What year is this? OK, we all know it’s 2010, but in Hollywood, it seems like it’s 1984 all over again — and I’m not talking in Orwellian terms. The A-Team and The Karate Kid both open in theaters this weekend, while A Nightmare on Elm Street can still be found on some screens and Red Dawn hits theaters early next year. Meanwhile, new sequels to Ghostbusters, Beverly Hills Cop, The Terminator and Police Academy as well as remakes of Footloose, Romancing the Stone, DUNE and even Revenge of the Nerds are all in one stage of development or another at the major studios. It’s looking to me like the only thing we’re missing is a new film version of Orwell’s 1984 (itself made into an acclaimed film back in, you guessed it, 1984).
Sure, the ’80s in general are back, but 1984 in particular seems to be hotter than it’s been in 26 years. Remakes, rehashes and reboots are nothing new, but Hollywood’s current obsession with 1984 is certainly unique. Off the top of my head I can’t recall a single year where so many films were remade or resurrected, especially a mere 26 years later. Some of the reasons are simple: Nostalgia is an obvious factor, as is an overall lack of creativity. The kids and teenagers who enjoyed these films back in ’84 are now filmmakers, producers and even studio execs all eager to revisit or recapture their youth, or put their own stamp on it.
While everyone usually looks back on their adolescence with much fondness, there was something about 1984 that made it a great time to be a kid in America. The youth culture is always prominent in any era, but looking back on it, ’84 was something of a watershed year for popular culture for young people. Prince released Purple Rain, Apple introduced the Macintosh and MTV seemed to dominate almost every aspect of most young people’s lives. Hell, Ronald Reagan even invited Michael Jackson over to the White House just to look cool to the kids. The blockbuster era was in full swing, and by this time it seemed that the studios and filmmakers were really hitting their stride, as few of the youth appeal films of ’84 disappointed. Along with the previously mentioned films, you also had such favorites as Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, Gremlins, Sixteen Candles, Bachelor Party, Purple Rain, The Last Starfighter, and even such box office flops as Streets of Fire and The Adventures of Buckaroo Bonzai eventually found an audience. Adults might not have cared for most of these films back in ’84, but kids and teenagers loved them, and now, as adults, they want you to love them all over again.
The marketability of all of these titles also has to be taken into account. Most every one of these films hasn’t strayed very far from public consciousness over the last 26 years. Unlike remakes and revamps from other eras, the 1984 originals have maintained pretty solid staying power throughout our era of increased mass media. These films were among the first to amass huge audiences on home video, which really took off in the mid-’80s, and ever since then they’ve all been seen countless number of times on cable TV and syndication, been released numerous times on LaserDisc, DVD, PSP, Blu-ray, and now VOD. Take into account nonstop merchandising (like the recent Ghostbusters video game) and sequels (the most recent Nightmare on Elm Street film was only 7 years ago), and most of these movies have never really gone away, have they?
1984 seemed to set the tone for the rest of decade. The young filmmakers of the late ’70s were now the establishment, and they moved away from the personal films of the ’70s to make mass-market entertainment that, for the most part, was pretty damn good. But most importantly of all, they hold up remarkably well. Ghostbusters and Beverly Hills Cop are still very funny movies, while The Terminator not only gave us a future governor, it’s also in the National Film Registry. Even such independent films as Jim Jarmuch’s Stranger Than Paradise, Wim Wenders’ Paris, Texas and This Is Spinal Tap proved to be tremendously important. It might not necessarily rank as one of the greatest years for movies, but 1984’s influence has remained with us ever since. As such, the remakes and rehashes seem more than a little redundant, but I suppose that’s Hollywood for you.
