Culture Reflection: 2000 - 2003
The early 2000s... a time of new beginnings and large change. In many ways, it was something of a continuation of the late 1990s, but at the same time, also a refinement of the times and what they brought. Political change was happening across the world and picking up as the past events were finally kicking in to bring about these changes. For the United States for example, it was the last breaths of the old political system dying. President Clinton's victory saw the first administration headed off by a third party candidate and it would also see the collapse of the Republican Party with the new Federalist Party aiming to take its place and fostering a new modern conservatism. This trend of the victories of the smaller parties were also seen to varying degrees in Europe, as even if they did not win, they were doing better than ever and pushing forward. The Sovereign Union was seeing similar if subtle changes as things stabilized and they began undergoing a sort of cultural renaissance regarding their constituent nations. China meanwhile was doing the same along with political reforms. More radical change would be in the fall of the House of Saud and the birth of the state of Arabia, if under an interim govenment. While it was a time of change, it was also a pretty comfortable time and enjoying the positives.
General Trends
The early years of the Clinton Administration would be defined by a few things. One would be the continued declination of the usage in automobiles. The Arabian Civil War was just the latest of events that led to petrol prices becoming more erratic and leading to some economic hiccups. However, it has been nearly 20 years since the shift began over away from fossil fuels and people have grown used to handling it, focusing on public transportation while the system has shifted to infrastructure models to focus less and less on cars over time. Indeed, each time an incident messes with oil prices, it was a fresh reminder on the importance of moving away on the reliance of such. While the Americans did have domestic supplies for their own purposes, it mainly served for things like airplanes and important vehicles. Many would put to this time period where automobile makers would really begin feeling the financial pinch as more young people are more selective and hesitant with buying cars, especially from American carmakers. For some young people instead, they were looking for smaller vehicles like motorcycles or motorscooters, at least those in urban and suburban areas. Automobiles maintain more of a presence over in more rural areas, but even there, tastes have been changing considerably, especially with the growing usage of the Internet.
Another boom was the growth of the usage of computers and the Internet. New operating systems provided easier experience for navigating computers and the internet. Microsoft would introduce the world to Windows XP showing they were still a prominent force even with the company being split. They also went forward with new fields such as getting into video games. Their sister company over in MSN Software would also be hard at work. Besides updating and expanding MSN Office, they would grow their online services with Internet Explorer and similar ventures, with some wondering if the company may expand with new products or potentially acquire some new ones through purchasing. NeXT Inc would rebrand itself as NeXTech Inc with the acquisition of Apple and reshuffling the company a bit. They would take off with the NexPlei as the most popular MP3 player, its MP3 software sytem in NexTunes. It would also enter back into the hardware sector with the NexMac line and its new operating system in NEXTSTEP's successor, NeXOS. NeXOS in turn having various releases being codenamed after places in North Carolina, specifically the "Research Triangle" where it was centered. NeXTech's rise was gaining alot of interest and many were wondering what the future would hold. After all, Sun Microsystems would get a shot in the arm over with the acquisition over of BeOS and thus become more confident stepping into the market, especially with Microsoft getting cut. While they would still be quite the underdog, Sun Microsystems was getting growing support for their own support of the open source movement and the like and leveraging old contacts to try and stay ahead of the game. While Microsoft maintains a form of dominance, NeXTech and Sun Microsystems would begin looking abroad for opportunities to go and expand their influence. Even Microsoft was not immune to this. With the loss of their quasi-monopoly, they've began looking at their competition for ideas and seeing the success of NeXTech with the NexPlei and NexTunes would get them to announce the development of their own MP3 player, working with Toshiba, to create the Zune, slated for a release over in 2004 along with software to work with it. Tech was becoming bigger and grander, with many wondering what the future would look like. One possibility was the result of US interactions over with Japan; starting out with advice sharing on public internet networks, attention suddenly fell to i-mode,
NTT DoCoMo's mobile internet service that was born in 1999. This began capturing a fair bit of attention at the possibilities here, especially as the success began spreading to other parts of Asia along with Europe and Australia. The US meanwhile began wondering if this could be implemented into their own growing public ISP while mobile companies saw this as a brand new opportunity to expand regarding profits.
