MovieChat Forums > Take Me Home Tonight (2011) Discussion > Why was this movie set in the '80s?

Why was this movie set in the '80s?

posted 11 years ago by Dreamcatcher9000
20 replies | jump to latest

Ok, sure, it had some minor references and stuff, but I didn't find a specific reason for this movie taking place back then. It could be in the '90s, it could be now. I mean, although the '80s are in the background, they don't have anything to do with the plot. The movie just takes place one night IN the '80s, it's not about THE '80s. So, except for nostalgia reasons, I don't see any other. It doesn't take advantage of the era.
And to tell you the fact, ok, except the clothes and music, it didn't remind me of the '80s. No big references to the era. I mean, look at "Hot Tub Time Machine". Ok, it's fantasy, they go back in time, but in that movie you DO feel the '80s.
And ok, if "Take Me Home Tonight" was made back then, it would work better, because it wouldn't be nostalgic and stuff, it would be like..."this is how things are now", you know? But when you make a movie about the '80s in the 2010's, you must have a reason for placing the movie back then.

[–] knifeparty2004 11 years ago

It was made in the 1980's as a gimmick. You're right, it wasn't necessary but the producers who made the movie are the same ones that produced That 70's show, so they have a thing for doing "eras".

[–] Dreamcatcher9000 11 years ago

I don't really mind if an '80s movie's plot could take place in another decade (I mean, "guy falls in love with a girl" could take place in 2013, as well as...120 B.C.!!), but make us FEEL the '80s! Just like "Rock of Ages" succeeded to do. Seriously, if it wasn't for the soundtrack, I wouldn't notice that this movie takes place in the '80s. And still, it could be a 2011 movie with '80s songs.

[–] knifeparty2004 11 years ago

I don't understand how it didn't feel 80's. There are numerous visual aids to suggest the movie happens in the 1980's.

[–] Dreamcatcher9000 11 years ago

Well yes, there are some of course, like Matt's clothes and lifted sleeves, the video store with the videotapes,etc., but it didn't feel MUCH like it's the '80s, like "Hot Tub Time Machine" felt. That movie SHOUTS that it was in the '80s!

[–] Captain_Bob 11 years ago

Because the 80s were fcking awesome! Much better time to be a teenager than any decade since. Great music, big hair, muscle cars, wide bush, no internet, pre-political correctness, etc. Wahoo!

[–] AllisonRoad 11 years ago

Yes, the 80s were an epic decade! That massive poster of Madonna from her Virgin album during the intro brought back memories. I truly loved that decade, the music especially. And the "big hair" on the ladies too.

[–] 11 years ago

[deleted]

[–] Dreamcatcher9000 11 years ago

LOL! Exactly.

[–] Braindead09 10 years ago

I suspect it was set in the 1980s simply because every modern film about young adults would have every dumb bastard looking at their mobile phones ringing and texting each other all the time

[–] Dreamcatcher9000 10 years ago

How true...
Life was simpler once. Parties, meeting people outside. Now...Online video games and social media.

[–] AdmiralTugBenson 10 years ago

I liked the fact that the 80's references were toned down. There have been 80's nostalgia films/shows that just try to cram as many references down your throat as possible, and there's very little substance to the them. Now, I'm not sure this movie has THAT much substance, but the plot doesn't suffer from an over-saturation of 80's references. It suffers from other things, but not that. Unlike other films/shows, the references aren't the punchline, which is a good thing. Showing me a Rubik's Cube or legwarmers aren't funny on their own, but many filmmakers seem to think that's all you have to do. Just roll out a long line of references, and that's the whole story.

True, this movie could have taken place in ANY decade, but so could many films. That doesn't mean the setting has to become a star of the movie. The actual 80's weren't a constant 80's reference. I didn't come across 200 pop-culture references a day, people didn't listen to "80's music" non-stop (country was big, many listened to "classic rock"), everybody didn't dress in a stereotypical 80's way, etc. In fact, I've seen more stereotypical 80's clothes in the 21st century than I saw in the 80's. Don't get me wrong, that stuff was out there, but it wasn't in your face every single day. These films/shows have become a caricature of the actual decade. Twenty years from now somebody will probably make a movie about the 2010's and everybody will be walking around dressed like Lady Gaga and make the soundtrack consist of popular songs from this era, but that's not how we live our lives. We don't all listen to that music or dress trendy, just like they didn't back then. There was still real life. And I think that's what this movie accomplished, whether they intended to or not. A toned down look at a day in the life during the 80's, where people went about their lives doing normal things and weren't pre-occupied with the fact that it was the 80's.

