My Gen-X Files – Escapism, ‘80s Style
If I continue with the premise that Gen-X kids were often left alone, I can safely say that the last generation without the internet lived very differently from their children. There are valuable lessons that we would learn about life, but I’m not so sure we could not have learned them in a different way, without so much uncertainty and child endangerment.
The general consensus was that we were supposed to ‘make our own fun’. The plus side to this is a feeling of independence and imaginative thinking, or some teamwork. The downside is that if you have trouble making your own fun, you are all alone. For those kids, myself included, we found ways to escape. You couldn’t really escape into video games yet. Atari offered squares that shot hyphens into triangles. It wasn’t exactly immersive. The video arcade was an option if you had the quarters but those thrills were short-lived. TV was there, of course. Half of the offerings were reruns from your parents’ era, and the disposable sitcoms were on once a week. If you missed them, you missed them. Saturday morning cartoon were my domain. I played with my Legos as I watched whatever the hell was put in front of me. They didn’t have real writing or plots and they sure as hell didn’t teach me anything, but I never missed them.
I remember one of my aunts visiting when I was ten. She crossed the living room a few times going back and forth to her car, and she noticed I was watching some dumb shit on Saturday morning. She said out loud: “Still watching that educational crap?” as she walked by. It was aimed at me, and I can attest that what I was watching was in no way educational. (Unless Daffy Duck subliminally taught me fractions.). I’m sure it hurt my feelings at the time, but I didn’t understand until later. If I had known, I would have said: “Hey lady, this TV is always there for me. It’s the only thing around here that gives me joy and comfort. Now stop blocking my goddamned view!”
Movies were a much bigger deal. We didn’t have a VCR until the 80s were over, so to watch a movie you had three options. Watch something old on TV that was edited by a puritanical culture that is scared of the F word and boobies, watch newer stuff on HBO with all the F words and boobies, or go to the theater. Of course, I did all three. HBO was probably the only luxury we had, and my brother and I took full advantage. I could write an entire series about the HBO movies of that era, from 1980 to about 1985. It was a weird time, where you could watch real movies but your options were still limited to ONE channel. So, I could actually watch Star Wars at noon, and then my choice of three different Police Academy sequels, Smokey and the Bandit 2 or The Ice Pirates for the rest of the day. In the summertime, I would watch some numerous times. In the same damn day. Yikes.
Going to the movies got a little easier as I got older, because all I needed was my shitty Sears dirt bike and a couple of dollars to go see stuff. I loved it. It was cool, dark and everyone was there to be entertained. The floor was sticky, the theater reeked of cigarettes from years of smokers and yes, popcorn was still overpriced. I loved Back to the Future so much. I remember everything about my first time seeing it in the theater. I imagined that damn DeLorean zipping through the parking lot in real life. My only option was to remember the movie and replay it in my head or find a way to see it again in the theater. Anything to keep the daydreams going. I think I returned to the theater two more times over the next six months. (A hit movie hung around a lot longer.)
But that wasn’t enough for me. I asked for the soundtrack cassette for Christmas. I even listened to the Alan Silvestri score. I got the paperback novelization at the drug store. This is the book written after the movie comes out. It’s not good, but it’s a piece of the movie and I wanted it. I knew nothing about the upcoming sequels or any news or anything about the stars or the productions or rumors or gossip or nothing. It was all in my head.
That was the escape that I made. I made it for me. I curated it and sucked it dry until the next thing came along.
I really don’t think this was better than today. We grew from some of these lessons and escapism is part of growing up for everyone despite the generation. It’s part of being an adult, too. But there is something to be said about having to seek out what is for you. You have to make a journey of sorts to find what you like and what that says about you. It is a powerful thing to find your people and the weird shit they are into that you also love. Gen-Xers sometimes had to make a physical trip to find their people. A theater, a comic book shop, the mall, a football field, a bookstore. Maybe today’s kids can do it easier online. I mean, it saves on gas, right?