“Just in case you forgot, 99% of the people in Hollywood are certified idiots. Ryan Reynolds, you know him from Deadpool and maybe a couple of rom-coms, thinks that the ‘80s are over-romanticized and had lots of trauma from various events. You know, like the Bay of Pigs Invasion and resulting Cuban missile crisis in 1962.”
Cheap shot. Reynolds didn’t say that the Cuban Missile Crisis happened in the 80’s. He said that people were anxious about their future in the Eighties because of Cold War events like that one. Here are more attacks on his comments:
I knew many, many people who were convinced that Ronald Reagan was going to start World War III, including my late wife. Why? Because the news media, though not nearly as biased and partisan as it is now, kept pushing that Democratic Party scaremongering talking point. In Washington, D.C, a snake-pit of the Left, the anxiety was palpable. Reagan talked tough to the Soviets and rejected Jimmy Carter’s weenie-ism regarding the USSR, aka. “detente.”
The Horror.
Today the average American under 30 knows almost nothing about the Cuban Missile Crisis, but Reynolds is right: in the 80’s, that experience was still raw in many people’s minds, including mine. Now, Reynolds is handicapped by being from Canada and his bubble is Hollywood, so he can be forgiven for having a warped perspective. Then there is this: A huge proportion of the movie community is gay or one of the other letters, and the Eighties were terrifying for that demographic. Reynolds isn’t going to be frank about that factor, so, searching, he defaulted to the peak of the Cold War as the source of 80’s terror. It is a fact, however, that the 80s were “really scary” if you were gay, bi-sexual, had multiple sex partners or thought you could catch AIDS from a kiss or a touch, as many kids Ryan’s age then (and their parents) believed.
Now be fair, YB. Americans may have been dying of embarrassment because of Jimmy Carter’s weenie handling of that mess, but nobody lost any sleep over some existential danger from Iran, which wasn’t an aspiring nuclear power then. And as soon as Reagan was in office, Iran showed it wouldn’t screw with the US while the Gipper was in charge.
You didn’t find the ineptitude more than a little unsettling? And the premier of “Death to America?” I can’t help thinking maybe the Mullahs and the IRGC could have been nipped in the bud if we had been paying attention.
And let’s not forget, the Russians blinked. They removed their ICBMs from, essentially, Dade and Monroe Counties.
Americans tend to have very short memories. The CMC was 20-25 years earlier and we weren’t still living in that shadow. What I remember in 1982 was the 14.5% mortgage on our new house with a 5-year prepayment penalty – thank you Jimmy Carter. Reagan was respected the world over for his strong stance in defense of the USA, but even then leftists thought being strong was scary. The 80’s were frightening with respect to AIDS, but otherwise not so terrible. And RR was darling in Deadpool (OG). Fun story line, snappy dialogue, great action, wonderful makeup.
The movie is set as the cold war is ending…so 1988ish.
“When you get far enough away from a time period that’s quite distinct, there’s always a lovely feeling associated with it, almost like you pave over all the trauma with puppy dogs and ice cream. The 80s was a brutal, brutal time for people. It was a fucking mess and people forget that…It was a tremendous strife. Socio political tensions everywhere.”
What’s his example of all this horror in the 80s?
Angst over something that happened that happened 26 years prior.
Nah, that’s worthy of mockery.
Was there stuff worthy of worrying about in 1988, as the cold war was coming to an end. Sure. But if it was so bad that Ryan Reynolds feels obligated to comment on how bad it was, it’s incumbent on him to have a little bit better research prepared than “Cuban Missile Crisis”.
Frankly, it was only bad for doofus Hollywood types because Communism was in full retreat and Capitalism was being vindicated by the day.
Can you name a decade prior to like 1995 that wasn’t in some sort of way ‘brutal’ for gays? And if the case is that it was mostly almost always ‘brutal’ for gays, why would that make the 80s special.
I think Ryan Reynolds is a typical hollywood socialist. Unthinking. Quick to trash anything good for society that involves Republicans. In such a knee jerk way that he has to do penance to appearing in a movie about the end of the cold war (which Reagan brought about).
Did some governing apparatus cause that? If Ryan Reynolds wants to stake the claim that the 1980s was a decade in which there was some special excess of natural consequences for personal conduct abounded in ways that the previous multiple-millennia of civilization was immune to, then he’s worthy of even more ridicule.