"Got a cigarette Nels?"

[–] Dreamcatcher9000 10 years ago

2 quick questions:
How old are you, and where did you grow up?

[–] AdmiralTugBenson 10 years ago

Old enough to live through the 80's, and I've lived all over. But in the 80's it was: Dallas, TX - San Clemente, CA and Decatur, IL.

"Got a cigarette Nels?"

[–] Dreamcatcher9000 10 years ago

I'm not sure about Dallas, but San Clemente and Decatur seem like very small places.

My point is this: let's say you have a time machine. Locate it in a small town in USA (or anywhere), like Decatur. Start from the present, 2013, and jump back 10 years, in 2003. Then jump back in 1993. Then 1983.
Any major differences?

Now do the same thing with a big city like New York or Los Angeles or London.
Got me?

I live in Greece, and I guarantee you that there are many villages/small towns here that haven't changed a bit the last 20-30 years (except the cars, maybe). The people (and not only) look the same. But in Athens? Huge differences.

If you had lived in London or New York in the '80s, you'd feel the major differences with today. Especially if you were young enough to go to clubs and stuff. Totally different world.

Yes, a now 80 years old guy may not remember so big differences between now and in the '80s, because he was 50 then, probably already retired, staying home and watching "Dallas" (it's the first show that came in my mind coincidentally!), not "seeing" what was going on then, in trends.
For example, did a 20 years old guy experienced the '60s like a 45 years old guy did? No. The then 20 years old guy (in 1968), now 65, remembers how it was, because he LIVED it, right in its core. But the then 45 years old guy, now 90 (supposedly he's still alive), doesn't remember what was different between 1969, 1977, and 1984. They all look the same to him.
(I'm talking about trends, not historical events)

So, it's all relative. Where were you, and how old you were in 1986, 1995, or 2002. If you were in Dumphole, Alabama or Greenland, you wouldn't notice any differences.

p.s.: So, what do you mean "old enough"? We're anonymous here, can't you say how old you are? I'm 34.

[–] AdmiralTugBenson 10 years ago

None are very small places. Dallas is the only big city of the 3, but the other two are well within civilization because they're close to big cities. San Clemente for instance isn't THAT big, but it's near L.A. and in Orange County. Decatur isn't a metropolis, but it's just about 30 minutes from Springfield, the capital of IL. And just a couple of hours from Chicago.

However, I wasn't saying that nothing has changed. There certainly have been changes in style and the landscape or whatever. All I'm saying is that the 80's weren't necessarily the way all these nostalgia movies make them seem. Like if you walked out of your front door there would be a guy with a Flock Of Seagulls haircut, Michael Jackson jacket/glove and a Rubik's Cube standing on your porch wishing you to have a "radical" day. That a movie can take place in the 80's and not focus on the references. The time period doesn't have to be a focus. The time frame isn't important to the plot, nor does the plot really rely on the time frame.

As you said, there's really no reason it HAS to take place in the 80's. But I don't think that means they need to up the 80's factor. Take a movie like The Big Lebowski, filmed and released in the late 90's but set in the early 90's. Why did it take place then? It didn't need to, the time really had no affect on the story at all. You really wouldn't even know it was the early 90's if it weren't for the narrator saying so and one or two Gulf War references. They didn't use music from the time (the soundtrack was mostly classic rock) or the style (the dress was pretty "classic" as well) or make references to pop culture or films from the time. That's just when it took place. Much like this movie.

But from a pure story perspective, and maybe somebody has said this, the plot really wouldn't work in the modern internet age. As soon as he tells her the whole BS story she could have busted out her device and checked him out.

"Got a cigarette Nels?"

[–] Dreamcatcher9000 10 years ago

Ok, fair enough. You have a point.

But do you agree that a guy who was raised up in a small town and a guy who was raised up in a big city experienced the '80s differently? There was no Internet then, our "world" was more limited, depending on where we lived. I don't know, I could be wrong.

