80s Movies: A Guide to What's Wrong with Your Parents

Humorously showing the emotional pain of teenagers aching for true love amid the social expectations of high school, Sixteen Candles turned a teen sex comedy into an pop cultural phenomenon that was watched by every '80s kid. Mentored by National Lampoon, known for its intentionally offensive humor, John Hughes imbued relatable and aspirational three-dimensional characters with racist and misogynistic attitudes. The depiction of a Chinese foreign exchange student nodded to audiences' prejudices that Eastern cultures were a joke, worthy of our disrespect. And, Sixteen Candles bolstered rape culture by depicting an aspirational man who demonstrated that even longtime girlfriends were disposable sex objects. Further, it taught teen girls that their value was in a "hot bod," and that if someone had sex with them when they were passed out, it wasn't rape. Teen film authorities Tara McNamara, Gen X, and Riley Roberts, Gen Z, look back at how Hughes' l teen film greatly impacted a generation in ways we are still trying to correct.

St. Elmo's Fire was a response to the teen films of the 1980s, examining what happens after college.  Joel Schumacher crafted an authentic and progressive story about the emotional lives and professional challenges of seven recent Georgetown grads, reflecting young women focused on career rather than marriage and introducing the idea of a gay lead character (a baby step, but a step). However, as film authorities Tara McNamara, Gen X, and Riley Roberts, Gen Z, discuss, the dramedy also promoted shocking values, including beautiful and fun characters Jules and Billy coking it up and an adorable portrayal of Kirby stalking the object of his obsession. 

Before John Hughes, a movie couldn't be made that was just about who was going to take a girl to prom. But with a high school divided into the haves and the have nots, Hughes was able to make a love story of Romeo and Juliet proportions. The relationshp was bigger than working-class Andie and Yuppie son Blane: there was Duckie, the OG simp. Pretty in Pink (1986) was ahead of its time in celebrating emotional males with feminine energy and highlighting a parentified child dealing with a deeply depressed dad. However, it doesn't go far enough. Film authorities Tara McNamara, Gen X, and Riley Roberts, Gen Z, look back at the teen classic with a modern lens and call out the impact it had on a generation.

Wolverines! Red Dawn is one of the few teen action films of the '80s -- and definitely the most influential. It showed that teens were responsible, skilled, and capable enough to save their town and, possibly, the United States. It's a blow 'em up, shoot 'em up, and set them on fire pic. But the intended message never reached its young audience and the result, as hosts Tara McNamara (Gen X) and Riley Roberts (Gen Z) identify, is that the film has continued to inspire in all the wrong ways. 

When you're looking to explain the 1980s, look at Risky Business. Teens were attracted by the music video featuring Tom Cruise dancing in his underpants that ran nonstop on MTV. Teens watched and rewatched the "Old Time Rock n' Roll" music video, filled with resonant clips of a line of beautiful prostitutes walking into Joel's house, a Porshe screeching at top speed to outrace Guido the Killer Pimp, and Cruise sporting Ray-Bans and looking so, so cool. The video had a purpose: it got kids and teens to watch the R film in the theater or on HBO. Joel's mother's fragile egg was a precious item, but it wasn't meaningless: it represented the kids of the '80s. And, as film authorities Tara McNamara, Gen X, and Riley Roberts, Gen Z, explain, '80s teens -- like the egg -- came out of the experience slightly cracked. The duo look at how a teen sex movie in the Reagan era impacted a generation.

MODERN PROBLEMS is the weirdest, off the rails, PG-rated Christmas hit. Families flocked to to the theater to see scenes involving a male ballet dancer's testicles exploding and Chevy Chase snorting "demon powder." While it used to run on HBO all the time in the '80s, it's a little hard to find now. Find it. Watch it. And then decompress by listening to film authorities Tara McNamara (Gen X) and Riley Roberts (Gen Z) explain how it's indicative of many hot topics of the early '80s and how it explains what's wrong with your parents. 

