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1980s definatly, and back..Why were people more fit, toned and healthy Looking?
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Kaysmile012015
Posts: 68 Member
in Debate Club
I'm watching a movie from the 80s and it's unreal how taught & toned these women look in bikinis, I've noticed this in other movies, clips and footage from decades of 80s and beyond, people most had healthy weighted,portioned, fit bodies, Why? How?
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Most people in movies TODAY look pretty fit and toned too. They're movies.
While obesity is higher than it was in the 1980s, comparing Hollywood then to people now is going to be kind of misleading.41 -
Kaysmile012015 wrote: »I'm watching a movie from the 80s and it's unreal how taught & toned these women look in bikinis, I've noticed this in other movies, clips and footage from decades of 80s and beyond, people most had healthy weighted,portioned, fit bodies, Why? How?
People in movies look like that now too...they're movies.
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Which movies? I’m curious.1
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Cocaine?
I'm half-joking, but that was kind of a big thing in the 80's, as well as the use of other uppers to keep thin. Diet pills were also a thing--who remembers Dexatrim? I don't know if this has anything to do with it, but people smoked a lot more frequently then, too, and I know some people did it to help control their appetite.
I also think that was the look back then--that's right when Jane Fonda became popular and the whole aerobics craze started. The other thing to keep in mind that this was the 80's, and there was so much less diversity in casting--not only in race and ethnicity, but age and body sizes as well.19 -
dancing in the club 3 nights a week?25 -
Speakeasy76 wrote: »Cocaine?
Yup. Pretty much everywhere on TV and film sets along with lots and lots of speed - both the legal and illegal variety.
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A couple of things that have added to the trend of upward weight and waistlines is the increase in cheap fast food and convenience foods (loaded with fat/sugar) in peoples diets and the introduction of the computer, which influences more sitting than former generations ever did. I was born in the late 1950's, grew up in the 60's. It was rare to see a fat kid, rare to see anyone morbidly obese. Now, it's common.28
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Kaysmile012015 wrote: »I'm watching a movie from the 80s and it's unreal how taught & toned these women look in bikinis, I've noticed this in other movies, clips and footage from decades of 80s and beyond, people most had healthy weighted,portioned, fit bodies, Why? How?
Because it’s a movie, maybe??? 🤷♂️🤷♂️🤦♂️🤦♂️🤦♂️9 -
Then again, when you watch some of those 60's beach bikini flicks, those gals were pretty pudgy. But that might have been Annette Funicello insisting that no extras be thinner than she.6
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I'm old enough to have been adult in the 1980s (even the 1970s, actually): Good grief. No. "People" were not "taut & toned". That's the movies. On average people were thinner, certainly, but "toned" women (in real life) were probably less muscular than nowadays, and probably being "fit" in any rational definition was less common amongst the general population of women compared to now, besides. Most women in the 1980s were not "toned" or fit.17
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It was definitely the 20 Minute Workout.
/nods/
(If Bess Motta looks familiar for other reasons, that's because she was Sarah Connor's roommate in the first Terminator movie.)18 -
cwolfman13 wrote: »Kaysmile012015 wrote: »I'm watching a movie from the 80s and it's unreal how taught & toned these women look in bikinis, I've noticed this in other movies, clips and footage from decades of 80s and beyond, people most had healthy weighted,portioned, fit bodies, Why? How?
People in movies look like that now too...they're movies.
im aware that movies put the best looking on screen but it's not just movies..I'v noticed it in real footage..documentaries..old clips etc.
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Kaysmile012015 wrote: »cwolfman13 wrote: »Kaysmile012015 wrote: »I'm watching a movie from the 80s and it's unreal how taught & toned these women look in bikinis, I've noticed this in other movies, clips and footage from decades of 80s and beyond, people most had healthy weighted,portioned, fit bodies, Why? How?
People in movies look like that now too...they're movies.
im aware that movies put the best looking on screen but it's not just movies..I'v noticed it in real footage..documentaries..old clips etc.
