Doomed from the Start: The 80s Explained
Doomed from the Start: The 80s Explained
Were the "80s" as good as we thought? Yes, it was a time of innovation, adventure, and wonder. On one hand, Tim Berner's Lee came up with the World Wide Web (Our Internet) proposal. The first home computers, and movies like Back to the Future, E.T., and Die Hard... All dreaming of a brighter future where we may; after a hard day, ride home in a limo or soar through the sky on a flying bicycle powered by a middle finger.
But the "80s" also had a darker side, one that, in my opinion, made us stronger. Movies like Aliens and The Terminator taught us that when an alien phones home, its crazy relatives might be on the other end. It helped us see that as technology promised progress, it also carried an eerie warning that if machines ever realized how imperfect humans were, they just might turn against us.
Thinking about it I can sum up the "80s" in one perfect example: a group of friends, pockets full of quarters, an 8-bit arcade game screens, an arcade game called Donkey Kong.
Armed with one quarter, you could help Mario fight, dodge barrels, climb ladders, fight fires, and battle Donkey Kong himself as you fight through 116 screens (21 levels). Your friends are watching in awe. But then, wait, it was the "80s" when the miracles of technology that would last forever, the Compact Disk, were invented, so, of course, you could fight past screen 117. Oh wait, the CD, which we all purchased so many of, knowing we'd have our music forever and that vinyl was dead, is now an almost dead technology, and vinyl made a comeback; so what happened then on level 22? Mario just died. You can blame it on a glitch in the game's bonus timer that made it impossible to survive; no matter how good you were or how long you had been holding back having to go to the bathroom, it was the "80s", and you and, Mario was doomed even before you started.
It's no wonder I write horror.
David Musser (2025)
Were the "80s" as good as we thought? Yes, it was a time of innovation, adventure, and wonder. On one hand, Tim Berner's Lee came up with the World Wide Web (Our Internet) proposal. The first home computers, and movies like Back to the Future, E.T., and Die Hard... All dreaming of a brighter future where we may; after a hard day, ride home in a limo or soar through the sky on a flying bicycle powered by a middle finger.
But the "80s" also had a darker side, one that, in my opinion, made us stronger. Movies like Aliens and The Terminator taught us that when an alien phones home, its crazy relatives might be on the other end. It helped us see that as technology promised progress, it also carried an eerie warning that if machines ever realized how imperfect humans were, they just might turn against us.
Thinking about it I can sum up the "80s" in one perfect example: a group of friends, pockets full of quarters, an 8-bit arcade game screens, an arcade game called Donkey Kong.
Armed with one quarter, you could help Mario fight, dodge barrels, climb ladders, fight fires, and battle Donkey Kong himself as you fight through 116 screens (21 levels). Your friends are watching in awe. But then, wait, it was the "80s" when the miracles of technology that would last forever, the Compact Disk, were invented, so, of course, you could fight past screen 117. Oh wait, the CD, which we all purchased so many of, knowing we'd have our music forever and that vinyl was dead, is now an almost dead technology, and vinyl made a comeback; so what happened then on level 22? Mario just died. You can blame it on a glitch in the game's bonus timer that made it impossible to survive; no matter how good you were or how long you had been holding back having to go to the bathroom, it was the "80s", and you and, Mario was doomed even before you started.
It's no wonder I write horror.
David Musser (2025)
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