WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.080 [light piano music] 00:00:04.200 --> 00:00:09.720 I often discuss the negative impacts that pop culture media can have on people's attitudes and opinions. 00:00:12.280 --> 00:00:19.440 But, if entertainment can propagate harmful ideas, then it stands to reason that it can also have positive effects on our lives. 00:00:21.540 --> 00:00:26.420 So in this video, I want to focus on media that fosters empathy and solidarity. 00:00:26.860 --> 00:00:30.860 Now admittedly, that's a pretty broad category, so to narrow it down, 00:00:31.060 --> 00:00:37.080 I'll be highlighting a handful of my favorite movies from my most formative years: the 1980s. 00:00:41.900 --> 00:00:46.460 Looking at Hollywood today, it's pretty clear that the 1980s are back in a big way. 00:00:46.840 --> 00:00:51.580 The current nostalgia craze is largely driven by Hollywood's obsession with remakes, 00:00:51.960 --> 00:00:56.540 reboots, sequels, and loving limoges to popular 80's franchises. 00:00:57.680 --> 00:01:04.519 The apex of this wave of nostalgia comes in the form of the novel turned blockbuster Ready Player One. 00:01:05.140 --> 00:01:06.960 "I was born in 2025. 00:01:07.320 --> 00:01:09.640 But I wish I'd grown up in the 1980s." 00:01:09.860 --> 00:01:12.700 Ernest Cline's book, and by extension the film, 00:01:12.700 --> 00:01:17.900 is built around a long list of superficial and rather ostentatious references 00:01:18.080 --> 00:01:20.280 to geeky pop culture entertainment. 00:01:21.100 --> 00:01:23.260 As a boy who grew up in the 1980s, 00:01:23.860 --> 00:01:27.940 most of the media that's name-dropped in Ready Player One I remember well. 00:01:28.960 --> 00:01:30.820 The Goonies, Gremlins, 00:01:30.940 --> 00:01:35.540 Weird Science, Tron, Back to the Future; I watched them all. 00:01:36.220 --> 00:01:38.300 But thinking back to my childhood, 00:01:38.520 --> 00:01:43.840 the cinematic moments that had the most profound impact on me and my emotional development 00:01:44.160 --> 00:01:47.720 weren't necessarily from the most popular or iconic movies. 00:01:48.780 --> 00:01:52.160 The movie scenes that left the biggest impression on my young mind 00:01:52.160 --> 00:01:54.860 were unapologetically sappy and sentimental. 00:01:55.320 --> 00:01:59.360 "Goodbye Charlie. I love you." 00:02:00.220 --> 00:02:06.900 They're the moments that still put a lump in my throat; the ones that make my eyes water and my heart swell. 00:02:07.560 --> 00:02:15.560 "They look like big, good, strong hands, don't they?" 00:02:15.980 --> 00:02:21.080 Movie critic Roger Ebert once said that movies are empathy-generating machines. 00:02:21.520 --> 00:02:25.820 By which he meant that we as viewers identify with the characters on the screen, 00:02:26.180 --> 00:02:30.440 and that helps us understand experiences and perspectives other than our own. 00:02:32.660 --> 00:02:39.120 Movies can also affirm the human spirit by showing us examples of what empathy and solidarity look like. 00:02:40.000 --> 00:02:44.400 Empathy is the ability to understand and share the feelings or emotions of others. 00:02:45.020 --> 00:02:46.900 Now, it's important to note that empathy 00:02:46.900 --> 00:02:53.400 isn't just feeling bad for the misfortunes of other people; empathy is about feeling what others are feeling. 00:02:55.020 --> 00:02:59.800 Solidarity is when people from diverse backgrounds find a common cause, 00:02:59.800 --> 00:03:02.600 and then work together to achieve social change. 00:03:03.500 --> 00:03:07.780 You can think of solidarity as empathy put into collective action. 00:03:09.100 --> 00:03:13.560 So with those two definitions in mind here's my personal list of 5 00:03:13.959 --> 00:03:17.969 lesser-known movies from the 1980s that helped shape our humanity 00:03:24.170 --> 00:03:25.910 The journey of natty Gann 00:03:25.910 --> 00:03:31.990 chronicles the adventures of a young woman and her canine companion as they hopped freight trains from Chicago to 00:03:32.180 --> 00:03:34.480 Washington State in a quest to find her father 00:03:36.470 --> 00:03:41.649 Set against the backdrop of the Great Depression, this is a quiet film with beautiful cinematography 00:03:42.230 --> 00:03:46.390 That shows us the world through the eyes of characters living in poverty 00:03:47.569 --> 00:03:53.619 The filmmakers deliberately place us as the audience firmly on the side of the downtrodden as 00:03:53.989 --> 00:04:00.819 We see police evicting impoverished families and company bosses treating workers with heartless and difference 00:04:02.989 --> 00:04:08.229 But while this depression-era world is harsh, it's not defined by cynicism 00:04:10.370 --> 00:04:16.779 Acts of kindness and solidarity between economically oppressed people are highlighted throughout the movie 00:04:24.860 --> 00:04:29.200 The journey of natty Gann is also reminiscent of the classic a boy 00:04:29.200 --> 00:04:35.049 