Reagan Rock and The Cold War.

padraig (u.s.)

padraig (u.s.)

a monkey that will go ape
and going the other way those 80s action flicks are selling consumerism as much pugnacity

get biceps, drink Coke
 
padraig (u.s.)

padraig (u.s.)

a monkey that will go ape
the contrast between 80s muscularity and the muscularity of now is an interesting one, and I think you're onto something there
 
droid

droid

Well-known member
The political rhetoric inverts this - Reagan's threats of national castration, impotence through big government and taxes, and the promise of narcissistic gratification via freedom from regulation and external constraint, exaggerated to comical proportions by Trump's cartoon simplifications.
 
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luka

luka

Well-known member
droid said:
The political rhetoric mirrors this too, Reagan's rhetorical threats of national castration, impotence through big government and taxes, and the promise of narcissistic gratification via freedom from regulation and external constraint, exaggerated to comical proportions by Trump's cartoon simplifications.
Click to expand...

Surely we have to understand the trump presidency as, in part, an attempt to Resserect the Reagan era, when Trump was in the prime of his life and the values n represented were in the ascendant.
 
droid

droid

Well-known member
A reminder that so much of politics works on a very simple, base symbolic level, deep male fear of emasculation being the current zeitgeist.

EPoxOE_XUAM7pYF.jpg


Kentucky capitol building today.
 
droid

droid

Well-known member
luka said:
Surely we have to understand the trump presidency as, in part, an attempt to Resserect the Reagan era, when Trump was in the prime of his life and the values n represented were in the ascendant.
Click to expand...

Of course, and TBH, Reagan's reign wasn't very different.
 
luka

luka

Well-known member
Simon can talk more about this but there is a whole strain of queasy '50s revivalism running through the 70s and 80s I've seen it on TOTPs 2
 
luka

luka

Well-known member
padraig (u.s.) said:
one difference between the muscularity of the 80s and now is artificiality, or perceived artificiality

80s muscles are steroidal, slathered in baby oil (that part is directly from bodybuilding), etc

the muscles of now are Crossfit, functional strength, etc

this being something I actually know about
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I take your point but at the same time I have to ask, functional for what? For the kind of male manual labour jobs and lifestyles which barely exist any more. In both cases it's fantasy I think. Not to say it's not useful to be able to get the lid of a jam jar.
 
V

version

Well-known member
padraig (u.s.) said:
Reagan rock to me is: the death of dreams, there is no such thing as society (qua Thatcher), the musical tastes of Patrick Bateman

Huey Lewis + the News, Robert Palmer

Tom Cruise in Cocktail

and you're right about: gated drums, saxophones, etc

music designed by and for cocaine
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I was listening to Robert Palmer the other day and was struck by how odd he looked for a rock/pop star. It's like watching Gordon Gecko doing karaoke.

 
V

version

Well-known member
The tunes are kinda catchy, but he has no presence at all, moves really awkwardly. He looks like Martin Amis trying to impersonate a rockstar.
 
padraig (u.s.)

padraig (u.s.)

a monkey that will go ape
luka said:
I take your point but at the same time I have to ask, functional for what?
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fitness is an end unto itself

one of the things I dislike most about modern society is that once you're an adult physical fitness, and activity generally, is a hobby

obviously people are encouraged by doctors etc to exercise, but it's something you pursue in your spare time, after work/other responsibilities

and it's something that's difficult if not impossible for many people to pursue, due to lack of time/resources

and along with poor diet, you see the massively deleterious effects on public health
 
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