The Synthwave/'80s Appeal

For those who don't understand it, or for those who do understand it and want to discuss it, here is why I find the style embodied by Turbo Kid very appealing. I think they did a great job, maybe you think they didn't, but let's talk about the style.

1) Music. Like Kung Fury, the music really makes Turbo Kid. Synthwave (or retro wave, associated with vaporwave) is a very new movement which thankfully is taking off.

I listen to a lot of electronic music, and here is the thing: synthwave is not really '80s nostalgia music. Popular '80s music is Michael Jackson, Madonna, some synth-infused rock or heavy metal, and so forth.

'80s electronic music, which IMO is the golden age of electronic music, is new wave, ambient, house, acid, early hip hop, some dance music like Kraftwerk, trance-like music such as Jean Michel Jarre, and so forth. Basically the best electronic music came from the UK, Europe (such as Germany, France), and African Americans (Detroit or Chicago).

So while all that was happening, while every conceivable form of electronic music which we hear today was being invented by African Americans and Europeans, a bunch of white Americans in Hollywood were playing around with synthesizers to make sci fi film soundtracks. And related to this, a bunch of Japanese guys were scoring video game music. So we have John Carpenter soundtracks, soundtracks for films like Terminator, a more widely-accessible rock version with Top Gun, and video game music for C64/NES/SNES/Genesis such as Mega Man.

What do these all have in common? First, they are kind of lame. No one bought the vinyl Terminator soundtrack and listened to it in the '80s or '90s. The music isn't that good. Secondly, they embody this "cool" culture of the '80s: explosions are cool, lasers are cool, synthesizers are cool.

Recently, a number of artists have recognized a style or pattern with this type of music and they have decided to work with it. Now, this music is actually incredibly good, depending on the artist or song of course.

There is certainly a nostalgia element, at least for me, but I have to say that the whole synthwave movement is not nostalgia-based. It is extremely clever and unique, and apparently it gives artists a really good framework to make music, because some of these artists have 5+ albums and the substance is still there. It is a subculture, it has little to do with nostalgia.

2) Popular '80s culture and popular '80s films similarly were very different from the Turbo Kid style. Films such as Robocop, Terminator, Blade Runner, Dune, the Alien films were pretty popular, but these are rare exceptions. If you look at all of the sci-fi, fantasy, apocalyptic, action films of the '80s, most of them were really bad. However this tends to be where things blur, as some would consider John Hughes films like Breakfast Club as "retrowave-related," while others might think The Wizard or films marketed towards '80s kids as retrowave.

The main thing to consider is the subculture of '80s "coolness." As mentioned, the following things were "cool" for no rational reason: lasers, robots, fighter jets, helicopters, missiles, guns, swords, aliens, video games. If you think about it today, video games are considered nerdy, but back then literally everyone played them. When you look back on history this phase basically lasted from the '80s to the early '90s, and that was it. It didn't exist before or after.

In my mind, returning to this subset of '80s culture is also very clever. It is no different from Tarantino exploring grindhouse films or blacksploitation films. You can enjoy Jackie Brown without being a black person who grew up in the '70s. You can enjoy Boogie Nights without watching porn in the '70s. You can enjoy Almost Famous without growing up with the Rolling Stones or Led Zeppelin.

Others assert that this type of style is purely nostalgia-based, I argue that it isn't. The reboots of Full House, Friends, or Boy Meets World are nostalgia-based. The type of style we are talking about with Turbo Kid is a creative use of a forgotten subculture. Sure there are elements thrown in solely for nostalgia, like the power glove, but I really think this style deserves more attention.

I think, and hope, that filmmakers can take this to the next level, because there is an enormous amount of untapped potential.