Pour yourself a cup of ambition, this episode covers what's considered the most successful political movie of all time -- wonderfully executed as a broad comedy. Film authorities Tara McNamara, Gen X, and Riley Roberts, Gen Z, look back at the 1980 Jane Fonda-Lily Tomlin-Dolly Parton revenge fantasy with a modern lens and evaluate how it reflects the attitudes of the day that affected a generation. 

In 1980, Gene Wilder and Richard Pryor's follow-up to their 1976 hit Silver Streak was highly anticipated. Despite critic's panning the film, Stir Crazy did double the business, was the 3rd highest grossing film of the year, and broke box office records. The prison buddy comedy holds up 40 years later, largely because two of Hollywood's most powerful black figures (Pryor and director Sidney Poitier) made it. Film authorities Tara McNamara, Gen X, and Riley Roberts, Gen Z, examine Stir Crazy with a modern lens and discuss how it influenced a generation. 

The Outsiders (1983) is one of the most popular teen books in the 1980s, and teens couldn't wait to see the movie directed by one of the biggest names in cinema. Featuring a Who's Who of Who Was and Who Would Become Famous -- including Tom Cruise, Rob Lowe, Matt Dillon, Patrick Swayze, Diane Lane, Emilio Estevez, Ralph Macchio, C. Thomas Howell, Leif Garrett, and Tom Waits -- it was a film both genders lined up to see in 1983. Not only was this a period piece, written by a then teenage S.E. Hinton in the mid-60s, it also depicts a band of brothers born on the "wrong side of the tracks" -- and Hinton was female. The screenwriter who adapted the book was also a woman, Kathleen Rowell, who went under cover at a high school to be sure the film addressed how teens interacted in the early 1980s. Using a modern lens, film authorities Tara McNamara, Gen X, and Riley Roberts, Gen Z, examine this Francis Ford Coppola classic with an eye to how a teen girl may have influenced a generation of teen boys on this episode of "'80s Movies: A Guide to What's Wrong with Your Parents." After listening, let us know your opinion on how you believe the film impacted a generation in the comments below or on social media (@80sMovieGuide).

Beverly Hills Cop was the No. 1 movie in 1984, a year that many consider one of cinema's best. As Detroit police detective Axel Foley (a role originally written for white actors Mickey Rouke and then Sylvester Stallone), Eddie Murphy made headway for black authority figures as lead characters -- a huge step toward positive representation for the black community. Film authorities Tara McNamara (Gen X) and Riley Roberts (Gen Z) look back through a modern lens to evaluate how the comedy classic holds up and how it doesn't.

Top Gun (1986) is an '80s blockbuster, an action classic, and a beloved film. More relevant, it was aspirational to '80s boys who took away that being "dangerous" and "aggressive" was the path to being No. 1 in their careers and with the women. Cohosts Tara McNamara, Gen X, and Riley Roberts, Gen Z, look back with a modern lens at why the Tom Cruise favorite is terrific and why it's troublesome. 

Airplane! (1980) created the modern day parody film, inspired several future franchises, and is one of AFI's Top 10 Funniest Movies. In this episode, 19-year-old Riley Roberts explains why Gen Z isn't on board with the Zucker/Abrahams classic and the truth behind "cancel culture."  For more: https://80smovieguide.com Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/80sMovieGuide Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/80smovieguide/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/80sMovieGuide      

Police Academy (1984) was both a product and ahead of its time. Film authorities Tara McNamara, Gen X, and Riley Roberts, Gen Z, examine the ensemble comedy through the modern lens to identify how it unexpectedly defies stereotypes while still falling into the same old '80s traps when it comes to objectifying women. 

