VCR's and the 1980's

Growing up in the 1980’s, I was a witness to the growth of the Video Cassette Recorder as a common household appliance. I can still remember the story of my Dad purchasing one for one thousand dollars and having my mother wondering if my dad had lost his mind. Granted at the time I was only 6 years old and had no idea how this box would influence my life and the lives of every young child from then on. But it is this simple piece of technology that has taught me as much, if not more, then all the classes in all the schools I have attended in the last 20 years.
Long before my dad bought our first VCR and even before you could go to your local cinema to watch a movie on the big screen, the stories we call “movies” now, were contained in a more primitive form, books. Vocabularies increased, eyesight would worsen, and controversies would erupt over the content within the books! Now, it seems vocabularies are worse, eyesight is still getting worse (for different reasons), and now the controversies exist over content in movies.
Sure, movies have existed for years, but it wasn’t until the VCR came along that such a huge number of children have had access to these movies. As a result, the movie has become a great source of knowledge and influence on the kids of today. It is a shame that when the influence of movies are discussed, the focus tends to be on sex, violence, and bad language. While these exist as a part of movies, it is a small portion of the films as a whole. It is this grandiose vision of films that I will discuss here. For within many of these films there are many lessons to be learned and positive influences to absorb.
In any case, movies are a huge part of young people’s lives. At the theatre, on cable, and most definitely at the video store. I ask you to pop some popcorn, grab your favorite drink, unwrap some candy, sit back and enjoy these lessons from a darkened theatre.