30 years ago now versus 30 years ago 30 years ago

In My Humble Opinion
1

I hope that title is concise enough :slight_smile:

I was just pondering on this while watching a repeat of Back to the Future (still one of my favourite films) the other day.

It’s only four years until 2015, which is of course the futuristic time period which Marty and co visit in BTTF2. When I watched the first film, as a kid, the 1950s seemed an impossibly remote and alien place - whereas now I think, well, I grew up in the 1980s, they weren’t that much different to now!

Of course to a great extent this is an artefact of living through the period in question - I’m sure 35-year-olds in 1985 didn’t think of the 1950s as ancient history - but nevertheless it seems to me that the 1980s were more similar to the 2010s than they were to the 1950s.

Obviously there have been huge advances in technology, and a person from 1985 would be amazed by the internet, mobile communications and so on, but socially I don’t think we’ve changed nearly as much since the 1980s as we did during the preceding three decades.

So would a Marty McFly from 2011 suffer more or less culture shock in going back to 1981 than the original did from 1985 to 1955?

2

It’s a great point and something I have felt as well. When he went back to 1955, I felt like he was going back so far. Again, I was born in 1978, so the 50’s seem like ancient history, so to speak.

I can watch that movie now and I just don’t think kids see the 1980’s as distant and old-fashioned as we saw the 1950’s then.

I agree that socially, it just doesn’t seem as much of a shock.

3

Speaking as someone who remembers both the 1980s and the 1950s, 2011 Marty would be much less shocked than 1985 Marty was.

I’m not even sure where to begin. Let’s try this. Marty’s teenage Mom in 1981 would have been much more like a 2011 teenager than Marty’s 1955 teenage mom. His dad, of course, would still have been a dork. Some things never change.

4

Heck, I was born in the '60s, and I can’t even think about the '50s without my mind shifting to black and white. I mean, did color even exist in the real world before the '60s? I don’t think so, and you can’t prove it, so there.

In the '80s, I was in college preparing to embark on a brand new phase of my life, so I look back on that period with great fondness, but yeah, at this point, even the '80s feels ancient to me.

5

I think it depends on where you’re coming from.

If you’re a black American, 2010 probably feels a million times more like 1980 than 1980 feels like 1950. If you’re a white American, I think the opposite is probably true.

On the other hand, for those of us who’ve experienced the internet revolution as a gradual thing, it’s probably impossible to imagine how disconnected today’s 13-year-old would feel in 1980.

ETA: And not just Americans. My dad moved to the UK from India in the early seventies. My brother and I were both born and raised there. My brother is now married to a white English woman, and neither of them have ever experienced any sort of racism at least w/r/t their marriage.

My dad would have laughed if you told him that in 1970. He had a dozen bricks thrown or otherwise propelled at him just for being an Indian walking down the street in the first couple of years after he arrived here.

6

Haven’t lived through the 50’s (was born in 1970), but I’d imagine the social mores and the content of mass media changed far more in the 30 years prior to 1985. Daytime talk shows in '85 discussed controversial topics like homosexuality and transsexuality, and things like divorce, single parenthood, and unmarried cohabitation were not completely taboo. My understanding is that such things were not discussed publicly in 1955. Pregnancy and sleeping together were not portrayed in television shows then, either.

7

Why would the 1950’s seem ancient? Back then we had cars, airplanes, jets, water ski motor boats, amusement parks, bridges and dams, telephones, radio and television, computers, Coca Cola, pizza, premarital sex, and local bars where people could go drink alcohol.

I dont see where anything much has changed from the 1950’s to the 1980’s, to today - other than the jets go faster, computers and telephones are more powerful and more common…and other than that the country today is a heck-of-a-lot more overpopulated(traffic/roadrage/congestion/job shortages/crime/fewer farms and woodlands. There is nothing new today, it is just every object is faster and everywhere we go is more crowded.

Besides, where is my hoverboard? …and how come my car can not fly?

8

Not really. Jet airliners didn’t enter US service until 1958, and there were only 13 of them in US service by 1960, so 99% of Americans had never seen one. Color television was pretty much a novelty until the late sixties. Coca-Cola still contained cocaine. Most people had heard of pizza, but I doubt the majority of Americans had actually tried one until at least 1960; pizza chains didn’t exist until 1960, when Pizza Hut opened its second restaurant.

