Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
Catholic
Religious Music and Entertainment
54: Let the Good Times Roll

54: Let the Good Times Roll

Last updated on: January 4, 2026 at 5:12 pm by Chase Padusniak

0 Comments

54: Let the Good Times Roll 2026-01-04T17:12:01-04:00 Chase Padusniak

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Studio 54, after its heyday.
Source: Wikimedia
License

A new year, an older movie—1998’s 54, the tale of one 19-year-old’s whirlwind experience at the mythical Studio 54. When I put it on, I never expected the film to dovetail so well with the concerns of my new podcast with Sam McIlhagga, Death Is a Photograph, on which we explore the aesthetic and cultural ephemera of the “end of history.” Our first season on Gen X has brought us back to a question again and again: how did the 70s shape the imaginary of youngish Xers?

The 90s, Gen X’ first decade of cultural influence, if not dominance, gazed over its shoulder at the 70s time and again. The Criterion Channel’s new program, “The ‘90s Do the ‘70s,” confirms this and offers a veritable feast for Sam and me. 54, which is among these offerings, gives the whole game away. Mark Christopher’s first studio feature drips with nostalgia tinged with occasional regret. It captures the 70s’ ongoing influence on the 90s, even as it tried to push away and define itself.

We open with a mainstay of 90s film: voiceover narration avec montage. Shane (Ryan Philippe), then a teenager from northern New Jersey, ponders late 70s catastrophe. Just as the film relents on its brief survey of Carter’s malaise, we see lines of cars at gas stations and Shane working as an attendant, filling up cars. He dreams of dancing at Studio 54, where he will eventually get a job and experience the Boogie Nights-like (1997) ups-and-downs of 70s nightlife.

The movie itself is fine—an enchanted, though ringing, indictment of the fraud, sexual misconduct, and rampant drug use of 70s club culture, full of 90s mainstays like Salma Hayek, Neve Campbell, and Mike Myers. The very fact that Studio 54 occupies such a huge place in Shane’s imagination (and therefore the film’s) speaks to the wistful ways in which young Xers envisioned the fun times of their youth, those they just barely missed out on. Christopher, born in 63 and therefore a very young Boomer, was just the right age to yearn for (without perhaps ever going) to) the famed club. For all the horridness, economic and otherwise, of the late 70s, it represented freedom, a release of inhibition, the calm before the Reagan storm.

Scenes in the club are lavish, and, as I understand it, true to life. A huge crescent moon swings from the ceiling, people have sex around the dancefloor, celebrities dart around, taking drugs, making vapid promises to the hopeful barbacks, coat girls, and bartenders. The garish lighting contrasts with the empty-eyed gaze of most clubgoers. Everyone is happy and no one is.

Here, Christopher expresses the complicated relationship so many Xers had to this period of their youth. It captures their imaginations, defining the horizon of the knowable—there used to be partying, real partying. At the same time, that joy contains the seed of its own destruction—the owner’s theft of club profits, the deaths due to drug abuse, the zombification of the clubgoers themselves. The 70s mean escape. But they also lead directly to the stultifying period in which the Xers then lived. The Boomers are to blame. But they also enjoyed freedom, liberty now at best sidelined, if not impossible.

Should you check it out? Yes, 54, for its occasional issues properly conveying its narrative (I saw the theatrical cut; there’s also a director’s cut that many say is better), it’s a rich, complicated watch. At the same time, it’s of immense sociological interest, a key to one way in which nostalgia operated for a then-ascendent generation. Free now—on the Criterion Channel.

Catholic

Religious Art

Previous Post

December 31, 2025

In the Mood for Love: Not in the Mood

Next Post

January 26, 2026 Family Viewing: Grain and Fuzz

Recent Comments

0 | Leave a Comment

"Do The Right Thing was a terrible movie, with a terrible message, a man owns ..."

Frank Holzhauser

Do the Right Thing: What Can ..."

"NOT the experience of those who actually lived through those years. Let's not forget that.Too ..."

captcrisis

54: Let the Good Times Roll

"Your accurate assessment of where the Blockbuster and the studios have ended up reminded me ..."

Dave G.

Jaws: Ad Fontes

"Another Dementia experience: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLkbxNibXiLx_ak8IuhZiutd2Fxe7_KAon&si=VhOYNUIBV3CTlyDf"

Ame

Dementia: Silent Nightmare

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Academia Culture Politics Reviews Theology Uncategorized

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 July 2021 December 2020 November 2020 July 2020 May 2020 April 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 August 2019 July 2019 April 2019 March 2019 December 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

Who was the first king anointed by Samuel?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Saul David Solomon Jonathan