iRewind Talk: The Devo Epiphany about Generational Movie Making

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Posted by Devolution (Member # 1731) on :

Devolution here,

In a conversation with a friend I had been discussing how I am getting old because all of the movies are about the nostaglia of the 1980's, The Rocker, Hot Tub Time Machine, 13 going on 30, episodes of House, Bones and the best show ever, Community. I started to remember that the movies that we watched in the 80's were all about the 60's. Peggy Sue got Married, Shag, 1969, every vietnam movie, even Back to the Future (I know it's the 50's sue me). My point is that there is a generational gap that goes into directing that we are in right now. That the target audience of people in their 30's is going to go see a movie about the 80's even though much to my dismay, they aren't really good.

(Side note: Movies about 10 year reunion's don't count as nostaglia movies, even thought they are usually good. See: Grosse Pointe Blank and Romy and Michelle)

So the epiphany is that we are entering the end of the 80's movie and show era, My wife and I were watching the TV show "Life Unexpected" and the people in that show are reliving the glory days of 1994. This is after I graduated high school. Am I that old that the people making shows now are so young that they are reliving 1994? This worries me, because the 70's were all about disco and classic rock, the 80's were about new wave and hair, what classifies the 90's? Crappy music and the uprising of alternative music punctuated by the suicide of its forefather? I don't know, I don't know if you can make a movie like Hot Tub Time Machine about the 90's. Singles is a great movie, Let's not be hasty and screw around with a good thing. I don't want to see the era of 80's movies end. But I know it might. They haven't made a Vietnam movie in quite some time. This is scary but true. Our movie time is coming to an end.

WE are DEVO

Posted by Fightertown (Member # 7418) on :

Iraq is the new Vietnam.

Posted by Devolution (Member # 1731) on :

Devolution here,

Agreed. Every movie is about the middle east now.

We are DEVO

Posted by oneyedwilly (Member # 8730) on :

Movies never end. You just rewind them or press play movie - simple. They are timeless. It is people who have a used by date.

Fact: There have been more remade movies in the last 10-11 yrs from the 70s/80s than new releases.

quote:
Agreed. Every movie is about the middle east now

Its called evolution not a case of forgetting a decade that made vietnam movies. That theme has been exhausted by just about all the great film makeers, so why revisit it again - its a case of been there done that.

quote:
I don't know if you can make a movie like Hot Tub Time Machine about the 90's.

Why not, it was done in the 80s about 1955 cue BTTF. People will more than likely be just
as nostalgic about there decade (90s) in another 10 yrs time that we are about ours, just a little too early yet for nostalgia to set in - might want to look at what Logan said on the thread - Were the 80s movies really the best? He shed some insight into that.

Posted by logan5 (Member # 1467) on :

quote:
Our movie time is coming to an end.

Our time ended in the 90's. Everything since then has been revision / revisiting.

"The end of history".

From the internet onwards every prior decade exists at the same time. Young people will be downloading songs from all decades because they can. In the past it took effort to seek out things from the past - most people didn't bother and simply consumed what they were sold, which is fine if it's at least halfway decent - but it often isn't.

There were some really great movies made in the 80's about the 50's and 60's.

I don't believe there is substantial enough cultural or technological differences between the 80's and now to make a modern 'BTTF' work as well as the one in the 80's did. Society hasn't changed as much in the decades from the 80's to now as it did in the 50's - 80's. The civil rights movement changed a great deal in a short time. Hi-Def is a smaller step than black & white to colour.

I think the 80's was the best decade for family slanted movies (of all genres). Post Star Wars the studios realised that they could make a fortune if they marketed things at a certain age group, who would buy the poster, the album, the book, the badges and the shirts. Also, the people writing / directing the movies in the 80's got their training in the 70's which was arguably a high watermark of mainstream American filmmaking. There was always a sense of "do what you want - but make it feel 'true'."

I'm rambling...

Posted by oneyedwilly (Member # 8730) on :

quote:
From the internet onwards every prior decade exists at the same time. Young people will be downloading songs from all decades because they can.

