The 80’s will always be remembered as a decade that has renewed America’s sense of opportunities and created new confidence in its future as well as its leaders. Perceived by many to have been marked by prosperity, many fashion statements were made and music was produced that stood out from all of the rest (Smolan and Cohen). But good always comes with bad, and this decade had its downfalls that separated it from any other, raising the bar and setting the bar for the decades to come. Despite some disastrous events that took the world by surprise, the 80’s was also spontaneous in fashion, music and games that would forever change their industry. Overall, this decade became one of the most prosperous that America has ever seen During the 1980’s, Americans were faced with disastrous events that made jaws drop and eyes bulge. One event in particular was the shocking explosion of the Challenger. At 11:38 a.m., Cape Canaveral launched a 1.2 billion dollar rocket heading to the moon on January 28, 1986 (Maxon). Everything was going smoothly, until, at a height of 47,000ft traveling at a speed of 1977mph, a small flame erupted in the rocket booster igniting half a million gallons of fuel (Kallen, 102). No more than 15 seconds later, the Challenger blows up killing all seven of its passengers instantly as scraps of metal descended through the air and zigzagged ferociously. After this incident, Regan orders for new boosters to be redesigned and luckily, nothing of this sort has ever happened again (Kallen, 103). With America’s heart still bruised, the aids epidemic did not help with the healing process. Aids were overlooked by the government because it was thought that only homosexuals could contract this disease. Overtime, people came to... ... middle of paper ... ... data, now has given us the possibility to talk with relatives and friends who live millions of miles away (Bondi, 286). No one could have thought that you would be able to instant message some one who lives in Germany, and get a reply within seconds. The creation of ipods and mp3 players which stemmed from portable walkman and cd has given people the opportunity to listen to their favorite music on the go (Feinstein, 19). Once again, this decade has proved that they are a force to be reckoned with. The 80’s was a time of survival of the fittest, overcoming obstacles, and raising the bar higher for generations to come. Through all that was disastrous, the 80’s found its niche. Spontaneous fashions and prosperous innovations sparked the flame that still burns today within everything that happens. This decade more than any other, showed what it really had to offer.
Grosvenor Jr., Charles R. “In the 80s.” Glossary of Eighties Terms. In the 80s, 1995-2012.
A turn in the 80’s showed a completely polar opposite. A new sense of hope for the country began to show through contrasting the feel of the previous eras. Artists such as Marilyn now sung about love and romance in his songs like ‘calling your name’ and ‘give it up’ that reflected a more positive attitude of the citizens. This was also a reflection in the way politics had began to change however this positivity was not embraced by everyone and a split in the citiz...
Have you ever wondered what it would be like to live in the 1980’s? The crazy hair styles, the new and improved things that were being created made this time alive, and fun. To be born in the 1980’s would have a been a privilege, who wouldn’t want to be known as “The decade that defined…. “US!” The 1980s was a decade that began on January 1, 1980, and ended on December 31, 1989. This decade was a great social and economic time period for people living in the 80’s. The world was becoming more developed as well as everyone in it. This decade became the “Look at me” generation of status seekers. The 80’s made a new breed of billionaires and money makers. “The decade began with double-digit inflation, Reagan declared a war on drugs, Kermit didn't find it easy to be green, hospital costs rose, we lost many, many of our finest talents to AIDS which before the decade ended spread to black and Hispanic women, and unemployment rose,” according to Peggy Whitely of Lone Star College. Although this time seemed like all fun and games, there were many problems. People say we lost the meaning of “We” and it suddenly became “I.” Citizens were realizing that you couldn’t depend on others around you; they were coming up with new ideas, and inventions to allow things to be more efficient. Although the 1980’s suffered a huge change for the American people, the fads and fashion part of the people strived, as well as the inventions. These two things will be some of the most historical, yet fascinating parts of the 80’s generation in American History.
The 1920’s played a tremendous role in forming the lifestyle of our present day generation. The Roaring Twenties refers to a time period between 1920 and 1929 in which America celebrated youth and optimism . This optimism and overall good spirit led to new inventions and technological advances, predominately in the entertainment industry. In today’s society, the use of mass production, advertising and consumption have become a common practice, however these practices were during the early stages of the 1920’s. Culture played an important role in shaping this era – America observed social, cultural and artistic changes in their generation. While few may see the 1920’s as the birth of an overpopulated, “baby boom” generation, the majority of the general public view the 1920’s as a decade of social change that could potentially shape future generations to come.
