You are on page 1of 30

The Eighties

1980 - Jimmy Carter


lost in a landslide to
Ronald Reagan
The Eighties
Carter negotiated hard
for the release of the
remaining 53 hostages
in ran that had been
held for the past 14
months even after he
lost the election
Hostages were freed
hours after Reagan took
office
The Eighties
December 8, 1980
Assassination of
John Lennon
The Eighties
Social spending
slashed
Crack &
homelessness
epidemic
"Squeegee Men
The Eighties
$$$ - "Greed is
Good
The Eighties
ADS
First coined in 1982
although it had been
around for some time
Reagan deigned to
actually mention it in
1986 for the first time
although the press
secretary had made
some jokes about it in
1983
The Eighties
Ryan White, diagnosed in 1984
Rock Hudson, diagnosed in 1984
Went public in 1985
The Eighties
Black Monday, the
Stock Market Crash of
1987
Fell over 500 points on
one day
Worse than 1929
Dried up venture capital
for films
The Eighties
And interest rates went
down as the sometimes
bizarre foreign
entanglements of the
US continued.
ran-Contra, the Gulf War & Manuel Noriega
The Eighties
Corporate Hollywood
The movement of money
was more compelling
than the films
Tax laws changed
making film investment
less attractive
Sony purchased
Columbia Pictures from
Coca-Cola, MCA (a
talent agency) purchased
Universal, etc., etc..
Foreign box office
outstripped domestic
grosses
The Eighties
The Capital Service Case
allowed studios to buy
theatres again by
outlawing "split
agreements between
exhibitors (theatres
would not bid against
each other for films
keeping costs down) so
the Paramount Decision
became moot especially
as the Reagan
administration was so
friendly to business (no
enforcement) remember
vertical integration?
The Eighties
Time Warner Merger of 1989
Company now worth billions
Assets include:
Film & TV
Theme Parks
Books & Magazines
Cable Television - channels
like HBO as well as delivery
system in TW Cable
DC Comics
Music
The Eighties
The VCR
Changed the way
we watched movies
as well as how they
were made
The Eighties
Why go to a revival
hose to see a movie
when you could rent it?
The experience of
seeing a movie on a big
screen with other
people - how they were
meant to be seen - was
on the way out
The Eighties
Wide screen use
declined - everyone
was watching
movies on TV
A Few Good Men
The Eighties
Some thought
colorization was a
really good idea
%e Outlaw
Miracle on 34t Street
%e Mark of Zorro
The Eighties
By 1987, video
rentals surpassed
ticket sales
The Eighties
"Financial expansion
The "packaging was
immaculate
Michael Ovitz and
Creative Artists Agency
(CAA)
Stepped in to fill the void left
by the end of the studio
system
Packaged writers, directors
& stars together
Tom Cruise, Dustin
Hoffman, Sly Stallone,
Steven Spielberg, Barry
Levinson, Sydney Pollack,
Ron Howard, Stephen King
The Eighties
Return of a form of the
studio system
Studios signed stars
such as Eddie Murphy,
Bette Midler & Tom
Selleck to long-term
contracts
Reagan administration
friendly to business so
studios were allowed to
own theatres again -
remember vertical
integration?
The Eighties
Everyone was
making money
Star vehicles &
mediocre products
as studios were run
by "suits who
steered the industry
toward safe projects
Budgets went sky-
high
The Eighties
"Aesthetic
contraction
The Eighties
"Aesthetic
contraction
Showcasing popular
stars without
worrying about
anyone thinking
about it afterwards
As formulaic as
television
The Eighties
Dominated by
conservative policies &
values of the Reagan
White House
Money & the making of
Nationalism
Family
Winning
Militarism
The Eighties
Major Directors
Paul Verhoeven
#oboCop
%otal #ecall
Basic Instinct
Starsip %roopers
Sowgirls
Barry Levinson
Diner
%e Natural
%in Men
#ainman
Good Morning Vietnam
The Eighties
The ndies and Niche Cinema
1989 brought sex, lies &
videotape by Steven
Soderbergh
Palme d'Or at Cannes and
crossed over to a mainstream
hit, cementing the place of
Miramax and Sundance on the
film landscape for marketing
purposes
Crossover of indie directors to
mainstream - some did (Coen
Brothers, Soderbergh,
Tarantino) and some did not
(Jarmusch, Alison Anders,
Nancy Savoca) and some work
both sides
The Eighties
Major Directors
Robert Zemeckis
#omancing te Stone
Wo Framed #oger
#abbit
Back to te Future
Oliver Stone
Wall Street
Platoon
Salvador
Spike Lee
Se's Gotta Have It
Do te #igt %ing
The Eighties
http://www.davidlynch.com/
David Lynch (b. 1946)
Born in Montana, he started making
short films in art school
Shot raseread (one of Kubrick's
favorite films) for 5 years off & on
it became a cult classic & led to
larger budgets and mainstream
producers
Offered #eturn of te Jedi which
he turned down
Had his name removed from
extended cut of Dune
More concerned with internal
workings than straightforward
narrative
Also does music, art installations,
stage design, comics and furniture
building
The Eighties
So %is Is Love, 1992
David Lync's Daily Weater #eport
As Gus the Bartender on %e Cleveland Sow
The Eighties
raseread 1977
%e lepant Man, 1980
Dune, 1984
Blue Velvet, 1986
Wild at Heart, 1990
%win Peaks, 1990-1991
Lost Higway, 1997
%e Straigt Story, 1999
Mulolland Drive, 2001
Inland mpire, 2006
Eraserhead Clip
The Eighties
Blue Velvet, 1986
Kyle MacLachlan, sabella Rossellini,
Dennis Hopper, Laura Dern
Neo Noir with a femme fatale and
morally ambiguous hero
Had been passed around because of
violent and sexual content
nnovative use of music & stylish
production
Evil behind small town life - a "film
about things that are hidden within
a small city and within people"
Hitchcock's #ear Window was a major
influence
Great uninhibited performances from
Hopper & Rossellini
Lynch's most personal film

You might also like