The Dukes of Hazzard

The Dukes of Hazzard

I think for many people, The Dukes of Hazzard series is iconic of the lighthearted mentality of the eighties.  Fun loving Bo and Luke took us on some wild adventures in the backwoods of Georgia.  Former moonshiners and all around renegades, the Duke cousins constantly went head to head with Boss Hogg, the corrupt town leader who was always up to no good.  The rambunctious cast of eccentric characters meant there was always something strange going on. 

Shows like this were really popular in the 70s and 80s.  Smokey and the Bandit is another example of this lighthearted style that was so popular then.  In fact, both of these have been rewritten recently for modern viewers, but I don’t think we’re into movies like that as much anymore.  Culture is becoming more uptight as we find ourselves with more responsibilities and less time to accomplish them.

No longer do we have the carefree, come-what-may attitudes of the 80s, and that’s a sad thing.  We are teaching our kids to live in the future, burdened with responsibilities and too many rules.  What happened to that free and easy life?

I’m not sure what made the Dukes of Hazzard such a popular TV show.  Perhaps it was the souped-up muscle car, the high speed chases, the way the Dukes had fun in everything they did, or maybe it was just Daisy Duke in those short shorts that were so popular they now define a style.  Whatever the case may be, the days of the Dukes are behind us, and we instead choose to immerse ourselves in reality TV and the oddities of other people’s lives.