Archaic

The girls and I watched “Pretty in Pink” last Friday.

I love watching the movies of my youth with today’s youth. A few weeks ago, Pete and I decided that we needed to introduce our offspring to “Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure” and oh boy was that ever fun.

Anyway, whenever we watch something from the 80s (or earlier) (and sometimes things from the 90s too), we always have to explain some things to the girls. For example, the fact that phones used to have curly cords that stretched only so far. Or that computers used to be DOS-based and that something like a cordless, lightweight laptop with a full color screen was just a fantasy.

1980s computers, as you can imagine, cause a great deal of mirth and snickering among 21st century teenagers. And you can imagine how they react to 1980s cell phones.

Gordon Gecko thought he was so cool.

Anyway, as we were watching Molly Ringwald navigate potential love with Blane (while looking fabulous, I might say), there’s a scene in which she’s calling Blane’s house and talking to his mother.

Andie (a.k.a Molly), “Do you know where he is?”

Blane’s mom, “I’m sorry, he didn’t tell me.”

Andie/Molly, “OK. If he calls or comes home, can you tell him to call me?”

… [editing out some dialog for brevity] …

Blane’s mom, “Yes, could I have your number?”

 This was Ellie’s first time seeing PIP and she seemed rather confused by this scene. She kept asking, “But why would his mother ask for Andie’s phone number?”

It took me a moment or two to realize what she was asking. Have you figured it out yet?

“Ohhhhh… That’s because Caller ID hadn’t been invented yet. So the mother has no idea what Andie’s number is and is asking so that she can write it down and give it to Blane.”

I think my girls’ minds were a little bit blown.

What’s your favorite movie from the 1980s?

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11 Responses to Archaic

  1. the "other" Alison in Ottawa says:

    I love all the John Hughes movies but I think 16 Candles is my absolute favourite.

  2. bdaiss says:

    I love doing this to my kids as well! When we lost power for 2 days in the snow storm, we had a great deal of conversations about old technology and what life was like when we were kids. And yes…their minds? Blown.

  3. Always The Breakfast Club, though this runs a close second. Yeah, my kids’ minds are always blown by the “waiting” and “not answering phones” and “not knowing who is calling.” We lived in a time filled with mystery back then, didn’t we?

  4. Becky says:

    One of the Wimpy Kid movies has a scene where he is locked in a basement and has to figure out how to use a rotary phone, although between my own lack of technology embracing as well as the fact that we’ve long watched all the John Hughes movies (along with all the other classic 80′s flicks, with the exception of “Footloose” which she watched on her own one sick day), none of this is news to our girl. Now that her friends are starting to watch 80′s flicks though, apparently they all say it’s like being at our house. Well, not entirely, but close enough….

  5. Loth says:

    My teenage sons shudder at the idea of having to phone their friends’ PARENTS to speak to their friends - they can’t imagine the horror of everyone having just one phone for the whole household!

  6. Violet says:

    The Breakfast Club, no question about it. I saw it in the theater at least five times, wore out my VHS copy, and will still stop on it when scrolling through TV channels. And I am still in love/lust with John Bender.

    Pretty in Pink was/is awesome, too. For me, James Spader has always been a large part of this movie’s appeal.

  7. Kim Kasch says:

    hum…movie…I didn’t watch many of those…but ask me about my favorite book and I’d say Salem’s Lot by Stephen King.

    See, I grew up in a family with nine kids and one t.v. — need I say more? Dad chose the shows-not me, ‘cuz I was nearly last in line on the rung of seniority.

    Sorry, not much help here from me.

  8. Julie says:

    our age range..truly the “sandwich” generation for technological gizmos and gadgets, yes? we can remember the “before” and we live in the “after”….the in between times were where our minds were blown…if we were paying attention.

  9. It’s a tie between “Say Anything” and “Breakfast Club” for me, but I’d never thought to watch these films for the purpose of pointing out the old phone situation. (Perhaps that is because we didn’t all have cell phones until a few years ago.)
    My kids think I’m crazy when I try to get them to watch old movies like “Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure” (which I thought was awesome). It might not have helped that I accidentally showed them “Wayne’s World” first… the boys are pretty sure I’m not right in the head. Oh, well. At least they like Monty Python!

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