Maybe body positivity and similar movements have affected what people are likely to/willing to capture with their cameras.
I was an adult in the 80s. There were plenty of chubby, fat, and obese people walking around.19 -
Kaysmile012015 wrote: »cwolfman13 wrote: »Kaysmile012015 wrote: »I'm watching a movie from the 80s and it's unreal how taught & toned these women look in bikinis, I've noticed this in other movies, clips and footage from decades of 80s and beyond, people most had healthy weighted,portioned, fit bodies, Why? How?
People in movies look like that now too...they're movies.
im aware that movies put the best looking on screen but it's not just movies..I'v noticed it in real footage..documentaries..old clips etc.
People were thinner on average than now. The ones that weren't were probably less likely to be in photos or film.
Keep in mind that the 1980s was before the ubiquity of cell phones with cameras, or even ubiquitous home video cameras. Nowadays, nearly everyone has a gazillion photos of everything that happens in their lives, with their kids and pets, etc. I'm not claiming there was *no* photographic or video record of regular people's lives then - that would be silly - but there was way, way less of it, on average. Digital cameras weren't invented until around 1975, and not commercialized until around 1990. Film cameras were much more cumbersome, and while some people were hobbyists in that way, it wasn't remotely equivalent to now, when very nearly everyone has a still/video camera in their pocket all the time.
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I'm old enough to have been adult in the 1980s (even the 1970s, actually): Good grief. No. "People" were not "taut & toned". That's the movies. On average people were thinner, certainly, but "toned" women (in real life) were probably less muscular than nowadays, and probably being "fit" in any rational definition was less common amongst the general population of women compared to now, besides. Most women in the 1980s were not "toned" or fit.I'm old enough to have been adult in the 1980s (even the 1970s, actually): Good grief. No. "People" were not "taut & toned". That's the movies. On average people were thinner, certainly, but "toned" women (in real life) were probably less muscular than nowadays, and probably being "fit" in any rational definition was less common amongst the general population of women compared to now, besides. Most women in the 1980s were not "toned" or fit.
I stated
"Healthy weighted,portioned, fit bodies"
Not saying everyone was" fit", but I observed for the most part, people appeared, average, healthy weight, in general, in real footage clips ect..and in older stuff just kinda seems like people weren't really as Obese ..idk
ALSO
-Im aware of the aerobics trend in the 1980s, that's where I notice alot of taught tone bodies" in older 80s footage; People are saying drugs, but weren't the drugs illegal? Were most and/or "regular "people taking drugs too?4 -
Kaysmile012015 wrote: »I'm old enough to have been adult in the 1980s (even the 1970s, actually): Good grief. No. "People" were not "taut & toned". That's the movies. On average people were thinner, certainly, but "toned" women (in real life) were probably less muscular than nowadays, and probably being "fit" in any rational definition was less common amongst the general population of women compared to now, besides. Most women in the 1980s were not "toned" or fit.I'm old enough to have been adult in the 1980s (even the 1970s, actually): Good grief. No. "People" were not "taut & toned". That's the movies. On average people were thinner, certainly, but "toned" women (in real life) were probably less muscular than nowadays, and probably being "fit" in any rational definition was less common amongst the general population of women compared to now, besides. Most women in the 1980s were not "toned" or fit.
I stated
"Healthy weighted,portioned, fit bodies"
Not saying everyone was" fit", but I observed for the most part, people appeared, average, healthy weight, in general, in real footage clips ect..and in older stuff just kinda seems like people weren't really as Obese ..idk
ALSO
-Im aware of the aerobics trend in the 1980s, that's where I notice alot of taught tone bodies" in older 80s footage; People are saying drugs, but weren't the drugs illegal? Were most and/or "regular "people taking drugs too?
Yes, more people, on average, were thinner in the 1980s, and fewer were obese. That's why they say we have an obesity crisis now, y'know?
It's probable that heavier body weights were more common then among working class folks and below, and those with higher incomes more likely to be thinner: I think that's still true, statistically, now. The people with higher incomes were also more likely to have cameras, appear more often in photos, etc., too, probably . . . and the thin ones more likely to show up in bikini photos than the overweight ones.
