Heroes of Yore, Part I: Thanks, Lloyd.

If you’re wondering who in the hell that is in the picture on the left, then you probably won’t find the rest of this post particularly interesting. If you do know who that is, however, and what he is doing in that picture, then you recognize him as the last (and best) hero of his generation. If icons could have icons, Lloyd’s boombox blaring Peter Gabriel’s “In Your Eyes” would fit the bill to a t.

The generation I am speaking of, of course, is none other than those of us who had the misfortune of living through the 1980’s as teenagers. Although we didn’t know it at the time, the misfortune would come to roost later, as we cringed looking through photo albums filled with mullets, sleeveless flag t-shirts, white linen suits paired with a robin’s egg blue shirt (sleeves pushed up of course, thanks Crockett and Tubbs!), and parties where people actually seem to be enjoying themselves listening to Wham! That’s just one of my photo albums. I imagine everyone my age has one hidden away somewhere. Unfortunately, our kids will never look at our old pictures and say “Wow. My dad and/or mom was really cool when they were my age!” They’re more likely to say “Holy ferret attack! What the hell is that on your goddamn head?” meaning your hair, or “Flaming Shitmissiles! Is this picture from some sort of Mock U.N. school thing or something?” when seeing your sleeveless Union Jack or Rising Sun t-shirts. After we survived all the spandex, neon, hairspray, self absorption and (shudder) Kajagoogoo, Lloyd arrived on the scene to usher in a new era for our generation, The Next Step.

Lloyd Dobler lived with his older sister, was a slob, was too smart for his own good, and really only had two ambitions in life: to become a professional kickboxer, and more importantly, to woo and romance the untouchable, brainy, and beautiful Diane Court. He was graduating High School and getting ready to head out into the world, much like we were or recently had, and he was just a regular guy. Not sure what he was going to do with his future, he knew he didn’t want to buy or sell anything, or process anything bought or sold, or repair anything bought, processed, or sold. So mostly he was just going to focus on kickboxing.

Kickboxing! I think we all had our own little kickboxing dream we were nurturing, just turning the corner to responsibility and adulthood. My own dream was to draw, or write, or draw and write, or just get lost in a lifetime of the appreciation and love of words as an English professor. As far as the English professor thing goes, I was a little naive about the alcoholic, co-ed womanizing job requirements. I know all about it now though, I’ve seen movies! Mostly, however, like Lloyd, I just sat around drinking beer with my buddies. Lloyd said the things we always wanted to say, but never had the balls to; when Diane tells him they can only be friends he replies “Sure. Friends… with potential.” I bet we all had one of those heart-breaking conversations back in the puppy-love days, but I don’t imagine many of us had the guts to add “with potential.” Lloyd didn’t let things like socioeconomic status, school stereotypes, or common sense get in the way of his goals, and in a way his attitude put the perfect cap on the almost-over 80’s and their self-indulgent shallowness. Lloyd might not have fit the mold of a wall-streeter’s go-getter, but he knew what he wanted and he was damn well going to get it. He was “Looking for a ‘Dare to be great’ situation.” and in a way, we all were too.

The great thing about this movie, and Lloyd, is that the story and his character still hold up today, and sorry to say, Zac Exxon and Shia Ladouche, you’re no Cusacks. I must have watched this movie twenty times, and I still get a kick out of it. So do yourself a favour, buy a case of beer, rent this movie, and take a little step back to when you were looking for a “Dare to be great” situation. Yes, I said beer. You weren’t drinking goddamn Merlot at the parties back in the day, so if you want a true state-dependent memory thing going on, pool your allowances and get your friend’s older brother to drive his shitty old El Camino down to the Quik-E-Mart to buy you a case of the cheap stuff. Knock back a few, and remember when the world was wide open and waiting for you, long before you got swallowed up and spat out by it.

Bonus points go to any commenter that can stump me with a super-frickin’ awesome quote from the flick that I am unable to attribute to the proper character.

Lloyd, you truly are the man.