I was watching Roxanne last night and I was reminded at how movies from the 80s are instantly recognizable. I don’t know if there is any other decade where you can so easily tell the decade the film takes place. Why is this?
Fashion and hair is the most obvious reason. I can watch movies from the 70s and before and see why certain fashions and hair styles were popular. Some people just look good, even if a style is outdated, but not the 80s. I blame Reagan and DARE.
The love interests also tend to be obvious. Normally the female will be an athletic blonde with frizzy hair. The male will always be some dumb jock. I know the 80s didn’t start these cliches, but they definitely solidified and relied on them.
Aesthetically, movies from the 80s also tend to include a lot of long shots and close ups. Rarely does there seem to be anything in between these two extremes. The title sequences are often zany and in really terrible fonts. If there is a score, it’s often really bad jazz.
Also, everything seems to be really well lit. The interior shots are without any shadows and outside it looks really, really sunny. I don’t know how to explain this, but if I didn’t know any better I would think that the sun was just a lot brighter between 1980 and 1989.
and the 80′s had the 2 Corey’s. How can you beat that!