Ah, the 80s. How memorable they are!

[heidi]

matociquala has put together an amazing collection of 80s music videos here, which led to me looking for

Watch on YouTube

and caused me to create the following poll:

[Poll #1101876]

Oh, and speaking of the 80s, Slate Magazine asks the question, "Should children read Philip Pullman's trilogy—or the incest classic Flowers in the Attic?"

I guess people can't read both? There's a limited number of words one's brain can read in a month or a year or a decade? Huh.

The article is definitely not perfect, and there's some apples-and-avocados comparisons, but I found this paragraph of particular interest given recent actions by 6A:

At the same time, when I think back to my own preteen reading, I'll admit that the whole point was to read books that I wasn't ready for, without my parents' approval. Is this kind of illicit read damaging to kids, or is it an inevitable excursion into pseudo-maturity that beats a lot of the other likely avenues? Better a disturbing, too-adult book than an indelibly horrifying movie or Internet game or video (or, it goes without saying, an encounter with real scary people)?

Comments

[cadetsandkings.livejournal.com]

Having not read the article, I'm not sure that sentence was intended as an either-or... standalone, it struck me as being more a question of whether kids should have access to either.

[cadetsandkings.livejournal.com]

And, TBH... I had friends and classmates who definitely read and watched media that were 'beyond their years.' But was I considered one of 'the smart kids' and I think that because my classmates were all their parents' special snowflakes they were given fewer boundaries.

The stuff with 6A was pretty bizarre- the deletion of pretty harmless comms and journals I thought was MAJOR overkill. It would have been better to give everyone a chance to change course before pulling the rug out from trusted longtime members.

But as to 'allowing' kids to get into stuff... there's a big difference between what people encourage their children to do, and the limits they would ultimately set if they could reasonably expect fulfillment of all possible negative consequences.

My parents were very conservative and 'overprotective' of some things which to them in hindsight seem a little silly, but which at the time bore the keynote appearances of threatening influences- things with occult references (Buffy), things with secular or 'moral relativist' themes (Boy Meets World)... my parents raised me a certain way, because they wanted me to become a decent, Christian human being.

Instead what they got was a decent, liberal atheist. But they're happy with the result. Granted, I never suffered any intentional detriment at their or anyone else's hands; but I'm not sure that being super-restrictive is any better than setting no boundaries at all.

[heidi8.livejournal.com]

It's the subtitle of the article, and it may be that you can read it that way, but the writer seems to be considering that FitA is something that pre-teens and young teens should read.

I actually never read it - I shied away from 99% of all horror (other than Scream) until Supernatural so FitA freaked me out because it was a "horror story", or so I was told, not because of the sexual content. But I read Forever and Wifey when I was 11, at camp, so...

[cadetsandkings.livejournal.com]

Ah, that makes sense.

I never read either. Maybe I should? I was more a child of the '90s, so they were probably a little before my time, even though I devoured books as a kid. I did attend Xian school until I was almost 10. :P

[schmoo999.livejournal.com]

Oh good gracious that video brings back memories. (Class of '88 represent!!) I had huge hair. I should repost my prom pic cause I had HUGE hair during those days.

Here is one of my fave songs and videos (We didn't get MTV till 1986 so I would watch my videos on Friday Night Videos on NBC..lol. I was always praying for a Duran Duran video.)



Oh shoot here is a Duran Duran video too:




As for books. I pretty much read anything and everything I could get my hands on, the only thing my mom censored was Stephen King till I was 16. I think if you have a firm foundation in life then reading everything you can get your mitts on can be ok...because in the end you realize it is only fiction after all. (I love the His Dark Materials trilogy and still am a firm Orthodox Christian. lol.)

[heidi8.livejournal.com]

Hey, I was Class of 88, too! Oh, what a year for music that was!

And I agree with you about reading fiction. Haven't there been studies that show that reading about something manifests differently in the brain than watching a still picture or motion picture about it?

[lunalovegoddess.livejournal.com]

Heh. I remember that "Love Is A Battlefield" was my theme song. Pat Benatar was a big influence on me. I wanted to dress like her, be tough like her, etc. but my mother was a very strict Catholic. No earrings, no makeup, no cutting of my bum-length hair... sweaters, t-shirts and jeans when not in my school uniform. She finally caved in about the earrings when I was twelve, stating that if I had them done, they were my responsibility.

I thought I had it bad until my reborn Christian aunt visited, and I realized that she was even more strict than Mom! My cousins were not allowed to watch most of the movies I loved, and I remember her blowing a gasket and praying for my soul when I bought a pair of earrings at the Salem Witch Museum. I would have been angry or thought she was trying to be difficult if she had not been extremely serious and panicked.

[schmoo999.livejournal.com]

Oy....I am so lucky that my parents had rules but that they weren't stifling. I was the kid who always snuck the books to my friends who could not read them. I remember in HS I gave my copy of that wonderful sweeping epic Forever Amber to a friend, her mom found it, called my mom and was dumbfounded when my mom told her that yes she knew I had it and read it and what was the problem? lol.

Same with my half sister who has friends whose parents won't let them read Harry Potter and of course our dad bought her all the books and she loans them out to the friends who aren't allowed to read them.

You just have to let kids explore and read, no harm, no foul imo. Also I let my girls get their ears pierced last year when they were 5 and 3. They really wanted it. I figured why not? and they look adorable in their little gold hoops.

