Social/Historical Context: 1979

by Alan Smithee

In 1979, just eleven years after John Lennon wrote the song that was inspired by the NRA slogan, "Happiness is a Warm Gun," happiness was rebranded as the first ever fast food meal to be marketed to children nationwide. The Happy Meal has been creating plastic junk for parents to step on ever since. 

Jimmy Carter was President at the time. He was a preacher, a naval officer and a peanut farmer. His supporters saw him as a good man, which was particularly important at a time when people were losing faith in their public institutions. Keep in mind, it was only five years earlier that Nixon and his Vice President had resigned, leaving Gerald R. Ford, the Speaker of the House, in charge. Carter then defeated the incumbent Ford in his failed bid to actually be elected President. Jimmy Carter was seen by many as a Washington outsider, someone who had not yet been corrupted by American politics.





However, as he neared the end of his first term in office, in the eyes of many, Carter had proven to be a relatively ineffective President. He was unable to fix the economy, which saw massive inflation, particularly in oil prices. He was also able to get very little of his agenda through Congress. Then when it came time for re-election, he had to deal with a pretty major national crisis. 

Before I get into that, let me first offer a brief history of Iran. Back in 1953, the U.S. and the Soviet Union were playing a real-life game of Risk. First world countries were those that the U.S. had claimed in the name of free enterprise, and second world countries were those that had fallen to the dark forces of communism. The third world countries were the ones that were still up for grabs. (This is where these terms originated.) 

The problem with Iran, from an American standpoint, was that they had democratically elected this guy named Mohammad Mosaddegh, who nationalized their petroleum industry, which meant that American companies could not set up shop in those sweet, sweet oil fields. In other words, Iran was essentially turning into a second world country. So America rolled the dice.  

As Britain reluctantly handed over the keys to their empire, they also helped us overthrow Iran’s very popular Prime Minister and replace him with the “Supreme Ruler” system of government that they have now. 1979’s been meaning to ask, how’s that working out for you?

In November of that year, Iranians took over the U.S. Embassy in their country. Unfortunately for Jimmy Carter, this happened during the last year of his term and continued all through his run for for re-election. Luckily for Ronald Reagan, his soon-to-be Vice President was the former head of the C.I.A., who (in theory) may have been able to work out a deal with the Iranians to release the hostages right after this very important election. I think Ben Affleck had something to do with it as well. 

Speaking of actors who really want to direct, let's talk a little bit about Ronald Reagan. Before he was elected governor of California, Reagan was, of course, an actor, and regardless of one's political affiliation, most people would agree that he was not a very good one. He was also once the head of one of the largest labor unions in Hollywood (the Screen Actor's Guild), which is kind of ironic, because as President, his administration did more to destroy unions than anyone before or since, excluding perhaps Bill Clinton and NAFTA. As an actor, though, Reagan was able to tell people what they wanted to hear and to recite the lines that were given to him. In other words, he was a natural politician. 

Nineteen seventy-nine was a watershed year in American history, and not just because of the backlash against disco. The country was rapidly changing, and there was a lot of debate about which direction it should take. Films made in this period tend to reflect that.