{"id":1037146,"date":"2026-09-01T16:22:26","date_gmt":"2026-09-01T16:22:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/1037146\/"},"modified":"2026-09-01T16:22:26","modified_gmt":"2026-09-01T16:22:26","slug":"1980s-l-a-parents-became-a-symbol-for-spoiling-children-were-they-really-monsters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/1037146\/","title":{"rendered":"1980s L.A. parents became a symbol for spoiling children. Were they really monsters?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

High on coke, the blond beauty of a certain age cradles an Oscar statuette and addresses the academy from the mirrored dressing room of her Beverly Hills estate. It\u2019s a fantasy acceptance speech she will never give in real life.<\/p>\n

Her words are not of gratitude but resentment, bile and narcissism. And she saves the cruelest treatment for her own offspring, a glamorous, popular coed at L.A.\u2019s most elite private high school.<\/p>\n

You’re reading the Essential California newsletter <\/p>\n

L.A. Times reporters guide you through the most important news, features and recommendations of the morning.<\/p>\n

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\u201cTo my daughter watching tonight, you are the disappointment of my life,\u201d she says with satisfaction.<\/p>\n

Welcome to the early 1980s of Bret Easton Ellis, the novelist who over three decades has left an indelible mark on the way we think about our most privileged hillsides and canyons. <\/p>\n

TV viewers are getting a taste of his twisted take on the era \u2014 including that dark fantasy acceptance speech \u2014 this summer with the FX series \u201cThe Shards,\u201d which is based on an Ellis novel and follows a group of rich high school friends through a maze of sex, drugs, dancing and murder.<\/p>\n

\"The <\/p>\n

The John Lautner Silvertop home is featured in \u201cLess Than Zero.\u201d Pictured are Andrew McCarthy and Jami Gertz.<\/p>\n

(John Clifford \/ 20th Century Fox)<\/p>\n

The hidden monster<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Shards\u201d features a sadistic serial killer. But the most terrifying characters are the broken, vain, selfish parents who in one way or another cause their children so much harm.<\/p>\n

Was 1980s L.A. parenting really that bad? <\/p>\n

It\u2019s easy to look back with scorn, especially in this era of tiger moms, helicopter parenting and GPS tracking. <\/p>\n

But there is such a thing as being too involved. A few years ago, L.A.\u2019s elite private schools were rocked by the college admissions scandal, in which wealthy parents were accused of paying to get their kids into the elite university of their choice. <\/p>\n

The indictment in those cases rivals anything Ellis dreamed up, including that early morning in 2019 when the FBI raided some of L.A.\u2019s fanciest addresses, arresting socialites, actors and business titans.<\/p>\n

Capturing a culture of excess<\/p>\n

Ellis burst on the scene at age 21 with \u201cLess than Zero,\u201d <\/a>a 1985 novel about a different set of friends navigating elite L.A. circles. It sparked endless<\/a> think pieces about<\/a> spoiled kids, checked-out parents and a toxic culture of materialism.<\/a> <\/p>\n

Ellis famously declared the parents in the novel so \u201chungry and unfulfilled that they ate their own children.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Shards\u201d <\/a>continues this theme. In his review of this show, my colleague Robert Lloyd<\/a> notes \u201cadults are almost entirely missing, and when they are not, they are disappointing, or trouble.\u201d It\u2019s like a horror movie where the monsters are hidden to build suspense.<\/p>\n

The issue of wayward youths and neglectful parents in L.A.\u2019s tony neighborhoods was a topic of much discussion in the 1980s, and not just because of \u201cLess Than Zero.\u201d<\/p>\n

Reality bites<\/p>\n

Pacific Palisades became a national symbol of rich kids out of control after a series of deaths that hit the neighborhood in 1988. \u201c60 Minutes\u201d and \u201c20\/20\u201d did expos\u00e9s, with a focus on parents who let their kids do whatever they wanted.<\/p>\n

But look deeper into those times and you\u2019ll see the parents by and large do not come off as villains. The adults in Pacific Palisades organized to offer more youth services and set healthier boundaries.<\/p>\n

In Beverly Hills around this time, parents created late-night gatherings for high schoolers that did not involve alcohol as an alternative to the illicit ragers. They also called out the adults who set a bad example.<\/p>\n

\u201cA parent bragged about his enterprising son who made $800 selling drinks at a party. I told him he was crazy,\u201d a Beverly Hills PTA president told The Times. <\/a> <\/p>\n

Three years after \u201cLess Than Zero\u201d was published, a nonfiction telling of the Beverly Hills teen scene hit bookstores. \u201cHard Lessons\u201d by Michael <\/a>Leahy<\/a> focused on a year in the life of the senior class at Beverly Hills High School.<\/p>\n

The book had its share of wild parties, conspicuous consumption and drunken abandon. But it offered a much more nuanced look at family life. One student told Leahy that the problem wasn\u2019t decadence but an obsession with achievement and perfection. \u201cIf you feel average, you feel like a loser,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\"The <\/p>\n

The front of Beverly Hills High School<\/p>\n

(Michael Blackshire \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n

An \u201880s thing that never goes out of style<\/p>\n

The Times review <\/a>of \u201cHard Lessons\u201d noted the real aesthetic of the high school was upward mobility: It\u2019s \u201cfull of pressure to get into the right college, which will lead to the important job, which will lead to the serious bucks.\u201d It was a value shared by both parents and their children.<\/p>\n

Behind all the excess, the teens of \u201cThe Shards\u201d also feels ambitious, believing their elevated station made big success \u2014 like becoming Tom Cruise\u2019s co-star or emerging as the next Joan Didion \u2014 a requirement.<\/p>\n

It that way, how much has really changed since the 1980s?<\/p>\n

Top stories \"Map <\/a> <\/p>\n

Tropical Storm Marie, developing south of the Baja California peninsula, could possibly veer southwest of the California coast, or head to Southern California, forecast models say. <\/p>\n

(NOAA)<\/p>\n

Could a hurricane send floods to SoCal for Labor Day weekend?<\/p>\n