The 1980s was a decade of the Cola Wars and the yuppie, a baby boomer who is well educated and has a good job and expensive taste. Blockbuster movies and music videos became popular, along with Yugo cars, wine coolers, and McDonald's McDLT. The 1980s were a fun and important decade.
Movies |
T.V. |
In the 1980s, teen movies arose, such as The Breakfast Club, Some Kind of Wonderful, and Pretty in Pink. New VCRs made it possible for people to rent movies at home. Popular movies included E.T., Return of the Jedi, Beverly Hills Cop, and Raiders of the Lost Ark.
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By the 1980s, about 60% of the American people who owned a T.V. got cable. MTV began in 1981 and was the most revolutionary T.V. network. It created music videos and made stars out of Michael Jackson, Duran Duran, and Culture Club. Popular shows included The Cosby Shows, Family Ties, Roseanne, and Married… With Children.
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fashion |
toys/games |
Many popular fashion styles came from MTV. People tried to dress and style their hair like people in the MTV videos, making people like Madonna famous fashion icons. Popular fashions pieces were acid washed jeans, leg warmers, Members Only jackets, wearing undergarments over clothes like Madonna, shoulder pads, Ray-Ban Wayfarer sunglasses, and jelly shoes. Popular looks were Valley girls, Lingerie as outerwear, and an Off the Shoulder shirt.
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Popular games and toys began being mostly based on technology or action figures. Some of these popular games/toys included Betamax, Atari 2600 Video Game System, Simon game, Star Wars Action Figures, Garbage Pail Kids, Cabbage Patch Kids, My Little Pony dolls, Strawberry Shortcake dolls, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle figures, GI Joe figures, Rubik’s Cubes, Shrinky Dinks, Teddy Ruxpin, and Wacky Wall Walkers.
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