{"id":10558,"date":"2018-11-09T10:00:09","date_gmt":"2018-11-09T15:00:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/?p=10558"},"modified":"2019-01-12T14:40:05","modified_gmt":"2019-01-12T19:40:05","slug":"30-years-ago-childs-play-and-the-terror-of-consumerism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/30-years-ago-childs-play-and-the-terror-of-consumerism\/","title":{"rendered":"30 Years Ago: <i>Child&#8217;s Play<\/i> and the Terror of Consumerism"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"p3\"><span class=\"s1\">He-Man and the Masters of the Universe. G.I. Joe. Transformers. Thundercats. Smurfs. M.A.S.K. Rainbow Brite. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. My Buddy. Cabbage Patch Kids. These are just a few toy lines that were popular, along with their attendant multimedia franchises, in the second half of the 1980s. Mention these names to someone who was a parent during that era, and you\u2019ll likely conjure up memories of paychecks depleting and the annoying sight of so much branded material around their house. Mention them to anyone born between the late \u201870s and mid \u201880s, however, and you\u2019ll likely see their eyes glaze over with blissful nostalgia, a big smile on their face as they recall days playing with action figures and nights sleeping in official bedsheets. For one group, the properties evoke feelings of stress and unease; for another, they evoke devotion, a sense of disturbingly unquestioned loyalty.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Child&#039;s Play (1988) TV Spot\" width=\"760\" height=\"570\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/tYdz5U5D-m0?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p class=\"p3\"><span class=\"s1\">It\u2019s this tension between the two that creator\/co-screenwriter Don Mancini hoped to exploit when he wrote the spec script for what would become 1988\u2019s <strong><i>Child\u2019s Play<\/i><\/strong>. Mancini\u2019s father worked in advertising, which gave the writer a unique perspective on the merchandising world of the early \u201880s when he was developing the script. Mancini was particularly influenced by the mania of the 1983 holiday season, which saw parents literally scrambling over each other to get the hot toy of that year: a realistic-looking doll known as Cabbage Patch Kids. As the decade continued, toy popularity collided and merged with merchandising, toy companies inspired by George Lucas\u2019 success with\u00a0<i>Star Wars<\/i> licensing. Popular cartoon shows such as <em>He-Man<\/em>,\u00a0<em>Transformers<\/em>,\u00a0and more thinly veiled 30-minute advertisements for their toy lines. The more popular the brand, the more merchandise got made, as everything from bedsheets to feature films to clothing items to food were manufactured. By the end of the \u201880s, there were dozens of properties that were inescapable. <\/span><\/p>\n<div style=\"font-family: times; font-size: 1.1em; line-height: 18px; background-color: #fffff1; float: right; border: 5px solid #888FFF; width: 350px; padding: 10px; margin: 10px 10px 10px 10px;\">\n<h3 style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>TIME CAPSULE: November 9, 1988<\/strong><\/h3>\n<h5 style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>Compiled by Eric D. Snider<\/strong><\/h5>\n<p><strong>\u2014<\/strong> <em>Child&#8217;s Play<\/em> (which opened on Wednesday the 9th) took first place at the box office, beating fellow new wide releases <em>Ernest Saves Christmas<\/em> and <em>Iron Eagle II<\/em> as well as the previous week&#8217;s new films, <em>They Live<\/em>, <em>Everybody&#8217;s All American<\/em>, and the concert movie <em>U2: Rattle and Hum<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"THEY LIVE - Trailer ( 1988 )\" width=\"760\" height=\"570\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/iJC4R1uXDaE?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><strong>\u2014<\/strong>\u00a0Also in the top 10 that weekend: <em>The Accused<\/em>, <em>A Cry in the Dark<\/em>, <em>Mystic Pizza<\/em>, and <em>Without a Clue<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p><strong>\u2014<\/strong> The top radio hits that week were &#8220;Wild Wild West&#8221; by The Escape Club, &#8220;Kokomo&#8221; by The Beach Boys, &#8220;The Loco-Motion&#8221; by Kylie Minogue,&#8221; &#8220;Bad Medicine&#8221; by Bon Jovi, and &#8220;One Moment in Time&#8221; by Whitney Houston.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"The Escape Club - Wild Wild West - AOL Video\" width=\"760\" height=\"570\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/eoLHrq3z060?