Opining about the 1990s is all the rage in the internet salons these days. If you haven't been following the debate, it may come as some surprise that nostalgia for the final decade of he twentieth century is now a subject of controversy.
The disagreement arises between those who want to use political means to wind the cultural clock back to the 90s. Behind these types' avowed Conservatism lies a sensualist consumer streak that makes them long for the material richness of bygone days.
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Image: Rachid Lotf[/caption]
Related: The High 90s
The picture above, which has become celebrated as something of a temporal icon, condenses and crystallizes the 199s' profile in the zeitgeist. But were the 90s really the way nostalgia-poisoned Gen X-ers and Ys remember?
Well, since that decade took place after the advent of electronic recording media, we have ways of comparing our warm, fuzzy memories to the genuine article. Just yesterday, author David V. Stewart shared an archival home movie shot in the early 1990s. If you thrill to the thought of watching the 90s watch the 90s, the following video is for you:
Did you enjoy your nostalgia trip?
Here are my main takeaways from the video:
The reality is not the ideal
Those expecting a home furnished in minimalist style yet plastered in Star Wars, Mario, and Marvel Comics posters were no doubt disappointed. Instead of a then-contemporary movie set, the real 90s house was chock full of elements David and I have mentioned before. Yes, the brother had a Genesis, and an unplugged NES makes a blink-and-you'll-miss-it cameo. But for the most part, it's all leftover 1980s furniture and general decor—a far cry from the nostalgia shrine Gen Y misremembers.
Related: Nostalgia in Light of Generation Theory
Spiritual poverty; material wealth
That's "wealth" in relative terms. The family in that home movie would have been considered low class by 1990s standards. And that's not a dig; they'd be in the top 1 percent today, well above most Millennials' aspirations. Yet nowhere did I see a crucifix, plain cross, or even a simple "Faith, Hope, Love" sampler on a wall. The sister makes a reference to Easter vacation, and there's a dcommissioned Christmas tree in the garage, but neither the house nor its occupants show many signs of faith playing a central role in the home.
And while that house screams "Struggling HVAC business owner married to a part-time CNA," the documented fact that a family of rather modest means could afford a split ranch of that square footage in the exurbs and four kids is mind-boggling today.
Speaking of which ...
It shows what a functioning economy looks like
The footage itself speaks volumes about the postwar gravy train that was still chugging along in the 90s. So here are a few highlights:
You could get a fast food meal for less than $2.00
The Gen X videopgrapher owned a decent used car, which he probably could have afforded mowing lawns or delivering papers
Every room shown on screen (except the bathroom) had a TV.
That last point is a red flag that the 90s weren't as idyllic as most people think, because ...
Kids were already addicted to mass media
And even back then, regime propagandists were already using TV to warp kids' minds.
Related: The 1990s: Decade of Despair
The video gives proof of an even more disturbing social disease.
Gentlemen, it is with a heavy heart that I inform you that TikTok girls are not a new plague on civilization.
Because contrasting the boys' behavior in that home movie with the girls' yet again demonstrates the truth of this meme:
The next time you're tempted to pine for the 90s, remember that even the sight of a clunky Marty McFly style camcorder was enough to make 1990s girls go full attention-seeker mode.
That video was shot in April of 1990. And it comes off as pretty much like now, but with less to do.
So it's ironic that Back to the 90s bros, who are driven by a deep desire to consoom in the Current Year fashion, but next door to Christians, would be bored stiff if they did go back.
The human memory is designed to show us the "best of" the past. So what everybody forgets is how much more of the 90s consisted of waiting compared to now.
You got up and waited for the schoolbus.
Then you waited through stultifying clases for lunch.
After which you waited some more for the final bell.
Whereupon you went home and waited for your folks to get home.
Even on weekends, you spent hours waiting for friends to call back or for your favorite TV show to come on.
Fruit fly attention span digital citizens would have cracked up within an hour of going back.
Which is why, if watching the 90s watch the 90s has shown us anything, it's that trying to go back is the height of folly.
The only way out is forward. You won't find the 1990s there. But with hard prayer and serious effort, we may find a confessional Christian state. At lesat it will be richer spiritually. And under an intergralist system, a single wage-earner will be able to afford a house and feed a family of four.
Related: Pay a Living Wage—Challenge Impossible!
Now it's your turn. What did you take away from watching the 90s watch the 90s?
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While the 90's are a considerably more innocent time than today, I don't look back on them with nostalgia. Not much, anyway. It was nice to be able to have a feast for $3 at Taco Bell. In the early 90's (I lived in Texas) I could scrounge $2 in change and buy enough gas to drive around all day.
The early 90's was a recession. I graduated high school in 92. I got my first job in 1990. I applied all over the place, and the only job I could get was one where I had a friend working there and got hired from a reference. Same for my second job. I put in about 30 applications all around town, but the only interview I got was at a Kentucky Fried Chicken a friend worked at.
I called the 90's "The Xerox Decade". It seemed to me like everything was a copy of everything else. All the music sounded alike. I started listening to Country in the early 90's because all the pop and grunge were identical. Ace of Base had a really popular CD around 1995 or 96 that was 10 tracks that were all the same song. All the sitcoms were just about identical. I had a theory that you could switch the characters around between Friends, Frasier, Mad About You, and several others and not skip a beat. All the cars looked alike, all the houses looked alike. Movies to me seemed like copies of each other. We had some good ones like Independence Day, but most others were just copies of each other. It seemed even worse than today where the tendency is to remake anything that once made money, only make it more "diverse" and gay.
The only fondness I have for the 90's was things were cheaper and while the rainbow was there, it wasn't as in our face as it is now.
It may be different for Millennials because you were still growing up at the time. Coming of age right around the time when IBM had its first historic layoff and suddenly you couldn't depend on a career with anybody was a little different.
I remember the nineties as rather boring. They were a decade in which everyone was restless for something to happen. I came of age in the second half, so you have a lot of bad music and the MATRIX and other things. It's not a decade I'd wish to go back to, but it was better than living now.