Coal was practically from the US, replaced with nuclear power plants and a similar trend was occurring across the world such as most of Europe and the Sovereign Union. While nuclear was ruling the roost, many saw it as a benchwarmer for the race of more traditional green sources such as wind, geothermal and solar. At the same time, it bought plenty of time to try and figure out the issues such as storing the power generated and the like. Additionally, the daily and favored usage of public transportation would really become apparent for the mainstream by the early 2000s. Mainly because more and more young people were willing to take public transportation and indeed doing so alongside with people for whom automobiles were a bit too expensive to be considered as good enough investments. Public transportation was increasingly viewed by the youth, that being Freeborn Generation along with the younger Brightbangers and even the very oldest of the Millenials, as a new symbol of freedom. They could go to their favorite spots for sensible and easy payments on a pretty reliable schedule, either by rail line or even by bus. This growing usage of it would result in a decreasing amount of traffic for people to deal with. Even the newer suburbs and towns on the periphery of urban areas invested in bus systems. Plans were discussed for ideas such as inter-county rail systems or even just bus systems between local groupings of towns and cities. These newer places also began rethinking on how to restructure and reorganize their infrastructure to further make it less focused on cars and more pedestrian friendly. At the same time, the younger folk would have their own means of transportation such as motorscooters or motorbikes, at least in urban and some urban areas. Rural areas still make good use of cars and trucks though even then, the changes are reflected by the buying habits, given many of these smaller trucks and whatnot are Japanese imports and viewed fondly. Purchasing habits remained largely the same with gadgets and techs being the new main thing that has everyone's attention in attention along with the continued slow decline of the fashion industry, primarily as the restrictions were really forcing the industry to rethink how to move ahead, including investing in hemp clothing and other materials beyond cotton along with the other concerns regarding certain materials like nylon, a trend happening in other industries as well. It was becoming more and more the new norm, and given the start of the new millenium, it really seemed to be here where it began settling into people's minds. At the same time, it was also viewed as a time of growing opportunity. Beyond hemp, other materials were becoming examined for future investments and innovations such as fungi. To the younger generation of investments, they saw it as now their time to move forward and being able to keep up the game as long as they can. Necessities like food and the like were becoming more widely distributed and available thanks to the various donations and growing presence of agrihoods in urban areas.
Film
Film would be dominated by a rising tide of fantasy and delight.
The Lord of the Rings trilogy would bring the world of fantasy to the mainstream and the rising tide lifted all ships, leading to associated hobbies like
Dungeons & Dragons and the like to get a large boost in popularity and attention, helping to create an influx of new fans. It would also prove that such massive spectacles of high fantasy and grandiose story telling could bring in critical acclaim and extensive box office success. Animation would get a large boon as Dreamworks would fully challenge Disney over in the box office by the duo of Katzenberg and Don Bluth. Dreamworks would show off they could do both CGI films with
Shrek with traditional hand drawn animation such as
The Road to El Dorado, Betwixt Sun and Moon and
Satyrday, with
Titan AE splitting the difference and using both. Disney had its own stand out line with the big name being
Story of Seadogs, with it having the first SATMIN Disney character on the big screen and showed the mainstream how to do such a romance well. They also became more experimental, with films such as
Atlantis: The Lost Empire, Lilo & Stich, Treasure Planet and
The Fool's Errand. From grandiose action in histoical fiction to heartwarming modern stories of family to even a self-parodical Pythonesque comedy (not unlike
Puss in Boots from years prior), Disney was certainly trying some new experimental things. And this was not even including Pixar coming in and the charge. Even other animated films would have an interesting presence such as Warner Bros. Feature Animation releasing Brad Bird's animated adaptation of
The Spirit. An exceptionally well done and animated film, it would be considered a cult classic and while it would make back its budget, the behind the scenes concerns and whatnot would lead to Bid leaving WB and heading to Pixar.
More big news woudl be the return of
Star Wars into prominence with the release of two films, both starting out trilogies.
Episode I: The Phantom Menace would show the introduction of Obi-Wan Kenobi back as a Padawan and a young Anakin Skywalker joining the Order and the setting being set for the future troubles. This "prequel" trilogy would be accompanied by at least one animated series that would fill in the blanks between the films. Meanwhile,
Episode VII: The Force Awakens would sow the seeds of the future with the older cast dealing with the remnants of the Empire and the trilogy taking some inspiration from the Thrawn trilogy. There was also the implication, albeit not the confirmation of the next upcoming generation, which caught the interest of many people interested. Overall, people were excited to see more Star Wars and the stories it would tell. Of course, beyond the fantastical, there was still the classical large blockbusters and other ventures that drew in the audiences.