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><strong>\u2014<\/strong> U2&#8217;s <em>Rattle and Hum<\/em>, released a month earlier, reached the top of Billboard&#8217;s album charts, the first double-album since 1980 to do so. Other notable new albums this week included R.E.M.&#8217;s <em>Green<\/em> and Milli Vanilli&#8217;s soon-to-be-infamous <em>All or Nothing<\/em> (turns out it was &#8220;nothing&#8221;), plus greatest hits albums from Dire Straits, Journey, and Fleetwood Mac. An unknown band called Soundgarden had just released its debut album, too, called <em>Ultramega OK<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p><strong>\u2014<\/strong> Anne Rice&#8217;s <em>The Queen of the Damned<\/em> was at the top of The New York Times fiction best seller list, ahead of Tom Clancy&#8217;s <em>The Cardinal of the Kremlin<\/em>. In nonfiction, Stephen Hawking&#8217;s <em>A Brief History of Time<\/em> was on top for the 18th week straight, with Shirley Temple Black&#8217;s new autobiography <em>Child Star<\/em> in 5th place and something called <em>Trump: The Art of the Deal<\/em> in 15th.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/150417_2859831_Bush_Cold_Opening_anvver_1.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-10565 alignright\" src=\"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/150417_2859831_Bush_Cold_Opening_anvver_1-291x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"126\" height=\"130\" srcset=\"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/150417_2859831_Bush_Cold_Opening_anvver_1-291x300.jpg 291w, https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/150417_2859831_Bush_Cold_Opening_anvver_1.jpg 339w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 126px) 100vw, 126px\" \/><\/a><strong>\u2014<\/strong> Vice-president George H.W. Bush had been elected president three days earlier, beating Mike Dukakis and giving Dana Carvey a career.<\/p>\n<p><strong>\u2014<\/strong> &#8220;Stealth bombers&#8221; were new, and the Pentagon was just starting to acknowledge their existence. The Cold War was almost over (Estonia was in the middle of declaring its independence from the USSR) but not quite; two weeks earlier, Pres. Reagan had announced he would tear down the new U.S. embassy in Moscow because the Soviets had bugged it.<\/p>\n<p><strong>\u2014<\/strong> Emma Stone was three days old and already slaying, and Zoe Kravitz had a month left in the womb. Elsewhere on the circle of life, John Carradine and Roy Orbison both had less than a month to live.<\/p>\n<p><strong>\u2014<\/strong> A week earlier, Geraldo Rivera had gotten his nose broken during a taping of his daytime talk show when a fight erupted between one of his white supremacist guests and a regular guest. The lesson &#8212; don&#8217;t have white supremacists on your show because there is no reason to give them a platform &#8212; was lost on Geraldo, but it was all caught on video:<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Geraldo suffers broken nose from racial fight\" width=\"760\" height=\"570\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/6ySnJEqjSBo?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><strong>\u2014<\/strong> <em>Mystery Science Theater 3000<\/em> was less than two weeks away from its debut on local Minneapolis TV station KTMA. On network TV, <em>Murphy Brown<\/em> was about to debut, and <em>Roseanne<\/em> had just launched. Boy, they don&#8217;t make shows like that anymore, do they?<\/p>\n<p><strong>\u2014<\/strong> The most popular shows on TV this season were mostly sitcoms and mostly on NBC: <em>The Cosby Show<\/em>, <em>Roseanne<\/em>, <em>A Different World<\/em>, <em>Cheers<\/em>, <em>The Golden Girls<\/em>, <em>Who&#8217;s the Boss<\/em>, <em>60 Minutes<\/em>, <em>Murder, She Wrote<\/em>, <em>Empty Nest<\/em>, and <em>Anything But Love<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/Nintendo_Power_Volume_1_-_Scan.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright wp-image-10566\" src=\"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/Nintendo_Power_Volume_1_-_Scan-226x300.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"116\" height=\"154\" srcset=\"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/Nintendo_Power_Volume_1_-_Scan-226x300.png 226w, https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/Nintendo_Power_Volume_1_-_Scan.png 310w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 116px) 100vw, 116px\" \/><\/a><strong>\u2014<\/strong> Nintendo was all the rage, and the first issue of Nintendo Power had come out in July. Super Mario Bros. 2 was released in the U.S. in September, while in Japan they already had Super Mario Bros. 3.