Session Two 1980s Feelgood Department of Film & Audiovisual Culture, Masaryk University Dr. Richard Nowell ¨ ¨ ¨To develop a sound understanding of: ¨ ¨1. 1980s Feelgood & Hollywood History ¨ ¨2. Amblin and the Comfort Viewing Mode ¨ ¨3. The Commercial Logic of 1980s Feelgood ¨As we saw last time, the label “Comfort Viewing” only recently emerged to describe media that offers psychosocial support to viewers ¨ ¨Yet, we should note that US media using the Comfort Viewing Mode – connection, nostalgia, uplift, sincerity, and familiarity – is nothing new ¨ ¨For example, the American director Frank Capra specialized in such output in the 1930s and 1940s, including It’s A Wonderful Life (1946) ¨ ¨Similarly, feel-good sitcoms have been a staple of US television for generations, from MASH (1972–83) to Friends (1994–04) and beyond ¨ ¨But the 1980s is the period most associated with what we may now call calculated Comfort Viewing, esp. the Hollywood cinema of this decade ¨Recognizing the prevalence of the Comfort Viewing Mode at this time enables us to revise understandings of 1980s Hollywood ¨ ¨Film historians tend to portray 1980s Hollywood as a place where emotionality was eclipsed by cold commercial calculation ¨ ¨They argue that financial pressures of the day led Hollywood to sharpen its business practices in order to maximize returns ¨ ¨This imperative gave rise to High Concept, which paired slick, accessible content with clear brand images and merchandising ¨ ¨Such histories emphasize corporate rationality, marketability, and profitability, usually saying little of a film’s themes or uptake ¨ ¨ ¨ ¨ ¨Brown’s study of the US trade and popular press in the late 20th and early 21st centuries explains why the term “feelgood cinema” emerged ¨ ¨In so doing, helps to appreciate why a major production trend in 1980s Hollywood amounts to a topical variant of the Comfort Viewing Mode ¨ ¨ ¨1. To what social phenomena does Brown link Hollywood feelgood films of the 1980s? ¨ ¨2. What does he suggest feel-good cinema meant to stakeholders at this time? ¨ ¨ ¨Brown suggests that imagining some films as feelgood derives from social and industrial phenomena of the late 20th century ¨ ¨He argues that the pursuit of sensory pleasure driving many Americans, motivating commercial sectors to serve this need ¨ ¨He explains the self-esteem movement motivated drug culture, psychotherapy, politics, self-help media, and film reception ¨ ¨He shows discussion of uplifting films as Feelgood films began in the 1970s, increasing in the ‘80s in response to industry shifts ¨ ¨He also shows us that, by the mid-1970s, Hollywood studio heads adopted feel-good as a calculated film production strategy ¨ ¨Much Hollywood output of the 1980s – including many High Concept properties – were used the Comfort Viewing Mode ¨ ¨Steven Spielberg was the most prominent practitioner of 1980s Hollywood feelgood; less as director per. se. than as a producer ¨ ¨Spielberg’s Amblin Entertainment patterned its Comfort Viewing approach after its mega-hit E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial ¨ ¨Subsequent hits including Gremlins and The Goonies led to its approach being adopted by myriad filmmakers across the 1980s ¨ ¨Amblin’s flagship output was assembled around a textual model positing the films themselves as solutions to real-world issues ¨ ¨ ¨ ¨1. What issues complicate the lives of the protagonists in this film? ¨ ¨2. How do encounters with remarkable phenomena change them as individuals? ¨ ¨3. How does this material suggest this film can improve viewers’ lives? ¨This reworking of Close Encounters offers a promotional allegory of how Amblin hopes its output may benefit viewers ¨ ¨It centralizes a sad boy from a broken home who struggles to develop emotionally, leaving him lonely, cynical, and alienated ¨ ¨His life changes when he meets an empathic alien bearing the name of the film and realized through “movie magic” effects ¨ ¨This transforms him into a sincere empath whose yearning for the return of his father is redirected into connecting with others ¨ ¨As E.T. leaves and the film ends, both boy and audience alike are reminded these lessons will stay with us; “I’ll be right here” ¨ ¨ ¨ ¨“I’m gonna make a movie about little children: what kids do between the the hours of three in the afternoon and seven in the night, when they leave school and go home for dinner; when they – eight-, nine-year-olds – are little adults.” – Steven Spielberg, 1977 ¨ ¨“I saw this as a story about a family, a dysregulated family in disrepair after suffering the tragedy of divorce, and how E.T. was able to give so much esteem back to Elliot and to Gerdy and to