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Popular Culture Review
generation. Characterized by rebellious outsiders, pirate stories often attract
youth, but have inter-generational appeal. According to Matt Mason in The
Pirate's Dilemma, “Often pirates are the first to see the winds of change
blowing. The answer to the Pirate’s Dilemma lies in the stories of pirates sailing
into waters uncharted by society and . . . spaces where traditional rules don’t
apply. The answers lie in the history of youth culture . . . . Behind youth
movements familiar to us are radical ideas about how we can compete,
collaborate, and coexist in an environment where old assumptions . . . do not
hold” (Mason 4). The influence of Goonies still resonates. One aficionado of the
film said, “Except for a few haircuts, it doesn’t feel like an ‘80s film” (Lindsay).
Another noted, “Because of Goonies, I like to hang out with very different
varieties of people. Today I have groups of fiiends that have absolutely nothing
in common with each other” (Philhower). On June 4-7 of 2010 the town of
Astoria, Oregon, hosted a twenty-fifth anniversary Goonies event. The Goonies
has become part of the lexicon of childhood. The pint-sized pirates have grown
up, but, like One-Eyed Willie, their message still inspires.
Virginia Wesleyan College
Works Cited
Kathy Merlock Jackson
Arnett, Jeffrey Jensen. Emerging Adulthood: The Winding Road from the Late Teens
Through the Twenties. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 2004.
Arnett, Robert. “Eighties Noir: The Dissenting Voice in Reagan’s America.” Journal of
Popular Film and Television 34.3 (Fall 2006): 123-129.
Ash, Russell. The Top 10 of Film. New York: DK Publishing, 2003.
Bond, Richard E. “Piratical Americans: Representations of Piracy and Authority in MidTwentieth Century Swashbucklers.” The Journal of American Culture 33.3 (Dec.
2010): 309-321.
Ebert, Robert. “The Goonies.” Chicago Sun-Times 1 Jan. 1985. Rogerebert.com. Web. 3
March 2010.
Fogg, Piper. “One Workplace, Four Generations.” The Chronicle of Higher Education.
The Academic Workplace, 18 July 2008: B 18.
Goldberg, Lee and Randy Lofficier, Jean-Marc Lofficier, and William Rabkin. The
Dreamweavers: Interviews with Fantasy Filmmakers of the 1980s. Jefferson, NC:
McFarland, 1995.
Goonies, The. Dir. Richard Donner. 1985. Warner Brothers, 2007. DVD.
Lindsay, Andrew. Virginia Wesleyan College student. Personal interview. 25 March
2010.
Martin, Brad. Virginia Wesleyan College graduate. Personal interview. 15 March 2010.
Mason, Matt. The Pirate *s Dilemma: How Youth Culture Is Reinventing Capitalism. New
York: Free Press, 2008.
Moffitt, Kimberly R. and Duncan A. Campbell, Eds. The 1980s: A Critical and
Transitional Decade. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books, 2011.
Owen, Rob. Gen X TV: The Brady Bunch to Melrose Place. Syracuse: Syracuse Univ.
Press, 1997.
Palladino, Grace. Teenagers: An American History. New York: Basic Books, 1996.
Peary, Danny. Guidefor the Film Fanatic. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1986.
Philhower, Kyle. Virginia Wesleyan College student. Personal interview. 26 March 2010.