[In honor of this once-in-four-years phenomenon, I wanted to highlight and AmericanStudy a few interesting leap years from American history.]
How three
of the year’s many blockbuster
films reflect 1980s debates.
1)
Ghostbusters: I said
much of what I’d want to say about Ghostbusters’
fraught relationship between science and the supernatural in that hyperlinked
post. But it’s also worth stressing, as I did briefly there too, that the
film’s conflicts also and perhaps ultimately boil down to the government vs.
private citizens, with the film’s sympathies entirely resting with the latter
community. In that way, Ghostbusters can
be seen as an extension of Ronald
Reagan’s famous quote, “The nine most terrifying words in the
English language are: I’m from the government, and I’m here to help.” With
which, when it comes to William Atherton’s deeply annoying
EPA agent Walter Peck, it’s difficult to argue.
2)
Beverly
Hills Cop: The central conflicts in Eddie Murphy’s star-making
action-comedy are distinct from, and to my mind a lot more complicated than,
those in Ghostbusters. On the
surface, those conflicts are the titular ones related to class and setting, as
Murphy’s working-class cop (Axel Foley) from the working-class mecca of
Detroit finds himself pursuing criminals in the nation’s most famously
wealthy, elite location. But it’s impossible to separate those contrasts from
issues of race, not least because Murphy’s character focuses a good bit on how
he is perceived and treated as a black man in the largely white world of
Beverly Hills. And yet, he eventually achieves his goals by partnering with a
white Beverly Hills cop (Judge Reinhold’s Billy Rosewood), a
relationship that crosses all these boundaries and (in the long tradition of buddy cop
films) models a more productive form of community.
3)
Footloose: Kevin
Bacon’s star-making film presents a somewhat similar fish-out-of-water
scenario, but in a very different direction: in this case the boy from the big
city finds himself in a far more isolated and conservative small town, one
where concerns of morality (guided by John Lithgow’s minister
character) have led to bans of both rock and roll music and dancing. Lithgow is
a talented actor and so imbues that character and perspective with more depth
and humanity than might otherwise have been the case, giving us a sense of why
someone (and thus why an entire community) might pursue these extremist
practices. More broadly, I think the film reflects an emerging division that
has only become more pronounced in the 35 years since, a vision of a nation in
which urban and rural communities seem defined by not only distinct but
contrasting values and identities. If only we had Kevin Bacon’s charismatic Ren
to teach us all to dance together!
February
Recap this weekend,
Ben
PS.
Thoughts on this year or other leap years that stand out to you?
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