Story of Seadogs among others were those that would be considered the end of the queersploitation era. Writers and directors would start becoming more comfortable and capable of including well-rounded, dynamic and complex SATMIN+ characters into their stories. Films like
Chicago, Signs, A Beautiful Mind and
Memento would be considered classics and drawn in the critics' attention. More mundane thrillers such as
Oceans' Eleven,
Mission Impossible 2, and
Die Another Day would be flights of fantays and entertainment over for the audience though there was some surprising news over in the retirement of Pierce Brosnan as James Bond. Some were wondering if this would be it for the franchise given the relative peace and stability over of the world along with the growing critiques of the unrealism of some of the films. New franchises were being born with new ideas such as
The Matrix series. A strange combination of science fiction and Gnostic themes, it captivated the minds with the special effects and also proposed profound questions on the nature of existence and creation, just done with modern ideals and means. Overall, film would have a pretty good run this year.
Television
Television would also keep on going and evolving. New ideas were being formulated along with new stars in the making. At the same time, new rules were in place to ensure the health, safety and well-being of child and adolescent actors in the industry
Dawson's Creek and
Boy Meets World would finish up here, serving as prominent gold standards in dramedy sitcoms, especially with how the character grew older with the audience. New shows would come in though to fill the void and show the promise that television provided. Shows like
Scrubs, Band of Brothers, Reba and
Degrassi: The Next Generation were among some of these new shows along with
Firefly, The George Lopez Show, The Wire and
Monk. The television shows ranged across the spectrum though some seeds would be seen.
Band of Brothers would help emphasize the growing focus of historical shows along
The Wire, which many attributed to the writers desiring to show and reflect issues that would be harder to show case in modern times because of the advancement that have been made since. Others also saw it as the beginning of a trend of a sort of reflection of how things were back in the 1970s. These shows, while often can be comical, also had a greater sense of being grounded closer over to reality. At the same time, there was still the interest in the fantastic, as seen over with
Firefly, the neonoir space western. Other shows were those with new and strange ideas, such as the pranksters of
Punk'd or the launch of one of the most revolutionary shows of science in
Mythbusters. Adult animation also was seeing growth here with shows like
Daria, but the big name was
Family Guy, created by Seth MacFarlane, Matt Stone and Trey Parker. Set over in Rhode Island, it was compared often to
The Simpsons, but with a more raw sense of humor, being the Brightbanger counterpart to the Babyboomer Simpsons. Set in Quahog, the main family would be the Griffins composed of Peter and Lois as the hapless husband and snarky wife with the children being the abrasive and abusive Shelly, the calm and exasperated Stan and the family pet, a snarky dog named Brian. The show followed the misadventues of the the Griffins, either through the adults such as Peter along with Brian and his circle of friends, perverted pilot Quarmire, handicapped officer Joe and post officer Cleveland or Stan and his circle of friends, Kyle Goldman (his best friend and Jewish), Eric Cartman (the short-tempered chubby kid with surprising intelligence, ruthlessness and nerdiness) and Kenny McCormick (the poor kid who is musically inclined). This was likely from Stone and Parker taking ideas from their failed pilot and incorporating it into
Family Guy. The crass humor and blunt commentary of the show was shown alot along with the displays of brutal violence, somewhat obscure pop culture references and even musical numbers (as all three of them were surprisingly musically inclined and enjoyed incorporating it). While appealing for being quite different, it is unknown if the show would be able to beat the Simpsons , especially given how off the wall the show was and it being more niche than expected.
Children's programming continued also to change and evolve. SATMIN+ characters, already present in the 90s, would become more present and open for young audiences to grow and identify with. They were being represented over on television and see themselves in those characters, such as Monique over on
Kim Possible or Richie from
Static. Older cartoons would have a home when Turner Broadcasting would launch Boomerang. And the kids would be spoiled for choice regarding channels with programming catering mainly for them with Cartoon Network/Boomerang, Nick and its branches, Disney and even KidsWB and MetroKids hanging on there. DC would be doing quite well regarding their works becoming exceptional animated adaptations. The DCAU would come together with the
Justice League and create the modern and famous iteration that many would know: Superman (Clark Kent), Batman (Bruce Wayne), Wonder Woman (Diana Prince), Green Lantern (John Stewart though also Hal Jordan), The Flash (Barry Allen), Martian Manhunter (J'onn J'onzz) and The Atom (Enrichetta Negrini). And excitement would buzz over with news of a sort of sequel series. The Teen Titans would also get one, if in a different continuity. This would also reflect the growing interest in action-oriented cartoons for the youth. Nick would be the first to have a focus on this, what with
Constant Payne and
My Life as a Teenage Robot following up with that. And of course, the other channels were following suit in that regard though still with some bits of comedy or strangeness, such as Cartoon Network's
Grim Tales. Similar with Disney and the ending of the two
Gargyoles spinoffs after successful runs for both shows. Even MetroKids with the release of the new
Star Wars cartoon that would take place after Episode 1. The last big trend would be the growing popularity of anime thanks to the large success of
Toonami over on Cartoon Network showing off plenty of works and drawing attention to them. To kids and teenagers, they never really seen such wildly different animations with serious storylines and designs and they would be captivated instantly. Older members of the youth would not be as surprised given the seeds that were set up, but they were more than happy to prepare to help the community though and indeed, it was looking like some of the other companies were taking note of this.
