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.
In the Eighties, I went to John Hughes High School.
[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
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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.
[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.
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Me too. I knew all those people. D & C nailed the pre-punk 70s.
Three books that captured the 70s as I remember them:
The Serial by Cyra McFadden
The Monkey Wrench Gang by Edward Abbey
Trout Fishing in America by Richard Brautigan
[QUOTE=Krokodil]
Three books that captured the 70s as I remember them:
The Serial by Cyra McFadden
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Excellent mention! I remember reading it when it first came out in 1978 and thinking, “Jeez, this is so Seventies!”
Nostalgia pieces:
That Thing You Do! Pop music in 1964.
Hope and Glory Britain during WWII.
The Wedding Singer 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 '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 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.
[QUOTE=Sampiro]
Unfortunately Coupland hasn’t fired nearly as good a shot with any of his later books.
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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.
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.