In a word, yes. The main source of terror and anxiety in the US, but especially in Hollywood and in the artistic community, was “the gay disease.” In early 1981, a close actor friend couldn’t come to a wedding party for Grace and me because he was going home to Wales “to die.” At that point, no one even called the disease “AIDS.” Furthermore, non-gays thought they could catch it from being close to those who were infected. The news media sold the canard that conventional sex with an infected person risked infection—that was to make sure straights were properly terrified too and would push for a cure. In my community theater circle at the time, several friends died of AIDS, and horribly.
Heck, what % of the population was killed by the Wuhan virus, but we had schools closed, the economy ruined and people afraid to go out in public without a mask!
Reframe Reynold’s words as a nonsensical defense of his film. He had to say something. Expressing sensitivity to feelings, even with factual nonsense, will not get you cancelled. Mocked by the common sense crowd. Not cancelled. He also also spoke with comedic consistency to his popular character.
Bingo. I have found myself fighting to be articulate, reasonable and interesting while being interviewed on TV and radio. As Old Lodgeskins says in “Little Big Man,” a terrific and unique film that has been “cancelled” for political correctness, “Sometimes the magic works, sometimes it doesn’t.”
I sure don’t remember that decade as being scary. Aside from the Iran hostage situation, the Falklands War was about the only major thing I recall on the world stage in the 80’s. We were glad to see Reagan take office as he brought respectability for the US – the world knew that they couldn’t mess with him as they did with Carter.
I graduated from college in 1981, jobs were scarce and I spent the next 2 years mowing grass for the park district for $5 an hour during the day and bartending at night. But I paid rent and never wanted for anything. Our first mortgage in 85 was over 13%, but a year later the economy had rebounded somewhat and we refinanced down to less than 7%. Somehow the wife and I managed to survive on a combined income of less than $40k. Scary? A decade of horror? Hardly.
But you have a point, the AIDS ‘crisis’ did have a lot of gay folks and those who knew them very scared. You may recall a young boy in Indiana named Ryan White contacted the disease through a blood transfusion and the community and the entire state went nuts. Elton John among others got involved to try and lend some sanity to the situation.
If I recall correctly it was President Reagan that launched an all out blitz on the AIDS virus to find a cure. I don’t fully understand why the Gay community lived in terror unless they were advocates for multiple partners and shunned best practices to avoid it.
Ryan Reynolds knew about that? I hardly doubt it.. Reynolds may be smart but not smart. I grew up in they late 1970s and early 1980s. I never heard that expression. And I doubt patient Zero was Cuban, considering the virus originated in Africa.
I’d say the Iranian hostage crisis and the disastrous failed rescue mission were much fresher in people’s minds in the ’80s.
Now be fair, YB. Americans may have been dying of embarrassment because of Jimmy Carter’s weenie handling of that mess, but nobody lost any sleep over some existential danger from Iran, which wasn’t an aspiring nuclear power then. And as soon as Reagan was in office, Iran showed it wouldn’t screw with the US while the Gipper was in charge.
You didn’t find the ineptitude more than a little unsettling? And the premier of “Death to America?” I can’t help thinking maybe the Mullahs and the IRGC could have been nipped in the bud if we had been paying attention.
And let’s not forget, the Russians blinked. They removed their ICBMs from, essentially, Dade and Monroe Counties.
Likable? To each their own I suppose!
Americans tend to have very short memories. The CMC was 20-25 years earlier and we weren’t still living in that shadow. What I remember in 1982 was the 14.5% mortgage on our new house with a 5-year prepayment penalty – thank you Jimmy Carter. Reagan was respected the world over for his strong stance in defense of the USA, but even then leftists thought being strong was scary. The 80’s were frightening with respect to AIDS, but otherwise not so terrible.
And RR was darling in Deadpool (OG). Fun story line, snappy dialogue, great action, wonderful makeup.
The movie is set as the cold war is ending…so 1988ish.
“When you get far enough away from a time period that’s quite distinct, there’s always a lovely feeling associated with it, almost like you pave over all the trauma with puppy dogs and ice cream. The 80s was a brutal, brutal time for people. It was a fucking mess and people forget that…It was a tremendous strife. Socio political tensions everywhere.”
What’s his example of all this horror in the 80s?
Angst over something that happened that happened 26 years prior.
Nah, that’s worthy of mockery.
Was there stuff worthy of worrying about in 1988, as the cold war was coming to an end. Sure. But if it was so bad that Ryan Reynolds feels obligated to comment on how bad it was, it’s incumbent on him to have a little bit better research prepared than “Cuban Missile Crisis”.