[–] AdmiralTugBenson 10 years ago

It probably was Dreamcatcher. I can only go by my own experience, and I didn't spend a whole lot of time in rural areas back then. Cities and suburbs mostly, but I went into the boondocks on some occasions. Everybody was kind of on the same page pop culture-wise though it seemed, even out in cheetah country. While the internet had not yet risen and made the world a much smaller place, in the U.S. cable/satellite television had really streamlined entertainment and pop culture from coast to coast. You could go to the buttcrack of the country and they would know who Duran Duran were, and had seen all the movies and whatever. So, in my travels at least, when you got out there in the boonies they didn't have much in the way of nightclubs or whatever, but they were pretty much listening to the same music and watching the same movies/shows as the rest of the country.

"Got a cigarette Nels?"

[–] AllEighties 8 years ago

In some ways I'd almost say it the largest cities where the changes were a little less since the huge cities sometimes kept more of their own city vibe a bit and they tended to have a lot more characters and all variety of alternative types no matter what the era. Not that the 80s didn;t hit big cities too, but I'd actually argue that what people think of as classic 80s actually hit the suburbs most strongly of all and many rural areas next most strongly.

80s youth pop culture was pretty much suburban oriented and from what I recall it hit most suburban areas pretty hard and even most rural areas (not sure about small rural places in the Deep South though, never went there, and the guy you are discussing things with above talks about country music having been really big in the 80s, but that's not really anything to do with the 80s but just the region, country music was all but non-existant in the 80s in say the suburban Northeast, or in NYC, in LA, suburbs of Chicago, etc.; I mean I literally don't recall a single person in my high school having ever put on a country song, ever. And even today it more or less the same story when it comes to country. If anything country might be a touch more widespread now.) and if you go to suburbs and rural areas the style has changed pretty heavily 80s to today.

Grunge swept out of Seattle and sadly across the nation and pretty much ended the whole 80s styles. It went from big hair, bright colors, trying to look good styles to suddenly all black and brown, ski caps, flat, greasy hair, not even bothering to bother look and instead of such a happy go lucky bright energy it became cool and deep to be all angsty and dark. And then the shift to a more urban hip-hop oriented pop culture too. Those two together kinda killed off all the bright, happy, 80s styles. All the suburban and rural kids suddenly became faux gangstas or angst ridden depressed styled grungers.

In fact check out these videos, this what the suburbs to semi-rural area kids looked like in the 80s and it's just like what you think of as 80s*:

I saw someone posted up these, they go on forever, maybe just watch like 30 seconds of each section (these kids were from the exact same sort of crowd that the two leads in this film would've come from; they are from suburban '88 and '89):
https://youtu.be/NC1eKmVccOM?t=55m50s
https://youtu.be/NC1eKmVccOM?t=49m18s
https://youtu.be/UM4tls4P6Gc?t=1m1s
https://youtu.be/wYur75DflPU?t=46s
https://youtu.be/gxqjoaQYxnw?t=1s
https://youtu.be/gxqjoaQYxnw?t=1h16m55s
https://youtu.be/NC1eKmVccOM?t=3m20s
https://youtu.be/NC1eKmVccOM?t=9m33s
https://youtu.be/gxqjoaQYxnw?t=13m20s
https://youtu.be/NC1eKmVccOM?t=20m46s
https://youtu.be/gxqjoaQYxnw?t=14m59s
https://youtu.be/NC1eKmVccOM?t=28m
https://youtu.be/wYur75DflPU?t=2m9s
https://youtu.be/wYur75DflPU?t=8m57s

(If anyone wonders were tons of day glow colors are and Madonna-type dressing up....

The day-glo stuff was more during summer vacation or, throughout the year, more back in '85/'86. And it was hardly ever to the totally out of control parody level some stuff they set back in the 80s as jokes shows it. Although it certainly was more colorful than grunge era and today still in the late 80s for sure.

And there were never actually tons of girls running around like classic early Madonna. Only some did and even most of them only did it rarely or maybe once every few days and scarcely any at all still ever did that by the time of these videos. The last of the 80s into 90s had the hair as big as ever and all the basic 80s styles as much as ever just the Madonna and really extreme stuff was less and the glow-in-the-dark stuff was less.

