MovieChat Forums > E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982) Discussion > When being alive meant something.

When being alive meant something.

posted 10 years ago by gutz1981
9 replies | jump to latest

Watching this after so many years it made me feel young again. I remember growing up in the early 80's and remembering how family and friends were. Just looking at this time capsule just confirms to me that life was at its best at about the late 70's to the late 80's. Their was a scene were I saw one of Mikes friends call Eliot a douche-bag, and Eliot's mum gave the kid a friendly slap across the back of his head and said "No douche-bag talk in my house." No harm no foul. These days if say did what she did, and the kids parents got wind of it, they would loose their *beep* minds and talk about pressing charges. Look at how well people interacted back then and look at how close they were and had fun and hang out together and not just play video games. What the hell have we come to today? The sad truth is those days are gone. We have become sooo paranoid and over protective of kids that we have damaged them beyond belief by robbing them of a childhood. And all I hear now, is "How politically incorrect an insensitive people were back then." I think we had it right, and now we are paying the price for this *beep* attitude of today.

[–] crakatoot 10 years ago

I grew up during the 90s. Which as we all know was the best decade ever for entertainment. We had Jurassic Park, the Simpsons, Nirvana. The list goes on But as for life being better than or the next Generation being worse. Every generation says there time was the best. A thousand years ago the different generations were probably saying the same thing. It a just human nature to always compare and contrast things. The truth is every generations has it's up and down That being said come on, we all know the 90s were better than the Reagan years

[–] gutz1981 10 years ago

I think the 90's were the last breath of a time where things were better. Towards the late 90's things started to show how bad things were to become. As far as entertainment, that's a tough one. I think some of the best movies to ever come out of Hollywood in terms of either fun comedy or great action was between the years of 1984 and 1988. True their are the claims of, my generation was better than yours very often. However due to how hard and "unfair" things were, the 30's were a time of depression. The 40's were a time of world war. The 50's were reeked with fears of communism. The 60's saw a time of disbelief in it's politicians and government institutions with the assassination of many of the leaders of peace and equality, (JFK, Bobby Kennedy, Martin Luther King) Vietnam and the draft tore the nation apart. Censorship in the news and media was very strong by the end of the 60's and into the late 70's. It was not until 75-76 the world was starting to pay attention to the younger generation as more and more college students were hired to write and direct films that their generation could relate to (Jaws, SNL, Star Wars, Indiana Jones) The late 70's and the beginning of the 80's saw the rise of home entertainment, of personal home computers and video arcade games, VCR's, the restrictions of childhood toy advertisements and censorship was lifted to help the economy and more cartoons were released of an "Action" nature to sell toys. It is the movement of the late 70's and early 80's that has helped shape the world of technology and entertainment than any other decade before it. With the beginning of the middle eastern wars of the early 90's and especially the early 00's saw the rise of Big Brother states and government control over its peoples freedom as it was in the 50's era of using fear to control. Political correctness is now at its peak, though more and more people are leaning away from it. So for me, as I see it, the western world found its stride from around 1974 to 1996. True, I did grow up between those years, but I am also a follower of history and see that things have definitely become worse in the last few years.

[–] crakatoot 10 years ago

We'll for the sake of being Devils advocate. I think things have gotten better in the Entertainment industry. Audiences are a lot more Savy than they use to be, Interesting films are getting made. Movies like the Dark Knight or There Will Be Blood probably would not have been made in the 80s or 90s. Plus with things like Netflex and now with digital cameras movies can be made so cheaply that more and more interesting movies are being made made that don't have to worry about studio interference or being blockbusters. If ur open minded there are a lot of good, smaller movies on Netflix. So like I said every era has its ups and down. Has for this oppressive cloud of Political Corrctness that has overwhelmened the cointry. We'll hopefully someday it will dissipate

[–] pullcartweek 10 years ago

Lol, at the end, you did what you said wvery generation has done

[–] Hendry_William_French 9 years ago

grew up during the 90s. Which as we all know was the best decade ever for entertainment

The 90s and CGI is when entertainment went to $hit.

Buckle up back there, we're going into... hyperactive

[–] crakatoot 9 years ago

Jurassic Park and Terminator 2.

right there ur argument is blown out of the water.

i told you not to stop the boat. Now lets go. Apocaylpse Now

[–] Hendry_William_French 9 years ago

Jurassic Park was an sfx showpiece, the template for every crappy blockbuster you see in cinemas now where the digital spectacle overshadows the story and characters. It's an overrated suckfest.

If you want movies with equal style and substance, then the 80s destroyed the 90s a million times over. E.T., The Empire Strikes Back, Ghostbusters, Indiana Jones, Back to the Future - list goes on and on.

Buckle up back there, we're going into... hyperactive

[–] crakatoot 9 years ago

90s had Pulp Fiction, Shawhsank Redemption, Usual Suspects, Forrest Gump, Reservoir Dogs, Seven, Primal Fear, American History X, The Lion King, Beauty and the Beast, Titanic, The Matrix, The Nightmare Before Christmas, The Crow, King of New York, Last of the Mohicans, Unforgiven, Dances With Wolves, Goodfellas, King of New York, Casino, Bad Lieutenant, Braveheart, JFK, Scream and im sure there are others.

The 80s had some comedies zapping a Marhsmellow Man and some ugly pig like alien in a bike. so there's that.

i told you not to stop the boat. Now lets go. Apocaylpse Now

[–] Hendry_William_French 9 years ago

I think special films in the 80s like ET sort of encapsulated that era, kind of a window into a better time for life. They certainly don't make films like ET anymore (and never will again) so it's pretty obvious to me that only the 80s could produce stuff like ET because it was just different. I grew up in the late 80s and into the 90s, and the 80s just felt different for some reason.

Buckle up back there, we're going into... hyperactive