Absolutely...everything is at our finger tips. These days i feel all movies from all decades are being watched, rewatched, revisited and remade. Why?...because it can now be done.

quote:
Post Star Wars the studios realised that they could make a fortune if they marketed things at a certain age group, who would buy the poster, the album, the book, the badges and the shirts.

A classic example of extending what once was great in the 80s as a result of its huge following and popularity. Rocky Balboa could possibly be thrown into the mix, as could the goonies being made, as could KK. Hot tub - a revist of a different kind.

quote:
a high watermark of mainstream American filmmaking. There was always a sense of "do what you want - but make it feel 'true'."

this i feel has been somewhat lost in today's big budget slammers.

Posted by Mike. (Member # 7179) on :

I have read the replies on here and have to agree,that the nostalgia thing is good in films we watched in the 80's like BTTF and Stand by Me but i feel there needs to be a reason to make them in the first place.
For instance BTTF was set mainly in the 50's and just from a technology point of view the difference between the 50's and 80's was huge,so we could all have a laugh at the problems encountered by the characters just by the time gap.
Now days apart from the internet there really has not been that sort of technical advancement that you could base a film on and get people to see.

Also i watched the Burbs the other day for the first time in about 10 years and then the Breakfast club was on tv on Saturday night,it got me thinking that a lot of these films were based on one street or a group of very small sets.Now could you put bums on seats for films like that now days where lets be honest the pace is fairly slow and there is no c.g.i.
Now i loved these films as a kid and think they have got better with age,but were they that good or do we just all look at them through rose tinted glasses.

Posted by logan5 (Member # 1467) on :

quote:
Breakfast club was on tv on Saturday night,it got me thinking that a lot of these films were based on one street or a group of very small sets.Now could you put bums on seats for films like that now days where lets be honest the pace is fairly slow and there is no c.g.i.

Interesting question. It is worth pointing out that The Breakfast Club's theatrical success was bolstered by a huge hit single at the time. Having a song on full rotation during the height of MTV would massively inrcrease the box-office.

quote:
Now i loved these films as a kid and think they have got better with age,but were they that good or do we just all look at them through rose tinted glasses.

Both: Rose-tinted for those that were young, well made movies with great (original) songs for those that weren't. I can honestly say that I like things like TBC less now than I did then, but that's because I'm too familiar with them and they're emotionally 'played out' with me. I still think they're great though. Modern teens will watch the John Hughes movies and fall in love with them, because they hit all the right notes.

Posted by oneyedwilly (Member # 8730) on :

quote:
Our time ended in the 90's. Everything since then has been revision / revisiting

Agreed.

quote:
The Breakfast Club's theatrical success was bolstered by a huge hit single at the time. Having a song on full rotation during the height of MTV would massively inrcrease the box-office.

really? or was this the other way round? Or is it a symbiotic relationship or a parasitic one?
Granted, MTV's impact was astronomical on the popularity of song success. it certainly took control throughout the 90s.It most certainly didnt hinder.

quote:
Now i loved these films as a kid and think they have got better with age,but were they that good or do we just all look at them through rose tinted glasses

hahaha!! weve been down this road on another thread!! LOL Cue nostalgia please. Hence a reason you are on this site.

quote:
Modern teens will watch the John Hughes movies and fall in love with them, because they hit all the right notes.

This from logan also sugests the opposite of what i just said - the fact that teens are watching as a first time and then rewatching is claim to John Hughe's tremendous ability to produce unforgettable and timeless movies - Logan, i still cant beleive not one of his movies appeared on my top 5 1970-1999 list, your like detective monk!!!

Posted by logan5 (Member # 1467) on :

quote:
really? or was this the other way round? Or is it a symbiotic relationship or a parasitic one? Granted, MTV's impact was astronomical on the popularity of song success. it certainly took control throughout the 90s.It most certainly didnt hinder.

