Did anything really change since the 90's ?

[Mikey]

Was just thinking .....

If a modern Happy Days was made today set in the 90's what would be different ?

Clothes, music and everything else seems about the same as today.

Was the 80's the last decade that was actually a little different than today ?

[ctc]

>Was the 80's the last decade that was actually a little different than today ?

Not really, although it might look that way 'cos the 80's had more variety than the 90's did. Today is different, although another confounding variable to us oldsters is that the 90's were the 70's again.... so we'd already seen a lot of that stuff again in one form or another.... so it looks kinda old hat. 'Course, as you get oldster-er you notice that every decade has it's share of similarities since society/art/culture/politics/people recycle the same tropes over and over and over.

If you want to know what a 90's style "Happy Days" would look like, think of all the stereotypical 90's stuff you can and mix it up. Firstly, it wouldn't be called "Happy Days." ("Angsty Days?") The characters would all HAVE to be in crappy grunge bands. (Although the band thing is a universal trope.) Baggy pants, flannel, self-absorption....

Don C.

[emeraldknight47]

Was just thinking .....

If a modern Happy Days was made today set in the 90's what would be different ?

Clothes, music and everything else seems about the same as today.

Was the 80's the last decade that was actually a little different than today ?

This is just my opinion, but I don't feel like that much has changed since the nineties outside of everyone having a cellphone, smartphone or tablet attached to their person.

For a while, I really did think the events of September 11, 2001 would change the country radically (and for the better---you know, make us a closer-knit country and more appreciative of our fellow Americans), but the only lasting effect it seems to have had is a pesky case of "background paranoia" and making flying in and out of airports more of a pain in the butt...

[Werewolf]

Other than computers getting faster and cell phones becoming more common I don't think differences would be jarring enough to really support a 90s show. There's probably not enough humor to be mined in something like dial up versus high speed.

[Mikey]

I wouldn't even really count grunge too much ... grunge was more of a late 80's spill-over into the 90's ........ Like 60's flower-power spilled into the early 70's but nobody ever counts it as a 70's thing.

[wayne foundation 07]

The cost of living in a not so good way
http://www.inthe90s.com/prices.shtml

[BlackKnight]

Gas Prices ....

[sauce]

Tons!
One important shift is that the esoteric off-color inappropriate linguistic games of Usenet and all it entails have become the most important way to communicate shared experiences on electronic devices.

[Brazoo]

I think there's a fair share of different fashion trends and cultural changes. You can't really discount social media as just a 'computer thing' or simply technological advance. I'd argue it's a fully fledged new form of media and has even become a major political tool. And that's in under 10 years.

20 years ago I don't think kids were wearing the same things as they are now. I think kids are dressing more cleanly. Button up shirts, narrow pants and skinny jeans. Less baggy stuff. I guess "preppier" would be the word, if this were the 80s.

I guess it's not easy stuff to do a cartoon version of the 90s, like Don was saying - but I do think things have changed quite a bit.

The 50s/60s was a HUGE contrast in fashion and music - so it's easier to satirize I think.

It depends on what you look at too - In graphic design there's been HUGE changes in layout, colours, the way people design and communicate ideas.

I think this is a good contrast of what passed for "cool" 20 years ago:

1992:


As computers were taking over graphic design more non-designers were able to create graphics. Indie bands and hip-hop culture's look was shaped by this - and corporate ads took on a more made-on-a-computer look to mimic this. Look at how the collage of images on the left were made to look like they were manipulated. The photos look squished and digital. The colours are unnatural. Look at that guy's teeth in the top right - that's not a model's teeth, that's a regular dude's teeth. To be cool, the design needed to look less professional, in a way.

2012:


This is a classic example of social media taking over. This ad was made to look like it was a splice of day-to-day life. Natural colours and lighting. The photos are meant to look like they were taken with a normal point-and-shoot camera with a flash close to the lens. And there's a personal story being shared - like a Facebook post. Obviously computers were used to overlay the burnt edges effect - but the effect looks more realistic - unlike the 90s ad. Here, everyone is made to seem natural - BUT they're clearly all great looking models (no crooked teeth here) and posed perfectly. In the new world it's natural for kids to feel like they're on camera - like they're all stars on their own show.

Again - not super entertaining stuff for a Happy Days type thing.

[Hector]

Yes, me.

I'm older and fatter...oh...and less hair too...lol.

[huedell]

Fashion has become much more self-aware since the 90s due to the
Internet and the abundance of mocking in the media of anything
percieved as outside the norm.

So... yeah.... I'd say that's why fashion has dulled out a lot since the 80s.

[Bill]

I think for the most part we're all at an age where we neither notice nor care about the changes from one decade to the next. I still listen to music from the 80's and early 90's, dress in anything but current fashion and haven't the interest in technology like I did fifteen or twenty years ago.
I'd imagine someone in their late twenties could identify quite a few changes in the past two decades.

[Werewolf]

I'd imagine someone in their late twenties could identify quite a few changes in the past two decades.

I don't think anyone is saying there hasn't been changes. There obviously has been quite a few. Only that the changes are more subtle when compared to previous decades. Happy Days and That 70s Show worked because the differences were so extreme that they were almost like alien worlds in comparison.

[bobws]

Yes, me.

I'm older and fatter...oh...and less hair too...lol.

You said it , i've lived it.

[ctc]

>The 50s/60s was a HUGE contrast in fashion and music - so it's easier to satirize I think.

I’m a firm believer that we’ve been living the same 20 years over and over for a LONG time.... back to the 40's at least. The same events, attitudes and styles come around and around.... slightly different each time, but still there. Calling them the 50's and 60's works. I usually call them the 70's and 80's, since that’s when I was alive.

Back in the 80's the 60's were popular, and you had a lot of the same trends. Overblown, bright fashion, pseudo-social activism, conspicuous consumption, youth worship.... Not that these things don’t ALWAYS exist.... nothing EVER goes away completely, but the magnitude changes. During an 80's/60's period there’s usually a big political divide too, and the “culture war” becomes a thing. During a 70's/50's/90's period there’s usually a general disregard or distrust overall of the political machine: people don’t pick sides, they ALL suck.

>grunge was more of a late 80's spill-over into the 90's ........ Like 60's flower-power spilled into the early 70's but nobody ever counts it as a 70's thing.

That’s a confounding variable too; the divisions aren’t in neat, decade long rows. The divisions happen WAY after the fact. When it’s going on nobody sees it as a “thing” that’ll one day be supplanted by something else. Years later people see it as “oh yeah, I remember that!” This is why eras get typified, and seen as more homogenous than they actually were. The 60's as most people think of them occurred around 67 to 74.

Once the division is made, people tend to see the divides neater than they were, too. Stuff NEVER just happens; it’s part of a process, but that gets forgotten when an arbitrary division crops up. So.... folks tend to see Star Wars as a watershed moment when sci-fi became a thing; which is KIND of true, but there was a burgeoning sci-fi movement BEFORE which facilitated Star Wars. (Think how many classic sci-fi films came out during 68 to 75.) But Star Wars becomes the arbitrary divide.

I think for us it’s easy to see the 90's as the end of originality ‘cos of our age: that’s the era where we started disconnecting from the societal treadmill. (No doubt ‘cos of low dopamine....) In reality the 90's were no more or less original and different OVERALL than any other era. Making a sitcom of it wouldn’t be any more or less difficult than any other era either, ‘cos most sitcoms are pretty much the same old stories with a new facade slapped on.

Don C.