I've been speculating on the nature of Zeitgeist, you know, that stuff that defines a generation. Maybe I've chosen the wrong word but for 'my' childhood generation the prevailing influences are easy to remember: the space race, the monster craze, glam rock, military toys, TV like Thunderbirds and Hanna Barbera cartoons, tank tops and parallels and Butlins. There was much more memorable stuff but that'll do for now.In many ways it helped make me who I am, the cultural bit. Teenage was next and was an equally remarkable time in the Seventies.
But am I simply being overly - nostalgic or was there something special about the Sixties and Seventies? Will every other generation, those of the Fifties, Eighties, Nineties and Noughties, have the same strong sense of a distinct popular culture from that time?
Will the kids of today look back on 2012 and excitedly recall the colour of their mobile phones or favourite computer game? Will they remember the sounds of their Ipod and the cut of their clothes? Is the alluring memory of childhood the same regardless of the prevailing pop culture and does every generation in every land form a distinct whole?
I don't know. I need to think more deeply about this, but the problem is that it's almost impossible to step outside of it all and view it that way.
ReplyDeleteBut one thing that does strike me as interesting. I feel the fifties were very special. But I wasn't alive then. Yet I for some reason I feel it was just as special as I do the Sixties and Seventies.
The Eighties onwards don't strike me as being particularly special at all. Why?
Perhaps we also need to ask, are some times thought of as special not only because we feel they were, but also because we are often told they were. There are numerous nostalgic programs and serious history documentaries making the point that the 1960s were somehow different. Is it possible that in turn makes us belive all the more that they were?
More thinking will be done.
'more thinking will be done' now theres a catchphrase! :-D
ReplyDeleteIt's more than a catchphrase: it's a way of life (laughs)
ReplyDeleteOK, more thoughts on the Sixties ... in no particular order ...
ReplyDelete(1) you don't have to have lived in a time to consider it special. (like me and the Fifties)
(2) there is the subjective feeling that a time was different or special - we lived in the Sixties, and it seems special to us. That is a subjective experience.
(3) there is the view from the academic pursuit of history.
One of the important aspects of the Fifties was the coming to the fore of teenagers. None of this happens in a vacuum - but I think the Fifties was when this really began.
The Sixties saw the questioning of everything. And that is EVERYTHING! There had been dissent before, and values had always been changing. But the Sixties saw a fundamental attitude of questioning or dissent against ... well against everything, really. Class distinctions, race, sex, family obligations. Fashion has always been with us, but in the Sixties there was so much experimentation. And there simply seemed to be more experimentation across the board. As if there was more money, and it was worth taking risks. And, of course, there were new markets for products because of teenagers and youth being seen as so important.
I think it could be shown that it was a different kind of time because of all the questioning and because of the financial changes. The recovery from WWII was past, and maybe there really was more money. There was more buying for fun rather than for simple basics. (whether it really was like that is another matter. that's the hype ... the reality might have been different for the average person of those times).
(4) So the Sixties saw changes of "kind" ... after that, particularly from the Eighties onwards, it seems more that the changes were more of "degree" than "kind". Greed became god for some in the 1980s. And we have the strange situation of living in times of the most amazing abundance ... and yet also a time of paranoia, stress, and Draconian authority.
Those are just thoughts. Nothing definite. Just musings. My view can best be pictured as the Fifties and Sixties saw the sun come out and shine brightly for a while ... then it was hidden behind clouds again. There was a time of optimism ... and it passed. BUT it has also to be remembered that not everything from the Sixties was good. There were dark things then too. And some of the worst aspects of now are the result of what happened then.
Anyway, that's what I think ... today. This is Toad, turning on, tuning in and dropping out.
A great train of thought Toad. Really interesting and well thought out. I'm a bit of a drop-out too. Must be a Sixties thing!
ReplyDeleteA relative says I live in the past. I'm unsure what that means really. Isn't my last thought already the past so don't we all live in the 'past'?
A great train of thought Toad. Really interesting and well thought out. I'm a bit of a drop-out too. Must be a Sixties thing!
ReplyDeleteA relative says I live in the past. I'm unsure what that means really. Isn't my last thought already the past so don't we all live in the 'past'?
Looking at Woodsy's posting(s) -it seems history repeats itself!
ReplyDelete(laughs) nice one, Andy.
ReplyDeleteAnd Woodsy, that's a good point. Did you ever read David Hume?