Based on the popular Parker Brothers game for kid 8 and up, Clue (1985) is a shocker of a family film: nearly all of its characters are defined by their sexual transgressions. In this episode, film authorities Tara McNamara, Gen X, and Riley Roberts, Gen Z, examine how the homophobic and sex-shaming jokes perpetuated unhelpful stereotypes and how the oppressive mindset affected a generation. Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/80sMovieGuide Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/80smovieguide/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/80sMovieGuide For complete information on Clue and other '80s movies, go to our website, https://80smovieguide.com

Weird Science (1985) marks the halfway point in John Hughes’ domination of the teen film in the ’80s. The film seems to be trying to put a stop to films where women were only seen as sex objects, but he misses the mark. In this teen sex comedy, two horny high schoolers Frankenbuild the “perfect woman” ... to have sex with. In this episode of '80s Movies: A Guide to What’s Wrong with Your Parents podcast, movie authorities Tara McNamara, Gen X, and Riley Roberts, Gen Z, look at what the comedy classic tries to achieve in versus the actual takeaway.  

For a story that seems to be trying to say, "yes, women ARE capable, strong and self-sufficent," Flashdance sure sends some messed up messages. Hosts Tara McNamara, Gen X, and Riley Roberts, Gen Z, look at how a movie written, produced, and directed by men didn't get women right -- and misled a generation.  https://80smovieguide.com Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/80sMovieGuide Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/80smovieguide/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/80sMovieGuide

Back to the Future (1985) is the ultimate '80s movie: so '80s, so timeless, so universally beloved. It's also so '80s in its reckless treatment of women, mainly how men feel that Lorraine's (Lea Thompson) sexuality is theirs for the taking -- that includes her future husband, the local bully, and even her son. Tara McNamara, Gen X, and Riley Roberts, Gen Z, look back with a modern lens at one of their favorite movies and help you remember what you never realized about this Robert Zemeckis-Steven Spielberg comedy classic.

The '70s and early '80s saw a decrease in police-involved deaths, but starting in 1988, use of lethal force was on the rise. What happened? Lethal Weapon. Hosts Tara McNamara, Gen X, and Riley Roberts, Gen Z, look back at how one awesome bad-ass blockbuster proved to police that the coolest, manliest, and most effective move in the fight against crime was to just blow away the suspect. 

Urban Cowboy took America from disco to country within weeks, its popularity buoying a desire for all things "country-western" from Wranglers and boots to riding pretend animals.Film authorities Tara McNamara and Riley Roberts look at the film thorugh the modern lens to assess what it tells us about life in 1980 and now.

FLETCH (1985) is Chevy Chase's favorite character - and the favorite of most of Gen X. Film authorities Tara McNamara, Gen X, and Riley Roberts, Gen Z, look at the PG-rated film through a modern lens. While it doesn't carry shockers of bad behavior like other '80s comedies, it's there...just as Irwin M. Fletcher throws away most of the zingers, it's the subtleties that shows how '80s humor influenced a generation.

When director Alan Parker took on a script about the New York High School of the Performing Arts, he intended to make a film that "took a hard look at a subject that had been overly glamorized." As much as he intended to show the sacrifice and pursuit of craft, that's not what audiences took away. Film authorities Tara McNamara, Gen X, and Riley Roberts, Gen Z, look back at the film that gave the world a song that would stick in the minds of dreamers everywhere.

In their follow up to Animal House, Harold Ramis and Doug Kenney toned down the misogyny and upped the Slobs vs Slobs comedy. Tara McNamara, Gen X, and Riley Roberts, Gen Z, look at Caddyshack with the modern lens, identifying how it used comedy to chip away at authority and the pompousness of the rich, but also perpetuated stereotypes about women that took a couple of decades to shake.   

Porky's (1981) took '80s audiences back to the '50s -- truly. It was a masive hit with audiences (mostly teen boys) laughing it up at the pranks, ribbing, and hijinks of a bunch of Ft. Lauderdale teens who take on a redneck strip club owner in the next country -- and that was the problem. The objectification and degradation of women for a laugh influenced others (mostly teen boys) to copy the behavior for a laugh themselves. Film critics Tara McNamara, Gen X, and Riley Roberts, Gen Z, look through the peephole at how the definitive teen sex comedy sparked decades of sexual harassment.

