“Don't throw the past away/ You might need it some other rainy day/ Dreams can come true again/When everything old is new again”— Peter Allen 

  In August of 2022, Amazon Studios announced that they were developing a remake of the 1989 cult classic Road House, to be released in 2023, already a year filled with many film adaptations of popular 80s properties. Other 2023 releases include a new Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem, a remake of Heathers, Air, about the making of Air Jordan, and many more titles—this has left me wondering when the 80s nostalgia cycle will become tired. 

Nostalgia cycles are inevitable and have always been a significant part of entertainment history. The 90s and the early 2000s romanticized the 70s, as the 50s did the 20s, the 40s did the 1910s, and even America's first entertainment institution, the Minstrel show, did to white southern plantation owner’s nostalgia for the Antebellum South. However, it was rare for one of these cycles to last more than a decade and a half, if that. The nostalgia cycle that lasted that long previously was 50s/early 60s nostalgia, a cycle which lasted from the late 60s to the early 90s. This nostalgia cycle peaked in the 80s, with movies like Back to the Future (1985), Stand By Me (1986), Peggy Sue Got Married (1986), and the creation of Nickelodeon's late-night programming, called “Nick at Nite,” which originally consisted entirely of reruns of 50s and '60s TV programming. The revival of 50s nostalgia in the 1980s, in part, had to do with the rise of conservatism in the 1980s. Progressive views that had spawned in the 60s and 70s, such as second-wave feminism, economic interventionism, and sexual freedom were falling out of favor, while ideals such as trickle-down economics and individualism were becoming more popular as the economy boomed, and Evangelicalism had a new heyday with the rise of televangelists. Reagan, now regarded as the father of modern conservatism, often said he wanted to take America back to the 50s, an idea which appealed to older, more conservative voters whose hyper-white suburbia had been ripped out from under them by the Civil Rights movement and the sexual revolution. Many of Reagan’s policies, such as trickle-down economics, funneled money to rich white people, creating an idealized, rich white elite similar to the one that existed in 50s suburbia.

Today, the 50s are heavily criticized for their oppressive social stances, such as white supremacy, heteronormativity, and oppression of women. In the 50s, everybody “had their place.” A woman’s place was in the home, and the man’s was at work. Segregation separated White Americans from Black Americans to keep everything supposedly “in order.” People were heavily criticized in the 50s for not meeting a certain social standard—if your wife was too wild, if you dared to say something out of line, or even if you wore your hair or dressed differently, you would face intense social ostracization. These oppressive social “rules” were what helped create the familiar white supremacist homogeneity that we now associate with the 50s.

The Civil Rights movement, the sexual revolution, and more shook up that homogeny and encouraged diversity and individualism, a direct backlash to the oppressive structure that squeezed the individuality out of everyone. But in the 80s, that desire for homogeneity came right back, just in a less obvious form. Films like Heathers (1988), made towards the end of the eighties, describe severe, almost constant social bullying, with the eighties high school as a metaphor for eighties society as a whole. Homophobia and fatphobia run rampant in Heathers, with three rich, white school bullies tormenting a poor girl they nickname “Martha Dumptruck '' because of her size. In the eighties, one had to wear all the right brands, all the right hairstyles, and frequent all the same activities in order to “fit in with the crowd.” Just like in the 50s, everybody had their place. The 80s was, as I like to describe it, the “diet 1950s.” While racism, homophobia, heteronormativity, and the lot were not as overt, it was still ever-present and just as oppressive, and homogeneity was society’s ultimate goal.

50s nostalgia, notably, has died somewhat, or at least come to a cultural reevaluation. In my opinion, what ultimately killed 50s nostalgia forever was the progressive culture of the 90s, which began to deconstruct and criticize the 50s overtly. Movies like Pleasantville (1998), Truman Show (1998), and Goodfellas (1990) point at the artificiality and racism of the period. Even “Nick At Nite,” the poster child of 50s nostalgia, began to deconstruct the era, with originals like Hi Honey I'm Home, a show which involved fictional 1950s sitcom characters having to live in the real world, culminating in its lead character Honey Nielsen accepting contemporary feminist values. We still get remnants of the 50s nostalgia cycle in popular culture, with “vintage fashion” fanatics, but even films which critique the fifties like Don’t Worry Darling (2022) and Suburbicon (2017) get middling to negative reviews, with the general consensus being that not only 50s nostalgia, but 50s critique has overstayed its welcome.

