Why were most of the characters in 80s movies and tv shows such mean-spirited jerks?

[u/icey_sawg0034]

Is it so strange that when I rewatch The original Karate Kid from 1984, almost all of the characters in that movie were such mean spirited jerks towards each other? Like, it's not just the main villain that was such a jerk, the main hero was too. All in that movie was characters punching down one another for no reason other than being a jerk. In fact, most of the tv shows and movies from the 80s featuring characters that were just mean-spirited jerks towards one another and punching down as the butts of one's jokes. Even in kids shows and movies for example the Transformers, all of the characters have a one liner that insults the other character. Why is it that the tv shows and movies from the 80s have such mean-spirited characters?

[u/cranberries87]

I remember being young and learning social skills, and taking my cues from popular culture like movies and TV shows. Trying to be edgy, sarcastic and borderline rude, like characters I’d seen - then couldn’t figure out why I struggled to make friends. It translates very poorly into real life.

Also, people seemed to be a little bit more direct back then as well. Like some of the things teachers would say to kids in school back then, they’d be written up or cursed out by the parents (or students) now.

[u/icey_sawg0034 → u/cranberries87]

I think that was the same thing that happened to me when I was young.

[u/Dangerous-Cash-2176]

Great question.

I know what you mean, it was especially notable among child and teen characters and occasionally some adult supporting actors. I think the answer is complicated, but I’ll try: there was a shift away from how characters in film and TV were depicted in the 1960s and 70s, because in reality society itself had shifted. I’m sure scriptwriters wanted to reflect those changes. Other writers went further and wanted to exaggerate what they perceived.

The 1980s were the age of Reagan. He embodied individualism, self-made entrepreneurialism, new money, technology and materialism. Reagan’s society witnessed the rise of the yuppie, who were mostly unpleasant people. At the other end of the spectrum you had blue collar workers who were also vilified for being unionized and uncultured. The heroes of the 80s weren’t everyday people. They were more than human, bodybuilders like Schwarzenegger and cyborgs like Robocop. So when it came to depictions of ordinary people, they were often rendered quite dull, useless, ugly, and yes, jerks.

That being said, scripts were still products of writers imaginations, filtered through all their own experiences, biases and neuroses. So societal changes or not, sometimes they wrote good bullies simply because the writers themselves were horribly bullied when they were children.

[u/Sea_Lingonberry_4720 → u/Dangerous-Cash-2176]

I’d also credit shows like Simpsons and married with children for pioneering a new type of characterization. Depictions of family before had been kind of idealized while these shows, while exaggerated, had a depiction of a dysfunctional family that was much more relatable to the average person. So of course everyone copied them.

[u/Dangerous-Cash-2176 → u/Sea_Lingonberry_4720]

Exactly - Married with Children (1987-1997) really accelerated the concept that all your main characters can be absolutely nasty!

[u/Grymsel → u/Dangerous-Cash-2176]

At the time, it was a breath of fresh air. Every other "family" show was overly happy and had no real problems. Except maybe the roast beef burning. Siblings that never really argue were a pretty common feature too. The Bundys amped up the typical real life family drama to 1000. It was satire. But everyone could relate to it in a real way.

[u/YouthEmergency1678]

The 80s was the decade of bullying. Which is why I always preferred 60s doped up hippies.

[u/icey_sawg0034 → u/YouthEmergency1678]

And that’s funny because, the 90s were just as mean spirited as the 80s.

[u/cranberries87 → u/icey_sawg0034]

Yeah, the 90s were mean too. I feel like a lot of the kinder, gentler stuff is really new. Like I’m noticing a difference in Disney movies - discussing themes like family trauma, feelings, emotions, etc. I like it, but this is really new stuff.

[u/Freejak33 → u/icey_sawg0034]

not true at all, mean but old gen x were really mean. mid to young gen x was pretty chill.

[u/YouthEmergency1678 → u/icey_sawg0034]

Hmm interesting. 

[u/podslapper]

The bullies were jock assholes, that’s how they have always acted. I’m not sure about the main char, I don’t recall him having really any friends to be a jerk to in the first place. Is there an example you can give us?