9

You don’t remember the civil rights movement? The dirty fucking hippies? The Vietnam war? Watergate? The women’s movement? That back in the 50s mainstream politicians openly campaigned on platforms of white supremacy?

Between the 50s and the 80s was the 60s, when the country was turned upside down. Of course “the 60s” really means the late 60s and early 70s.

Of course, the country had been turned upside down in the 30s and 40s by the, you know, Great Depression and WWII. So to a guy in the 50s, going back to the 20s would have experienced a different world too.

A teenager in 2015 going back to 1985 wouldn’t be living in an alien world. A teenager from 1985 going back to 1955 would. And so would a teenager from 1955 going back to 1925.

10

Eh? Cocaine was removed from Coca-Cola in 1903.

11

Did you even see Back to the Future? The whole B story in the movie was about the anachronisms of the 1950s compared to the 1980s.

Let’s see, just off the top of my head: the 1950s did not have the Sony Walkman, the ATM, the VCR, pop-top sodas, video games, seat belts in cars, or bar codes. Computers may have existed, but they were not a part of anyone’s life. I get the impression that outside of cities, telephones were much more likely to be party lines. Things were made of metal, and not plastic. Interstate freeways were barely even on the drawing board for most of the decade. Space was where flying saucers lived, not the place from which we get television signals.

Oh, and I think you left one period out of your ellipsis. Might want to watch for that next time.

12

In the 50s, kids didn’t carry their books in bookbags, but with belts (or whatever those leather strappy things were).

They went to the malt shop and then went home to watch whatever 3 of the TV channels had to offer.

In the 50s, people did not say “damn” on TV. There was no sex or sexual induendo on shows. Couples did not sleep in the same bed. You never saw pregnant mothers on TV. It wasn’t until Leave It To Beaver when you even saw a toilet on TV.

All music came from albums and the radio. If you were hanging out over your girlfriend’s house, you brought your records over and (if you were hip) hid your love of the new sound–rock and roll. Or, as the squares would say, “nigger” music.

You didn’t go to school with pregnant teenagers. They mysteriously disappeared to faraway relative’s, or just stayed at home in isolation.

Kids played freely in the streets, their parents none the wiser. In one episode of Leave It To Beaver, June casually asks Ward where the Beaver is, since she hasn’t seen him all day. Ward shrugs and asks Wally if he knows, and he doesn’t. Everyone seems just as calm and relaxed as ever. Nowadays, Beaver would be on Amber Alert and June would be on the six o’clock news, crying about her kidnapped 8-year-old baby.

In the 50s, there were no video games or electronic doo-dads. Toys were built to stimulate imagination, not to “do” anything. They were simple…no batteries required. If you were going on a long car ride, you might bring with you a favorite teddy bear or a board game. Nothing that beeped or talked. Definitely nothing to watch.

There was no such thing as self-esteem back in the 50s. Child abuse, like spousal abuse, were both perfectly acceptable. You could be spanked at school by the principal and then sent home to be spanked again. If a neighbor caught you up to no good, they could whup you too. None of this acceptable now.

When looking at all these things, the 80s were more similar today than they were to the 50s.

13

I would have to make up a list, but my theory is that the '50ss seemed old to people watching Back to the Future when it originally came out becuase the people watching Back to the Future when it originally came out were young people who hadn’t lived during the fifties.

Those same people have lived through the '80s, and when they think back to the '80s, it doesn’t seem that long ago because they experienced it.

From a technology point of view, there are huge differences in home computers and portable electronic devices. From a sociological point of view, there are big differences in how gays are portrayed, and gay rights in general (i.e. some places in the US allow gay marriage.) Entertainment is much different: teenagers nowadays will spend time texting their friends, watching Youtube, posting on Facebook, etc. all things totally unheard of in the '80s.

14

*Originally Posted by Susanan

Why would the 1950’s seem ancient? Back then we had cars, airplanes, jets, water ski motor boats, amusement parks, bridges and dams, telephones, radio and television, computers, Coca Cola, pizza, premarital sex, and local bars where people could go drink alcohol.

I dont see where anything much has changed from the 1950’s to the 1980’s, to today - other than the jets go faster, computers and telephones are more powerful and more common…and other than that the country today is a heck-of-a-lot more overpopulated(traffic/roadrage/congestion/job shortages/crime/fewer farms and woodlands. There is nothing new today, it is just every object is faster and everywhere we go is more crowded.

Besides, where is my hoverboard? …and how come my car can not fly?
*

False! Misleading! False!! Misleading! False!! False!