Eddie Murphy's widely popular HBO comedy special was watched, rewatched and quoted by young Gen X'rs. Unfortunately, the anti-gay sentiment was also massively influential at a time when society needed assurances about the LGBTQ community, not validation to ostracize and demean them (in recent years, Murphy has apologized). Youth film authorities Tara McNamara, Gen X, and Riley Roberts, Gen Z, look at Delirious with historical perspective and the impact it made on a generation. 

Prince and the Revolution set the world on fire with what may be the best music launch of all time: a film that essentially served as a music video marketing tool and established Prince as a creative genius and sexual dynamo. However, as mother-daughter hosts Tara McNamara, Gen X, and Riley Roberts, Gen Z, discuss, it showed the kids of the '80s that intense love means "I Would Die 4 U" with a few punches along the way. 

Ferris Bueller's Day Off (1986) is John Hughes' most fun film and, aside from the usual '80s offense of making bad boys sexy, it encouraged high schoolers to ditch. Mother-daughter hosts and film analysts Tara McNamara (Common Sense Media), Gen X, and Riley Roberts (Fanlala), Gen Z, look back at what how the film holds up today and its disturbing legacy. 

Jodie Foster, Cherie Currie and Scott Baio showed the fast lives of teens living in LA's Valley in 1979 in Foxes (1980). Family film authority Tara McNamara (Gen X) and the youngest film critic in history, Riley Roberts (Gen Z) look at how the coming-of-age drama identifies that the sex, drugs, and rock 'n' roll wild lifestyle of kids was a result of the distracted, self-absorbed parenting of the era and how it compares to teen life today. https://80smovieguide.com Follow us @80sMovieGuide on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.      

Judy Benjamin just wanted to get married, but life had other plans. We've come a long way, baby...or have we? Movie critics Tara McNamara, Gen X, and Riley Roberts, Gen Z, look back at Goldie Hawn's feminist classic about a woman finding her identity and her independence, but as Riley explains, the girls of Gen Z may still be holding on to some of the problems and attitudes that were holding Judy back. 

A lot has happened since JD offed the teen mean girls of Westerburg High and blew himself up: mainly, the world has been blowing itself up and schools are a major target. Hosts Tara McNamara (Gen X) and Riley Roberts (Gen Z) asked if there was a connection and screenwriter Daniel Waters responds to this ("Why wasn't my phone ringing? HEATHERS should get some credit!") as well as answers all our questions about the making of "the movie that turned the '80s into the '90s."  For complete behind the scenes info on '80s movies, go to our site 80sMovieGuide.com. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram @80sMovieGuide  

As more and more skeevy stories about middle-age men who dated (and inevitably raped) young teens come out, you gotta wonder: how did they ever think this was okay (in fact, failed Senatorial candidate Roy Moore actually still says it was okay). While it's NOT OKAY, there was definitely a message being pushed in pop culture that's evident in the movies of the '80s that teen girls were obsessed with sex and, in fact, the girls were the predators Take 1980's Little Darlings, starring two of the most famous teen girls of the era, Kristy McNichol and Tatum O'Neal. It's about two 15-year-old campers who bet they can lose their virginity first - and one of them has her heart set on her 30-year-old camp counselor/high school teacher (it's okay to throw up). Film critics Tara McNamara, Gen X, and Riley Roberts, Gen Y, discuss what was going on in the '80s, how this film was such a massive success at the time, and how the messages the film sent impact society today.

As more and more skeevy stories about middle-age men who dated (and inevitably raped) young teens come out, you gotta wonder: how did they ever think this was okay (in fact, failed Senatorial candidate Roy Moore actually still says it was okay). While it's NOT OKAY, there was definitely a message being pushed in pop culture that's evident in the movies of the '80s that teen girls were obsessed with sex and, in fact, the girls were the predators Take 1980's Little Darlings, starring two of the most famous teen girls of the era, Kristy McNichol and Tatum O'Neal. It's about two 15-year-old campers who bet they can lose their virginity first - and one of them has her heart set on her 30-year-old camp counselor/high school teacher (it's okay to throw up). Film critics Tara McNamara, Gen X, and Riley Roberts, Gen Y, discuss what was going on in the '80s, how this film was such a massive success at the time, and how the messages the film sent impact society today.

