That the 1980s were the most politically incorrect decade everyone knows. The truth is that the world was different – with a time that had other concepts and values, now considered outdated and that no longer fit into modern society (despite the insistence of many). The phrase often used at the beginning of this cultural revolution of political CORRECT was “that the world was getting very boring”.
It is necessary to know how to separate the wheat from the chaff, and identify what is exaggeration and what is in fact legitimate. An increasingly difficult task. It’s just that we think we need to evolve and be better people. And that includes not offending your neighbor, for any reason, especially about your appearance. Racism and homophobia have duly become subject crimes to pityas well as sexist behaviors are intolerable and unjustifiable.
But that’s now, and nothing applied to the clueless ’80s. Well, to be fair, the decade holds a lot – most in fact – that haven’t gotten dated and still fit today. But it must be borne in mind that those were the extreme times of the alpha male, whether in action films in which the idol was the one who beat and destroyed the most, or in comedies in which the adored protagonist had the mission of taking as many women to life as possible. the bed. Just to name a few examples. Thus, some productions lost their grip on their plots, even if the final intention was good, and the core of such films were messages of overcoming and transformation. The problem is the crooked path these films took to get there. Here, however, no historical cancellation – we are in favor of learning from the past and studying it, not erasing it, in order not to repeat its mistakes.
In this new article, I decided to separate five films considered clueless in the eyes of today, which would never be produced today, and which have aged badly for the most varied reasons. But the list of clueless films doesn’t just include productions considered racist, sexist and homophobic, here we also have cock-faced films and others “What the Fuck” that we have separated for you. Check it out below and relive this rough era in all its glory.
Speaking of black Hollywood stars, one of the biggest names, still praised to this day, was the comedian Richard Pryor. A highly successful comedian on stage, and one of the forerunners of stand-up comedy as we have it today, prior also proved to be a phenomenon in cinema, participating in famous productions alongside Gene Wilder (his most outstanding duo on the big screen) and even stealing the show from the superhero Man of Steel, in Superman III (1983). a year earlier, prior (who died in 2005, aged 65) starred in this vehicle called The toy – comedy that is turning 40 in 2022. The film is actually the remake of a French production of the same name (Le Jouet in the original), from 1976.
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It is not uncommon for Hollywood to remake productions from other countries, even more so if they were successful, as was the case with this one. In the plot, a millionaire, in order to buy the affection of his little son, with whom he can’t connect, decides that the boy can have any toy he wants. The kid picks an unlucky guy who was in the store at the time. And the protagonist accepts the plaything because he finds himself in great financial difficulty. Buying a human being to amuse your child is already loaded with a great incorrect connotation in its speech, however, the thing is even worse in the American version. It turns out that in the French original the protagonist Pierre Richard it’s white; while in Hollywood, prior is a black man bought by a white family. think about Run! (2017) treated as light and children’s comedy.
We started with a movie starring none other than the star denzel washington – today considered one of the biggest names in Hollywood and world cinema. One of the best actors in activity, Washington began his career with this comedy that marked his debut on the big screen exactly 41 years ago. See this premise and tell me what you think: the veteran George Segal plays a middle-aged white man who has everything in his life in place, which includes a good job (where his father-in-law owns the company), a good marriage, a nice house, and a big car. Everything changes in the guy’s life when he discovers he has a black son (denzel), who suddenly appears at your door, making everything around you fall apart. The intention may even have been to criticize the racism of the time, but much of the humor is based on racial stereotypes of the so-called big difference between black and white behaviors and customs. Today there is that bitter taste in the mouth.
Today, it is practically unthinkable to make a comedy film that is based entirely on a man’s inability to perform domestic tasks – formerly known as “women’s work”. You know that long-defeated maxim that “a woman’s place is in the kitchen and taking care of the house”, or the “beautiful, demure and home” joke. Well, imagine a movie about that. However, until 1983 (at least), the general public found it very funny to see a man taking care of the house and small children while the woman goes to work. Isn’t this inversion of values hilarious? Well, at the time it could have been – but today it just doesn’t make sense and we just don’t understand, looking at the screen. Even at the time, the woman had already sought and conquered much of her space in the professional world and had left the home empowered. Worse is to think that starring in this “rascality” we have none other than the revitalized Michael Keaton – who after a stint in comedies like this one in the 1980s, played the hero Batman twice on the big screen, and resurfaced with an Oscar nomination for birdman – and highly praised quality projects, see spotlight and hunger for power. The most curious thing is that the film was written by John Hughes and re-emerged as a cult.
Now we come to what is probably the most racist and tasteless movie of the 80s – created involuntarily. This was supposed to be a typical teen comedy of the time, where farcical plots in which a young man disguises himself as something he is not dominated and were successful – without thinking about the implications of such acts. As I said, it was a different time, where you didn’t have this mentality. Thus, men disguised themselves as women, and beautiful girls dressed as boys without anyone suspecting – today, this would have even other gender implications. But here, the filmmakers went even further, seizing an extremely reprehensible artifice (and it’s not new): the so-called black face. The term is used to define white people painting themselves as black in films or even as a fantasy – an act considered extremely racist.
To give you an idea, the act generated huge controversy even when the black actress Zoe Saldana used the artifice and painted her skin darkening it in order to generate more similarity with the singer Nina Simonein the biography Nina (2016) – promptly boycotted and swept under the rug. Coming back, the clueless story of A Very Crazy School bring the protagonist C. Thomas Howell, as a white student who, without getting a place at the university of his dreams, decides to apply for the quota of black students. The problem is that, as said, he is white. The “genius” solution? Darken your skin with drugs and pass yourself off as black, of course! Here we also have all the “humor” of the film based on prejudiced racial stereotypes.
Speaking of comedies that can be considered sexist these days, now comes to the list one that was very successful in the Afternoon Sessions – and that I’m sure a lot of people remember and love. Well, the film’s proposal may even be to unmask and fight machismo, still very much in force in society – even more so at that time -, but as said at the beginning of the text, some films choose paths, let’s say, very clueless to do so. . What draws attention in films like this is that they usually go beyond the limits of the farce they propose, asking the audience to take a big leap of faith to buy the idea. Look at this premise. Terry (role of Joyce Hyser) is an ambitious young woman, dreaming of a career in journalism. However, at her high school, all vacancies go to men, and her teachers advise her to be a model, due to her physical appearance.
Turned on “What the Fuck” number 1 warning sign here. But we continued. So she comes up with a “brilliant” plan. She decides to enroll in another school, but this time dressed as a boy, with a new identity, in order to prove that she is good regardless of gender. As said, like many items on the list, the heart of the film is even in the right place, the big problem is in the way everything is handled. Add to that a lot of homophobic jokes, as Terry (a unisex name) obviously falls in love with the boys at the new school. There’s no escaping the feeling that this is all so wrong. in the cast, William Zabkathe Johnny of Snake Kaifresh out of the first Karate Kid, living another high school bully. The film may have been directed by a woman, but the screenplay was written by two men and their worldview at the time.
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