Love American Style skit
I recently discovered this clip on YouTube of a skit from the early 70s TV series, Love American Style. I remember seeing this when I was a little kid and becoming fascinated with the idea of a nudist resort. Fast forward all these years later and here I am going to them all the time!
Does anyone else remember seeing this back in the day? It brought back a lot of memories.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_UP1fEKtaA4
Is it just me, or shows back in the 70s were able to add some social commentary to their storylines, and took the chance to show some skin, not as something that could be considered gratuitous but more as a way of opening peoples minds ? Sorry if this doesnt make much sense considering previous commentaries, but I really felt like taking part in this :)
I think it goes without saying that there was a big backlash in the 80s against the progressive topics we saw in US entertainment and pop culture in the 70s - probably due to Reagan and the rise of the religious right and the "moral majority." But I think the pendulum has finally swung back the other way - probably due to the explosion of media options. You have to remember there were only three major networks in the early 70s, four if you counted your local PBS, and now there are literally hundreds of options on cable; possibly thousands when you include Internet streaming providers. I think that makes it easier for content like this to exist under the radar now, which protects it somewhat from censors and boycotts. But on the flip side that may make it harder to find. You have to know what you're looking for or you have to get lucky and stumble across it.
Even though I was only born in 1984 I remember watching some american shows made in the 1980s and when I look back on them, I have to say that the topics some of them did adress, were not pushing the envelope as far as the topics that they approached were concerned, when compared to the shows done in the 70s, but there is one thing that I liked about 80s television: women were the central characters of some great tv shows, I particularly liked Moonlight with Cybill Sheperd and Bruce Willis and also that show with Angela Lansbury whose title I cant seem to remember right now. Maybe in the US, things did get a bit more conservative under the Reagan administration, but when you look across the pond, to Britain for instance, you had two women who werent afraid to be funny and also add some social and political commentaries into their sketches, and in case youve never heard of them, do check them out: French&Saunders aka Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders - theyre amazing :)
Even though I was only born in 1984 I remember watching some american shows made in the 1980s and when I look back on them, I have to say that the topics some of them did adress, were not pushing the envelope as far as the topics that they approached were concerned, when compared to the shows done in the 70s, but there is one thing that I liked about 80s television: women were the central characters of some great tv shows, I particularly liked Moonlight with Cybill Sheperd and Bruce Willis and also that show with Angela Lansbury whose title I cant seem to remember right now. Maybe in the US, things did get a bit more conservative under the Reagan administration, but when you look across the pond, to Britain for instance, you had two women who werent afraid to be funny and also add some social and political commentaries into their sketches, and in case youve never heard of them, do check them out: French&Saunders aka Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders - theyre amazing :)
I agree! "Moonlighting" was a great show and the one with Angela Lansbury was "Murder, She Wrote", also a great one that still holds up. "Murphy Brown" also was a show with a central woman character. You mention here one of my absolute all time favorites in "French and Saunders" (also, "Absolutely Fabulous"). Jennifer Saunders and Dawn French are both absolutely brilliant! In just thinking about this, I am reminded of "Saturday Night Live". The shows were biting and direct in the 70's and went through an artistic slump in the 80's. There were still brilliant sketches but I'm not sure they pushed envelopes as much as they did in the 70's. It came back later, but one thing that has been a constant is that it has always had strong women who stand out equally with men. Since this is Truenudists I will mention that although they don't show any real nudity on SNL, they have dealt with the subject many times. There have been nudist colony sketches and I remember the one with Martha Stewart doing a (blurred out)topless tour of her house! Pretty funny! And the idea of taking someone as seemingly conservative as Martha Stewart and having her go toplesstook a brilliant satiricalpoke at the whole idea of uptight propriety as opposed to nudity! I liked it.
I think it goes without saying that there was a big backlash in the 80s against the progressive topics we saw in US entertainment and pop culture in the 70s - probably due to Reagan and the rise of the religious right and the "moral majority." But I think the pendulum has finally swung back the other way - probably due to the explosion of media options. You have to remember there were only three major networks in the early 70s, four if you counted your local PBS, and now there are literally hundreds of options on cable; possibly thousands when you include Internet streaming providers. I think that makes it easier for content like this to exist under the radar now, which protects it somewhat from censors and boycotts. But on the flip side that may make it harder to find. You have to know what you're looking for or you have to get lucky and stumble across it.
I really agree with this. There was a big backlash in the 80's against the progressive topics in the culture of the 60's and 70's both in entertainment in the society as a whole.I think weare still feeling that backlash today. The 80's was also when the gang showers in gymnasiums began being converted to closed and individual ones! Andwhen the YMCA stopped naked swims forthe men and boys. And some deep political polarizations set in at the same time.These seem like such far stretches but I do not at all believe they are. Some of this fear of nudity came from the equating of nudity with sex in a time sexuality became a fearful subject with the onset of the AIDS crisis. The good thing is that the popular culture and the entertainment medium is finally swinging back. Through rich writing, directing and acting we now have these characters in "Mad Men" and "Breaking Bad" dealing in worlds of such complexity. "True Blood" and "Weeds" and "Oz" too. And they have nudity!
I think that the 1980s will always be considered as the decade when things that people hold most dearest and somehow unbreakable, were, somehow, crushed. Political speaking for instance, I think that people did not expect that the world would go through such a whirlwind. As I said before, Im a child of the 80s but only recently have I began to study that decade quite thoroughly, and one thing that the articles that I read did stress out is how tense that decade was. Take Britain, for instance, you had a woman in charge, and I think that people expected her to be or act the way women are expected to act, but Margaret Thatcher was like nothing they had ever seen before, and I guess that those who lived through the 60s, who had hoped to see a woman as prime minister, did not expect to see that particular woman - I believe that most would have liked to see someone like Emma Peel of The Avengers or the character Vanessa Redgrave played in Blow Up (may be stretching myself a bit too much here, but I really do). I mention The Avengers because for me it was the perfect example of a show where a woman was better than the man, who was actually quite good too. Emma Peel was smart, stylish, sexy, witty and even though she was sometimes rescued by Steed, she never sounded miserable or sad, she almost rose above the occasion and she did so brilliantly. I love South Park, I really do, but I do think that perhaps they should just leave something to our imagination without being so out there, I mean, I wish that sometimes they were a bit like The Simpsons, which, and even though not as good as it once was, it is still a great example of a show that sometimes is not afraid to put the finger right in the wound. I only wish that my country had so many exemples, so much wealth sort of speak, as far as a wide range of themes is concerned, but since Portugall only regained its democratic values 40 years ago .... I guess we still have a long way to go :)
Actions
Back to TopicsReply to TopicShare this topic
Get paid just by sending us users/traffic.
Signup takes seconds, start now!
Signup as an affiliate!