Classic Movies from the 80's

Everyone has wanted something they cannot have, whether that is an object or someone’s affection. And I am no exception for falling for the movies that display these types of structural feelings and cultural constructions. There is just something about a man riding his Lawn mower over to my place to claim his love for me, or a guy holding a boom box blaring music outside my window that really gets me going. Movies such as Can’t Buy Me Love, Sixteen Candles, and Say anything are all great examples of romantic corny love movies from the 80’s that really get to me!

Everyone has their own idea of what being romantic is or what they find romantic. Maybe I am easy to please or maybe I follow the crowd by falling for romantic movies but, so be it. I am a cultural construct. I follow the popular movie genres, what the media says is cool and undoubtedly fall for corny love stories that are most likely never going to happen. I can’t quite put my finger on it but they get me every time. I guess I am a typical romantic. I want the story that I watch in movies and read in books. Did I come to this conclusion on my own? Or did I get a little help from the movie industry?

What is it about these movies that capture the audience’s attention and wanting more? Well, basically the plot for most of these movies is about two teens, one who is very popular, and the other not so much. Considering that many of you know how the story goes I will just cut to the chase. By the end of the movie the popular kid falls for the not so popular girl/boy. Defeating all the “odds” they fall in love. It’s a story that everyone can relate to and a story that everyone has been heard over and over again. These movies show that it is possible to do that through ideology. Ideology is usually a change in a society, and that is the ideology for these hit 80’s movies. It’s defeating the odds of class, race, and gender for all the crushing teens around the world. Ultimately these movies are showing you that you are the exception, you can be the exception regardless of your class, race, and families cultural views.

The real question is, what are we getting from watching these movies? To me I feel as if we as a society are beginning to question what love is like in reality. Many of our expectations are becoming very high and similar to the scenes in movies. Is the movie industry setting up future romancers or is it potentially harming our future love life's!?!?