And his dog adventure story genre except here. The boy is a girl and the dog is a wolf 00:04:35.750 --> 00:04:41.410 it's especially important for young women to be represented as leads in their own adventure stories and 00:04:42.020 --> 00:04:47.859 I'd argue that it's just as important for young male audiences to see these kind of representations 00:04:52.970 --> 00:04:54.970 He's a wolf 00:04:55.550 --> 00:05:03.520 Boys need to learn to identify with female characters and see women and girls as fully human equals with their own stories 00:05:07.430 --> 00:05:12.280 Nausicaa of the valley of the wind is set 1,000 years after humans have destroyed 00:05:12.650 --> 00:05:15.730 civilization and the planet in a great apocalyptic war 00:05:18.110 --> 00:05:21.010 We follow the adventures of a young woman named Nausicaa 00:05:21.320 --> 00:05:29.079 princess of one of the few remaining human kingdoms as she struggles to understand and heal a world that's been overrun by mutant creatures and 00:05:29.330 --> 00:05:31.330 toxic forests 00:05:37.970 --> 00:05:40.869 The story centers on Nausicaa struggle to restore 00:05:41.150 --> 00:05:47.560 equilibrium to the environment and to end the violent conflicts between human tribes and the giant insects of the jungle 00:05:47.870 --> 00:05:50.169 We are not your enemies. We mean you no harm 00:05:52.130 --> 00:05:58.779 In group depictions of empathy for friends teammates and family members are relatively common in pop culture media 00:05:59.630 --> 00:06:06.549 Stories, built around expressions of out-group empathy that is empathy for strangers or Outsiders to your own group are more unusual 00:06:07.250 --> 00:06:09.250 and 00:06:09.350 --> 00:06:12.909 Expressions of empathy for one's enemies are especially rare 00:06:17.350 --> 00:06:22.689 And empathy for the enemy is really the guiding principle of this film 00:06:28.730 --> 00:06:30.730 He's so badly 00:06:32.510 --> 00:06:39.069 Nausicaa remains acutely aware of the danger posed by the gigantic bug like creatures, but she nonetheless 00:06:39.620 --> 00:06:45.910 Extends her empathy to these mutant beasts, and it's that act of empathy that ultimately saves humanity 00:06:52.820 --> 00:06:55.869 It has a range of 7,000 miles 00:06:57.200 --> 00:06:59.710 And a twenty Megaton warhead 00:07:00.920 --> 00:07:05.649 Amazing Grace and Chuck is about a small-town boy. Who refuses to keep playing Little League baseball 00:07:06.230 --> 00:07:09.909 because of the existence of nuclear weapons and what the hell is this about 00:07:12.350 --> 00:07:14.120 Just can't play 00:07:14.120 --> 00:07:16.149 Can't play because there's nuclear weapons 00:07:17.090 --> 00:07:19.090 SEC had to do with baseball 00:07:19.190 --> 00:07:22.299 Nothing, what's my best thing? I have to give up something I 00:07:23.150 --> 00:07:25.629 Feel real bad about this. You know that 00:07:27.920 --> 00:07:29.920 Game 00:07:31.070 --> 00:07:38.379 His protest inspires the professional basketball star amazing grace to join his strike and together they organize a global 00:07:38.660 --> 00:07:40.660 movement for nuclear disarmament 00:07:42.800 --> 00:07:50.590 Hollywood very rarely gets political activism right the depiction of activism in most movies is limited to raising awareness or 00:07:50.960 --> 00:07:52.960 personal acts of defiance 00:07:53.540 --> 00:07:59.230 Amazing grace and Chuck on the other hand manages to show how social change actually happens 00:08:01.150 --> 00:08:08.669 Social change is brought about when organizers raise social costs higher and higher until it becomes more advantageous 00:08:09.130 --> 00:08:10.660 for the powers-that-be 00:08:10.660 --> 00:08:14.369 To give in to people's demands than to keep opposing their cause 00:08:15.490 --> 00:08:21.240 In the movie we see this play out when so many athletes joined Chuck's strike that it forces all 00:08:21.550 --> 00:08:24.270 professional sporting leagues to cancel their seasons 00:08:25.510 --> 00:08:32.220 destroy professional sports most college athletics high school scores resume even such things as Little League 00:08:32.559 --> 00:08:38.940 So far it has made a shambles of the World Cup Wimbledon and events as far away as India and mainland, China 00:08:39.280 --> 00:08:46.169 These protests raise social costs to the point where the public the media and world leaders have to pay attention 00:08:47.650 --> 00:08:50.669 Hello, Chuck, and then bruh grudgingly take action 00:08:52.150 --> 00:08:54.629 In the end the world has radically changed 00:08:55.630 --> 00:08:58.739 But unlike most Hollywood movies this social 00:08:59.110 --> 00:09:04.830 Transformation is not brought about by defeating the bad guys or through the actions of benevolent leaders 00:09:06.040 --> 00:09:13.499 This social change comes from the bottom up it comes from people organizing and standing in solidarity together 00:09:19.000 --> 00:09:26.069 Harry and the Hendersons is