Recently watching YouTube I came across a compilation of cartoon intros from the 80s which bathed me in nostalgia and brought back a flood of childhood memories.
One of these memories was waking up early on Saturday mornings at my grandparents' house to watch cartoons. I would rug up with a blanket that was kept under the cushions of the couch for such occasions, and be bathed in the blue glow of the morning shows.
I remember watching: Bravestarr, ThunderCats, Mask, Silverhawks, He-Man and the Masters of the Universe, The Paw Paw Bears and who could forget the original Transformers?
My Grandmother would ask if I was hungry and after waking up a bit, I would let her know I would love some breakfast. It was just what I wanted every time: hot buttered toast and a cup of her warm, sweet English tea.
Recently there's been a huge surge in the popularity of everything 'retro' also, specifically from the 80s. New video games are purposely created with simple limited sound and graphics to match the era that so many of us grew up with, the era of classic arcade games like Pacman, Donkey Kong, Double Dragon, Galaga, Ghouls and Ghosts, the list goes on and on.
I loved the movies from the 80s also: Gremlins, National Lampoons Family Vacation, Back to the Future, Planes Trains and Automobiles, Robocop, Uncle Buck, Indiana Jones, Flight of the Navigator, Tron, Hear no Evil, See no Evil and so many other classics.
The glow of nostalgia
Lots of films nowadays just don't capture the same warmth of what I remember seeing back then. We've become more slick and both cheap and extravagant than ever before, and simpler values that have a wholesome quality have sometimes been put aside and labeled as 'lame', 'weak' or 'insignificant'.
The same goes for TV shows as well. I remember watching Family Ties, Who's the Boss, Alf, Growing Pains – Stories of families working through issuestogether were the premise of so many hit sit-coms – which were just as much drama as they were comedy, sometimes with very moving and poignant moments. Now it seems sitcoms are less about truths contained in a family and merely about cheap gags and one-liners with a lot of sexual undertones. Parents had wise things to say to help their children with, now they are just seen as either stupid, out of touch completely or both.
The 'action' TV shows like the A-Team, Knight Rider and MacGyver had conflict as we have now, but so much was centered around the premise of sticking up for the little guy and doing the right thing because it was 'The right thing to do' themes of justice and nobility were still very present in these shows. Not to spill into hyperbole but I feel there were so many more wholesome values, the comedy shows and action shows alike, even the cartoons.
But sadly so many of the values that made up the warm core of these shows and movies from this period are no longer present in today's TV. And if they are, they are portrayed very weakly or cheaply. Gossip, slander, cheating, backbiting housewives, relationship 'drama' and so many vacuous subjects are the foundational premise for so many of our shows now.
The future is unsafe, unknown and unsure, so looking back to the goodol' days often provides comfort and security; nostalgia provides a sense of safety and comfort because there are no surprises. We also have the habit of viewing the past through rose-coloured glasses; we pick the parts that we enjoyed or are fond of and ignore the parts that leave a bad taste in our mouths.
Sure the 80s may have seemed safer looking back then, but for lots of people, life, the world around them and its unknowns were just as real and scary as they are today. Is the world less safe today than it was back then? I would have to say in some regards, yes, but it was still dangerous, cold, lonely and painful for a lot of people.
Everything at our fingertips
Maybe today we are just more 'wired-in', 'linked up' and 'logged on'. Everything is at our fingertips and we have information about everything at any time we want instantly, so the world may just seem more dangerous. Maybe it's just that we didn't see as much of it as we do now... maybe it was always as scary as it seems today, but maybe back then we only saw parts and less often than we do now.
We seem more informed, smarter, wiser and more learned than ever before, but how much of this knowledge is regurgitated information? How much is actual truth and experienced wisdom that is able to be passed on from person to person?
I liked the simplicity of contacting friends via the telephone (except having to remember phone numbers of course) because essentially it required effort and intentionality.
It required more effort to organise a time to see somebody back then so the resulting catch up (or talk) was worth more simply for the fact of the effort it took to see them.
An attack on family
I believe the enemy's number one tactic right now is the dismantling of the family unit, and it is now becoming a full-frontal assault that has entered all spheres of our lives and I believe will continue to do so.
The family is the underpinning glue of society, it is where our values are formed, it is ideally where love is to be taught, shown and expressed and where the Father heart of God is to be shared from within and expressed outwardly when children enter the big wide world on their own.
Materialism and the idea of the 'individual' (a fairly new concept) has created a life where the focus is so much more about self, so much less about family or even the good of society as a whole. We once used to ask, "What's best for everybody?" Now a lot of the time we ask, "What's best for me?", "What can I get out of this?"
What can we do?
We can concentrate on our families, on our family values, on loving each other in the home with sincerity and truth and then spread this outward. 'Charity (love) starts in the home' as the old saying goes, and this truth needs to be uncovered again.
So let's focus less on the 'self' and more on our communities, our homes, and our society. People were nevercreated as isolated individuals designed to fulfil their own interests; we were always created for community and will be in community with God forever.
Materialism, superficiality, individualism, 'getting mine' and "what's best for me?" even at the expense of the vast majority, are diseases of the new millennium. They must be fought with love, the outward facing soul who doesn't see itself as a self-contained unit but as part of a whole, created to bless and benefit those around it.
Tim Everton is a youth worker/designer and is currently studying counselling full time. Hehails from the beautiful Southern Coast of South Australia and in his off-time hepursuesgraphic design,creatingnerdyminiature things, the beach and seeking out his next best cafe latte.
Tim Everton's previous articles may be viewed at http://www.pressserviceinternational.org/tim-everton.html