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why wasn't it a great time to be a kid in England?
We didn't have the freedom to play unsupervised like previous generations (stranger danger - more perceived than real IMO) or the technology current/future generations have (for example, I have about ten TV channels just for children, and more if I wanted to pay for them. Until 1997 my family only had four channels at all, and children's stuff was only on for about two hours a day). Also there were more children then growing up in single-parent families than before and record high underage crime rates, including a couple of high-profile ones the media tore into, so there was a sense that children then were getting out of control and so harsher public attitudes towards children, such as kids not being allowed in shops unaccompanied, people threatening to call the police on us for playing outside their houses, etc. Also at my primary school there were almost no fun extra-curricular activities unlike the big choice available now at the school where my dad's the headmaster.
We were pretty spoilt in some ways as the first generation to grow up with computer games and at least one foreign holiday a year being the norm, but overall IMO it was one of the worst decades in recent history to be a child.
The 90s will be remembered for the technology that really rose up during that era. Even thought the PC and the cell phone were created in the the 80s, they did not become main stream until the 90s. The internet is the really big innovation of the decade. The internet and cell phones have changed life in America more than any invention in our history with the exception of electricity and the mass produced auto. If the internet dissapeared tomorrow, and the cell phones quit working Im sure our economy would collapse and we would decend into disorder. We are now 100% dependent on these technologys. Prior to the 90s we were much more old fashioned. I grew up in the 70s and 80s, and back then there was a big difference in the way we lived. We dialed our corded phones, we got up to change our TV channels, cash registers were not digital, we still used typewriters, we played records and tapes (both 8 track and cassette). There were no Ipods, no Wii's, no cell phones or internet. Life today is centered around our technological gadgets. Life then was more about personal relationships, friends and family. Our free time was spent outdoors, reading or playing sports. We were healthier, and in my opinion happier. Today we are almost obsessed with what technology can do for us. We spend less time outdoors, spend less time active, less time reading. The 1990s will be remembered as the era when this shift toward the digital/technological age began. The 1990s will also be remembered for the fact that attitudes and values began to change. It was in the 90s when the term "political correctness" was coined. The nation became more liberal/tolerant of almost everything. Ironically however we were more willing to turn toward goverment to solve our problems, we now have laws forcing us to wear seatbelts, child seats and even bicycle helmets in some places. If you drink 2 beers and get pulled over, you are now considered a drunk driver. If we burn ourselves on hot coffee at Mcdonalds we get a lawer and sue. Because of all these things we have less personal freedom. We have become a nation of ninnies, and this I believe occured in the 1990s. The 1990s will be remembered as a monumental shift in the way Americans lived, and an era where our values shifted dramatically.
Funny, I was looking at some movie clips on youtube a few nights ago. All early 90's. It was a very different time.
Remember Free Willy? Jurassic Park? Beauty and the Beast? The Lion King? The early 90's seemed so innocent. I don't think that's seeing things through rose colored glasses.
Remember GoodFellas? Wild At Heart? American Me? King Of New York? The Krays? Barton Fink? The Silence Of The Lambs? Unforgiven? The Doors? Reservoir Dogs? Etc. etc. etc.
Not exactly "innocent" - but MUCH better. MUCH, MUCH better. The structure of the industry was very different.
If anything there are more schlocky childrens' movies NOW, which is one of the problems. Not to mention too many bad remakes. Also the '90s were not good for the horror genre, not that the 21st century has been that much better. Coming off 3 decades of great horror movies (the '60s, '70s, and '80s) the decades since have been a big letdown.
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I would say the entertainment culture changed drastically, not for the better. Things got cruder, louder, more obnoxious.
Things got less creative, considerably less creative, and marketing became king as the industry got further conglomeratized. Although the big overall decline predated the '90s ; compare the '70s to the '90s and the '70s come out better in every way (except for kids' movies - I suspect that has to do with demographics. One can blame the Gen Y "second baby boom" for the lowering of standards. Gen X was smaller than the generations before and after and thus there was less kiddie schlock catering to it.)
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Even the OJ trial seemed tame to the obnoxious, paparazzi culture of today.
What do you think STARTED the celebrity obsessed culture of today?
You can argue yesterday, or even last moment, is history, but what I mean by history is a time period that's notably different and antiquated relative to the present day.
In that sense, I would say you can end History either at 1991 or 2001, by present standards.
If you look at photos of yourself and friends or movies and laugh at the clothes, shoes or hair, that's history. Personally, the 70s make me crack up that way and 80s hair styles are not that far behind.
Other things that make me think "dated" when watching a movie are computers with green screen monitors and a lot of text when versus images. And the other day, I watched a movie where a guy had to find a phone booth or die and I thought "dated" and the movie was made in the 90s so I'll go for prior to 2000.
why wasn't it a great time to be a kid in England?
On the other hand I thought the 90's was a perfect time to be a kind in England.
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