The Big Picture: The 90's Didn't Suck
- Thread starter MovieBob
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Now its kind of funny, but I always think of the 90's as 'The Safe Decade', a time when not too much was going wrong, when peace, prosperity and technology was pointing to the future. In fact I still have one of those childrens total world history books from when I was younger (child of 90's as you may have guessed), and it basicly had the last page with pictures of moon bases and mars bases and basicly says, yeah get to 2000 and the next 100 years will be peace and unification (I seem to recall it suggesting it would be the century that Europe would become a single nation).
Somalia/ Rwanda - Africa, if you start counting wars or genocides in Africa as significant conflicts or deviations from how those nations are normally you suddenly find you need a super-computer to count all the little wars of decolonised Africa.
As an aside though, what the hell were the 2000's all about? Terrorism? (Britain and Europe had that in the 70's and the USA had seen a pretty shoddy time in 1919-1920 and other sporadic incidents, although not on a 9/11 or 7/7 scale ofc). Technology? 90's, prosperity? 80's, tumble into economic decay? either 30's or this decade now. Also as an aside I think that movies/ tv in 1970's-1990's were billions of times better than in the 2000's
So what were the 2000's all about?
Gulf War - Middle Eastern trouble, happens every decade and thus totally forgettable (many also suggests it was a war most people didnt experience)Ariseishirou said:
Somalia/ Rwanda - Africa, if you start counting wars or genocides in Africa as significant conflicts or deviations from how those nations are normally you suddenly find you need a super-computer to count all the little wars of decolonised Africa.
As an aside though, what the hell were the 2000's all about? Terrorism? (Britain and Europe had that in the 70's and the USA had seen a pretty shoddy time in 1919-1920 and other sporadic incidents, although not on a 9/11 or 7/7 scale ofc). Technology? 90's, prosperity? 80's, tumble into economic decay? either 30's or this decade now. Also as an aside I think that movies/ tv in 1970's-1990's were billions of times better than in the 2000's
So what were the 2000's all about?
I know this is an American website, but the 90's sucked view is so US-centric it almost hurts. 90's for Eastern Europe was probably the most important decade since the WWII - Soviet Union actually fell in 1991. For Japan this is The Lost Decade. Asian boost and crisis in 1997, 1998 Russian crisis and 1999 Argentinian are all well in the 90s. As is the rise of "Made in China". Gulf War and the start of televised war was in the 90s, as was the Yugoslavian war, Rwandan genocide and abolition of apartheid in South Africa. Culture wise in Europe this was the era of rave, techno, house and clubbing. Oh and even in the US there was this new thing called the Internet rising to prominence - and btw this was probably the biggest inspiration for The Matrix. So, no, 90s were not a non-descript black hole, at least not everywhere.
Looking at it like this it sounds like the 90s were like those recap episodes you see in anime. Wow! Look at all the crap we went through up to here! Whew, that sure is something! Welp, back to saving the world.
Also, I love how even in this thread so many people are saying "but...but MUH NOSTALGIA!!!!!"
Also, I love how even in this thread so many people are saying "but...but MUH NOSTALGIA!!!!!"
It's called the Big Picture, but maybe it should be called "What matters to Bob" and I don't mean that is a sarcastic way I'm being serious.Ahri said:
Most of what he talks about seems to be what relates to him opposed to what relates to the world. Neither him or the show really comes off as having a wordy perspective, and he often misses a lot of important detail when he's talking about something that isn't related to comic books.
Seriously there's about 10 maybe more episodes in a row that exclusively talk about comic books; not even comic books just Marvel and DC comic books
In the 90's, we were just glad it wasn't the crummy 70's or 80's anymore. Or at least, that's why my mom was keen to remind me of often. Having been born in the early 80's and growing up in the 1990's, I can't think of any time I'd have rather been born in.
As a music buff I can tell you that across many genres much of the tunes from the 90s seemed to focus on or be heavily influenced by melancholy. Maybe we had too much time on our hands and so became all introspective and brooding-like. You can see some of my point evidenced by many of the shows and movies being produced.
Interesting topic Bob.
I think this thought compliments what a friend of mine says; that 90's kids (you, myself, him, etc) are largely a generation of apathy.
Of course I can't speak for everyone. But throughout the 90's we (collectively) really didn't have a cause to fight for, or a struggle to face. We pretty much slid by it.
Which also could be a reason why a lot of my friends from my generation are having such a tough time living on our own lives, and getting by.
I don't know. Maybe.
I think this thought compliments what a friend of mine says; that 90's kids (you, myself, him, etc) are largely a generation of apathy.
Of course I can't speak for everyone. But throughout the 90's we (collectively) really didn't have a cause to fight for, or a struggle to face. We pretty much slid by it.
Which also could be a reason why a lot of my friends from my generation are having such a tough time living on our own lives, and getting by.
I don't know. Maybe.
Fuck yeah! Glad someone said it. The entertainment was still very good (especially the movies). And there were so so many games that people have forgotten about, pushing boundaries or just generally well done.Anoni Mus said:
As for anime, one my favourites is Beserk which came out in 1997 I think, but that's all I can think of.
