A cheery wave from stranded youngsters
Laurier Day has come and gone, and left its usual wake of graffiti and posters strewn about campus. IT's a day when all the residences and campus clubs come out in full force and try to strike a balance between being edgy enough to convince prospective students that Laurier's a cool place and wholesome enough to convince parents that Laurier won't introduce their sons and daughters to the seedy world of drugs and gangbangs. Ultimately, this leaves those of us who don't particularly associate ourselves with any of the organizations caught in the middle of this tug-of-war between seduction and reassurance. So while we can wander around and gaze at posters promoting diversity and art galleries and campus publications and Laurier school spirit, we also get bombarded by shit like "Mac House loves the 80s!" and "Bring back Pee-Wee Herman!"
Here's where it starts to fall apart for me: the vast majority of individuals in residence are 18 years old. Some are 17, some are 19, and hell, some might even be 21. The point is that at least 75% of them were no older than 3 or 4 when the 80s ended. Now, I'm not delivering some sermon on the mount because I'm barely 20, but in my defense I've put in my time. I've spent good portions of my life wallowing in what the 80s had to offer and I'll be honest, it's pretty trashy for the most part. Sure, there were some good tunes (marry me, Robert Smith) and yeah, there were some great shows (like the Transformers, even though I never really understood the attraction), but there was a ton of shit. The 80s, in my opinion, was when the media started to become everpresent. This was the first age of music videos, the golden age of LPs, when being alternative wasn't just something you did in high school (even though it was) but a fucking lifestyle (even though it wasn't). All in all, it was about as stupid as the 90s, and that's saying something.
Back to my point. It baffles me how all these kids (or "students" or "men and women" since apparently if I call them kids they'll go kill themselves en masse or something. I say good riddance, but I'm going to Hell.) have developed such a profound love affair with aspects of an era that not only were they not part of but that they have no understanding of. I can guarantee you that, when asked, most would be hard-pressed to name even one band that flourished and died in the 80s, unless they're female in which case 99% would answer with "Madonna." And this is where the shit starts to get interesting. All those "great" songs that people love from the 80s, all those great bands and most of those great TV shows were considered trash in the 80s, much like we consider Everybody Loves Raymond trash when it's going to be viewed as the greatest thing to happen to television in a couple decades. It's just such an arbitrary thing, because so many of those people don't enjoy the music or the shows because they're entertaining or well-made, but because "they're from the 80s." When did the 80s get this sort of "get out of jail free card" when it comes to good taste? Why is it automatically superior if it was made between 25 and 15 years ago? Why can't I start wearing stovepipe hats and frocks and justify it by saying "What? It's from 1910?" For the same reason that Enid couldn't walk into that store and justify her outfit by saying it was a reference to the 70s punk scene. Because you don't like shit for the sole purpose of when it existed. It's akin to liking water because it's a liquid, or chocolate because it's made from cocoa beans.
So when I walk around campus and it's suddenly cool to say that you like stuff from the 80s, I want to put my fist through a plate-glass window. Why couldn't the 80s have been cool back in high school when I couldn't stop listening to The Cure and reading Camus? Oh right, because that's when early-90s was cool and everyone loved Bob Marley. Honestly, would it kill people to think rationally about things every now and then? Would it hurt to maybe, just maybe, examine their perspective to see if they might not just be getting trapped in one?
Fuck, I really think this Nietzsche course is getting to me. I find that more and more, I'm tending to try and separate the object from the perception, and more and more I'm noticing when other people don't. This whole obsession with the 80s is painfully indicative of this, and it worries me. At least in the 60s, the hippies were rebelling against the uptight fastidiousness of their parents and authority figures. And in the 70s, they were rebelling against the laxity of the hippies. And in the 80s they were rebelling against the growing everpresence of mainstream media. And in the 90s...well, people dressed funny and didn't shower, so it was a lot like the 60s. But at least all those people found their identity by placing themselves in opposition to something else. (It's not so much that I'm in favour of this, but that I can understand it. It's normal. It's a phase most people go through when they're trying to sort their life out.) But this trend of loving the 80s is hollow because there's no real reason to go back to the 80s. There's nothing to rebel against, now that society has begun pandering to our tastes (tastes which it dictates, but that's a rant for another time). So it just feels cheap. And pointless.
