A friend of mine sent me an email with a YouTube link to a cheesy 1980's movie (not Ice Pirates), and it got me to thinking. For those who weren't old enough (or born, for that matter), the 1980's was a period of extreme cheesiness (is that a word?) The movies of the era were often enough really bad (or good I suppose, depending on your preference), and the music industry produced alot of one-hit-wonders.It was a weird time, at least here in the U.S. One thing I can't answer however, is whether literature followed the same pattern as movies and music. I did read alot of books back then, just as I do now. But I don't know if what I read was representative of the culture at that time. I'm talking about mainstream literature (whatever that equates to), that was subject to the cultural norms or acceptance of the time period.
I was in school for almost all of the '80s, graduating in '89 (yes, I'm showing my age here...Michelle H. and Guppster, stop counting up the years). So the books I was reading at the time were probably either something I was forced to read (i.e. homework assignments) or sci-fi/fantasy only, since I hadn't broadened my reading horizons as much back then.
Can anyone tell me what it was like back then, with regards to the number of cheesy (but accepted) books? Did the literary world abstain from this foolishness or did they follow along just like everyone else?
2 comments:
Sorry, I was born in '79 and reading Shel Silverstein and Dr. Seuss. I even ventured into Lloyd Alexander by the end of the '80's, but that's about it! ;)
I dont know what the literary world was up to. I know Judy Blume was getting my parents money. Along with the CareBears and Teddy Ruxpin. Though I think Judy was my later 80's. :)
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