The Eighties in America - Salem Press (2009)

Impact It has been argued that, of all genres, sci-
ence fiction is one of the most consistently allegorical
of social and political concerns, and the science-
fiction films of the 1950’s were frequently inter-
preted as conscious or unconscious essays on Cold
War paranoia. By the 1980’s, these interpretations
were well known, and science-fiction cinema, while
it continued to engage in allegory, also began to
comment upon it. Most of the decade’s offerings
were shaped by the desire of the studios to pro-
duce big-budget blockbusters that would draw ex-
tremely large audiences away from the competing
technologies of television and videocassettes. This
desire often meant that the most expensive films
were the most simpleminded. However, even these
films invented rich visual iconographies, making
fantastic worlds believable on screen for the first
time in decades. Although the decade was domi-
nated by sequels, remakes, and imitations, it con-
solidated the innovations of the 1970’s and paved
the way for further sophistication of futuristic im-
agery.

Further Reading
Bukatman, Scott.Terminal Identity: The Virtual Subject
in Postmodern Science Fiction. Durham, N.C.: Duke
University Press, 1993. Study of the postmodern
examination of identity common to much of the
significant science fiction of the 1980’s.
Hardy, Phil, ed.The Aurum Film Encyclopedia: Science
Fiction. Rev. ed. London: Aurum Press, 1991. The
chapter “The Eighties: Science Fiction Trium-
phant” offers a comprehensive chronological sur-
vey of titles, with elaborate and intelligent annota-
tions.
Kuhn, Annette, ed.Alien Zone: Cultural Theor y and
Contemporar y Science Fiction Cinema. London:
Routledge, 1990. Collection of theoretical essays;
its key exemplars includeBlade Runner, The Thing,
Videodrome, andAliens.
Landon, Brooks.The Aesthetics of Ambivalence: Re-
thinking Science Fiction Film in the Age of Electronic
(Re)Production. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood
Press, 1992. Theoretical study that foregrounds
the centrality of special effects as a driving force
in the genre’s evolution, with specific emphasis
on the 1980’s.
Rickett, Richard.Special Effects: The Histor y and Tech-
nique. New York: Watson-Guptill, 2000. Topically
organized study; many of its key examples are, in-

evitably, science-fiction movies, but the utility of

the book is in filling in the background to the key

innovations of the 1980’s.

Sobchak, Vivian.Screening Space: The American Science

Fiction Film. 2d ed. New York: Ungar, 1987. The

updating chapter, “Postfuturism,” describes the

1980’s as a “Second Golden Age” of science-

fiction cinema.

Brian Stableford

See also Action films;Aliens;Back to the Future;

Blade Runner;Empire Strikes Back, The;E.T.: The Extra-

Terrestrial; Film in the United States; Horror films;

RoboCop; Sequels; Special effects; Spielberg, Steven;

Terminator, The;Tron.

Scorsese, Martin

Identification American film director and film

preservationist

Born November 17, 1942; Queens, New York

Scorsese belonged to the generation of American auteurs

who began making films during the 1970’s, and he contin-

ued to hone his craft during the 1980’s. He directed five

ver y different major motion pictures during the decade,

branding each one with his trademark style.

A sickly child from a tough Italian American neigh-

borhood, Martin Scorsese spent much of his child-

hood going to church and to the movies, then spent

a year in the seminary and completed two film de-

grees at New York University. These seminal experi-

ences shaped Scorsese’s fascination with guilt and

redemption, with the enactment of masculinity, and

with the aesthetic and emotional possibilities of film.

In the 1970’s, Scorsese made his name as a director

with two powerful, urban dramas—Mean Streets

(1973) andTaxi Driver(1976). In the 1980’s, he ex-

panded his range of topics, if not his tone, for Scor-

sese protagonists continued to be men plagued with

self-doubt. Thus, Scorsese’s films rubbed against the

grain of the success narratives typical of 1980’s Hol-

lywood.

Scorsese began the 1980’s directing a film he

thought would be his last. Ostensibly the biopic of a

champion boxer,Raging Bull(1980) examines how

self-loathing drives a man to violence against those

he loves. Filmed in striking black and white, edited

The Eighties in America Scorsese, Martin
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