:)

[takemejustasiam.livejournal.com]

I think I might be showing my age, but I have no recollection of Total Coleo at all. I do however remember Nick Rocks on Nickelodeon. A video I remember from that time was George Michael's Faith. I was about five at the time and did not process what the camera was panning up. It wasn't until I saw it later that I realized they were bikini clad girls. I did however, process the butt shaking.

[lunalovegoddess.livejournal.com]

I'm definitely a child of the 80's. I miss my stirrup pants and L.A. Gear sneakers, and wearing clothes like Punky Brewster's.

FitA scared me a lot more than Cujo or any horror novel. I do remember that I thought the title sounded interesting, and I was expecting something a bit more like The Diary of Anne Frank. I read quite of few of Andrews books, and they all seemed to be full of nonconsensual incest. I don't remember how old I was, since I had read a lot of young adult novels when I was in third grade. (I had exhausted the children's library in my town.)

I've never read His Dark Materials, or The Dark Is Rising series. The best thing about Harry Potter is that it was one of the first books to appeal to a broad age range. Before Goblet of Fire came out, I had not heard of the series. Can you believe that? And now, Rowling's books are my main obsession. ^_^

[montisello.livejournal.com]

I have a hard time believing that reading a book is somehow morally wrong, no matter what book you're reading. True, with younger kids its better to be guided through certain books, be able to talk about and put it in context in that particular child's life, but I just cannot see books as evil.

First time someone tells me not to read something, I wonder what they want to hide. Even if a book is talking about or espousing ideas that are not in line with your own, it should still be YOUR choice to read or not. And even then I look sideways at people who say they avoid certain books -- its like closing a window on a view you may never see again.

Sorry, went off on a little rant there. I just really really really dislike people who want to control books and ideas.

How bout Duran Duran? Tho I remember being titillated by the video "Wild Boys" with Simon LeBon all wet and tied to the water wheel thing. I should go looking for that.

[snapefantasy.livejournal.com]

You are evil for making us choose only ONE scariest thing in that video. Sheesh. I really hope we can skip most of that crap when 80's fashions come back around. (which they are....my daughter has jordache jeans and "dresses" made to be worn with pants...)

[macloudt.livejournal.com]

I must clicky the link to the videos in a minute. I turned 13 in 1981 so I had no hope where fashion was concerned. My kids laugh themselves senseless when they see my high school grad photo. Poodle perm, anyone? I loved the big, baggy, super-comfy clothes, even if it did take me 15 minutes to iron one skirt.

I loved FitA when I was 11 or so, and bought and read several V. C. Andrews books. A few years later age and bit of wisdom caught up with me as I realised that the Andrews books were truly, madly, deeply awful. :D The content never bothered me; it was just the writing and storylines in general that got on my nerves. I actually find Pullman's work more believable. I disposed of the Andrews books years ago but my copy of Northern Lights is on my bookshelf, waiting for 10-year-old Beth to finish reading the other 6 books she has on the go. I'm against book censorship and Beth knows that she's allowed to read or flip through any of my books.

(OK, OK, The Joy is Sex is tucked in the back of the bookcase for now, but you know what I mean! Anyway Beth's still at the age where she thinks people kissing is "yucky".)

[msbhaven.livejournal.com]

When I worked at Borders we would get the junior high kids alll the time and the girls would head straight to the VC Andrews & VC Andrews-sanctioned books. I'm sure their parents didn't know what their girls were reading and I'm sure those girls are in college now not scarred for life.

Something of a similar note was on EW nearly a yaer ago -

CONFESSIONS OF AN EW PARENT - Livre Free Or Die - EW's books editor Tina Jordan asks: What do you do when you hate what your daughter is reading?

She then had a follow up article here - CONFESSIONS OF AN EW PARENT - Scarlet Letters V.C. Andrews' ''Flowers in the Attic'' series? Judy Blume's ''Forever''? Stephen King's ''Christine''? If you hid your reading list from your parents, you're not alone

[laleonaenojada.livejournal.com]

I definitely had limits on what I could read/watch/do as a child, and I don't think any but a few were especially arbitrary. I couldn't see R-rated movies until I was 17 unless my mother or father watched it first and approved (oddly, this was a rule primarily related to profanity, not sex or violence). I wasn't allowed to get my ears pierced until I was ten, mostly so I would be mature enough to take care of them myself.

I remember Danielle Steel being off limits until about 12 or 13, and the same for Stephen King. The one book I have strong memories about reading despite being told not to was "Go Ask Alice" ... I would read it in the back corner of the library at my middle school because I couldn't check it out and take it home, and the librarian was a friend of my dad's so I didn't want her to see me reading it either. Ultimately, I don't feel damaged for having limits, and once I reached my teenage years, I was allowed to read whatever I wanted.

I guess the big thing for me is, if your kids want to read /watch /play something that has moral themes you find questionable or disagree with, the key may not be preventing them from reading it, but reading it with them, or at least having frequent conversations about it.

[piperx.livejournal.com]

The scariest part of that video is by far the lyrics. No decade beats the 80s when it comes to bad lyrics.

I don't believe they ever made a video for Bitchin' Camaro, so I'll add some ABC.



And this one that made making an "S" with your arms a classic dance move.



But if you really want the bad videos, you'd have to go back to the earliest in the late 70s, like this one.



Okay. Sorry I went a little nuts with the videos. I'm done!