Why I bring this all up, is that much like the 50s nostalgia cycle, the 80s nostalgia cycle is overstaying its welcome. However, despite the 80s practically being the diet 1950s, popular media has done little to deconstruct the oppressive social structures that existed—media like Stranger Things and The Goldbergs say nothing about the period politically, and do nothing to critique Reaganism or the social bullying that Heathers so wittily described. There are little to no films that paint the eighties in a negative, or even at the very least less-than-perfect light. Even Heathers ends on a sappy, empty “let’s all just be nice to each other” note that dilutes the anger and bloodshed that comes before. This absence of critique has led to an almost mythologizing of the era, making it nearly impossible for deconstruction, and at this point that deconstruction feels like it will never occur. 

There is one exception, however, and that is Todd Haynes 1995 film Safe. The film follows Carol White, an upper-class suburban housewife who begins to feel mysteriously ill and must figure out the best treatment. The film initially received mixed reception upon release, but over time has entered film conversations and is considered one the best films of the 1990s. What makes the film so strong is its carefully constructed, well-thought-out criticism of 1980s culture, and that social oppression that I previously described. Safe is one of the few films that actually depicts the 1980s as I called it, the “diet 1950s.” 

The film has minor subtle moments that show the era's conservatism; in one scene where Carol is driving, she is casually listening to Televangelism on the radio, despite no induction of being religious. Something quite common in the era, as not only was in the 80s when Evangelicalism became a mainstream Christian philosophy,​​ but was so mainstream that a lot of figures of the movement had a peripheral demographic of other neo-conservatives who were not necessarily Evangelical Christians. Another aspect of the movie is when Carol is taken to the doctor with her husband due to her mysterious illness; it is the husband that the doctor talks to about her health, telling him how to treat her, not Carol herself. This plays into the 80s being a misogynist  era in American history, as the 80s very much was a reactionary period to 2nd wave feminism, and this scene depicts how a step backward as a society, the 80s was for women. 

In Safe, the protagonist Carol White is a 1950s housewife in an 80s setting. Her only goal as a housewife  is to satisfy her husband's sexual needs, and buy things for the house, such as the scene where she complains of ordering the wrong color for the couch, signifying her only self-worth is in her material possession. A belief the 80s had as it was– it is an era known for its materialism, which was supposed to bring them happiness. The scene also shows Carol's white privilege, with her complaining to her Latina maid that she ordered the wrong couch. There are several other minor instances that criticize race in the 80s. In a conversation with her step- son, he blames the African- American struggle on criminal violence in the streets rather than systemic problems, a racist sentiment in Reagan America. Once Carol gets sick, she loses this identity and agreement of hegemony, and struggles to find her footing.

The film is shot primarily from a long distance, creating not only a sense of discontent between you and Carol but the world itself. Through this lens, Todd Haynes can show the shallowness and loneliness of the 80s, depicting it as a cold and hostile time. This makes the movie have a haunting vibe, even something as mundane as Carol doing exercises to Madonna's music; this cinematic framing makes the 80s feel like horror. It also helps show how distanced she is from her friends, which are white outside of one friend– tokenism was a problem in 80s media.  

The film also works as an allegory for the AIDS epidemic. One of the biggest tragedies of that decade was the AIDS Epidemic in the United States. Todd Haynes is a queer director, and will often explore queerness unusually, and it’s likely that aids was on the mind when he wrote it– AIDS was an epidemic that left the entire queer community feeling confused, much like Carol in the film, who as a victim of disease is ostracized.

As previously mentioned, Safe was a commercial flop, with thoroughly mixed reviews when it came out in 1995. Almost exactly two years later, after Safe premiered at Sundance, a little Adam Sandler Comedy called The Wedding Singer came out– the first of many 80s nostalgia pieces from a major studio. The film was a significant box office and critical success and would kick start a trend without end. I worry it may never end– with your average zoomer being in love with the decade, through the media they grew up on and their parents. In times like this, Safe  seems more critical than ever.