MovieChat Forums > Hesher (2011) Discussion > Did this take place in the '80's?

Did this take place in the '80's?

posted 13 years ago by dhmason6155
41 replies | jump to latest

Reasons: Old TV with old remote. Cable TV, not satellite. Easy to steal cable (not like now). Old looking programming on TV. No cell phones. No computers. All the cars looked 80's. 80's era Heavy Metal (dominated by Metallica). Phone, with a DIAL that actually rings (with a bell). Hesher looked like he came straight out of the 80's.

If so, why? Maybe the director was inspired by events from that time.

I could be wrong, but you don't see a movie these days where the characters don't have their faces glued to a cell phone at least half the time.

Unc John "We makin' trouble?"
Stacy "Yeah"
Unc John "What kind?"
Stacy "...The forever kind"

[–] iztok-mravlja-1 13 years ago

I didn't notice (except for the Volvo - but those things looked exactly the same for 2 decades), but now that you mention it, I rather liked it that way. Less distracting, I think.

[–] dhmason6155 13 years ago

Me too. If it wasn't the 80's, it was still a tech-free, analog world they lived in. It kept things purer and more simple.

Unc John "We makin' trouble?"
Stacy "Yeah"
Unc John "What kind?"
Stacy "...The forever kind"

[–] Jakealope 13 years ago

I was thinking the same thing, prolly right

[–] dhmason6155 13 years ago

Dude.

Unc John "We makin' trouble?"
Stacy "Yeah"
Unc John "What kind?"
Stacy "...The forever kind"

[–] wdforty69 13 years ago

I though it maybe did in the begging, but then I saw a PT Cruiser, and 99% of the rest of the cars were modern cars. And guys like him are still very abundant. He's a product of the 80's metal scene, but in the year 2010, which is the way I am. Except I'm not a complete disrespectful *beep* head.

[–] dhmason6155 13 years ago

Yeah, I see alot of guys like that (and you) around all the time, now. I still think it's interesting that they showed no modern tech. I'm guessing that the film makers' sensibility was the 80's. That was a pivotal, formative decade for me too. I had the same attitude as Hesher, and was into alot of the same s h i t that he was into, except for me, it was hardcore Punk: Dead Kennedy's, Black Flag, etc. (Sorry dude).

Unc John "We makin' trouble?"
Stacy "Yeah"
Unc John "What kind?"
Stacy "...The forever kind"

[–] diagoro-2 12 years ago

I figured this for late 80's to early 90's. I actually grew up in some of the areas they shot the movie (Tujunga, CA) and can recall lots of guys like this.

Having finally finished the film, the scene with the bully watching tv....there is an add for the Navy with a clear web site. So it's probably meant to be modern day (the atm also looked modern). I'm guessing the house TV lived at looked dated since it was actually his grandmother's.

[–] dhmason6155 12 years ago

I worked in Pacoima and hung out in Tujunga. I thought alot of it looked familiar.

Yeah, grandma's tv makes sense.

Unc John "We makin' trouble?"
Stacy "Yeah"
Unc John "What kind?"
Stacy "...The forever kind"

[–] dollfacecrafter 12 years ago

I think a dead give away is Natalie Portman's glasses and clothes, nobody wears glasses like that anymore and the shorts-romper thing, so 80's.......

[–] dhmason6155 12 years ago

I didn't catch that, but you're right. I remember chicks back then wearing those shorts.

Unc John "We makin' trouble?"
Stacy "Yeah"
Unc John "What kind?"
Stacy "...The forever kind"

[–] btweagle989 12 years ago

agreed. I know she was poor, but still...those glasses...

[–] fleazaneezer 12 years ago

Actually, in that last scene with Natalie Portman, where she's wearing that white jumper/shorts combo, those did make a comeback in the last couple of years. I'm not a fan, but whatever, I see girls wear them.

I do think this was set in the late 1980s or early/mid 90s, if you think about them all being so poor, wearing used clothes from the 80s is plausible.

Also, remember how heavy and big the box was they were taking as a present that contained a microwave? Modern microwaves aren't that huge.

[–] dhmason6155 12 years ago

Totally...

You may walk on the beach, you may swim in the ocean... under SWAT team surveillance, of course.

[–] Marxist_Bros 12 years ago

I noticed this also, and believe it was definitely intentional. See "Hesher... IS TJ" thread.

"Because a little bit of this very same Light is in every man. But they always want more."

[–] farquh 12 years ago

I thought for most of the film that it was the late 1980's.

But then at the cash register you see a modern looking debit machine.

Also, at the bully's house there the Navy commercial with a website. Also, he had lots of compact discs. Probably more than 100. I know that he was a bit of a rich kid, what with his dad owning a used car lot and driving a convertible at age 16, but I still didn't know ANYONE in the 1980's with so many cd's. Tapes hadn't lived their life to their fullest just yet.

So, all this included, there's no reason it couldn't be in 1995 or so, right?

[–] dhmason6155 12 years ago

1995 would work. I'm thinking that it's probably in the present day, but that the filmmakers sensibility was the 80's. Or, they did set it in the 80's, but simply didn't have the budget to go whole hog: ie, they had to make it mostly on location and a few modern cars, etc, got in the frame.

