First, I apologize for the lack of an episode last week and no real one this week. My partner in crime has had a bunch of real life issues, preventing us from making episodes and it put us behind schedule. That's life, I suppose. So this week I decided to write a post for you instead, just like the ones I write on my
blog.
A big question that hovers over Cannon Cruisers like the specter of death over Keith Richards is why exactly are we doing this? Why this podcast? Why Cannon Cruisers?
Of course, I've talked about the reason we chose Cannon Films specifically to center our project around. It was mostly out of hunger. Randy and I wanted to do something different, and together, and this felt like the best idea for us. Cannon Films epitomized a whole era of film and entertainment, one that was very influential, and yet one that not only doesn't exist anymore, but its being actively buried.
You see, much of 1980s cinema came after the most nihilistic decade in film in which hopelessness, perversion, and subversion, ruled the day. Audiences didn't respond all that well to '70s film, as most people prefer stories that make them feel better about their day and place in the universe as opposed to being made "to think" or being dragged through the muck. It was not the best time for entertainment. The proof of that assertion would be the #1 film of the 1970s and still one of of the highest grossing films of all-time. That would be the original
Star Wars.
In 1977 no one had seen anything like
Star Wars in nearly 40 years back when the pulps were still at their peak. It was a pure throwback. The film was a black and white morality Space Opera with mystical monks, laser swords, spaceships, romance, and breathtaking new special effects. Not only did it take audiences by surprise, but it became a phenomenon that not only changed film, but reinvigorated dying mediums of the time like comics, television, and even inspired the newly rising video game industry. Other countries across the world were even affected, as Japan's video game, anime, and manga, industries paid close attention, as well. Storytelling had been permanently dosed with pulp influence. In other words,
Star Wars changed everything by unapologetically taking its genre back to its roots.
And other filmmakers jumped on this by the time the '80s rolled around. Who wouldn't want to cash in on such a success? Exciting thrillers, family films, adventure pictures, wacky comedies, action flicks, sword and sorcery, space opera, and horror all took off big and captured the imagination of millions. All of this based on pulp stories. Whereas these tales were dead in the shrinking literary world (still shrinking, I might add!) every other medium took these abandoned genres and gave them to the audience who had been missing them for decades, or weren't alive when they were first around. It was a renaissance of adventure and romance. The industry had gone back to its roots and was thriving. Studios like Cannon lived in such an atmosphere.
Star Wars gave the audience exactly what it needed, and wanted. In the process, it ended up completely shaping the decade to come. Its influence still lingers over pop culture today, and has never gone away. The 1980s became the best decade in pop culture since the 1930s precisely because it remembered what worked, embraced it, and handed it to a new generation. As a consequence, 80s pop culture is still around to this day, while other decades fell off and have been almost entirely forgotten. There wasn't even ever a nostalgia movement for the '70s like there was for other decades like the 50s or 60s. It has just been quietly filed away and left in the dustbin. No real loss, honestly.
However, the current climate is not so good. We're swimming in bland, safe, and yet also "gritty" remakes and reboots. There is no new blood, or ideas. Old franchises, like
Star Wars, have abandoned what audiences first came to it for and has been seeing a drop and profits every year since Disney took control. There are no fresh, exciting adventure stories from the mainstream anymore. They've all been muddied up or left to dry out in the hot sun, leaving it a hollow husk reminder of what once was. Hollywood has nothing to offer audiences anymore.
Cannon Cruisers exists because I wanted to rediscover what it was like when the climate was friendlier to exciting ideas and classic concepts, and also to rediscover the last time pop culture actually felt fresh and vibrant. The 1980s was the last time that was the case, and Cannon Films is the best example to show just what it was like at the time. It felt like the perfect place to start.
Sure, one could make the argument that the 1990s were a good decade for pop culture, but not if you look at it closely enough. Every single part of the '90s that were good had one foot in the '80s, and those that didn't were dead and forgotten before the decade was over. 1997 in particular was a black hole of entertainment where much was killed off and what was new has not stood the test of time. It has only gotten worst in the decades since. Heck, the dreary and edgy '00s still remain a punchline to many jokes. The '10s were largely an extension of that. Pop culture more or less died by this time.
But it's not all so bad. The underground movement in the '10s has been a very exciting place to hang out. Literary movements such as PulpRev and Superversive are dedicated to doing what the dying traditional publishers refuse to do: bringing back the adventure and optimism long since thought lost. Indie comics are beginning to take root via crowdfunding while the larger companies hemorrhage money after hiring abysmal talent. Even music has seen a rise in genres like Retrowave to clear out the bad taste of modern pop music well past its expiration date. Independent film is also on the way, but it's taken its time. Even anime has seen college students cobble together funds to create original projects that look far fresher than what their industry is putting out.
For the first time since the '90s went out like a whimper, it looks as if storytelling is on its way back.
And that's a lot of the reason I'm doing Cannon Cruisers.
I want to see what exactly we did lose along the way. I want to see what we can improve. I want to see what we can learn from. Most of all, I want to be entertained. There's a lot from that era that has been abandoned, and not all for the better, to the extent that even weaker projects from that time still have more lessons to teach than the latest Hollywood "think-piece" box office bomb. Cannon, of all companies, actually does still have much to teach us.
It's also exciting to be involved in the entertainment world right now. The growth of so much underground and independent work is like finding buried treasure almost every single day. For the first time in a long time I actually get excited when looking up a new find. So this is the perfect time to rediscover the last peak in pop culture, when it felt like everyone was on the same page, and how we can apply it today. That is entertaining in its own right.
If you haven't been keeping up with this site, now is the time. We have a few more Summer Special movies to get through, then we'll be moving right into season 3 and Cannon's 1986: their biggest year. So join us as we head into our own golden age!
It's bound to be a lot of fun.