I think the song was a hit before the movie opened, which would mean the song assisted the opening weeks of the film. However, I don't like the idea that a good movie is at all dependent on a hit single to sell it, so I'll say 'symbiotic' in this case.

quote:
Logan, i still cant beleive not one of his movies appeared on my top 5 1970-1999 list, your like detective monk!!!

Aah... you fixed that with Some Kind of Wonderful! Paul will be pleased (but not as pleased as if you'd picked Pretty in Pink - which he considers superior in many ways).

[ 21. May 2010, 04:13: Message edited by: logan5 ]

Posted by oneyedwilly (Member # 8730) on :

quote:
Aah... you fixed that with Some Kind of Wonderful! Paul will be pleased (but not as pleased as if you'd picked Pretty in Pink - which he considers superior in many ways).

i definately liked some kind of wonderful a lot more than pretty in pink...and i must confess....and i know im really going to get verbally beaten for saying this but i can handle it ...i DONT like molly at all. I find her extremely annoying to watch in pretty in pink and i wasnt that fused on Andrew mac's character. I have it and iv watched it but only once. Sorry Paul(oneyed wiilly looks skyward as if hes looking down on me).

Posted by oneyedwilly (Member # 8730) on :

quote:
I thin the song was a hit before the movie opened, which would mean the song assisted the opening weeks of the film. However, I don't like the idea that a good movie is at all dependent on a hit single to sell it, so I'll say 'symbiotic' in this case.

Another excellent well thought out answer with reasoning. I guess its all about timing. Im sure you know all about pressure and dead lines being in post production Logan. Im sure mannequin certainly helped starship and vice versa even though the song doesnt appear until the end credits. As you stated before though, mtv, video hits, rage (austr video hits show), TOTP, smash hit magazine certainly helped bolster the movies. Its most certainly a rarerity that we see the same 'symbiotic' relationship between song and film like we did in the 80s. Was it me or did it just DIE a very quick deathin 89. I say this for one simple reason....for the life of me i cant think of a movie in the early 90s where a song bolstered the movie. It all of a sudden became a Hans Zimmer fest. Ok, the occassional titanic/robin hood, but not in every single movie like it seemed in the 80s. Did mtv end up damaging this - how ironic.

Posted by logan5 (Member # 1467) on :

quote:
i definately liked some kind of wonderful a lot more than pretty in pink...and i must confess....and i know im really going to get verbally beaten for saying this but i can handle it ...i DONT like molly at all. I find her extremely annoying to watch in pretty in pink and i wasnt that fused on Andrew mac's character. I have it and iv watched it but only once. Sorry Paul(oneyed wiilly looks skyward as if hes looking down on me).

I was lying! Paul loves SKoW. I prefer PiP (though you couldn't slide a thick piece of paper between them). I stated many moons ago in a post that the only reason SKoW got made was because PiP had the ending altered, so without PiP there would be no SKoW. From then on it caused much hilarity in my own tiny world to imply that Paul doesn't like SKoW and that he prefers PiP - Hahaha!

quote:
Was it me or did it just DIE a very quick deathin 89. I say this for one simple reason....for the life of me i cant think of a movie in the early 90s where a song bolstered the movie. It all of a sudden became a Hans Zimmer fest. Ok, the occassional titanic/robin hood, but not in every single movie like it seemed in the 80s. Did mtv end up damaging this - how ironic.

There were still a few (the ones you mentioned and things like 'The Bodyguard' and 'Beaches'). It became over-saturated. Also MTV changed and people stopped watching it for the videos as much. In the early days films could be totally floated on the music. I think 'Flashdance' was the first (in '83). Then the following year 'Purple Rain' and 'Footloose' owed their commercial success entirely to the songs on rotation on MTV. I just think the quality of the songs dropped, the formula got tired, MTV changed and the cultural landscape went with it. Can you imagine a song like 'Footloose' breaking through or selling a movie in '95? Nah. The musical landscape for kids (barring a few Boy Bands) was totally barren. It was all targeted at the late teens / early twenties.

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