Class of '89

I was in the class of '89 and I think people of my age were the last great innocence, by that I mean. We grew up with respect and fascination for technology, probably because we didn't have any in the 70's and then in the 80's there was an explosion in home computers, walkmans, gizmos and gadgetry.

To be a child in the late 70's and 80's was a great. The adults who were in the media and in our schools had their minds opened in the 60's which meant that in school assembles we'd sing along to The Beatles Yellow Submarine, then later we'd hear Why Worry by Dire Straits.

Girls dressed in Punk/Goth or mixed it up with anything they could get. Many girls made their own clothes. Boys at that time wore Chinos and sports brands, Adidas, Puma, Le Shark. School was a place to proudly display your new trainers, All my friends used to think they were Don Johnson (Miami Vice) or Bruce Willis (ala Moonlighting).

Music was fresh and clean sounding because of synthesizers and the first programmable drum machines Jan Hammer and Thomas Dolby seemed to be everywhere for a short while. American TV shows like Family Ties, Alf, The A-Team and the Fall Guy flooded onto our UK screens, no one was killed, the humour was subtle and sexual references were pretty much nonexistent.

Films from the 80's had that family appeal too. Back to the future, War Games and Ferris Buelers Day Off, films you wouldn't be embarrassed to watch with your parents. In fact it was never really questioned that you would watch them with your parents. Of course I'm not saying it was completely rosy but I think the divide was a lot more noticeable then between family entertainment and adult.


The rating of Transformers 3 is 12a. So is it wrong to expect something similar to Back to the Future, no swearing, vague references to sex, maybe kiss, snog but no more and no one dying in a grotesque way? There is a scene in Tranformers 3 were the main character is describing his new car, "nice curves, great body work" and the camera focuses on the lead female characters body, her legs, her chest - these are the nice curves! The camera doesn’t show the car at all. This is aimed at a 12 year old?

The reason for this blog however is because today in class, as it was the end of term, we were watching a film. The kids streamed into the room "We watching a film sir???" "Yes" I said.. and they're disappointment that it wasn't Transformers 3 soon turned into a deeper despair when they realised it was a film they'd never heard of from the dim and distant past - the 80's!!

The Flight of the Navigator no less, and since this was a German lesson; we had German subtitles too. At the start of the film the class were rowdy and loud, but they soon settled  without any instruction from me. The gentle humour, great story, and basic special effects of the film won them round. Half way through the lesson I glanced round the room to see 25 gorping faces all silently watching in amazement, but these weren't 12 year olds, these were 15 year olds!! gobby, snotty, pubescent, argumentative, 15 year olds - all mesmerised. I don't know why but I felt really nostalgic for the 80's and genuinely sad for these 15 year olds that they didn't experience the films in the time I did. Then I wondered will they look back on Transformers 3 in the same way I look back on Knight Rider, or D.AR.Y.L. I don't want to be a Mary Whitehouse and sit whinging about too much sex and violence on our screens; it's not that, it's more the innocence that's gone from today’s society.