# Is Office Space set in the 80s? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 23, 2015, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-office-space-set-in-the-80s/720634 "2015-05-23T03:30:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![protoboard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/fbc32d/32.png) [@protoboard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/protoboard)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2015, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-office-space-set-in-the-80s/720634/1 "2015-05-23T03:30:25Z")
I know the technology is a bit beyond the 80s in the movie, but the fashions look very 80s or early 90s at latest. Everyone has huge glasses and poofy hair! Is it a bit like Napoleon Dynamite and set in the present but heavily influenced by the 80s, or is it supposed to be set in the 80s but did a poor job at some of the details? Or is 1999 just a lot more old fashioned than I remember? ---
**Author:** ![Lancia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lancia/32/17174_2.png) [@Lancia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lancia)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2015, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-office-space-set-in-the-80s/720634/2 "2015-05-23T03:44:18Z")
> [@protoboard](#): > > Or is 1999 just a lot more old fashioned than I remember? This, I think. Remember that the main character’s job was to re-program computers in anticipation of Y2K. So very much a late-90’s setting. The people like Lundberg and one of the Bobs who wore the big glasses I’m sure were designed that way to deliberately stand out as old-fashioned nerds. Modern (for 1999) cars, fax machines, printers… not an 80’s movie. ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2015, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-office-space-set-in-the-80s/720634/3 "2015-05-23T04:17:41Z")
I think you overestimate the fashion-forwardness of computer programmers. The soundtrack, e.g. “Damn It Feels Good to Be a Gangsta” is 1992. I can’t remember which songs were part of the soundtrack and which were actively acknowledged by the characters though. Michael Bolton’s first hit was about 1987, it looks. That’s a very early estimate of the time when the character first became aware of his counterpart, at age 12. Let’s say the character was 25 at the time of the film (actor was 32); that puts the film near 2000. We probably have to allow for fudging of ages because the character was in a rage over that no-talent ass clown (second time in a week I typed that on SDMB!), thus it takes place in the 90s. Who has poofy hair? One of the secretaries or something? ---
**Author:** ![protoboard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/fbc32d/32.png) [@protoboard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/protoboard)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2015, 5:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-office-space-set-in-the-80s/720634/4 "2015-05-23T05:24:11Z")
> [@thelurkinghorror](#): > > I think you overestimate the fashion-forwardness of computer programmers. > > The soundtrack, e.g. “Damn It Feels Good to Be a Gangsta” is 1992. I can’t remember which songs were part of the soundtrack and which were actively acknowledged by the characters though. > > Michael Bolton’s first hit was about 1987, it looks. That’s a very early estimate of the time when the character first became aware of his counterpart, at age 12. Let’s say the character was 25 at the time of the film (actor was 32); that puts the film near 2000. We probably have to allow for fudging of ages because the character was in a rage over that no-talent ass clown (second time in a week I typed that on SDMB!), thus it takes place in the 90s. > > **Who has poofy hair? One of the secretaries or something?** There’s a scene in the movie, I can’t remember, but there are tons of people with poofy/permy hair and everyone in the movie, not just the bosses, wears glasses that are much bigger than standard today. Why did people wear such big glasses in the 80s and 90s anyway? ---
**Author:** ![Lancia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lancia/32/17174_2.png) [@Lancia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lancia)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2015, 5:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-office-space-set-in-the-80s/720634/5 "2015-05-23T05:57:42Z")
> [@protoboard](#): > > Why did people wear such big glasses in the 80s and 90s anyway? Cuz it was the style at the time. Like tying an onion to your belt. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Greenjeans](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mr.greenjeans/32/551_2.png) [@Mr.Greenjeans](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Greenjeans)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2015, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-office-space-set-in-the-80s/720634/6 "2015-05-23T14:17:12Z")