Frankly, it was only bad for doofus Hollywood types because Communism was in full retreat and Capitalism was being vindicated by the day.
“brutal brutal time for people”
come on.
I know he has four kids. Still, I have always thought Ryan was gay. It was a brutal, brutal decade for gays.
Can you name a decade prior to like 1995 that wasn’t in some sort of way ‘brutal’ for gays? And if the case is that it was mostly almost always ‘brutal’ for gays, why would that make the 80s special.
I think Ryan Reynolds is a typical hollywood socialist. Unthinking. Quick to trash anything good for society that involves Republicans. In such a knee jerk way that he has to do penance to appearing in a movie about the end of the cold war (which Reagan brought about).
Not like AIDS, Michael.
Did some governing apparatus cause that? If Ryan Reynolds wants to stake the claim that the 1980s was a decade in which there was some special excess of natural consequences for personal conduct abounded in ways that the previous multiple-millennia of civilization was immune to, then he’s worthy of even more ridicule.
What percentage of the working theater population was killed by AIDS, Jack? You were there while it was going on. Fifty percent? More?
Reynolds makes no reference to AIDS. Is it code we’re supposed to pick up on? Maybe so. His context seems to have been political rather than medical.
Is it code we’re supposed to pick up on?
In a word, yes. The main source of terror and anxiety in the US, but especially in Hollywood and in the artistic community, was “the gay disease.” In early 1981, a close actor friend couldn’t come to a wedding party for Grace and me because he was going home to Wales “to die.” At that point, no one even called the disease “AIDS.” Furthermore, non-gays thought they could catch it from being close to those who were infected. The news media sold the canard that conventional sex with an infected person risked infection—that was to make sure straights were properly terrified too and would push for a cure. In my community theater circle at the time, several friends died of AIDS, and horribly.
Heck, what % of the population was killed by the Wuhan virus, but we had schools closed, the economy ruined and people afraid to go out in public without a mask!
Reframe Reynold’s words as a nonsensical defense of his film. He had to say something. Expressing sensitivity to feelings, even with factual nonsense, will not get you cancelled. Mocked by the common sense crowd. Not cancelled. He also also spoke with comedic consistency to his popular character.
Bingo. I have found myself fighting to be articulate, reasonable and interesting while being interviewed on TV and radio. As Old Lodgeskins says in “Little Big Man,” a terrific and unique film that has been “cancelled” for political correctness, “Sometimes the magic works, sometimes it doesn’t.”
I sure don’t remember that decade as being scary. Aside from the Iran hostage situation, the Falklands War was about the only major thing I recall on the world stage in the 80’s. We were glad to see Reagan take office as he brought respectability for the US – the world knew that they couldn’t mess with him as they did with Carter.
I graduated from college in 1981, jobs were scarce and I spent the next 2 years mowing grass for the park district for $5 an hour during the day and bartending at night. But I paid rent and never wanted for anything. Our first mortgage in 85 was over 13%, but a year later the economy had rebounded somewhat and we refinanced down to less than 7%. Somehow the wife and I managed to survive on a combined income of less than $40k. Scary? A decade of horror? Hardly.
But you have a point, the AIDS ‘crisis’ did have a lot of gay folks and those who knew them very scared. You may recall a young boy in Indiana named Ryan White contacted the disease through a blood transfusion and the community and the entire state went nuts. Elton John among others got involved to try and lend some sanity to the situation.
If I recall correctly it was President Reagan that launched an all out blitz on the AIDS virus to find a cure. I don’t fully understand why the Gay community lived in terror unless they were advocates for multiple partners and shunned best practices to avoid it.
But inexcusably late, according to the gay community.
Wait. “Cuban Missile Crisis” is code for AIDS? Huh. Who knew?
jvb
Patient Zero was this Cuban guy, see, and he was a bath house legend, so his nickname was “The Cuban Missile.” Do I have to spell it out for you?
Ryan Reynolds knew about that? I hardly doubt it.. Reynolds may be smart but not smart. I grew up in they late 1970s and early 1980s. I never heard that expression. And I doubt patient Zero was Cuban, considering the virus originated in Africa.
jvb
(John: that Cuban Missile riff was a joke. You should know me better by now…)
Oh. Sorry. I spent the entire day cutting down trees. My brain was baked so I missed the joke entirely.