Yes, drugs were illegal, but recreational drugs were also somewhat common and trendy, with quite the cocaine boom around then, especially among those better off who were "party crowd". Yes, a segment of regular people were taking drugs. I know a very few people who had a serious cocaine problem around then, and quite a few who might use cocaine occasionally. Marijuana, very common, and its derivatives like hashish, but then also very illegal. Cocaine more likely to correlate with thinness, probably, because speedy. Those were probably the most common upper-class party drugs, besides alcohol, at the time. I think cocaine use incidence has dropped since that time, though I'm not sure.10 -
LisaGetsMoving wrote: »A couple of things that have added to the trend of upward weight and waistlines is the increase in cheap fast food and convenience foods (loaded with fat/sugar) in peoples diets and the introduction of the computer, which influences more sitting than former generations ever did. I was born in the late 1950's, grew up in the 60's. It was rare to see a fat kid, rare to see anyone morbidly obese. Now, it's common.
Yep, I know I'm not bonkers I've taken an interest in (lots) old footage from 40s, 50s, 60s across the board, I noticed people were around average weight give or take( in general) so much to the point that I started noticing when someone was Obese; I then asked myself..what happened, how did we get here?...4 -
BTW, IMO the differences in food culture (huge) and in how much average people need to move in daily life (also big) are much more important in creating the "obesity crisis" than the incidence of illegal drug usage. Even in terms of distorting images you're seeing from the past, the demographics around cameras/film and who will appear on them are probably more of an influence on what you see, than is the reality of the total environment of the time . . . even though more people were thinner in the 1980s and prior.
There are a lot of average-lifestyle differences between then and now, in ways that are somewhat inobvious to people who weren't adult then, and a lot of issues that distort the image people now will get of what things were like then. (I think the same is true in comparing most eras decades apart, probably.)3 -
Kaysmile012015 wrote: »I'm old enough to have been adult in the 1980s (even the 1970s, actually): Good grief. No. "People" were not "taut & toned". That's the movies. On average people were thinner, certainly, but "toned" women (in real life) were probably less muscular than nowadays, and probably being "fit" in any rational definition was less common amongst the general population of women compared to now, besides. Most women in the 1980s were not "toned" or fit.I'm old enough to have been adult in the 1980s (even the 1970s, actually): Good grief. No. "People" were not "taut & toned". That's the movies. On average people were thinner, certainly, but "toned" women (in real life) were probably less muscular than nowadays, and probably being "fit" in any rational definition was less common amongst the general population of women compared to now, besides. Most women in the 1980s were not "toned" or fit.
I stated
"Healthy weighted,portioned, fit bodies"
Not saying everyone was" fit", but I observed for the most part, people appeared, average, healthy weight, in general, in real footage clips ect..and in older stuff just kinda seems like people weren't really as Obese ..idk
ALSO
-Im aware of the aerobics trend in the 1980s, that's where I notice alot of taught tone bodies" in older 80s footage; People are saying drugs, but weren't the drugs illegal? Were most and/or "regular "people taking drugs too?
I think it's pretty well-documented that obesity has significantly increased in the past 30-40 years, for a lot of the reasons people have mentioned. I also think it wasn't as socially acceptable as it is today to be overweight--not that's it's completely socially acceptable now, but a lot more so than it was back then (partly because more people are overweight and obese, I think).
I was kind of kidding about cocaine and the other use of uppers to keep thin, but in the early-mid 90's the trend was the waif look, which was actually also called "heroin chic." That correlated with the rise in popularity of heroin at the time. Drug use is still a big problem today, though, and we know there are more overweight people walking around. However, I think more people intentionally used drugs (illegally and legally) to aid in weight loss back in the 80's, and before that time as well. I don't know that for sure, but that's just my opinion from watching shows from and about that time.5 -
Cocaine, lots and lots and lots of cocaine!!1
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