<\/p>\n<p><strong>\u2014<\/strong> It was a few weeks after the Los Angeles Dodgers had beaten the Oakland A&#8217;s in the World Series, Game 1 of which had ended with a dramatic walk-off home run by Kirk Gibson that my brother talks about constantly to this day.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"WS1988 Gm1: Scully&#039;s call of Gibson memorable at-bat\" width=\"760\" height=\"428\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/N4nwMDZYXTI?start=364&#038;feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Although Mancini\u2019s original script went through multiple drafts, numerous writers (including John Lafia and director Tom Holland) and production problems, the finished film retains the pointed satire that was originally intended, exploiting the dark side of the toy industry and consumerism. Early in the film, before young Andy (Alex Vincent) meets the \u201cChucky\u201d doll possessed by the spirit of vicious serial killer Charles Lee Ray (Brad Dourif), he\u2019s watching the <em>Good Guys<\/em>\u00a0cartoon based on the doll line, while eating Good Guys cereal and wearing Good Guys clothing\u2014the same outfit that Chucky and all the Good Guy dolls wear. <span class=\"s1\">This introductory scene establishes how much Andy\u2019s happiness revolves around the brand, causing his mother Karen (Catherine Hicks) stress at not being able to afford an official Good Guys doll for Andy\u2019s birthday. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p3\"><span class=\"s1\">There\u2019s also something brainwashed and cult-like about the Good Guys-obsessed Andy, as he participates in activities both ritualistic (watching the cartoon while eating the cereal) and programmed (being unable to hide his disappointment at not getting a doll for his birthday when he gets a Good Guys branded tool set instead). The commercial for the doll airing during the cartoon has done its job and turned Andy into a materialistic kid \u2014 he may be swimming in Good Guys stuff, but it\u2019s still not enough. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p3\"><span class=\"s1\"><a href=\"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/childsplay00.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft wp-image-10560\" src=\"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/childsplay00-300x157.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"359\" height=\"188\" srcset=\"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/childsplay00-300x157.jpg 300w, https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/childsplay00.jpg 500w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 359px) 100vw, 359px\" \/><\/a>Perhaps the most explicit satirical jab is the film\u2019s title card, which shows up just as the still human Charles Lee Ray seeks refuge in a toy store, spying dozens of boxes of Good Guys, a sea of Chuckys, all sporting the same creepy dead-eyed stare. The implication, that there could be multiple murderous dolls out there, wouldn\u2019t be followed up on until 2017\u2019s <i>Cult Of Chucky<\/i>, but it\u2019s still there in the background of the original, making the entire brand threatening, the \u201cGood Guys\u201d name an ironic joke. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p3\"><span class=\"s1\"><i>Child\u2019s Play<\/i> also preys on parents&#8217; fears about toy safety, an issue that was highly topical at the time. When Chucky begins hunting down old partners of his, looking to settle scores, as well as killing those who could discover his true nature and\/or get in his way, Karen has more to worry about than just potentially toxic materials or choking hazards. Initially, Andy\u2019s response to Chucky is disturbing to her, as he claims the doll was \u201csent down from heaven\u201d by his late father, and describes actions and conversations that the doll couldn\u2019t possibly be responsible for. As a result, Karen suspects that Andy might be mentally ill, with the doll \u2014 and, of course, the entire Good Guys brand \u2014 acting as a bad influence. As the incidents surrounding Chucky continue, she has to check to see if the doll had been damaged in some way, or if it\u2019s somehow malfunctioning. Her climactic discovery of Chucky\u2019s missing batteries, proving that none of the doll\u2019s movements or sounds have been electronic, plays not just as a chilling supernatural moment but as a confirmation of her worst fears \u2014 the doll is indeed broken, and in the worst way. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p3\"><span class=\"s1\">The bulk of <i>Child\u2019s Play<\/i>\u2019s third act concerns Chucky\u2019s quest to use his voodoo knowledge to transfer his soul into Andy\u2019s body just as he had with the Good Guy doll, a plot device that alludes to real-life monsters such as Charles Manson and even Adolf Hitler being obsessed with the occult. The rest of the franchise mostly follows the \u201coccult\/killer doll\u201d aspects of the film, as Chucky marries an old (similarly homicidal) girlfriend whom he puts inside a doll, has a kid with her, continues to settle old scores from when he was human and finds new ways to spread his evil. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p3\"><span class=\"s1\">In contrast to other \u201cevil doll\u201d films such as <i>Magic<\/i> (1978), <i>Dolls <\/i>(1987), <i>Puppet<\/i> <i>Master<\/i> (1989) and the <i>Annabelle<\/i> series, however, Chucky\u2019s uniqueness comes from the fact that he isn\u2019t actually unique as a doll \u2014 he\u2019s mass produced and marketed. <i>Child\u2019s Play 2<\/i> (1990) makes that clear, as Chucky is allowed to return to life thanks to the greedy PlayPals company not wishing to let their material go to waste, recycling Chucky\u2019s possessed head into a new doll. At the beginning of <i>Child\u2019s Play 3<\/i> (1992), Chucky\u2019s evil influence is given another body when the company decides to put the doll back into production. The toy company\u2019s greed is not only directly responsible for continuing Chucky\u2019s reign of terror, but is implicitly responsible for the allowance of multiple Chuckys in <i>Cult<\/i>, paying off what the original film only hinted at. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p3\"><span class=\"s1\">It\u2019s the ties that the Chucky character and franchise have to the world of toys and marketing that help keep it alive and popular 30 years later, especially as so much of Mancini\/Lafia\/Holland\u2019s satire still has relevance. The toy industry may not be as strong today as it was in the \u201880s, but it continues to exist and operate in much the same way, driving sales with multiple licensed products. Rampant, unsafe consumerism continues to haunt Walmart stores every Black Friday. Online shopping conglomerate Amazon continues to slowly build its empire, acquiring more and more separate companies. Brands and intellectual properties are perhaps stronger than ever, as movie franchises such as the Marvel Cinematic Universe and even production houses like HBO and Netflix inspire blind loyalty on a cult-like level. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p3\"><span class=\"s1\">That doesn\u2019t just apply to current properties, either \u2014 the \u201880s have never truly left American pop culture since their heyday, and fans of old franchises continue to pour money into vintage or newly made merchandise, spurring rights holders to produce a new movie adaptation or series that begins the cycle all over again. What <i>Child\u2019s Play<\/i> cleverly hit upon is the notion that not only could the inanimate object across your bedroom wish you harm, but that it also wants to own you. For many of us, \u201cChucky\u201d doesn\u2019t have to use voodoo to claim our soul \u2014 he already has it.<\/span><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h6><em>Join our <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/crookedmarquee.us16.list-manage.com\/subscribe?u=dc6679cd997ec610eeaf50562&amp;id=db71dbf4c3\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">mailing list<\/a><\/strong>! Follow us on <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/CrookedMarquee\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Twitter<\/a><\/strong>! <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/writers-guidelines\/\">Write<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0for us!<\/em><\/h6>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>He-Man and the Masters of the Universe. G.I. Joe. Transformers. Thundercats. Smurfs. M.A.S.K. Rainbow Brite. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. My [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":459,"featured_media":10559,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1381,1399],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10558","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-movies","category-looking-back"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10558","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/459"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10558"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10558\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10559"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10558"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10558"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10558"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}