MovieChat Forums > Flight of the Navigator (1986) Discussion > Would a 1978 kid really be that out of t...

Would a 1978 kid really be that out of touch by 1986?

posted 12 years ago by EightiesKid
17 replies | jump to latest

I know they threw in obvious differences for comedic effect and to show how things had changed from his perspective and made him feel displaced. But when you really get down to it, alot of what was cool by the mid 80s was already in its early stages by '78. When he's talking to the chick who came into his room (she was probably about his real age too), you'd think he was a kid out of the 60s or something, lol.

"80s bands"/singers like Foreigner, Tom Petty, Journey, The Police, Eddie Money, Blondie, and Van Halen already had their first hits by 1978. I believe that was when they started making the first music videos too (even if there wasn't much of an outlet for them before MTV), so it's a little hard to believe David would be so weirded out by a new wave video. At least the more cutting edge expensive TVs, I believe, already had remotes by then too. Punk rockers were already dying their hair then!

P.S. I admit the TV in David's room at the lab WAS a really good high-tech looking TV for '86 though! In fact, it doesn't look too different to the more recent gray/silver tube TVs of the 00s, with the speakers on the sides.

[–] quest20018 12 years ago

I was always fascinated by this movie for that very reason. I think it was very realistic how David would have been shocked by all of the changes in only 8 years. When you think about it, music had completely changed by the mid 80s. (You mentioned all of the 80s rock bands that started in the 70s.) But, Disco would have been all of the rage in the summer of 1978. Clothing would have looked like the late 70s era. (Technology would NOT have been that much different.) But, something had definitely changed culturally in the early 80s. MTV, Rap Music, New Wave, "Yuppies", would have made the world seem very different to David from 1978.

I also want to add. The other thing that is fascinating about this movie is how 8 years back then was a HUGE CHANGE in culture, fashion, etc... But 8 years NOW(2005-2013) has NOT changed that much. You could go back to 2005 and it would seem THE SAME as now. But, if you tried that in other decades, the world changed drastically. (Think about going from 1960-1968. The world looked COMPLETELY DIFFERENT in just those 8 short years!

[–] Manth_Sigdaw 11 years ago

^I agree, culturally and fashion wise there isn't that much difference from 2013 to 2005 say compared to 1986 vs 1978. The biggest social change I can think of would be more open acceptance of gays, but not really. Sure there's a black president today, but there were already movies in the 90s were Morgan Freeman played a black president, so the concept wasn't outrageous.

I think the difference today has more to do with technology over fashion and culture. Youtube was in it's infancy in 2005, and there were no iphones or tablets. Many people still had flip phones and only a few people had "smart phones" like blackberries. There is a far bigger technological shift in only 8 years these days.

There were some technological changes from 1978 to 1986, VCRs, home computers and video games were more common by the mid 80s compared to the late 70s, but the technological shift probably was not as much as 2005 to 2013.

[–] EightiesKid 11 years ago

Just coming back to this thread, but ManthSigdaw, I was thinking that very same thing dude!

These days nobody really cares if you're wearing fashions or hairstyles from several years ago (unless it's something completely cheesy and over the top), and today's kids/younger people seem to be way more into (or at least accepting of) older music, TV shows and pop culture. In fact, I'd say kids in the 80s and 90s had far far more of that "Ohmygawd, my mom likes that song, it's so old and embarrassing..." brat attitude than today's more retro/hipster kids seem to.

Yet, on the other hand, people seemed to hang onto technology for years! I remember how lots of people kept their 80s TVs, VCRs and stereos, as well as appliances well into the 90s, even early 2000s, instead of buying a new one every couple years.

Today it's the total opposite. You'll probably get laughed at for having a flip phone from 2006 or a chunky CRT desktop monitor, or a portable CD player.

We didn't have a full blown, socially connected internet until 2008/2009+ (i.e. YouTube, Google, Facebook), so that's about the only thing that'd be a shock to someone from 2005/06 coming into 2014.

[–] me-1523 10 years ago

A person in 2005 would consider today's dubstep to be obnoxious noise. The iPhone and iPad would blow their mind. The very concept of surfing the internet while not at home and not plugged in, or carrying a device that was always on and always connected no matter where you go, would be shocking to them. They'd wonder where Blockbusters went and why people don't rent movies anymore. The absence of autotune in pop music would perplex them. They'd consider skinny jeans and day-glo wear to be uncomfortable and tacky. They'd refuse to believe a black man is President. They wouldn't understand why peanuts are banned everywhere. They'd ask why the Police look like the military and frequently shoot innocent people. They'd ask what happened to House, Lost, The Sopranos and Battlestar Galactica, and they'd be flabbergasted that the Simpsons is still on the air. They'd also find it perplexing how the Internet somehow got less useful and informative and more full of nonsense with the invasion of clickbait Wordpress sites full of drivel. But they would understand Youtube and Facebook.