The funny thing is the single biggest thing about the 80s looks and styles that were different was the big hair on girls and that is the one thing most often underplayed by shows that claim to set themselves in the 80s. Some go crazy with head to toe day glow and the most extreme of 80s clothes and have every other girl wearing Madonna 6 out of 7 days a week and guys all like Michael Jackson or in other crazy stuff, but in reality it's girl's hair that was the universal most major difference. That is the thing they should focus on first and, if anything, a bit play down the more extreme 80s clothes and other stuff if they want to be accurate. But barely any of the shows/movies that go and set back in the 80s even bother with the classic 80s hair, never mind it's only the single biggest part of 80s style and the single thing that Grunge (I will say sadly) killed off the most.

And if you watch the above and a lot more than the clips above and it seems like every other song is from Dirty Dancing, yeah, that is realistic, it was kind of huge then haha and pretty much everywhere for more than a year.

Also if anyone too young (or maybe even too old) to have experienced the 80s in HS/college is wondering why so many guys even including headbangers, burnouts, jocks, frat boy cool guy types seem to dance around and know the lyrics to stuff like Debbie Gibson in some of those videos, well, that's just how it was then. I know by late 90s it seemed most guys would be way too terrified of losing their faux gangsta street cred to do that hah and the head cheerleaders, most 'it' girls might be less into any guy who did that on average by the late 90s, but it wasn't really like that in the 80s so much.)

[–] Dreamcatcher9000 8 years ago

Wow, thanks for the huge analysis! As your nickname shows, you must be a human '80s encyclopedia!

Thanks for the '80s yearbook videos. It felt weird watching them. Although I did grow up in the '80s, I didn't grow up in America, so all I know (visually) about that decade in America is from movies. And these videos feel like they actually came out of all these '80s school movies! But the weird thing is that...these are REAL! I felt so vividly that this was how the '80s really were. It felt so real.
But it was a bit melancholic too, because this era belongs to ancient history now. These kids are in their mid-40s now. And in the videos, they're happy all together, singing and dancing, and...I wonder how many of them kept contact with each other all these years. Maybe none.

I don't agree with you though about how sad it was that this era was gone, and the grungy '90s came. I was a teenager in the '90s, and I have feelings for that period. And for me, this was the last great decade for music and movies, and generally, for life. There were so many great bands back then. What do we have now?
Yes, ok, they were sort of gloomy, in contrast with the happy '80s, and Cobain's suicide made it even more depressing, but you have to admit that a lot of great music came out from the early '90s. Me personally, I listen to '80s music more pleasantly, but I felt the '90s a bit more "closer", so, they have a special place in my heart.

And then grunge ended, and we were going towards to the end of the decade, century, millennium. These last 2 videos from 1997 that you posted, was when I was fresh out of high school, so I can relate to these kids. They were my generation. But it was the time that things started losing "character". An interesting character, I mean. All decades had their own unique and very different style. The '40s, '50s, '60s, '70s, '80s, '90s. All different worlds. Every decade, something new was coming. The planet was changing every 10 years.

What was so interesting about the 2000s? What is so interesting about the 2010s? Music? Yeah, right... Movies? Just a few good movies here and there. But nothing has "character" anymore. Michael Jackson was the king of pop in the '80s. Now? Justin Bieber. Do I even have to make a comment about it?
Where are the Depeche Mode of today? Where are the Nirvana of today? MTV was once our only, or most popular source for new music. Now it's a reality TV channel. Ok, sure, You Tube is cool, it's nice that you can watch any video clip you want, any time, but wasn't it also nice that you were zapping channels, and suddenly you saw the new video clip of of a band you liked, and you were getting all excited, and calling your friend saying "turn MTV on, they have the new Smashing Pumpkins video clip!"? This is history now. And it's sad.

[–] AllEighties 8 years ago

OTOH compare to this from suburban '96/'97 after Grunge 'washed' through and hardcore hip-hop also was influencing many suburban areas more:
https://youtu.be/CDYfjb1-jN0?t=2m36s
https://youtu.be/lsBLXMEjMNQ?t=3m53s

You can see all the big hair totally gone, style has gone away, it's grungier and more hardcore rap hip-hop style.