The 1980’s brought some large changes to American Culture as we know it. Namely, the invention of new technologies like the VCR, Cable TV, and Video Games coupled with the rise of new celeberties in the music and sports industries and the average American having more free time than before resulted in an upheavel of culture, now focused more on entertainment and free time than any other previous generation.
When cable tv was invented in 1948 and then introduced to the vast majority of the public in the 1980’s, it quickly became a cultural phenomenon. People could access so many different channels and different topics that were broadcasting at the time, whenever they wanted, and they could actually choose exactly which channels they wanted to watch.
There were several popular movies of the 1980’s. ET, Back to the Future, Ghostbusters, the Shining, Raiders of the Lost Ark, and Star Wars sequels were all big movies that hit the box office in the 80’s. You can see that there was a trend of horror movies and of action fantasy movies at the time.
Coupled with big movies of the 80’s was the popularization of the VCR. This let people go to movie rental stores to rent movies and take home to watch on their own television, rather than having to go to a theater to watch it on the big screen.
Video Games also became a popular form of entertainment during the 1980’s. The Nintendo entertainment system was launched to the public in that decade, bringing with it the revival of the dying video game industry and introducing us to the franchises of Mario, Zelda, Final Fantasy, and others. I could ramble about this alone for hours, but I refrain.
Lastly, I’m going to talk about two of the most popular celebrities from the 80’s. Mike Tyson was a famous boxer, and he dominated the world of boxing, even getting his own boxing game in the form of Punch Out for the NES.
Michael Jackson was the most popular musician of the 80’s, and became a public icon, representing the American Music Industry as a whole, and his music is still popular to this day.