A little while ago Disney aired a commercial showing people dressed up and dancing from different eras like 70s, 80s, 90s, 2000s, and now. If you watch there's really no difference between the 2000s and now. A Pepsi commercial that did the same thing a year or two ago did like the 60, 70s, 80s, and then today, skipping the 90s, 2000s, and 2010s. Then when I watched the documentary Skin: The History of Nudity in the Movies, there was more to say about nudity in the 19th Century than in the 2010s--since I think this was released before 2020. For the 2000s to present it just talked about American Pie, 50 Shades of Grey, and Zack & Miri Make a Porno--more for the MPAA trying to censor the title than content. On top of that, the number one movie just about every year for the last 14 years has been whatever MCU or Star Wars movie made the most.
It got me thinking: is society in the last 25 years so homogenous that when it comes to these montage commercials or documentaries there's really nothing to say? Has fashion, music, dancing, movie nudity, and everything else run into a cul-de-sac? It does seem that way sometimes. I mean, if someone were frozen in 1997 and they were unthawed today, they'd have a hard time adapting to the technology, but I don't think fashion, music, dancing, or movies would be shocking at all. But maybe that's because I live in the Midwest and I'm middle-aged, not young and hip on one of the coasts.
I was trying to think of some big change, but there aren't any that really lasted. There are blips like when guys wore those ugly-ass Ed Hardy T-shirts and grew Duck Dynasty beards. Pop music today probably has more autotune and shit than in 1997 but it's not that different, is it? (I don't know; I don't really listen to it.) From my limited experience, I don't think BTS is that different from the Backstreet Boys, except they're Korean.
So I'm thinking that's why it's hard to really show anything definitive for the 2000s or 2010s in those montage commercials and why "the 1990s" is usually the early 1990s. But maybe I'm wrong.
But in a way I think it's good because in these montage type things when we think of what defines a decade, it's usually what young, white, middle-class kids were wearing, listening to, and how they danced. So maybe our culture isn't homogenous so much as there are just so many different cultural groups that we can't pin it down to one thing.
Those are my thoughts. What are yours?
2 comments:
The popular music these days is the hip-hop/rap blend like we saw in the Superbowl. I didn't like it, but the young people in my life loved it. Oddly the performers were middle aged. So basically, I have no real answers. Maybe it's because of social media. Instead of fads, we have dangerous challenges like eating Tide pods.
It's always easier to see in hindsight. Shoulder pads and bellbottoms didn't seem strange at the time but look weird now. I'm looking forward to whatever future generations think about our clothing and hair. Nothing stands out but I'm sure it'll be hilarious.
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