Hoo boy, where to begin? I guess what the '90's meant to you depended on where you lived at the time. For us Americans, the Cold War ended, we came out on top, and then there was the great big question hanging over our heads: "NOW WHAT?" I was born in '84, so I'm as old as a lot of entertainment properties started that year, so my memory of the early '90's is spotty at best. I was 6 when the USSR collapsed, so it went WHOOSH over our heads. In '92, my family moved to England for a couple of years, and every day on the news had something about Yugoslavia, Rwanda, and the other global troublespots. Back in America, there was an overwhelming feeling of a lack of purpose, so we distracted ourselves with the (then) latest music, TV shows, movies, technology, and video games (which were in their glory days), and no question, there were a lot of great stuff there. As TVTropes describes it (yeah, THOSE guys again), "Popular culture became the ONLY culture."
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TheNineties
Perhaps Paul F. Tompkins said it best about the '90's most notable byproduct, Generation X: "They were the first 'ironic' generation, and the first to not get what 'ironic' means."
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TheNineties
Perhaps Paul F. Tompkins said it best about the '90's most notable byproduct, Generation X: "They were the first 'ironic' generation, and the first to not get what 'ironic' means."
In my opinion the 90's sucked and i was born in 89. The decade after wasn't better but not much worse in the grand scheme of things. Really, there wasn't a time in history that could justifiably be considered better than any other unless you wanna sound arrogant or ignorant.
So, if we backfill enough crap and ad-hoc reasoning into there, we can attribute to the 90s, as you see it, something less than those other rose-tinted decades, and attribute Bob's attitude towards it something rational?
Come on, the end of the video was the most honest part. "Sucks" is the wrong word. If you're using that image ironically, you're doing it badly, because you play it straight far too often. And to call the 90's a decade without a theme correlates certain meme's about other periods (Which are about different age groups, different social situations, and even political climates, so comparing them is wrong), even those weren't necessarily the defining part of those periods. And after calling the 19(30's, wasn't it? I'm not watching again, anyway.) A collective hangover, saying that ennui and dissatisfaction can't be an attitude strikes me as disingenuous.
And for someone who makes a living commenting on culture, declaring such a big wack of it to be worthless in that way is ridiculous. Come on, the geopolitical situation has nothing to do with why Bob says the 90s sucks. Even if his analysis was any good.
I'm more inclined to think it's because the movies aren't really anything stand out, he hates some of them (Scream, American Pie), and his tastes don't go that much beyond comics, television, and Nintendo games.
Come on, the end of the video was the most honest part. "Sucks" is the wrong word. If you're using that image ironically, you're doing it badly, because you play it straight far too often. And to call the 90's a decade without a theme correlates certain meme's about other periods (Which are about different age groups, different social situations, and even political climates, so comparing them is wrong), even those weren't necessarily the defining part of those periods. And after calling the 19(30's, wasn't it? I'm not watching again, anyway.) A collective hangover, saying that ennui and dissatisfaction can't be an attitude strikes me as disingenuous.
And for someone who makes a living commenting on culture, declaring such a big wack of it to be worthless in that way is ridiculous. Come on, the geopolitical situation has nothing to do with why Bob says the 90s sucks. Even if his analysis was any good.
I'm more inclined to think it's because the movies aren't really anything stand out, he hates some of them (Scream, American Pie), and his tastes don't go that much beyond comics, television, and Nintendo games.
please, bob.
u know, sometimes i really like your show. when u talk about nostalgia, comics and other geek stuff or cultural influences, its really great. it shows that u know alot of that particular topic and its really fun to watch.
but please bob.
stay out of politics.
when u say things like:"[...](for the US) war on terror was just far enough away [...] and the world for just a moment seemed calm and relativly ineventful enough..." (i'm paraphrasing here)
well its a bit embarrassing and simply just wrong.
i think u are an intelligent guy and if u would dig deep enough into this terretory, u would come up with some insightful thoughts... but if u dont intend to invest that amount of energy and time, just let it be.
it's like someone who has barley ever read a comicbook, would make comments about the sillyness and stupidity of this fortress of geekdom... well ask yourself "how that would turn out?"
u know, sometimes i really like your show. when u talk about nostalgia, comics and other geek stuff or cultural influences, its really great. it shows that u know alot of that particular topic and its really fun to watch.
but please bob.
stay out of politics.
when u say things like:"[...](for the US) war on terror was just far enough away [...] and the world for just a moment seemed calm and relativly ineventful enough..." (i'm paraphrasing here)
well its a bit embarrassing and simply just wrong.
i think u are an intelligent guy and if u would dig deep enough into this terretory, u would come up with some insightful thoughts... but if u dont intend to invest that amount of energy and time, just let it be.
it's like someone who has barley ever read a comicbook, would make comments about the sillyness and stupidity of this fortress of geekdom... well ask yourself "how that would turn out?"