Video Games
Video game consoles would enter the sixth generation of development. After making the leap from 2D to 3D graphics, it became about refinement. About pushing what could be done in design, control and uniqueness. Microsoft would finally enter the console market with Atari as their subsidiary and the release of the Abox. Sony would unleash the Playstation 2 that would outdo its predecessor in nearly every single way. And Nintendo would throw down the gauntlet with the Nintendo Gamecube. Even Sega would push what many thought was going to be their final console in the Dreamcast. And all of these consoles had their own strengths and weaknesses. Microsoft may have been the new kid and Atari shaking off the dust, but the big bucks meant they could do well with third party applications and reviving some Atari brands for the new generation. It also shared a function with the Dreamcast in connecting to the Internet, which began to shine thanks to the development and release of the American public ISP. The PS2 had its advantages in the games and the development behind it while the Gamecube worked with the brand and the unique games along with being the most afforadable of all the consoles. It also could connect over to the new Super Game Pal and allow for greater functions with the games there. And thanks to the internet being more widely available and more people coming on, more people were discussing and sharing love and information about games, inspiring more than a few to go into the field. This would especially be the case for those who were feeling games could have more representation.
Nintendo kept growing with new additions overwith
Super Mario Sunshine,
Legend of Hyrule: Wind Waker, Kirby Air Ride, Metroid Prime, Pokemon Ruby and Saphhire, and so many more. And at the same time, new franchises would be born like Pikmin. Crystal Castles and Swordquest experienced successful revivals thanks to the work of Atari & Microsoft. Games were moving away from just platforming to the action-adventure vibes, as seen over with
Jak and Daxter or
Rayman 3: Hoodlum Havoc. Some were wondering what could be the next big trend or fad regarding the types of games being made. However, other games were still popular regardless such as party games, RPGs and racing games. Indeed, Nintendo has been doing well there with
Mario Kart: Double Dash and Rare releasing a sequel to
Diddy Kong Racing with
Donkey Kong Racing, starring the Kong family along with some other characters there from the previous game. RPGs naturally remained quite popular, with the big new name being the strange collaboration between Square Soft and Disney of all companies over with
Kingdom Hearts. Genres like horror and the like were also naturally doing quite well, especially with the release of the legednary
Silent Hill 2. Overall, more and more people were becoming gamers and the hobby open for everyone. Even computer games were seeing advances and variety in the sort of games they were showing off such as
Warcraft III, Elder Scrolls Morrowind, Counter-Strike, Deus Ex and
The Sims.
Music
Music would be undergoing a fascinating transition and the beginnings of a larger shift. The early 2000s would be viewed as the last years of the fad of the "boy bands" wth hip hop and rap beginning to rise up to take its place. NSYNC would maintain some popularity while Smash Mouth would gain popularity thanks to "All Star" and "I'm a Believer" in the film
Shrek becoming big successes. Pop music and its derivatives would maintain popularity, including various levels of rock music such as "Drops of Jupiter" by Train, "Complicated" by rising Canadian star Avril Lavigne and most notably would be "How You Remind Me" with Nickleback. The veterans of hip hop and rap in those like Tupac and The Notorious B.I.G. continue on in their careers, having refined their music even further along with expanding in the direction of their work. With the rivalry having settled to something amicable, the community came together. In particular, Tupac noted that his mother's return to political activism thanks to the NBPP (short for Neo Black Panther Party, a revival of the Black Panther Party who renamed themselves to avoid potential troubles with Marvel and also out of the new millenium) that it has begun inspiring his own work. In fact, one fated meeting would be between Tupac and legendary artist Gilbert Scott-Heron. His piece, "
The Revolution Will Not Be Televised", is considered a major influnce on hip hop and one with socialist connotations. The latter would have fascinating effects as he would be introduced to old songs associated with it, unions and other prominent ideals. While hip hop and rap would double down on their focus of social issues, they would expand in celeberating the positives and need for more work.
