Three Decades in 90 Seconds
August 29th 2007 00:24
Tough gig - given the material available - and particularly in light of the audience - who I'm told will range from five and 12-year-olds (who will be reading the material - and have little or no concept of what it was all about) to the teens and adults in attendance.
With little more than a whiff of what the evening is about - and only a few hours before the material is needed (thanks to someone else not coming through with the goods) - the following spewed forth.
I'd appreciate any feedback.
1) The 70's
The 70’s – when Grease was the Word that We Heard, and The Jackson 5 taught us that learning the ABC was as easy as 1-2-3.
It was an era that flares were either something you wore . . . a distress signal . . . or both.
It was a time when The Fonz was cool, the girls from ABBA were hot and protest marches were on the boil.
We had mood rings and sea monkeys, platforms and pet rocks, safari suits and slinkies Rubiks Cube and Rod Stewart.
We had Star Wars and Rocky, the Brady Bunch and CHiPs.
We had million dollar movies, million dollar deficits and a Million Dollar Man.
It was the period that collectively we saw Travolta dazzle, Elton razzle and Nixon frazzle and we paid homage to a raft of new Hollywood Queens – yet publicity mourned the loss of the one and only King.
So welcome to the 70’s – where Stayin’ Alive was a credo – not a survival technique.
And so we enter the 80’s.
Where an actor held the balance of power in the White House and Cabbage Patch Dolls held the balance of power with kids.
It was a time when lycra reined supreme and MTV was born.
Where Wham, Haysie Fantasie, and Devo ruled the charts, women’s wore shoulder pads and men simply wore adorning smirks.
We donned leg warmers and head bands . . . we got Physical with Olivia and Footloose with Kevin.
We Dirty Danced with Patrick and Flashdanced with Jen, we said Good Morning Vietnam and tragically - goodbye to seven pioneering Space Shuttle astronauts.
We regailed in Richard Simmons, relaxed with Whitney Houston and reignited the Olympic dream.
We sang for the starving, we danced in the streets, we cried for the passing of a Beatle.
We played Pac-Man, played havoc at Chernobyl, held our breath over Tiananmen Square and watched as both the sharemarket and Berlin Wall came crashing down.
We watched Cosby and Cheers, adorned coloured cricket gear and ogled at a future queen as she walked down the isle.
We discovered ET, the wreck of the Titanic and the scourge of AIDS.
We fought in the Falklands, we fought for the environment and we fought for a better tomorrow.
The 90’s – where the word ‘me’ became fashionable.
Where Tae Bo and Tickle Me Elmo, Furby’s and in-line skates were flavour of the month.
A decade where we Danced With Wolves, went Silent with The Lambs, met Forrest Gump and dealt emotionally with Schindler’s List.
We went The Full Monty, found Nirvana and suffered the occasional Achy Breaky Heart.
We freed Nelson Mandela, found ourselves holed up in a Desert Storm, saw the birth of the Internet and returned Hong Kong to China.
The 90’s gave rise to the Euro, Tiger Woods and of course . . . Viagra.
We beamed back images from Mars, we sat aghast at Columbine and we farewelled a princess.
We followed OJ, watched Lorena Bobbit take matters into her own hands and walked 500 miles with the Proclaimers while at the same time wearing Reebok Pumps, trashing Tamogatchi’s and dancing to the Macarena.
We cloned sheep, we cloned a US president and watched on from the bleeches as Lech Walesa rose from the masses to lead Poland out of its self imposed exile.
It wasn’t long ago – but in the words of one Billy Joel – “We Didn’t Start the Fire”.
Crash and burn - or did we do the decades justice - in just 90 seconds?
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Comment by JohnDoe
Film & TV on DVD