Being born in the early 80s myself, I have to say the 90s was an awesome time to grow up. That decade, more than anything IMO, will be remembered for the rise of the Internet and how it ultimately made our world a much smaller place. Information could now be seeked in out ways just not possible before. I still to this day remember the first time I went online, and what I searched for (Orbital, Scottie Pippen). People who grow up today cannot understand the feeling of suddenly having access to all this information and media at your fingertips, whereas before you would buy a magazine just because it had a small note or picture of your favourite band/sports star.
And for me, growing up a basketball fan, the 90s were the start of the globalization of the game, and I got to grow up seeing the Bulls and Jordan plow through the league and become legends.
For the rest the 90s brought with it the massive rise of electronic dance music (Orbital, Prodigy, Chemical Brothers, Leftfield, Cassius, Daft Punk) and the whole club scene. And not coincidentally, videogames went from being kids play to something cool. Electronic dance music and videogames grew up together in the 90s, a bond forever forged with the controversial and edgy marketing of games such as WipEout (techno soundtrack, and marketing ads in magazines which depicted nosebleeds from playing, which was a straight on reference to drug use). Suddenly you could find clubs with PSOne stands inside, kids playing WipeOut while tripping on E.
Great tv series (Twin Peaks, X-Files) and games (the switch from 2D to 3D was an amazing time to be part of, and this era saw two of the greatest consoles ever in the SNES and PS1) that I still look back upon fondly.
So yeah, for me the 90s were awesome. It brought forth the internet, globalization, digital media (DVD's, MP3's), electronic dance music, clubbing, basketball and great movies and games who's influence is being felt today. For me that meant revolutionary times in the sense of making out your own identity in the way yourself saw fit. It brought freedom, experimentation, happyness and awareness. I wouldn't want to grow up in any other decade to be honest.
And for me, growing up a basketball fan, the 90s were the start of the globalization of the game, and I got to grow up seeing the Bulls and Jordan plow through the league and become legends.
For the rest the 90s brought with it the massive rise of electronic dance music (Orbital, Prodigy, Chemical Brothers, Leftfield, Cassius, Daft Punk) and the whole club scene. And not coincidentally, videogames went from being kids play to something cool. Electronic dance music and videogames grew up together in the 90s, a bond forever forged with the controversial and edgy marketing of games such as WipEout (techno soundtrack, and marketing ads in magazines which depicted nosebleeds from playing, which was a straight on reference to drug use). Suddenly you could find clubs with PSOne stands inside, kids playing WipeOut while tripping on E.
Great tv series (Twin Peaks, X-Files) and games (the switch from 2D to 3D was an amazing time to be part of, and this era saw two of the greatest consoles ever in the SNES and PS1) that I still look back upon fondly.
So yeah, for me the 90s were awesome. It brought forth the internet, globalization, digital media (DVD's, MP3's), electronic dance music, clubbing, basketball and great movies and games who's influence is being felt today. For me that meant revolutionary times in the sense of making out your own identity in the way yourself saw fit. It brought freedom, experimentation, happyness and awareness. I wouldn't want to grow up in any other decade to be honest.
Let's have a look at internet:
Jurassic Park. Because cloning is a thing now. Toy Story. Because computers are a thing now. (Simpsons? ST TNG? Anime entering the west?) The Matrix doesn't count because it's not set in the 90s? Really? By that logic, Hotel Rwanda does count, because it is. Speaking of which...
More people than died in 911, died every day in Rwanda, for a hundred days. Oh but, you know, "Nothing important happened in the ninties."
If Bob wants to say nothing happened to him during his childhood in that period, fine. But it's complete bullshit to go on and say it really was a culturally empty decade for everyone else. It's also extremely lazy, since Wikipedia isn't exactly hard to use.
Jurassic Park. Because cloning is a thing now. Toy Story. Because computers are a thing now. (Simpsons? ST TNG? Anime entering the west?) The Matrix doesn't count because it's not set in the 90s? Really? By that logic, Hotel Rwanda does count, because it is. Speaking of which...
More people than died in 911, died every day in Rwanda, for a hundred days. Oh but, you know, "Nothing important happened in the ninties."
If Bob wants to say nothing happened to him during his childhood in that period, fine. But it's complete bullshit to go on and say it really was a culturally empty decade for everyone else. It's also extremely lazy, since Wikipedia isn't exactly hard to use.
MovieBob said:
The most definable part about the 90s music was this:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Wave_of_American_Heavy_Metal
sure as hell wasnt rap.
other than that, yeah, 90s were fucking boring.
urgh, i expected this to be about the power rangers,
but instead it's just bob beeing all annoyingly defensive.
anyway, when Are they gonna make a Mighty Morphin Power Rangers movie?
I've been wanting this for years.
I mean a new proper one.
I mean they make new Transformer movies, and soon there will be TMNT, so why not Power Rangers?
but instead it's just bob beeing all annoyingly defensive.
anyway, when Are they gonna make a Mighty Morphin Power Rangers movie?
I've been wanting this for years.
I mean a new proper one.
I mean they make new Transformer movies, and soon there will be TMNT, so why not Power Rangers?