So yeah.... lots of changes in 8 years. You just haven't been paying attention.

[–] quest20018 10 years ago

NOT TRUE AT ALL! You haven't been paying attention. 2005 was NOT that much different than 2013. Most of the things you mentioned, they ALREADY HAD in 2005. Auto Tune has been around since at least the early 90s (maybe even earlier.)And was DEFINITELY USED in the late 90s with Brittney Spears as well as Techno bands etc... You mentioned "Day-Glo" and "Skinny Jeans." You do realize this style is NOTHING NEW and was very fashionable in the LATE 1980s and has come back now! This is actually AN OLD STYLE that has made a comeback. So, someone from 2005 would have already known about Dayglo and skinny jeans. Police at least in NYC have been dressing in dark blue military uniforms since around 1996 So, your point about that is also incorrect. You mentioned the internet. I've been using wireless since 2003, so I'm not sure what you are talking about? And the internet had junk and garbage on it in 2005 as well. This is nothing new either. And your last point about old tv shows, well tv shows change every few years. That is not a technological advance. NOT ONE point you made holds up.

[–] me-1523 10 years ago

You've said an awful lot of wrong and ignorant things.

First off, while voiceboxes, talkboxes and vocoders have been around since the 1970s, the Antares Autotune -- an actual effects processor which produced the distinctive flat, digitized effect -- was released in 1997 to very little notice. It was huge in Nu Italo house music over the next four years, but that was mostly underground club music and only two tracks legitimately charted: Cher - Believe (where it earned its original name as the Cherbot or "Cher Effect"), and Eiffel 65 - Blue. Aside from that, Autotune had little to no powerful impact on the music world at large. Britney Spears did not use it, at least not in her first three albums. Her producers had more expensive ways of cleaning up her vocals.

It was only when the R&B scene (Akon, T-Pain, Usher, etc.) discovered and used the Autotune in 2005 that the effect went positively meteoric. For about two years, every song on the radio had an Autotune effect on the vocals. It was as ubiquetous as a horn section in a band in the late 70s. But we don't hear that anymore. Today it's all glitch and quick cuts and edits, something that someone back in 2005 would think is atonal and arhythmic.

As for fashion, we're not talking about what was new or original or in style back in the 80s. We're talking about the contrast between 2005 style and today style, and there is a remarkable difference.

The Police: Nowhere did I mention what they were wearing. I mentioned what they were carrying, driving, and using for enforcement. Police forces generally didn't use tanks, combat armor and excessive force back then. Today they do it just to hand you a warrant.

The wireless Internet has been around since 1968 if you want to be truly technical about it. But there was no iphone in 2005, no ipad, no cloud and no community of applications to assist productivity and scheduling in the way today's wi-fi internet does. No, your palm pilot or blackberry is not even comparable. Http was not processed by digital devices in 2005 because most websites were not built for mobile delivery. That is the biggest change between then and now -- the shift from desktop to responsive/mobile applications.

You're looking for technological advancements exclusively for some reason, when what you should be looking at is the amount of change from one era to another, and if you look at it constructively you'll find that the change is not only different but that it's accelerating, you just can't see it due to cultural bias.

[–] quest20018 10 years ago

Actually, the one that is "ignorant" is YOU! You really sound like an IDIOT! You've totally CONTRADICTED yourself with every point that you have made! The question was, would a kid be "shocked" by all of the new technical innovations traveling 8 years into the future? (And I didn't only talk about "technological advancements either! I also spoke about change in music, fashion, and general culture! So, you are either TOO DUMB to read a post or just weren't paying attention? I suspect the first is true!)
Obviously, if a technological advancement had already been invented, why would a kid be "shocked" by it? If they already had "auto tune" since the 70s (and I SAID I BELIEVED IT WAS FROM THE LATE 80S, BUT WASN'T SURE! WERE YOU NOT LISTENING? I SAID I WASN'T SURE!) Then a kid would NOT be surprised by it. That Cher song you mentioned was A HUGE HIT IN THE LATE 90S! Are you kidding me? They STILL play that song a lot! So, why would a kid be surprised by auto tune, when they play that Cher song all of the time?
You said I only focused on "technological advancements" and then in the next sentence you said I spoke about fashion and music? So, which one is it? Fashion has NOT changed that much from 2005 to 2013! Do you really think there has been a huge shift in fashion from those years as compared to 1978 to 1986? In 1978, bell bottoms, wide collars, wide lapels, leisure suits, platform shoes, long hair, long sideburns, etc... was very much in fashion. Do you think people were walking around like that by 1986? Music in 1978 was MOSTLY Disco and the Bee Gees, Donna Summer, was topping the charts! By 1986, it was TOTALLY DIFFERENT! Do you really think music has CHANGED THAT MUCH from 2005 to 2013? Second, they had WIRELESS INTERNET in 2005! I've been using it since 2003! And no, they DID NOT have "wireless" internet in 1968, you idiot! They had the "internet" but it was not "wireless!" where you could sit in your car and "surf the internet." So, GET YOUR FACTS STRAIGHT BEFORE YOU POST! What exactly are you talking about? As for IPads, big freaking deal! So, they had other "lesser tablets" at that time! Wow, BIG SHOCK! YOU REALLY HAVE NO IDEA OF WHAT YOU ARE TALKING ABOUT AND SOUND LIKE AN IDIOT!

