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Many people – including many who don’t even have a first-hand memory of the decade– have positive thoughts about movies from the 1980s. One writer, Hadley Freeman inthe book Life Moves Pretty Fast, even argues that popular movies from the 1980s arebetter than their counterparts from any other decade – especially the current one. Shemight be a little nostalgic, but it is hard to deny that movies were an important mediumin the 1980s. Thanks in part to the popularity of the VCR and video rental stores,movies became a much more common presence in people’s lives than ever before. It’sonly natural, then, that we examine the movies of the 1980s in a class devoted to thatperiod.In this paper, you will be analyzing a particular movie from the 1980s (of your choosing,from the list that follows), based on the question What makes your movie an“Eighties film”? You will need to focus on ONE particular approach to this question:
Content: How is this movie connected to real world eventsof the 1980s? Does it address those issues directly ormetaphorically? How is the film portraying the eventsdiscussed or alluded to in the movie? What exactly are thefilmmakers trying to say about those events or trends?
Style: To what extent is your movie consistent withfilmmaking trends of the 1980s? How does it “feel” differentfrom movies of other recent decades? Think about thechoices made by the filmmakers – how are those typical ofmovies in the 1980s? How are they different? (Avoidfocusing on special effects; this kind of difference is tooobvious.) Does your movie represent the blockbuster style orthe new “independent film” trend? Why?
Values: How does your movie appeal to the concerns,hopes, and fears of an Eighties audience? How does itrepresent an important “mood” or “attitude” of the Eighties?What does it tell us about the values of the audience that themovie is clearly aimed at?Remember, you will need to focus your paper on ONE of the approaches above. Thiswill allow you to develop your argument with depth and detail. For example, if I waswriting this paper about The Breakfast Club, I could use any one of the approaches, butI wouldn’t want to use all of them in one paper. For “Content,” I could write about theattitude towards drugs that is displayed in the film. For “Style,” I could write an essayaddressing how The Breakfast Club compares to the rest of the teen movie genre. Or,how it works as a repudiation of the blockbuster style. For “Values,” I might want toexamine how the movie depicts parents and adults, and how this runs counter to thefeeling of optimism that people associate with the 1980s. (Because I am using it as anexample here, YOU CANNOT WRITE YOUR PAPER ABOUT THE BREAKFASTCLUB.) One key to thinking about this assignment is to remember that it’s perfectly okayto write about a specific aspect of the movie you have chosen. Don’t feel like you needto address every aspect of the movie. I want to see your analysis of a specific idearather than an attempt at a comprehensive examination of the movie. You won’t be ableto do it in three pages, so you would be better off focusing on something specific.The questions listed in each approach are meant as a guide for thinking, not a structurefor your paper. Don’t try to answer all of them. Your paper is not going to be veryfocused if it’s just a laundry list of answers. Develop your analysis into a focuseddiscussion that delves into the significance of the ideas you address in your paper. (Youmight find that your movie doesn’t address any of the areas described above. If that’sthe case, you can develop an argument about how your movie, despite being releasedin the 1980s, is not really an “Eighties film.” Explaining why this is the case might be amore difficult option, though.) Make sure that your paper has some specific referencesto the movie, but do NOT spend more than a short paragraph providing a summary.Your focus in the paper needs to be your analysis and insights. If you need an outsidesource for background, make sure that you cite it and include it in a bibliography.Remember, though, that the paper is not a report about the movie, or a review. It’s youranalysis of how your movie can be considered an “Eighties film.”F1980s Movie List(Notes: If the movie has been remade, you obviously need to watch the 80s version. Also, some of thesemovies are rated “R” for nudity, sex, adult language, drug use, and violence; if these things concern you,do some research into the content of the movie before selecting it. In addition, be aware that some ofthese movies include racist, sexist, and homophobic imagery and dialogue that we in 2020 look atdifferently than audiences did in the 1980s. Finally, you may NOT write about Pretty In Pink, TheBreakfast Club, Back to the Future, or They Live. Papers about any of these movies will be penalized.There are plenty of other 80s movies to write about; try to avoid clichés by being original with yourchoice.)White Nights School Daze Working Girl After Hours Field ofDreamsAdventures inBabysittingTop Gun Dirty Dancing Airplane! The AbyssBeverly Hills Cop Coming toAmericaWho Framed RogerRabbitAliens Rocky IVAlien Nation Altered States American Werewolf inLondonSixteenCandlesBaby BoomGleaming the Cube Batman Some Kind of Wonderful Wall Street BeetlejuiceFerris Bueller’s DayOffBlood Simple Desperately SeekingSusanBig Body HeatRaising Arizona Blue Velvet Born on the Fourth ofJulyBladeRunnerBrazilBroadcast News Bull Durham The Color of Money Cocktail CocoonThe Color Purple ContinentalDivideDead Ringers The Fly SayAnythingLast Temptation ofChristWeird Science Star Trek: Wrath of Khan Iceman The RightStuffCrimes andMisdemeanorsRunning Scared The Untouchables River’s Edge Repo ManRomancing theStoneRunning onEmptyThe Princess Bride RiskyBusinessRed DawnReturn of the Jedi Raging Bull Raiders of the Lost Ark Purple Rain PoliceAcademyRambo: First Blood,Part IIPoltergeist Peggy Sue Got Married Platoon WitnessPee-Wee’s BigAdventureThe Terminator When Harry Met Sally Scarface The ShiningFatal Attraction Something Wild sex, lies, and videotape Spies LikeUsStand By MeThis is Spinal Tap Stripes Star Trek IV: The VoyageHomeTradingPlacesTronThree Men and aBabyUnder Fire To Live and Die in L.A. UrbanCowboyValley GirlRevenge of theNerdsReal Genius Better Off Dead Die Hard DinerDriving Miss Daisy Flashdance She’s Gotta Have It ET StripesEscape from NewYorkFootloose Fast Times at RidgemontHigh48 Hours GhostbustersFriday the 13th Full MetalJacketGood Morning, Vietnam The Goonies GremlinsMoscow on theHudsonAmericanGigoloHannah and Her Sisters First Blood InnerspaceHeartbreak Ridge House ofGamesThe Last Starfighter Enemy Mine LabyrinthThe Karate Kid La Bamba Lethal Weapon The Verdict Mr. MomMissing in Action The Natural Nightmare on Elm Street No Way Out Near DarkOfficer and aGentlemanFunny Farm National Lampoon’sVacationParenthood Pale RiderHenry: . . . SerialKillerNight of theCometMiracle Mile Videodrome ScannersChild’s Play The Lost Boys The Howling Fright Night HellraiserThe Naked Gun The Evil Dead The Running Man Rain Man RobocopAdv. of BuckarooBanzaiThe RoadWarriorThe Quiet Earth Roxanne PredatorAbout Last Night The KillingFieldsRomancing the Stone Moonstruck TootsieCan’t Buy Me Love The Sure Thing Just One of the Guys Mystic Pizza ArthurYoung Guns UncommonValorCasualties of War Silverado SplashBill & Ted’s ExcellentAdv.Midnight Run A Fish Called Wanda Akira HeathersThe Big Chill An AmericanTailDo the Right Thing The Thing Country
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