I Heart the 80s

Of all the trends in recent memory, this 1980s cultural renaissance has to be the most fun.  The music, the movies, the hair, the tights.  This column could just be a bulleted list of great stuff from the 80s, but here is something even more interesting: while many things contributed to this trend, I think there were a few “tipping points”, and those tipping points may have been Maddox Pitt Jolie and Natalie Portman.

By the way, calling the 80s a “cultural renaissance” probably has Leonardo DaVinci and the rest of the Mutant Ninja Turtles rolling over in their graves.  See?  Even 80s jokes are more fun!

We’ll get to Maddox and Natalie.  But first, have you noticed that there are three distinct age cohorts celebrating the 80s revival?  People who are now around 40 were the 80s.  A People who are now around 30 witnessed the tail end of the 80s.  I’m a smidgen over 30, so in 1989 I was 11.  People who are around 20 have no personal knowledge of the 80s.  They’ve created an understanding of the 80s, but it is based on other peoples’ memories and relics of popular culture.