Michael; and in a sense pull that family together. It had given such a gift to that family … that was the intention and that’s the role E.T. played and continues to this day to play” – Steven Spielberg, 1997 ¨ ¨ ¨ ¨1. What issues complicate the lives of the protagonists in this film? ¨ ¨2. How do encounters with remarkable phenomena change them as individuals? ¨ ¨3. How does this material suggest the films can improve viewers’ lives? ¨This film exemplifies Amblin’s reapplication of the Comfort Viewing Mode to the the textual model derived from E.T. ¨ ¨The kids have developed coping strategies to deal with familial and interpersonal issues, and the destruction of their community ¨ ¨Thrust into an old movie-like adventure, their spirits are raised as they save the community by becoming sincere empaths ¨ ¨This self-reflexivity posits encounters with the film can help younger viewers cope when such issues affect their own lives ¨ ¨Perhaps for this reason this moderate hit is now perhaps the most beloved example of 1980s Hollywood feelgood cinema ¨ ¨ ¨ ¨Amblin’s specialty approach to Comfort Viewing positioned its films as a timely means of support for discontented Americans ¨ ¨It applied the Comfort Viewing Mode to tales of small-town Americans growing from encounters with remarkable things ¨ ¨This approach advanced the notion that folks benefited from such encounters: even when only viewing them on the screen ¨ ¨Amblin conflated the roles of the remarkable phenomena of its films and the brand-name filmmaker fronting the company ¨ ¨Such conduct encouraged audiences to welcome Amblin films into their lives as regular emotional support … like a therapist ¨ ¨ ¨ ¨Amblin’s approach to Comfort Viewing exploited a technology innovation so as to address growing psychosocial issues stateside ¨ ¨Home video recalibrated US film consumption from a structured, social leisure activity into a flexible, domestic, private encounter ¨ ¨It also destigmatized lone viewing, transforming it from a visible sign of failed socialization into a deeply personal experience ¨ ¨Pornographers thrived as early home video adopters by aiming to avoid consumer discomfort of consuming porn publicly in theaters ¨ ¨Lest we forget, both porn and (other) Comfort Viewing monetize intimate, immersive, emotionally intense media engagement ¨Amblin’s approach to Comfort Viewing capitalized on home video to position its output as supporting viewers psychosocially ¨ ¨Its Comfort Viewing brought the structure and support of a postwar middle-class upbringing to Americans deemed at risk ¨ ¨For, as Brown suggests, the 1980s witnessed increased concern about the impact of American life on Americans’ mental health ¨ ¨These included prominent concerns about children’s wellbeing amid increases in divorce, internal migration, and absent parents ¨ ¨Such concerns were encapsulated in the figure of latchkey kids; children who looked after themselves as their parent(s) worked ¨ ¨ ¨ ¨Commercial success catapulted Amblin to the forefront of the American movie business, inspiring a surge in feelgood films ¨ ¨Many mimicked Amblin, by depicting troubled Americans improving their lives after encountering remarkable phenomena ¨ ¨Others developed different ways of applying the Comfort Viewing Mode, while still promoting their real-world value ¨ ¨Thus, John Hughes specialized in cultivating young adults with films that invited them to join his therapeutic Breakfast Club ¨ ¨Others still offered uplift by fashioning celluloid equivalents of the cocaine sweeping the American media industries at the time ¨While the label “Comfort Viewing” is quite new, media employing the Comfort Viewing Mode boast a long history in Anglophone cultures ¨ ¨Approaching these films as Comfort Viewing revises dominant histories of a period often characterized by corporate calculation, not emotionality ¨ ¨This is exemplified by Hollywood’s feelgood films of the 1980s, esp. those of Steven Spielberg’s production company Amblin Entertainment ¨ ¨Amblin specialized in feelgood films about troubled Americans being transformed through their encounters with remarkable phenomena ¨ ¨These allegorized the psychosocial benefits the films offered to lonely people, especially latchkey kids newly able to view them in the home ¨ ¨ ¨The Comfort Viewing Mode also enriches our understanding of cultural history, including one of the most prominent movements in recent times ¨ ¨Topic: Metamodernism ¨ ¨Readings: Rustad & Schwind, Metamodern Sitcoms. ¨ ¨Home Screenings: The Muppets (2011) ¨ Community, Season 1 Episodes 1, 3, 10, (2009) ¨ ¨[Preparatory Questions on MS TEAMS and in the Syllabus] ¨ ¨Meeting: Thursday 26 October ¨