80s movies

The movie that best represents the decade is War Games. This movie fictionalizes the constant feeling of an impending nuclear war. The computer in the movie illustrates the insecurity over increasing technology and the fact that war is inevitable and virtually unstoppable once it has begun. The horrors about war continued in Platoon. This movie was a graphic reminder of the horrors of the Vietnam War, perhaps as a caveat to avoid further wars, especially nuclear war with the Soviets. Platoon showed the destruction and brutality of which Americans could be capable. War Games was an interesting concept but the dialogue was shallow and the jokes were somewhat corny. I thought Platoon was very eye-opening, although graphic, and I (for lack of a better word) enjoyed learning a different perspective of the Americans' actions in Vietnam.

In addition to war movies, another group of movies we watched were about high schoolers. The Breakfast Club, Fast Times at Ridgemont High, and Ferris Bueller's Day Off all portrayed high schoolers in a more multidimensional way than they had been shown previously. As younger and younger students started to protest against wars and make their voices heard, movies started to realize the large audience that they had been excluding. Especially in the Breakfast Club, high schoolers are seen as multidimensional and not as one stereotype. I loved the Breakfast Club because it showed the many different kinds of high schoolers and their interactions with one another. Ferris Bueller's Day Off showed a high schooler that everyone admired for being free-spirited and rebellious. This movie is one of my favorites as well as it depicts a high schooler that every teenager wants to emulate.

We also watched a hodge-lodge of other movies including Batman, Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark, and Back to the Future. Batman and Indiana Jones expanded on the theme of good vs. evil in reference to America vs. Soviets and democracy vs. communism. These movies fictionalized this conflict in order to help people relate to these problems. Back to the Future represents the nostalgia felt by the audience of the 80s to return to simpler times.