The child nudity and sexuality depicted in The Blue Lagoon caused a stir in 1980, but the fact it was even made shows a real difference in what was and wasn't acceptable during that era. Film critics/analysts Tara McNamara (Gen X) and Riley Roberts (Gen Z) look at the Brooke Shields-Christopher Atkins romance through the modern lens, putting it in context for its era, as well as the impact it made. For behind the scenes and making of The Blue Lagoon info, go to 80smovieguide.com/the-blue-lagoon/

The collaboration of National Lampoon and John Landis was hilarious and successful, so successful it inspired knockoffs for years to come. Film authorities Tara McNamara, Gen X, and Riley Roberts, Gen Z, look at how 1978's fresh, original, hysterical film about screw ups gave us the '80s and influenced generations in the worst of ways.

The Terminator (1984) defined gender expectations for '80s teens: men are emotionless, gun-toting, muscular machines; a woman's power was in her womb. Mother-daughter hosts Tara McNamara, Gen X, and Riley Roberts, Gen Z, discuss what makes James Cameron's first film so fresh, invigorating, and beloved while also looking at the impact it made on those who grew up in the era.

Ghostbusters is a horror-comedy that shook 1984 - a massive hit with a even bigger hit song. Families flocked to the theater to watch three paranormal scientists and Winston exorcise Manhattan, not thinking of the unintentional messages in the film. Film journalist Tara McNamara, Gen X, and teen movie critic Riley Roberts, Gen Z, look at the Bill Murray-Dan Aykroyd-Harold Ramis classic through the modern lens to see how the film affected '80s kids and how the film holds up with kids today.

Saying The Shining was about domestic abuse seems too obvious: what else could it be when a husband is chasing his wife and son with an axe? But, making a film created horror out of two things where you should feel safe: home and your dad (or husband). Director Stanly Kubrick actually created a metaphor for the experience of the "battered wife," a term that was just emerging in the late '70s. Gen X'er Tara McNamara gives insight into what was going on with '80s families, while 18-year-old Riley Roberts tells parents the dark truth they must know about Gen Z and suicide.

A Nightmare on Elm Street changed up the teen slasher film by offering something new: a monster could come for you in your sleep. Mother-daughter movie critics Tara McNamara, Gen X, and 18-year-old Riley Roberts, Gen Z, look at how the film holds up, why it's so scary, and what it tells you about your parents.

When Joel Schumacher took over THE LOST BOYS (1987) from Richard Donner, he changed nearly everything in the script, creating a metaphorical fairy tale encapsulating several issues facing teens and families in the mid-80s. Can you name them all and do you agree that's what Schumacher was trying to say? Tara McNamara, Gen X, and Riley Roberts, Gen Y,  apply a modern lens to the horror comedy that gave us the Two Coreys and reveal insights you never saw coming. 

BEETLEJUICE (1988) launched the career of Winona Ryder, secured the future of Tim Burton, and allowed Michael Keaton to create one of the cinema's most original creatures. Mother-daughter movie critics Tara McNamara, Gen X, and Riley Roberts, Gen Z, look at how the comedy holds up today and it's cringey '80s moments - including how suicide is a punchline over and over again.

Movie critics and analysts Tara McNamara, Gen X, and daughter Riley Roberts, Gen Z, look back at HEATHERS with a modern lens at the very real elements of high school life it was satirizing and compare it to the challenges of today. They examine if the Winona Ryder-Christian Slater classic may have been the first domino in our now all-too common world of high school shootings and bomb threats.