Major developments in the online world would affect the world of music. One would be the creation of Napster. The file distributing software would make a massive wave over on music as music files would be shared and get into massive conflict with record companies for it. At the same time, Napster came with some unexpected benefits fo musicians, namely by increasing sales via promotional power, such as
Kid A by Radiohead helping to promote sales and with musicians like Chuck D of Private Enemy and DJ Xealot giving it support. While the company would avoid having to pay any money and not get shut down, the service was still in dire straits. However, they would be saved by another development: ArtistShare. Th first Internet crowdfunding website, ArtistShare also serves as a record label for artists and provides an alternate buisness model for them. They are able to fund their projects by directly communicating to the public and letting them directly finance them as part of the experience and even with the promise of extra content. Unsurprisingly, ArtistShare would gain a positive relationship with Napster and connect a large new audience to all sorts of up and coming new talent. Many of those on the periphery or those who feel marginalized by the mainstream music scene were being drawn to the services. Even bigger names that were more and more apprehensive about the music industry owning the rights to their music found the service quite seductive and began taking more and more of a look, sowing the seeds for a bold new future of music.
Other
Comics were entering quite the transition at the time. The new millenium began with the tragic passing of Charles Schulz a day after retiring the Peanuts comic strip and it seemed to help herald in the time of great change. The Brass Age of Comic Books ended as everyone was finding their footing and the new status quo for all of the superhero comics and their universes was set in. It was not known what this new age would be liking given the period of transition, but it likely would not be notable for years to come. That said, Disney's comic magazine project was bearing fruit and DC and Marvel were further pushing the limits with Vertigo and Epic Comics respectively. Image Comics continued its indie rise. There was also growing diversity in the types of comics with horror, war stories and the like slowly reappearing in pages here and with fresh new and talented writers giving life to them, but whether they can retain it is a different question. That said, the growth of the Internet was leading to the growth of Akashica. The success found in promoting comics, especially lesser known ones along with graphic novels across the spectrum meant the online bookstore was earning money over fist and they began plans in expanding over with other ventures such as selling music and videos over down the line perhaps. Graphic novel series such as
Bone were becoming popular in the mainstream with kids and teens adoring it. Graphic novels also became a prominent vehicle for telling biographic stories. From the life of Louis Riel, founder of Manitoba, over to the popular autobiographic novel
Persepolis, the author telling her story of her life growing up during the Iranian Revolution, the uncertainty of the future, her time and education over in Europe while the war was happening in Iran and her ultimate return over back to Iran to see the nation revitalized and triumphant.
The Internet was continuing its rise into prominecne and in the mainstream, with fads and trends being measured and recordeds. Internet subcultures began emerging as distinct hobbies over of their own. One trend would be the rise of sprite comics. A subsect of web comics, they were distinct by their usages of sprites, the icons and graphics of video games taken out by emulators and then reused and reformatted like a collage and creating something new. While mostly quirky and indulgent in self-referential humor, it also served as a fascinating medium for people to tell their own stories with these characters in a different way. Othes would make their own sprites, making it a pixel form of more traditional web comics. Web comics as a whole have been booming as a medium among young people. The younger of the Brightbangers and the whole of the Freeborn. Web comics have become especially prominent for SATMIN+ creators to express themselves, their desires and dreams. It also reflected the inspirations of their generation, such as the implementation of urban fantasy, video game references, anime influence and so on all across the spectrum. This even expands to websites that combine social interaction with media such as artsharing with DeviantART or even animations or short games with programs like Macromedia Flash in websites with Newgrounds. The internet was becoming a multi-leveled machine of social interactions and cultures.
Other changes were in other activities. This would be the latter half of the Xtreme Sports craze that started in the late 1990s and would continue on. Such active lifestyles were being catered to and was more indicitive of the growing rise and variance of the service economy. Another would be with amusement parks and the like. With the success of DisneyLand and DisneyWorld, other of the major groups were wondering how they could expand and grow on that. Universal Studios Resort just opened in Orlando and then later in Japan while DisneyWorld would tweak and add various modifications, such as further augmenting the mascot Figment or creating the Netherlands pavilion over in the EPCOT World showcase with various Dutch delicies, shopping and a couple of sights to see, including a large functioning windmill. It also contains a bit of Belgian influence, namely in some dishes and the stores selling
bandes dessinées or Franco-Belgian comics such as The Adventures of Tintin, Gaston Lagaffe, Lucky Luke, The Smurfs and Spike & Suzy. Asterix was initially added, but would end up instead sold in the French pavilion after insistence. Other places were being examined for more potent renovations. While various figures, including Jim Henson, prevented the shutdown of DisneyQuest in Chicago, it was agreed that the project would need to be upgraded to maintain profits and sustainability regarding interest. The hopes were that with some fresh ideas and restucturing, they can continue with creating DisneyQuests in various major cities. Overall, there was a lot of buzz and excitement in these changing times.
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