[–] sun_scryer 10 years ago

^I agree, culturally and fashion wise there isn't that much difference from 2013 to 2005 say compared to 1986 vs 1978. The biggest social change I can think of would be more open acceptance of gays, but not really. Sure there's a black president today, but there were already movies in the 90s were Morgan Freeman played a black president, so the concept wasn't outrageous.

Having a black president is a very big deal, and there's a big difference between a hypothetical and living in a world where it actually happened.

There's the pre-9/11 world versus post-9/11 world. There's also the pre-black president world (for Americans) and the post-black president world.

Those two examples would be good enough examples of the type of time warp in only a few short years that Flight of the Navigator presents on screen.

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(In reply to hwcperfect re Godzilla 2014)
LaLlama: Make me give a *beep* whats going on

[–] 10 years ago

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[–] Im_your_Papi 11 years ago

Back then, I agree with everyone that posted on here, there were some drastic changes in 8 years, especially with changes of presidents, movies, special effects in movies, new shows, changes of music, and minor advancements in technology. Definitely a change between the 70's Disco scene to the 80's Pop, rock, and Rap scene and stuff not heard in the 70's. VCR's, TVs, and a few other gadgets would be more easily accessible by the 80's not commonly found in 70's homes.

But now, 8 years really isn't that much different, except for Ipads, touchscreen gadgets, Youtube becoming really popular, and some advancements in cell phones. But everything is pretty much the same.

[–] psdhart 11 years ago

, so it's a little hard to believe David would be so weirded out by a new wave video.

When the girl asks him "you've never seen a music video before?" he replies "uh uh ive been gone for eight years"

[–] hillbrian2005 11 years ago

And microwavers.

[–] freebird1987 11 years ago

Microwaves were actually pretty popular by the late 70s.

[–] brittannie19 11 years ago

As an adult, 8 years doesn't seem like much, but to a kid that's a lifetime. My sister was 7 years older than I was and there was a definite difference in culture just looking at her yearbook to mine. With the adult world a lot of pop culture is somewhat irrelevant. You may just like the same music you always have and not pay attention to the new groups. You may wear the same basic stuff to work because office attire takes a long time to see much of a shift in fashion versus the fast changing fashion world of teenagers.

Regardless of the era, I can see how missing 8 adult years I wouldn't be as jarred by the media and culture, but I can easily see how 8 years to a kid would be huge. Think of how one minute someone like Justin Beiber can be a pop icon to a teen and the next minute that same person is completely uncool.

[–] AriaOfTelengard 11 years ago

Technology didn't really start hitting it's stride till mid 1990's. Think about this: a computer purchased in the late 1970's/early 1980's was still useful till the early 1990's. Yes, the Apple ][e and the Commodore 64 were STILL useful machines all through the 1980's and they were both 1970's technology.

[–] lee-rundle-544-446716 10 years ago

Thanks to Simon Cowell cutting its cultural throat and pathetic and vacant rubbish like Justin Bieber and One Direction providing the final nails in the coffin, popular music has been utterly vapid and lacking any substance for well over ten years now. So, mainstream music hasn't changed at all in the years since 2005, because it hadn't needed to, because it exists solely to make money, and it's only requirement is that it's good enough to please the non-bright, which, let's face it, is a huge demographic. Shove them in front of The X Factor and they're happy, like a chimp with a tyre.

[–] sabri400 9 years ago

Maybe not so much for an adult but for a 12 year old, a couple of years can be huge. So yes, I can imagine an 8 year gap being a massive deal and feeling completely out of place. Technology and trends are always changing, plus, his friends would be 20 years old in 1986, that's a huge difference. Poor kid