Unc John "We makin' trouble?"
Stacy "Yeah"
Unc John "What kind?"
Stacy "...The forever kind"

[–] Ronnie_Barko 12 years ago

Could people get medical marijuana in the 80's? That's the only thing I can think of that sets it in the present day.

'Seen one eat a rockin' chair one time.'

[–] dhmason6155 12 years ago

Actually, yes. No comparison to now, however it was being legally prescribed for glaucoma and cancer. Check out "Dogtown and Z-boys". The one guy is smoking medical pot, and that's in the 80's.

Unc John "We makin' trouble?"
Stacy "Yeah"
Unc John "What kind?"
Stacy "...The forever kind"

[–] theunopeneddoor-697-442391 8 years ago

No, you're wrong. California was the first state to legalize Medical Marijuana in the mid 1990s (I remember when it happened because I'm from California and they made a big deal about it). it was in 1996. That is the earliest this movie could have taken place. http://www.ncsl.org/research/health/state-medical-marijuana-laws.aspx

Tehre were EXPERIMENTS with medical marijuana in the 1970s and 1980s, but those people were not allowed to smoke it outside a lab.

It's impossible, but I will do it--The Walk.

[–] ptrmlr 12 years ago

also the Motörhead song, playing in the car, is from 2008.
but I guess, it's arguable, if it's a sign that the film is set in present day.

[–] necron667 12 years ago

I figured it was supposed to be in the 80's, as all the "featured" cars were from the 70's or 80's, but since it was a smaller film they just had to deal with more modern cars being on the roads in the wider shots.

[–] dhmason6155 12 years ago

This wasn't a big budget film, where they could lease 100 Camaros or Novas etc, and populate the frame exclusively with 80's cars, or all other props, costumes etc. They had to make do.

You may walk on the beach, you may swim in the ocean... under SWAT team surveillance, of course.

[–] jimbrown333 11 years ago

I think it just had to do with the fact they where poor.

[–] dhmason6155 11 years ago

Poor or not, everyone has a cell phone these days.

I've been going through your package sergeant. Do you mind my looking over your package?

[–] sandifay62 11 years ago

Since most of them talked directly to each other, they didn't need to use one.

But, not everyone has a cellphone. Not everyone has a computer and not everyone has a TV. Sometimes they can't afford it, sometimes they choose not to.

[–] partydjz (424) 6 years ago

"But, not everyone has a cellphone. Not everyone has a computer and not everyone has a TV. Sometimes they can't afford it, sometimes they choose not to."

Very true, I also chose not to view the film "Star Wars" when it ran in theaters.

[–] subwoofers 11 years ago

Hesher was wearing briefs so i thought maybe that would make it 1993 or earlier but the boy was wearing boxers which would not have happened in the 80s but i have found that directors do whatever they want with regards to underwear

that girl's glasses were definitely 80s and that store she worked in looked it also but the register had one of those "swipe your own credit card" machines with the number pad for your debit card

kid rides a bmx bike all over the place, you don't really see that anymore

looks like the douche is driving a yellow 87 mustang

but i did see some newer cars and trucks it could just be the 90s in a town that's stuck in the 80s or something like that

my grandparent's house looked like a picture from the 50s all the way into the 80s when it was sold

[–] cfamick 11 years ago

I think that was an early to mid 90s Mustang. With the abundance of cars that you simply don't see on the road anymore, I'd say that the filmmaker thought it impossible to hide all of them, but did his best.

[–] dhmason6155 11 years ago

Actually, if they were living in the grandmother's house, it would make sense that nothing in her house changed since the 80's. A lot of old people live in houses that are like "time capsules".

I've been going through your package sergeant. Do you mind my looking over your package?

[–] partydjz (424) 6 years ago

"A lot of old people live in houses that are like "time capsules".

Yeah, those old people, most worked all their lives to be able to decorate their homes with appliances that work, pity they don't replace everything and live up the modern day standard.

[–] tr47 11 years ago

To me it kinda seemed like it was set in the early 90's-all of the foreground vehicles shown are older, even the security truck in the beginning looked like an early 90's model Explorer. There were no cell phonss used or shown in the movie. There's also a case made for the film being present-day: Modern cars in the backgrounds, the 20s pulled from the ATM were the current 2004-onward series, current commeercials. I would guess the movie's style is just a mish-mash of newer and older, much like America is now.

[–] taijiquan12 11 years ago

I think the mish-mash theory is accurate, I think the filmmaker just wanted a movie that wouldn't be polluted with cell phones, computers, and our other modern tech. I think it's a good choice for filmmaking for sure.

"Bulls**t MR.Han Man!!"--Jim Kelly in Enter the Dragon

[–] 11 years ago

[deleted]

[–] dhmason6155 11 years ago

"I think the filmmaker just wanted a movie that wouldn't be polluted with cell phones, computers, and our other modern tech."

Good point. This movie is about human relationships and emotions, and about how modern society is becoming more and more soulless. Many people believe, and I agree, that modern tech: cell phones, the internet, etc, keeps us more and more isolated from each other. Hesher was the force in the movie that brought the family back together, spoke the truth, said what was on his mind and communicated face-to-face, the way people had to do in the old, pre-tech days.

Unc John: We makin' trouble?
Stacy: Yeah
Unc John: What kind?
Stacy:...The forever kind

[–] kensterz 11 years ago

The metal Hesher plays in his van is from the 90s.