# This book/film really captures the vibe of its decade. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 12, 2006, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-book-film-really-captures-the-vibe-of-its-decade/364129 "2006-07-12T03:13:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Trunk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/87869e/32.png) [@Trunk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trunk)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2006, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-book-film-really-captures-the-vibe-of-its-decade/364129/21 "2006-07-12T15:11:09Z")
1990’s: _The Big Lebowski_ & _Clueless_ As to _Dazed & Confused_, well, I was young in th 70’s but it captured my particular High School experience from the 1980’s perfectly. . .down to the stoners, the car love, the older guy, the busted party, the impromptu kegger in the woods, two guys like “Woodward and Bernstein”. It was just universal small town, I think. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2006, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-book-film-really-captures-the-vibe-of-its-decade/364129/22 "2006-07-12T16:19:40Z")
In the Eighties, I went to John Hughes High School. ---
**Author:** ![TLDRIDKJKLOLFTW](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/51bf81/32.png) [@TLDRIDKJKLOLFTW](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TLDRIDKJKLOLFTW)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2006, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-book-film-really-captures-the-vibe-of-its-decade/364129/23 "2006-07-12T17:10:46Z")
[QUOTE=Slithy Tove] I’m confused by the OP - do you mean books/movies made later that captured an era, or those made at the time of the era they portray? Which movie portrayed the 1940’s better: _Saving Private Ryan,_ or _The Best Years of Our Lives_ [/QUOTE] Either one, though I imagine that literature has a better chance when doing the “written in the eighties, but takes place in the sixties” sort of thing. ---
**Author:** ![Yookeroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yookeroo/32/323_2.png) [@Yookeroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yookeroo)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2006, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-book-film-really-captures-the-vibe-of-its-decade/364129/24 "2006-07-12T18:16:00Z")
[QUOTE=Corporate Hippie] I opened this thread to mentioned Dazed and Confused as well. I can only guess that it truly captures the vibe of its decade since I wasn’t even alive in the 70’s, but it sure seems to give off a convincing vibe of some sort. Whenever I see it it makes me wish I had been a high school kid in the 70’s. [/QUOTE] Me too. I knew all those people. D & C nailed the pre-punk 70s. ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2006, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-book-film-really-captures-the-vibe-of-its-decade/364129/25 "2006-07-12T18:38:41Z")
Three books that captured the 70s as I remember them: [The Serial](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1853753831/sr=1-1/qid=1152729086/ref=pd_bbs_1/103-2716243-6515852?ie=UTF8&s=books) by Cyra McFadden [The Monkey Wrench Gang](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0060956445/sr=1-2/qid=1152729193/ref=pd_bbs_2/103-2716243-6515852?ie=UTF8&s=books) by Edward Abbey [Trout Fishing in America](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0395500761/sr=1-1/qid=1152729245/ref=pd_bbs_1/103-2716243-6515852?ie=UTF8&s=books) by Richard Brautigan ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2006, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-book-film-really-captures-the-vibe-of-its-decade/364129/26 "2006-07-12T20:01:54Z")
[QUOTE=Krokodil] Three books that captured the 70s as I remember them: [The Serial](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1853753831/sr=1-1/qid=1152729086/ref=pd_bbs_1/103-2716243-6515852?ie=UTF8&s=books) by Cyra McFadden [/QUOTE] Excellent mention! I remember reading it when it first came out in 1978 and thinking, “_Jeez_, this is so Seventies!” ---
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2006, 10:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-book-film-really-captures-the-vibe-of-its-decade/364129/27 "2006-07-19T10:01:54Z")
Nostalgia pieces: [That Thing You Do!](http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0117887/) Pop music in 1964. [Hope and Glory](http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0093209/) Britain during WWII. [The Wedding Singer](http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0120888/) Totally '80s. And another vote for **Dazed and Confused**. Besides what everybody else said, the look of it; I mean, whatever they did either while filming it or in post to give it that washed-out, slightly grainy look was spot-on. Of-the-moment: [Desperately Seeking Susan](http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0089017/) '80s, again. Besides the fact that Madonna was cast at exactly the right time, the portrayals of mondo New York and yuppie suburbia were perfect. [Menace II Society](http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0107554/) Early '90s, in the hood. “O-Dog was America’s worst nightmare. Young, black, and don’t give a f—.” And another vote for **Clueless**. ---
**Author:** ![cactus\_waltz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/74df32/32.png) [@cactus\_waltz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cactus_waltz)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2006, 1:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-book-film-really-captures-the-vibe-of-its-decade/364129/28 "2006-07-19T13:00:55Z")
[QUOTE=Sampiro] Unfortunately Coupland hasn’t fired nearly as good a shot with any of his later books. [/QUOTE] I disagree, I found Microslaves to be near Generation X in quality and page-flipping fun. I think the Harpo Marx’ autobiography Harpo Speaks! captures the life of pre-WW2 hotshot celebrities and the glory of the 20’s pretty well. ---
**Author:** ![minlokwat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/minlokwat/32/2844_2.png) [@minlokwat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/minlokwat)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2006, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-book-film-really-captures-the-vibe-of-its-decade/364129/29 "2006-07-19T16:05:00Z")
The John Hughes High School Trilogy consisting of **Sixteen Candles** , **the Breakfast Club** and \*\*Pretty in Pink \*\* = growing up in the 80’s. As a graduate of the year 1985, I am immediately transported backward in time whenever I catch a glimpse of any of these three. And then for a movie that got it totally wrong, **St. Elmo’s Fire**. I was in college right at the time of the movie’s release and I saw nothing like that, them nor the wild goings-on in the form of the movie’s sub-plots. Some of the scenes were shot on my campus but that group wasn’t like anyone I knew at the time. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-book-film-really-captures-the-vibe-of-its-decade/364129.md?page=1)