about a typical white American family who accidentally hit Bigfoot with their station wagon 00:09:29.139 --> 00:09:31.139 The 00:09:31.839 --> 00:09:37.619 Family's relationship with this gentle giant who they named Harry ultimately changes their lives forever 00:09:40.569 --> 00:09:45.089 This one really is better than a campy Bigfoot movie has any right to be 00:09:47.110 --> 00:09:55.079 Over the course of the film the empathy that Harry demonstrates towards other living creatures inspires the family to rethink their worldview 00:09:56.110 --> 00:09:58.289 especially in regards to hunting and guns 00:09:59.139 --> 00:10:03.299 the father played by John Lithgow undergoes an especially striking 00:10:03.699 --> 00:10:10.409 transformation from avid hunter and firearms dealer to someone who over the objections of his own father learns to value 00:10:11.050 --> 00:10:14.370 Non-violence and embrace his creative side. Did you dress? 00:10:17.470 --> 00:10:19.470 Beautiful 00:10:20.470 --> 00:10:28.170 Depictions of men and boys who reject guns and violence as markers of their manhood are critically important in our current culture I 00:10:29.020 --> 00:10:34.650 Wanted King Kong you brought me a god damn giant gerbil. I told you exactly what to do 00:10:35.410 --> 00:10:39.660 Maybe it's right on the nose. I mean how do we know maybe it's not vicious at all 00:10:40.030 --> 00:10:44.939 Maybe it's gentle even has feelings. Where'd you dream of that shit? 00:10:46.180 --> 00:10:52.859 As this movie illustrates, there's no reason Hollywood can't present empathy as a defining feature of masculinity 00:10:57.670 --> 00:10:59.050 Batteries not included 00:10:59.050 --> 00:11:05.760 centers on the tenants of an old New York City apartment building who are resisting a real estate tycoons efforts to evict them in order 00:11:05.760 --> 00:11:07.760 To build a skyscraper 00:11:11.020 --> 00:11:13.619 The residents are a band of down on their luck 00:11:13.620 --> 00:11:20.549 But kind-hearted misfits who find unlikely allies in a group of mechanical aliens looking for a place to recharge 00:11:22.030 --> 00:11:25.139 our group of humans embrace their strange 00:11:25.750 --> 00:11:26.670 extraterrestrial visitors 00:11:26.670 --> 00:11:34.289 And they all work together to help their new friends by providing fuel and energy for the aliens reproductive process 00:11:41.210 --> 00:11:48.460 In return the mechanical life-forms help the residents by repairing damage done to their building by the tycoons henchmen 00:11:54.860 --> 00:11:58.450 This story is really built around solidarity on all sides 00:11:59.030 --> 00:12:05.139 The human tenants and the alien creatures come from very different backgrounds and have very different needs 00:12:05.140 --> 00:12:09.939 But they still feel for each other and work to provide mutual aid and support 00:12:11.930 --> 00:12:13.930 Going back and re watching these 00:12:14.570 --> 00:12:19.599 unapologetically sincere and sentimental movies feels like an antidote to the superficial or 00:12:20.150 --> 00:12:23.919 Ironic appeals to nostalgia that saturates much of Hollywood today 00:12:26.960 --> 00:12:33.849 Now I should say that none of the movies on my list are without their flaws like a lot of pop culture in the 1980s 00:12:33.950 --> 00:12:39.429 Some include racial stereotypes and the stories mostly focus on the experiences of white people 00:12:40.250 --> 00:12:46.989 Still the core themes of empathy and solidarity had a profound impact on me and my values growing up 00:12:47.990 --> 00:12:53.289 My list is of course a personal one and therefore specific to my identity and my upbringing 00:12:55.190 --> 00:12:58.390 Depending on your age your gender and your cultural background 00:12:59.090 --> 00:13:02.259 Your own list of movies will likely look quite a bit different 00:13:03.220 --> 00:13:10.020 If I were making a list like this one but for media from this decade there are a handful of excellent movies that I definitely 00:13:10.270 --> 00:13:17.969 Include I have made video essay is discussing a few of them like wall-e and fantastic beasts, which you can find elsewhere on this channel 00:13:18.610 --> 00:13:25.050 But entertainment, built around empathy and solidarity is still relatively uncommon in 2018 00:13:26.560 --> 00:13:33.690 Which is too bad because we really need more movies that embrace their role as empathy generating machines I 00:13:35.350 --> 00:13:41.640 Hope you enjoyed this look back at some of my favorite movies from the 1980s if you'd like to see more of these long form 00:13:41.640 --> 00:13:47.999 video essays that examine the messages in our media then please consider going over to patreon and helping to fund this project there 00:13:48.040 --> 00:13:52.020 There's also a link to PayPal in the description below next time 00:13:52.020 --> 00:13:56.189 We'll be talking about a rather disturbing action movie trope called abduction as romance