Culture in an Age of Money

By Nicholas Mills

Back to Our Future

By David Sirota

“ZEITGEIST”

Mills: Zeitgeist of the ‘80s

TRIUMPH.POWER.STATUS.

‘80s spirit was

based on…

The 1970s was a “decade of humiliation.”

Vietnam War

Stagflation

Watergate

Reagan’s Plan

The New American Spirit

“In the culture of triumph, the past was

modern because it held the key to the

future.”

“Image was crucial because we needed to see ourselves afresh.”

“Getting rich was justified because it left the nation better off.”

“Cutting aid to the poor was justified

because welfare hurt initiative.”

Romanticizing the ‘50s

& Criticizing the ‘60s

The ‘80s Obsession with the ‘50s

The ‘80s Disdain for the ‘60s

Sirota: Zeitgeist of the ‘80s

“The 1980s defies taxonomy… there are

just no catchphrases or grand unifying theories

to sum up such a monumental late-century

clusterfuck” (Sirota xviii).

1980s Cultural Memes

Ultra-conservative Reagan Revolution“Me Generation” selfishnessMTV Music and Teen Culture

Rampant drug abuseNationalist backlash to Vietnam War

A meme is an idea, behavior or style that spreads from person to person within a culture.

Mixed Messages of the 1980s“JUST DO

IT!”“JUST SAY

NO!”

The 1980s Economy

Reaganomics

#1- Cutting personal taxes

#2- Ending Anti-Trust activity

#3- Reducing government spending

#4- Controlling money supply to reduce

inflation

Reagan’s Economic Policies

“What I want to see above all is that this remains a country where someone can always get rich.”-

Ronald Reagan

“To be American was to be powerful, and to be powerful was to be rich.” -

Mills

The “Flaunting It” Era and the “Me Me

Me” Generation

Trump Tower

Trump Shuttle

Trump Princes

s

‘80s Economic Heroes

Donald Trump

Alex Keaton

Yuppies

Wall Street: A Modern Gold Rush

“Never have so many unskilled 24 year olds made so much money in such a little time as we did in this

decade.” – Michael Lewis

The ’80s marked “the creation of a paper economy in which the buying and selling of companies [became] more profitable than

running them” -Mills

“HOSTILE TAKEOVER”

“LEVERAGED BUYOUT”

“JUNKBOND” “GOLDEN PARACHUTE”

‘80s Economic

Lingo

In the 1980s, the living standards of the bottom 1/5 of the population dropped

by 8%, while that of the top 1/5 rose by 16%.

Why was this the case?

According to a scholarly article from Pitzer College

entitled “Economic Inequality: The Silent Depression”:

• There were more tax advantages for the rich

• Tax dollars went primarily towards paying the interest to those who own capital

• There were decreased government policies for aiding the poor

• There were decreasing incomes for the lower class

1980s Geopolitics: The Cold War

USA vs. USSR

1980s Foreign Policy1983: The US Invasion of Grenada Prompted by fear of Soviet-Cuban

militarization Followed the massacre of 241 marines by

Lebanese terrorists 19 killed; 115 wounded. 8,612 medals awarded

“This is a lesson for us all in Vietnam…let us tell those who fought that war that we will never again ask young men to fight and possibly die in a war that our government is afraid to let them win.” –Ronald Reagan

“The Vietnam Vet, crippled and depressed, was replaced with John

Rambo” -Mills

John Voight in Coming Home

Sylvester Stallone in

Rambo

“America the Grand” Image

Nancy Reagan’s White House China= $209,508

1984 Los Angeles Olympics Opening Ceremony= 6 million dollars

Reagan’s Inauguration Ceremony= 8 million dollars

The 100th year anniversary of the Statue of Liberty Celebration on July 4th 1986…

…included1.4 million-watt laser beams, the largest assembly of ships since WWII, the largest fireworks

display in US history, a cast of twelve thousand, including two hundred Elvis impersonators, three hundred Jazzercise dancers, and an eight-hundred

chorus, all performing on a twenty-tier stage with five waterfalls= PRICELESS*

*30 million dollars

America was in love with luxury.

“May you have caviar wishes and champagne dreams!”

The Dark Side of the ‘80sIran-Gate

1986

Greed & Drug Abuse

Stock Market Crash 1987

“Who says you can’t have it all?”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LknoheZqGbs

Sirota wonders if since the ‘80s, we

have begun to “morally rationalize

selfishness”…(70).

“What happens to us in the future? Do we become assholes or something?”

--Marty McFly (Back to the Future)