Cameron Crowe's SAY ANYTHING (1989) is one of the great movies of the '80s and the greatest romance films of all time. Hosts Tara McNamara, Gen X, and Riley Roberts, Gen Z, look at the John Cusack classic and explore how it presents a snapshot of the late '80s, how it holds up today, and the message that '80s teens understood, loud and clear. 

It's rare for a Hollywood movie to have a female director, especially in the 1980s. In her first feature film, Lisa Gottlieb, makes a film that could be abut the sexism and harassment women faced in pursuing their professions, but instead, makes it a learning experience for the gorgeous, popular girl to know what it's like to walk in the shoes of a teen boy. Hosts Tara McNamara, Gen X, and Riley Roberts, Gen Z, look at the likeable film through today's lens while sharing perspective on high school life today.

XANADU is one of the 1980s biggest flops, but it is also rather magnificent. It's a cult classic with passionate fans who love the music, the style, the dance numbers, and the cheesy special effects. Tara McNamara and Riley Roberts look at the Olivia Newton-John-Gene Kelly roller disco musical from the Gen X and Gen Z perspective while also looking at the subtle message the film sends about the role of the ideal woman in 1980.

Casual Sex? is a time capsule of women's difficulties in navigating the ever-changing sexual landscape of the 1980s. Screenwriter Wendy Goldman explains how the film- the first studio film to mention AIDS and acknowledge its impact on the dating scene - came to be and how Andrew Dice Clay managed to get the girl.

Mother-daughter movie critics Tara McNamara (Gen X) and Riley Roberts (Gen Z) look at the 1989 original and the 2019 remake & identify why the reboot is so good, why it's more Gen X than you think, and why teens love horror movies. 

THE BREAKFAST CLUB is the most iconic '80s movie of all time, giving teens an authentic voice in film. However, it's all kinds of wrong, and impacted a generation deeply, of which society still feels the consequences. Mother-daughter movie critics Tara McNamara (Gen X) and Riley Roberts (Gen Z) reveal why this classic was so damaging in ways most people have never realized.

More than 30 years after its release, Dirty Dancing is still a film audiences love, if not obsess over. Mother-daughter movie critics Tara McNamara (Gen X) and Riley Roberts (Gen Z) break down why it still holds up and all the good it did for young women in 1987. But, we also shift the perspective on Baby and show all the messed up notions in the film as well...as well as why the film is also an example of What's Wrong with Your Grandparents.

BILL & TED'S EXCELLENT ADVENTURE was released in 1989, a time when the teen comedy genre was considered to be dead. Mother-daughter movie critics Tara McNamara (Gen X) and Riley Roberts (Gen Z) look at how the Keanu Reeves-Alex Winter comedy holds up today, the word that entered our permanent vocabulary, and how that one cringey '80s moment would play out among teens today. 

Mother-daughter movie critics Tara McNamara (Gen X) and Riley Roberts (Gen Z) look at SCROOGED on its 30th Anniversary, and reflect how it's so '80s, how it's held up, and why Frank Cross got dumped unfairly. Read all the behind the scenes info at 80sMovieGuide.com. Follow us on social media @80sMovieGuide.

"Christmas in the Movies" author Jeremy Arnold joins us to give the definitive answer of whether or not DIE HARD is a Christmas movie and WHY. We also look at what makes the Bruce Willis classic so '80s and examine how it holds up today. What is the favorite Christmas movie of a guy who wrote the book on Christmas movies? And what modern day Christmas classic is banned from our the house of our film family? '80s MOVIES: A GUIDE TO WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOUR PARENTS has just a few questions, but so many answers.

Mom-daughter movie critics Tara McNamara (Fandango, Common Sense Media) and 17-year-old Riley Roberts (Fanlala, Reelz, KidsPickFlicks) look back at MYSTIC PIZZA (1988), a film noted for launching the careers of Julia Roberts, Lili Taylor and Matt Damon. The female-scripted coming of age film marked a moment in time where women were realizing love and marriage was no longer their first priority - they identify how it got young women right and how girls graduating high school now look at their future.