it for me. Arnold was at his height of popularity when I was a kid and he was a fantastic screen presence at that time. There were few things more exciting than a new Arnie flick or even catching one on TV. (T2 was played nonstop on cable back in the mid 90's, non-stop.) We have so few action stars now with that kind of raw charisma.

I have the same feelings for Stallone and Chuck Norris (largely for Walker, which I often watched with my now deceased grandfather.)

Ghostbusters and BTTF for sure.

I would also say any movie with late 80's computers, which I used in grade school at the time and I have fond memories of. Think Wall Street or the computers in Superman III.

 

[tracymcgrady]

I agree with you and
I have the same feelings
you did a good job
many thanks

 

[Nardpuncher]

I agree with you and
I have the same feelings
you did a good job
many thanks

Is that a haiku?

 

[Shazam!]

Most of The Goonies pre-adenture ie. riding on bikes, hanging out etc

 

[NuFan]

I feel like now is my time.

 

[Cicero]

Another Arnie example is T2. That movie came out when I was 18, and it's now a 19 year-old movie but it reminds me of that summer and it still feels and looks to me like a new movie.

I was 7, and would say the same about T2. Very little about that movie seems of its time (aside from the obviously early 90s setting).

I think The Two Towers is the movie I most think of as being of my time.

 

[Nardpuncher]

Another Arnie example is T2. That movie came out when I was 18, and it's now a 19 year-old movie but it reminds me of that summer and it still feels and looks to me like a new movie.

I was 7, and would say the same about T2. Very little about that movie seems of its time (aside from the obviously early 90s setting).

I think The Two Towers is the movie I most think of as being of my time.

Thanks for your input, as I was wondering if it was just me. Nice to know someone who's young can see that that movie is like Dick Clark!

 

[PKTrekGirl]

I am the same age as the Brat Packers, and so those movies hold a special place in my heart - The Breakfast Club, St. Elmo's Fire, About Last Night, Sixteen Candles, Pretty in Pink. Oxford Blues, etc.

To this day, I occasionally rewatch a couple of these movies - The Breakfast Club, About Last Night, and Pretty in Pink in particular. And all of them always take me back to the mid to late 80's, when my own life most closely resembled what was on screen.

No matter how often I see Rob Lowe in Brothers & Sisters or The West Wing, to me he will always be Danny Martin in About Last Night.

No matter how often I see James Spader in Stargate or in Boston Legal (both of which he is excellent in), I will always associate him with Steff the jerk in Pretty in Pink.

I will always associate Judd Nelson with John Bender (what an awesome performance!) and Molly Ringwald with Claire Standish. And every time I see Anthony Michael Hall, I think of him explaining how he couldn't make the elephant lamp in shop. And Emilio Estevez will always be a 'jock' to me, even though he might not be IRL.

Those Brat Pack movies are definitely 'my time'.