One aspect of Office Space feels out of its time based only on my personal experience. I’ve worked in technology offices since the mid-80s, and I wore a shirt and tie every day for about the first 10 years. Starting around the mid-90s, offices started to switch to more casual dress. By the late 90s, pretty much everyone I knew in a programming or development role was in jeans. Only the execs and sales people wore ties. ---
**Author:** ![GrumpyBunny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bc8723/32.png) [@GrumpyBunny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrumpyBunny)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2015, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-office-space-set-in-the-80s/720634/7 "2015-05-23T14:41:18Z")
Trust me, in some areas, people were still wearing permy/poufy hair in the mid-90s, and even the late 90s. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2015, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-office-space-set-in-the-80s/720634/8 "2015-05-23T14:51:08Z")
> [@Mr.Greenjeans](#): > > One aspect of Office Space feels out of its time based only on my personal experience. I’ve worked in technology offices since the mid-80s, and I wore a shirt and tie every day for about the first 10 years. Starting around the mid-90s, offices started to switch to more casual dress. By the late 90s, pretty much everyone I knew in a programming or development role was in jeans. Only the execs and sales people wore ties. Yep. I started in 1990 and about half of the people wore ties. The rest were button up shirts and slacks other than casual Friday. After five or six years had passed, every day was casual Friday. ---
**Author:** ![Quimby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/22d042/32.png) [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2015, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-office-space-set-in-the-80s/720634/9 "2015-05-23T14:53:25Z")
Nope that was just how the late 90s were. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2015, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-office-space-set-in-the-80s/720634/10 "2015-05-23T15:38:58Z")
> [@protoboard](#): > > There’s a scene in the movie, I can’t remember, but there are tons of people with poofy/permy hair and everyone in the movie, not just the bosses, wears glasses that are much bigger than standard today. Styles lag and spread through the general population rather slowly. In the late '90s, there were plenty of people who were wearing styles that were similar to those from 10 years earlier. > [@](#): > > Why did people wear such big glasses in the 80s and 90s anyway? People in the '80s and '90s were looking back to the '50s and '60s and wondering why people wore such small glasses. That’s just how style works. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2015, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-office-space-set-in-the-80s/720634/11 "2015-05-23T16:52:32Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > Styles lag and spread through the general population rather slowly. This. Youse kids have this idea that everyone in 1968, 1972, 1980, 1995 wore exactly the same styles, like some cheap sf movie. Every era is a blend of all the eras people have lived through that far. I was there - and I mean _there_, in the insanity of generic tech - in 1999. That movie nails it like a NatGeo documentary. ---
**Author:** ![protoboard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/fbc32d/32.png) [@protoboard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/protoboard)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2015, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-office-space-set-in-the-80s/720634/12 "2015-05-23T19:00:40Z")
> [@Amateur\_Barbarian](#): > > This. Youse kids have this idea that everyone in 1968, 1972, 1980, 1995 wore exactly the same styles, like some cheap sf movie. Every era is a blend of all the eras people have lived through that far. > > I was there - and I mean _there_, in the insanity of generic tech - in 1999. That movie nails it like a NatGeo documentary. Yeah, I guess it’s sort of like how you still see some people wearing baggy pants, certain people. It’s more prevalent in certain areas though, like I notice hip hop fashion is more popular in the Midwest and California than it is here in Oregon. ---
**Author:** ![Suburban\_Plankton](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/suburban_plankton/32/219_2.png) [@Suburban\_Plankton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Suburban_Plankton)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2015, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-office-space-set-in-the-80s/720634/13 "2015-05-23T19:19:46Z")
It was released in 1999, and I see no reason to think it was set in anything other than “present day”. ---
**Author:** ![GrumpyBunny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bc8723/32.png) [@GrumpyBunny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrumpyBunny)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2015, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-office-space-set-in-the-80s/720634/14 "2015-05-23T20:40:04Z")
> [@Amateur\_Barbarian](#): > > I was there - and I mean _there_, in the insanity of generic tech - in 1999. That movie nails it like a NatGeo documentary. Ditto. I was doing Y2K testing for Medicare. ---
