Scenery and Costumes
The 80s were a time of bright colors, big hair, and synth-filled music, all of which showed through in their movie musicals. In 1980's Fame, New York City was used as a back drop for the story of teenagers going to school to become performing artists. Since the movie took place in the city and was set at the time of filming, the sets are urban, helping show both what the city was like at the time as well as giving insight on what kind of world the characters were growing up in. Costumes were the movie were bright and showed popular styles of the day: legwarmers, loose-fitting shirts, and the ever-popular jeans. Since it was at the very beginning of the decade, the hairstyles did not have quite as much volume as later films. In the movie Footloose (1984), sets were designed to look like a small, Midwestern town. Corn fields were abundant and houses were far apart. Keeping with the small-town persona, costumes tended to be more conservative than typical 80s fare, leaning more towards plaid shirts and jean shirts. 1985's A Chorus Line used a theatre as its main backdrop, since the story is about different people all trying to make it as dancers. Their costumes reflect that as well as they wear brightly colored leotards, sweatpants, and big hair. In Hairspay (1988), the viewer gets to see a take in the 60s from the perspective of someone in the 80s. The sets were designed to recall the sixties, but still displayed the bold colors and ideas of the 80s. This also showed through in the colorful costumes.
Languages and Songs
During the 80s, there were many slang words and colloquialisms. By using these in the movies created then about that same time, it demonstrated the culture of the day. Fame and Footloose especially give a good look at the vocabulary of the day since they resolve around teenagers, who tend to show the culture of the day more than any other age group. When talking about other time periods, such as the 60s in Hairspray, the creators used terminology from the time period to illustrate it better. As in Footloose and Fame, Hairspray's main characters are teenagers, again helping demonstrate the slang of the time. The songs of these movies also talk a lot about values of the day. Inspired by the rock stars of the 80s, many teenagers wanted to be famous, as shown by Fame. This also shows through in Hairspray, where the main character dreams of being on a dance tv show.
Pop Culture References
The 80s had a very distinct culture and it very much showed through in movie musicals of the decade. One thing on many people's minds at the time was fame and celebrity. As mentioned before, movies like Fame and A Chorus Line center on the topic. Dance is also another recurring theme, showing up in all examples films used here. In addition to Hairspray's dance tv shows, Fame has kids training to be dancers, Footloose centers on a teenager trying to get a law against public dancing repealed, and A Chorus Line is about people trying to make it as professional dancers. As dancing was extremely popular in the 80s, this really demonstrates the culture of the decade.