Bleh. I feel old typing this, and I'm only 19. I should probably shut up.
Here's where it starts to fall apart for me: the vast majority of individuals in residence are 18 years old. Some are 17, some are 19, and hell, some might even be 21. The point is that at least 75% of them were no older than 3 or 4 when the 80s ended. Now, I'm not delivering some sermon on the mount because I'm barely 20, but in my defense I've put in my time. I've spent good portions of my life wallowing in what the 80s had to offer and I'll be honest, it's pretty trashy for the most part. Sure, there were some good tunes (marry me, Robert Smith) and yeah, there were some great shows (like the Transformers, even though I never really understood the attraction), but there was a ton of shit. The 80s, in my opinion, was when the media started to become everpresent. This was the first age of music videos, the golden age of LPs, when being alternative wasn't just something you did in high school (even though it was) but a fucking lifestyle (even though it wasn't). All in all, it was about as stupid as the 90s, and that's saying something.
Back to my point. It baffles me how all these kids (or "students" or "men and women" since apparently if I call them kids they'll go kill themselves en masse or something. I say good riddance, but I'm going to Hell.) have developed such a profound love affair with aspects of an era that not only were they not part of but that they have no understanding of. I can guarantee you that, when asked, most would be hard-pressed to name even one band that flourished and died in the 80s, unless they're female in which case 99% would answer with "Madonna." And this is where the shit starts to get interesting. All those "great" songs that people love from the 80s, all those great bands and most of those great TV shows were considered trash in the 80s, much like we consider Everybody Loves Raymond trash when it's going to be viewed as the greatest thing to happen to television in a couple decades. It's just such an arbitrary thing, because so many of those people don't enjoy the music or the shows because they're entertaining or well-made, but because "they're from the 80s." When did the 80s get this sort of "get out of jail free card" when it comes to good taste? Why is it automatically superior if it was made between 25 and 15 years ago? Why can't I start wearing stovepipe hats and frocks and justify it by saying "What? It's from 1910?" For the same reason that Enid couldn't walk into that store and justify her outfit by saying it was a reference to the 70s punk scene. Because you don't like shit for the sole purpose of when it existed. It's akin to liking water because it's a liquid, or chocolate because it's made from cocoa beans.
So when I walk around campus and it's suddenly cool to say that you like stuff from the 80s, I want to put my fist through a plate-glass window. Why couldn't the 80s have been cool back in high school when I couldn't stop listening to The Cure and reading Camus? Oh right, because that's when early-90s was cool and everyone loved Bob Marley. Honestly, would it kill people to think rationally about things every now and then? Would it hurt to maybe, just maybe, examine their perspective to see if they might not just be getting trapped in one?
Fuck, I really think this Nietzsche course is getting to me. I find that more and more, I'm tending to try and separate the object from the perception, and more and more I'm noticing when other people don't. This whole obsession with the 80s is painfully indicative of this, and it worries me. At least in the 60s, the hippies were rebelling against the uptight fastidiousness of their parents and authority figures. And in the 70s, they were rebelling against the laxity of the hippies. And in the 80s they were rebelling against the growing everpresence of mainstream media. And in the 90s...well, people dressed funny and didn't shower, so it was a lot like the 60s. But at least all those people found their identity by placing themselves in opposition to something else. (It's not so much that I'm in favour of this, but that I can understand it. It's normal. It's a phase most people go through when they're trying to sort their life out.) But this trend of loving the 80s is hollow because there's no real reason to go back to the 80s. There's nothing to rebel against, now that society has begun pandering to our tastes (tastes which it dictates, but that's a rant for another time). So it just feels cheap. And pointless.
Bleh. I feel old typing this, and I'm only 19. I should probably shut up.