**Author:** ![Asimovian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asimovian/32/172_2.png) [@Asimovian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asimovian)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2015, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-office-space-set-in-the-80s/720634/15 "2015-05-23T22:19:39Z")
Relocating to Cafe Society. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2015, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-office-space-set-in-the-80s/720634/16 "2015-05-23T23:02:13Z")
Well, it was filmed in Austin, though I’m not sure if it was specifically set there. Austin doesn’t strike me as a particularly cutting-edge-of-fashion town, though perhaps I do its good citizens a disservice. By the way, on New Years Eve 1999, I was on duty on an army base in case civilization fell. I don’t recall any specific plans on what we were supposed to _do_ if civilization fell, but I guess better safe than sorry. ---
**Author:** ![Bruce\_Wayne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/22d042/32.png) [@Bruce\_Wayne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bruce_Wayne)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2015, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-office-space-set-in-the-80s/720634/17 "2015-05-23T23:08:26Z")
I believe it’s the character Michael Bolton or maybe it’s the neighbor who scoffs at the unoriginality of their computer program by mentioning it had been done in a movie. That movie is _Hackers_ which was released in 1995. ---
**Author:** ![Aquadementia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aquadementia/32/555_2.png) [@Aquadementia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aquadementia)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2015, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-office-space-set-in-the-80s/720634/18 "2015-05-23T23:24:56Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > Well, it was filmed in Austin, though I’m not sure if it was specifically set there. Austin doesn’t strike me as a particularly cutting-edge-of-fashion town, though perhaps I do its good citizens a disservice. > > By the way, on New Years Eve 1999, I was on duty on an army base in case civilization fell. I don’t recall any specific plans on what we were supposed to _do_ if civilization fell, but I guess better safe than sorry. Thanks for being there to pick it back up for us. I barely noticed the downfall at all. > [@Bruce\_Wayne](#): > > I believe it’s the character Michael Bolton or maybe it’s the neighbor who scoffs at the unoriginality of their computer program by mentioning it had been done in a movie. That movie is _Hackers_ which was released in 1995. It was taken from Superman III. The one where Richard Pryor became a computer genius, which must be a little known side effect from freebasing. Edit: Oh, unless you mean a different program. Then never mind. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2015, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-office-space-set-in-the-80s/720634/19 "2015-05-24T01:46:15Z")
> [@Bruce\_Wayne](#): > > I believe it’s the character Michael Bolton or maybe it’s the neighbor who scoffs at the unoriginality of their computer program by mentioning it had been done in a movie. That movie is _Hackers_ which was released in 1995. > [@Aquadementia](#): > > Thanks for being there to pick it back up for us. I barely noticed the downfall at all. > It was taken from Superman III. The one where Richard Pryor became a computer genius, which must be a little known side effect from freebasing. > > Edit: Oh, unless you mean a different program. Then never mind. The only time in the movie I recall Michael comparing something they’re doing in a movie is the moment when they’re planning to shave micro-cents off of transactions. That happened in _Superman III_ (1983) and Michael explicitly says that. ---
**Author:** ![Ponch8](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponch8/32/9883_2.png) [@Ponch8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponch8)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2015, 7:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-office-space-set-in-the-80s/720634/20 "2015-05-24T07:05:45Z")
> [@thelurkinghorror](#): > > I think you overestimate the fashion-forwardness of computer programmers. > > The soundtrack, e.g. “Damn It Feels Good to Be a Gangsta” is 1992. I can’t remember which songs were part of the soundtrack and which were actively acknowledged by the characters though. > > Michael Bolton’s first hit was about 1987, it looks. That’s a very early estimate of the time when the character first became aware of his counterpart, at age 12. Let’s say the character was 25 at the time of the film (actor was 32); that puts the film near 2000. We probably have to allow for fudging of ages because the character was in a rage over that no-talent ass clown (second time in a week I typed that on SDMB!), thus it takes place in the 90s. > > Who has poofy hair? One of the secretaries or something? CorporateaccountspayableNinaspeaking…justamoment! [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-office-space-set-in-the-80s/720634.md?page=2)