As I’m watching Escape From NY it’s making me wonder why were so many movies made with post-apocalyptic settings during the 80s? Was it some kind of fad? Also evil corporations seemed to be very popular. Why did they fall out of fashion?
The Cold War, the Soviet “menace”, the fear of nuclear war…they were all real threats in the 1980s. Hence post-apocalyptic films.
Were there really more post-apocalyptic movies in the 80s than before or after? It might depend a bit on how you define a post-apoclaytpic movie. But I don’t believe the 80s were over-represented in this genre.
For example the 10 top grossing movies of each year for the 80s on IMDB shows “War Games” as the only movie with a vaguely post-apocalyptic connection. In contrast the 70s had 3 “Planet of the Apes” movies as well as “Invasion of the Body Snatchers” for a total of 4. The 1990s can boast “Terminator 2”, “Independence Day”, “The Rock” (no more tenuous than “War Games”), “Armageddon”. “Deep Impact” and “The Matrix” for a grand total of 6… This decade can lay claim to “Planet of the Apes”, “Signs”, 2 more “Matrix” movies, “Terminator 3” “The Day After Tomorrow” and “War of the Worlds”. A grand total of 7 and it’s not even half way through yet.
If we limit the definition to just war movies at least partially set post-nuclear war then the 80s scores 0, the 70s scores 3, the 90s 2 and this decade scores an average of 8.
If anything it seems the 80s was below par for this genre. I’ll grant that there were movies like “Road Warrior” and even the original “Terminator” that were at least moderately popular but never made it onto the 80s list. But for every one of those I could name an equivalent post-apocalyptic 70s or 90s movie like “Logan’s Run” or “The Postman”. And while the 80s may have had “The Day After” TV series the 70s had “Buck Rogers” and “Logan’s Run” while the 90s could boast “Futurama” and “Dark Angel”.
I guess what I’m really saying is, I don’t see any reason for believing the 80s was over-represented in post-apocalypse movies and TV. YMMV.
Cyberpunk. 
Okay, that’s a WAG. But in Cyberpunk literature there’s a very strong theme of ‘evil corporations’. Possibly a backlash against the very corporate ‘greed’ theme the '80s had.
Evil corporations have been a staple of TV and movies for a loooong time. It didn’t start in the Eighties by any means.
I mean, if TV shows and movies are to be believed, every Fortune 500 CEO keeps a loaded gun in his desk drawer to pull on any detective clever enough to fidgure out his evil designs for world domination.
A prevailaing attitude was that Reagan couldn’t be trusted not to snap off a couple nukes if Qaddafi or Khomeni pissed him off. Ergo, feelings of doom (both nuclear and otherwise) had great hold with the popular imagination.
–Cliffy
It might be mostly forgotten nowadays, but the early 80’s pre-Gorbachev years were some of the darkest days of the whole Cold War. My parents didn’t let me watch The Day After (born in '74), but even so, I was aware enough to pick up a general feeling of inevitability of nuclear war, or more generically the “end of the world”. It probably helped that I went to a Catholic grade school and knew just enough of Revalations to be even more paranoid about it.
Something else, especially as far as evil corporations go, in the 80s the Japanese economy seemed unstoppable as the US entered a recession. Common belief at the time was that the Japanese were going to buy out most of the US companies. Sometimes it was seen as the new form of Japanese response to losing WW2 and using a different tactic. I don’t think most folks realized they’re just like other companies, not out for some national/cultural adjenda but rather to put cash in the pockets of the owners and employees.
Wolverines! 
My theory, for what it’s worth, is that with the coming of glasnost , some screenwriters and filmmakers probably figured that they needed to get their product out there before the whole Armageddon idea became dated. After all, the Russkies were the only enemies we had with nuclear capability, right? Right? :eek:
And many were simply just trying to cash in on the first two Mad Max films, although I’d call these rip-offs “post-apocalyptic wastelands” films.
Sir Rhosis
I think Sir Rhosis is right. The Road Warrior and, to a lesser degree, Escape From New York were so successful that they inspired a ton of cheapie imitators.
And what’s more, another thing that is a strike against tying them to the socio-economic climate of the 80s is the fact, iirc, that John Carpenter wrote “Escape From New York” in 1974, but did not get it financed until 80 or 81. Mad Max came out in 1979 (may have actually been made and released in Australia in '78, can’t remember).
Sir Rhosis
that’s not true. just the evil ones.
I mean, really. If you don’t keep at least a revolver around when you’re plotting The End of Everything, you’re a moron.
Does anyone remember the name of the British version of “The Day After?” I saw it once on PBS in the early/mid 80’s and was impressed (it seemed darker, more depressing, as befitting an “end of civilization” movie/miniseries/made-for-TV-movie), but the name has slipped my memory over time.
The plethora of post-apocalyptic movies in the '80s can be easily explained. It was an attempt by the liberals in Hollywood to scare everybody into believing “this is what Reagan/Bush is leading us to!”
Does The Omega Man count as post-apocalyptic? How about Soylent Green or Silent Running? (If The Day After Tomorrow counts, those two have to as well: They’re all in the Environmental Meltdown subgenre of Dystopic Science Fiction.)
Zardoz mainly counts as bizarre and unintentionally hilarious.
My point being, the 1970s produced some pretty bleak movies as well.
Here’s something that is pure 1980s, and I’ll let all of you hash out whether it belongs in the list or not: Blade Runner. Obviously Earth is a bad place to live and everyone who’s capable is going to the offworld colonies. (In the novel, it’s made clear that only the defectives are still living on Earth. I think it’s implied in the movie, as well.) But there are no obvious signs of anything more than accelerated urban decay and general social breakdown. However, the same could be said about Soylent Green. I think it qualifies, even though those aspects are far from being the center of the movie.
You really can’t just say the 80s - post-apocalyptic fiction has been around (at least in the form we’re familiar) pretty much since 8/6/1945 (the day the bomb was dropped on Hiroshima).
I will admit, however, that there was an increase in the 80s - more having to do, I think, with trying to cash in on the “Mad Max” craze than on any Cold War fears.
I would definitely count Omega Man as apocalyptic, but don’t forget 70s classics such as Damnation Alley with Jan-Michael Vincent and George Peppard - that was pure post-apocalyptica made in 1977 or A Boy And His Dog with Don Johnson, based on Harlan Ellison’s story made in '75.
Heck, you want post-apocalyptic stuff? Go back to the early Twilight Zone episodes, especially “Time Enough At Last”.
The Cold War was still going on and Americans thought for sure World War III was going to happen in the eighties. Thankfully by the end of the eighties the Cold War was over.
You can also do low rent copy cats of post-apocalyptic blockbusters. Give a guy a leather jacket, shotgun and film the whole thing in an abandoned industrial park and voila.