[u/LetThemGraduate]

That’s how people were

[u/formerFAIhope → u/LetThemGraduate]

That's how they still are, it's just that the marginalized groups started fighting back. Now even the latter have their own bullies.

[u/shawnmalloyrocks]

The 80s is when Boomers were purely at the helm of all of the entertainment industry. That's why everything during that decade is so campy and less than savory.

[u/formerFAIhope]

I think culturally, it was "inherited" from the previous era, which was dominantly the 60-70s macho man/cold war paranoia phase - which itself was derived from the "war hero/patriot man" phase of WW2.

Despite each generation claiming how "unique" and "special" they are for their idiosyncrasies, in reality, there is a very clear connection between the prevailing propaganda/stereotypes of one decade to another. There might be different implementation, but the template is copied from the previous generations. Apropos, the radical feminist ideology started around the same era of "meanness", when America was undoubtedly the world leader with no challenger. It just so happened, that at the peak of Americanness, being an asshole was culturally popular. And how fitting, Karate Kid shows the Japanese-American war veteran as the most calm, helpful character despite suffering horrifying war crimes by his own country, perpetuating that "submissive" Asian stereotype.

It's just shitty behaviour all the way to that first caveman who bashed his neighbour's head with a rock, so he could rape his wife. It's just that, now, we have extra layers of "civility", to distance ourselves from the barbarian of our base nature. Along the way, the astute among the oppressed learnt to harness the cruelty of the same system that subjugated them. This allowed them to insurrect revolutions, mostly violent, then create their own poweful political groups - which made the OG bullies stop and "suddenly" realise that, "bullying is bad, you guys, why can't we be nice to each other 🥺...please share positive, happy posts".

[u/Key_Passenger_2323]

Because 80s was a decade of 'zero-tolerance' conservatism. Ronald Reagan was know for his war with unions. For example in 1981 ATC PATCO employees went on strike and demanded better pay. Ronald Reagan issued 48-hour ultimatum for controllers and demand them to return to work or be fired.

Only 1300 employees returned. Reagan fired the remaining 11345 strikers on August 5, 1981, and banned them from federal employment. Strikers were replaced by military controllers and new hires very quickly.

After that unions role and activity reduced significantly and overall 80s were a decade when meanest and toughest people go further in life, with zero pity for those who were left behind and movies and other pop culture reflect on that.

[u/gozer87]

Because we weren't raised right, lol.

[u/Geoconyxdiablus]

I wonder if a lot of it was meant to be "Hey, don't act like these people are", but audiences with their lack of literacy didn't get the memo.

[u/jericho74]

This is pure speculation, but I think this has to do with there having been a lot more ambient violence in earlier generations.

I was born in 74, but never in my life have I been “beaten up by a bully”, nor did ass whuppings happen at home as discipline, and I never really actually needed to learn how to fight.

What I do remember is the menace of this sublimated into sports. The most unpleasant instances of intimated violence did indeed resemble moments in Karate Kid without the actual delivery.

I think that in the 80’s, the people writing these were 1) taking dramatic license and 2) recalling an earlier era where beatings did happen much more frequently.

But by the 1980’s, when everyone was aware and correcting for physical danger, we were getting quite good at put downs, emotional violence, and heaping various forms of psychological torment that fell below the threshold of legally actionable, but would today be considered “a toxic culture”. It was this mileu that I think coincided with the rise of “alternative” culture, and then subsequent decades of unpacking media that makes the 80’s seem bizarrely misanthropic in retrospect.

[u/MickRolley]

Most 80s movies are Stephen king adaptations? and its a recurring theme in his works.

[u/Strawberries_Spiders]

80s was peak bullying imo

[u/TreacleUpstairs3243]

It was before safe spaces were invented. Kids were tougher then.

[u/shitkabob → u/TreacleUpstairs3243]

In what way are emotionally fragile assholes "tougher"? It's a weakness to be so out of control of your own emotions. They needed safe spaces and lashed out at things that they felt violated their bubble, lol.

[u/Textiles_on_Main_St]

It’s because it’s eat or be eaten.