  1. I saw jets all the time, probably every day. Jets were around since the 1940’s. Military jets flew all over much more so than today. I would imagine that B-52’s and jet fighters would fly over Hill Valley California all day long back in the 1950’s.

  2. So? It is still television. Whether it is color, black and white, or 3d, television is television, and the people of the 1950’s were very familiar with television. It is not amazing for someone from the 1950’s to be told that there would be television in 2011.

  3. There was no cocaine in Coca Cola in the 1950’s. However, there WAS sugar in it, and it did taste better with sugar.

  4. We didnt need to go to a “chain” to get pizza, pizza was available, and nobody from the 1950’s would be amazed at learning that there would be pizza in 2011.
    (5. Why do you follow me, stalk me with every message I post on any topic? Am I that fascinating to you? )

15

Originally Posted by Susanann

I dont see where anything much has changed from the 1950’s to the 1980’s…

Uhhh, What the heck are you talking about?

NONE! of those things you mentioned were happening in the 1980’s, nor are they happening today.

16

So? A computer is still a computer, and a phone is still a phone, a tv is still a tv. A recording is still a recording, and a portable radio is still a portable radio, a car is still a car. Nothing amazing, nor new to the people from the 1950’s.

I remember seeing Sperry Rand computers, and IBM computers on game shows every week in the mid-1950’s, I think everyone in America in the 1950’s knew what a computer was.

The world has not changed since the 1950’s, “things/electronics” have been upgraded, more colorful, and everywhere we are much more crowded and overpopulated.

On the other hand, the world of 1885 (BTTF3) actually WAS!! a major culture change from 1955/1985/2011, since in 1885 there were no cars, no radios, no airplanes, etc. One could easily make a case that the world of 1885 was very different.

17

I was thinking about this very thing a few months ago. I am 41, born in 1969. I don’t think of my childhood in the 70s being that markedly different to a childhood in the 2000s.

41 years before I was born it was 1928. And that was such a marked world away from the 70s and even more so from now, it’s mind-blowing. That was the cusp of the Great Depression! It was before King Kong came out! Argh!

18

Huh? Neither I, nor nobody I ever knew, nor nobody I ever saw ever carried books with a belt (except in newspaper cartoons). Where the heck did you get this idea from?

(However, we DID have lunchboxes)

19

Remember 1955 Doc’s disbelief at being told Reagan was President in 1985? (The actor?!) Imagine what he’d have said if he’d been told a black man was President in 2011.

20

While all this is true, I don’t know that it would seem that disorienting to a time-traveling teen from 2015. Unless our 21st century Marty were himself openly gay then I doubt the difference in gay rights would be obvious to him, and it’s not like those battles have been definitively won even today. If I were transported back to 1985 I’d have no right to marry a person of the same sex, but I don’t have that right in my state now and the same is true in most of the US. Although 2015 Marty would probably be used to amusing himself with Youtube videos, I don’t think having to go without for a few days would be that big a deal. He could always just laugh at the goofy “old” videos on MTV, if he even had time for frivolous entertainment while trying to get himself back to the future.

What I think might cause 2015 Marty more trouble would be finding information that is now commonly just Googled. A few years back I was doing a grad school project on the Digital Divide and set myself the challenge of trying to find cheap/free basic Internet training classes…without using the Internet to search for them. I actually had to stop for a moment and ask myself “How DID we find the phone numbers for the public library, etc., before the Internet?” It didn’t take me long to remember phone books :smack:, but it didn’t come to me instantly, and I was in college before it became really easy to find almost any phone number you wanted on the Web. 2015 Marty has probably seen phone books, but might never have actually had to use one. Not that they’re difficult to use, I mean it may not even occur to him to try. Finding things like street maps, weather reports, and movie times in 1985 might also seem very confusing to 2015 Marty.

Also on the tech front, he also might find it weird and awkward that if he wants to talk to another teen on the phone (say 1985 George) he’s going to have to call him on his home phone. So if young George is out “birdwatching” then Marty isn’t going to be able to reach him by phone, and if young George is at home then Marty can’t expect to have a private conversation – George will probably be standing in his kitchen or living room with his family around, possibly wanting him to get off the phone so they can use it.

Incidentally, it occurs to me that 1985 Doc Brown would probably have a hard time believing that Arnold Schwarzenegger, THE ACTOR!?, had become governor of California!