I Love the 80s

by Katrina Martin

It's incredible how many of my childhood memories involve pop culture. Take for instance the day I saw E.T. for the first time. I was five. During the movie I completely fell in love with E.T. in an irrationally fierce way. I never wanted him to leave Elliot or Earth, even though I knew he would die if he remained.

From the moment Elliot found E.T. in the ditch to E.T.'s final words, ("I'll be right here," he says, pointing to Elliot's heart with his light bulb finger) I cried. Wait, no - I sobbed uncontrollably. That kind of crying where you can't catch your breath and snot runs copiously from your nostrils. Thinking about the movie still makes me teary and I can't watch it without an entire box of tissue and a paper bag to prevent hyperventilation.

So as I walked out of the theater a teary, snotty, wailing mess, my mother tried to reassure me that E.T. was okay, he was happy, and most important, that he wasn't real. This last piece backfired on her - it made me sob harder. During the drive to my grandparents' house she managed to calm me down, only to be thwarted by her mother who asked me, "How did you like the movie?" The waterworks flowed even faster that time.

An hour later we arrived at our favorite spaghetti restaurant. I ravenously ate my spaghetti, smearing sauce all over my face. When my mother took me to the restroom to clean up, we overheard two teenagers discussing E.T.. I started up again. Another woman entered the restroom and asked what was wrong. My poor mother had to explain my undying love for a space alien played by an incredibly small man in a rubber suit. Just imagine.

Then there was my Madonna stage. Third grade. I had an endless supply of black and white lace with which I tied up my hair. I wore black plastic bracelets halfway up my left forearm and colored bangles on my right wrist -- they clinked and clanked all day long. Big, baggy shirts worn over tight black leggings made up most of my wardrobe. And my friend Amy and I spent much of our free time singing and dancing to Madonna's first two albums. My mom even allowed me to watch Madonna Live - The Virgin Tour in which Madonna gyrates on the stage in an unchaste white wedding gown during "Like a Virgin."

One summer afternoon Amy and I had the brilliant idea to put on a show for the neighborhood. We would dress up as Madonna and dance around Amy's backyard to the entire Like a Virgin album. We asked the adults to bring food for a potluck. We knew if we offered food, they'd at least stick around for that.

We spent weeks perfecting our routines and planning our costumes. We even gave my five-year-old brother a role during "Material Girl." Looking back, I feel for those brave souls who showed up. We must have looked ridiculous doing the same dance steps over and over for what had to have felt like an eternity to our audience. But they clapped, thanked us for a lovely show and ate lots of food. We felt like rock stars.

And although I don't have television now, my early years were absolutely shaped by the shows we watched: Fraggle Rock, Pinwheel, Today's Special, Sesame Street, He-Man, Thundercats, The Bionic Woman, Wonder Woman, Inspector Gadget, Punky Brewster...the list stretches for miles.

I think my two all-time favorite shows were The Incredible Hulk and The Dukes of Hazzard. The Incredible Hulk scared the pants off me, yet I came back for more every week. I always crawled into my Dad's lap when David Banner got angry and his shirt started ripping. One night I thought I saw the Hulk on my wall and screamed so loud it nearly gave my father a heart attack. But I kept watching.

The Dukes of Hazzard was a no-excuses show, meaning nothing kept me and my brother from watching it. We could sing the theme song - "Makin' their way the only way they know how/ Well that's just a little bit more than the law will allow" - and pronounce Rosco P. Coltrane correctly. And we both wanted our very own orange Dodge Charger with "01" painted on the sides and no glass in the windows. I often played Dukes of Hazzard in preschool, tooling around the concrete on a tricycle. I was always Daisy, but that was okay because she drove a Jeep.

I think my childhood memories will always be connected to pop culture, because I was so immersed in it. I watched those television shows together with my family and friends. And when we sit around and reminisce about my childhood, the moments I described are the ones we remember. These pop culture snippets bring us together. It seems a bit silly now, but as the cheesy VH-1 show says, "I Love the 80s" and I wouldn't have it any other way.