We need more Zenon: Girl of the 21st Century influences tbh.

[rogueslayer452]

You know in older shows, like from the 80s and even early 90s, where they would do episodes where a character dreams about what the future would look like in the 2000s? I'm always so fascinated by what they envision the future we currently live in looks like, because it's obviously so outdated but there's something endearing about how outlandish some of ideas got particularly with how advanced we would get (not that we haven't been, of course, we've advanced quite impressively technologically, just not as advanced as, say, space travel or time travel as these shows tended to envision). If it was for a sitcom clearly they're going to amp up the ridiculousness of it, but the creativity of what The Near Future would be like is still interesting to see. Inspired, of course, from the science fiction seen during those particular eras since I, too, was also looking forward to the notion of flying cars, but interesting nonetheless. So much high hopes, so optimistic.

It's also interesting how we kinda sorta imitated some of those things, at least in terms of fashion, when it became the 21st century. A lot of early 00s fashion was very much inspired by some of those 80s/90s predictions of how they thought we would look. Metallic, wacky hairstyles and fashion trends, it was very fun and I wish that we could bring those back again. We need less focus on fashion being perfection and more on having it be fun and messy, just but bold and out there.

(On another note, there's a lot to be said about how we all had these kinds of optimistic looks towards the future, until that all shifted and anything futuristic had a more pessimistic tone, and oftentimes a kind of post-apocalyptic or dystopian feel. Not everything of course, but it certainly feels like it with what is being pushed in mainstream.)

Comments

[http://users.livejournal.com/_profiterole_/]

Ah, flying cars, I'm still waiting for these. In the shorter term, I'm waiting for the generalisation of self-driving cars, because I hate driving.

[awakenyourfaith.livejournal.com]

(On another note, there's a lot to be said about how we all had these kinds of optimistic looks towards the future, until that all shifted and anything futuristic had a more pessimistic tone, and oftentimes a kind of post-apocalyptic or dystopian feel. Not everything of course, but it certainly feels like it with what is being pushed in mainstream.) - So true!

[icecoldrain.livejournal.com]

I always remember the flying cars and people openly living in space. We're clearly not anywhere near this lmao but it's def fun to think about. OMG YESSSS I loved all the metallic clothes and hair stuff. Let's bring this back.

[laeryn.livejournal.com]

"We need less focus on fashion being perfection and more on having it be fun and messy, just but bold and out there."

gosh, this right here. It's something I try to do with my own style and I know it's not current and what the trend is but thankfully I'm old enough I don't care. Perfection, in fashion if nowhere else, is truly boring.

"On another note, there's a lot to be said about how we all had these kinds of optimistic looks towards the future, until that all shifted and anything futuristic had a more pessimistic tone, and oftentimes a kind of post-apocalyptic or dystopian feel. Not everything of course, but it certainly feels like it with what is being pushed in mainstream."

This ties up with something I read recently, about some TV program showing teenagers from the 50s being super optimistic about the future vs current day teenagers being super optimistic, or at most aiming very low. I think a lot of people nowadays feel the weight of everything - the economy, climate change, the political climate, the hyper awareness of everything going wrong in every single place in the world. It's a lot to take in and I think pessimism is definitely in the air in many ways, whereas I think there were times in earlier years where people hoped a bit more. And of course fiction would reflect that.

[rogueslayer452.livejournal.com]

I mean, hell, at this point I'm waiting for actual hoverboards that actually hover and aren't just segways without handles.

I'm kind of wary on self-driving cars. Like, I like the idea and it can definitely be useful, but things can get messed up so quickly. I just prefer to rely on myself when driving because I have more control. Granted, I do prefer driving in general, but idk.

[rogueslayer452.livejournal.com]

It's definitely fun to think about, and believe me I think about it all the time. I like fantasizing what living in space would be like, on another planet, on a space station, etc.

OMG YESSSS I loved all the metallic clothes and hair stuff. Let's bring this back.

I KNOW RIGHT? I loved those trends. It may have been nonsensical, but it made fashion fun and unique.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_profiterole_/]

Why did they even call these segway thingies hoverboards? Shame on them!

[rogueslayer452.livejournal.com]

gosh, this right here. It's something I try to do with my own style and I know it's not current and what the trend is but thankfully I'm old enough I don't care. Perfection, in fashion if nowhere else, is truly boring.

Exactly. I never particularly cared about what was "in" in fashion trends, and I'm definitely at that age where I really don't care what people think of what I'm wearing. I just know that this current obsession with needing to be "Instagram Perfect" with fashion and makeup is ridiculous and holding so many people back with experimenting with different styles and finding themselves. Even with the resurgence of the 90s has kind of made 90s fashion/makeup trends to look too perfect, even the "grudge" looks are too perfect which....defeats the purpose, imho. We need to dress for ourselves and not for some quick online validation that means nothing in the end.

I think a lot of people nowadays feel the weight of everything - the economy, climate change, the political climate, the hyper awareness of everything going wrong in every single place in the world. It's a lot to take in and I think pessimism is definitely in the air in many ways, whereas I think there were times in earlier years where people hoped a bit more. And of course fiction would reflect that.

Absolutely, and that is something that has really fascinated me. Because it's not like previous generations didn't go through hard times politically and economically, but the difference is that there was always this kind of hope and optimism that things would get better, which is reflective in their fiction where there are these optimistic takes on the future, of the grass being greener on the other side. Whereas compared to today, as you said, we've been beaten down so hard with so much bad news (not made better by the presence of social media showing us Every Bad Thing Ever Happening) that so many have really lost hope, that it's no wonder there's this pessimistic look at the future, why there's so much dystopian pieces of fiction in media. It's truly depressing when you really get right down to it, and it just makes me yearn for more optimistic pieces of futuristic storytelling, y'know?

[rogueslayer452.livejournal.com]

Seriously! It's so misleading, and extremely disappointing.

[noybusiness.livejournal.com]

Ah, Zenon and all that slang. I miss those movies.
.

[taikodragon.livejournal.com]

(On another note, there's a lot to be said about how we all had these kinds of optimistic looks towards the future, until that all shifted and anything futuristic had a more pessimistic tone, and oftentimes a kind of post-apocalyptic or dystopian feel. Not everything of course, but it certainly feels like it with what is being pushed in mainstream.)

This. Agreed 100 percent. I think it's being pushed in the mainstream because sometimes the optimistic looking versions feel fake. Like how The Matrix mentioned that one of the first versions of it was a utopia but they lost a lot of people because it didn't feel real to them. I think that why the apocalyptic/dystopic versions are more popular nowadays, that and people have a tendency to enjoy other's suffering. Pain sells.

[elizalavelle.livejournal.com]

I feel like some of the dystopic future comes from the fact that we could be living in the Star Trek future right now in terms of post scarcity. We have enough food, housing and incidentals to support everyone. But we still have poverty everywhere because greed rules from the top down. So now when we look at the future we're reflecting what it would look like if things carry on much as they are.