The 80’s were a decade of great change. It became obvious that there was a widening between the classes. The middle class was disappearing and people took different approaches to dealing with this fact. One way of life that became synonymous with the 80’s was being a young, urban professional, or what people at the time coined a Yuppie. Due to the widening wealth gap, it became essential to market products as either upscale and downscale. Producers were forced to place their items in one frame of reference of the other, fancy of frugal. To sell items with the high price tag advertisers played on the yuppie habit of compensatory spending. Yuppies did not want to be confused with low class or middle class, so they spent in order to show their status to the world (Ehrenreich, 229).
The Roaring Twenties was America’s golden age. F. Scott Fitzgerald once said,“The parties were bigger, the pace was faster, the shows were broader, the buildings were higher, the morals were looser, and the liquor was cheaper” (“People” PBS). The cultural undertone of the twenties was very different from the times before and during World War I. “ For the first time, more Americans lived in cities than on farms…people from coast to coast bought the same goods…listened to the same music, did the same dances, and even used the same slang” (“Roaring” History). The Twenties was a time of social and cultural change. During this time, things like the automobile and jazz became more popular and mainstream. These things were possible because America
A decade of much misfortune and prosperity is the 1960’s. If you can remember anything about it, then you were not apart of it; the 1960’s an era most popular known as the sixties. The sixties, was a time of much change. People’s way of life had completely changed at the turn of the decade. It was the first decade to be radically different, then one’s before. It is the decade to set the trends of all to come. It started a large progressive movement, it created distrust throughout the country, and finally an innovative time that set the path to the technology era.
In the 90’s, the concept of music was a huge explosion compared to previous years, though there were many more acts of creativity. Primarily, music played a huge part in society as apposed to other decades. Most well known from this time were the bands Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Radiohead, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Sublime and Rage Against the Machine, just to name a few. These bands most defiantly showed the creativeness that America possessed and is proved by the amount of 90’s music that is still widespread. Another concept of creativeness was fashion. Two main forms of clothing came around that set America aside from the rest of the world. This was the beginning of jeans and flannel shirts. Having these pieces of clothing widespread throughout the country defiantly set America apart. Finally, pop culture in this era also showed our nations creativeness. Pokemon had stuck out the most from everything else. The production of millions of “baseball cards” with animated animals on them was a huge sensation for kids and teens across the country. The enjoyment of having a strong pull of creativeness in America was not a bad thing at all, yet a decade cannot always be perfect.
So in conclusion that is my report over the events that happened in the 90’s. The whole idea of the 90’s was economic stress and wars and making sure that they did something to stop people that were in charge of the threats. But it was also about people living there dream and when somebody said that they couldn’t do something they just worked even harder to prove them wrong and prove themselves that they could do it. After all one of Michael Jordan’s most famous quotes “I can accept failure everyone fails at something. But I can’t accept not trying”.
On a cold winter’s morning on the 28th day of January in the year 1986, America was profoundly shaken and sent to its knees as the space shuttle Challenger gruesomely exploded just seconds after launching. The seven members of its crew, including one civilian teacher, were all lost. This was a game changer, we had never lost a single astronaut in flight. The United States by this time had unfortunately grown accustomed to successful space missions, and this reality check was all too sudden, too brutal for a complacent and oblivious nation (“Space”). The outbreak of sympathy that poured from its citizens had not been seen since President John F. Kennedy’s assassination. The disturbing scenes were shown repeatedly on news networks which undeniably made it troublesome to keep it from haunting the nation’s cognizance (“Space”). The current president had more than situation to address, he had the problematic undertaking of gracefully picking America back up by its boot straps.
The 80’s were probably the decade of the most popular and memorable movies. They are the kinds of movies that we now call “classic” and “original”. These movies have influenced the ones we watch today in many ways from movie techniques to sequels. They have kept us entertained from back in the day ‘till now.
The 1970’s are a decade of finding your self. In this decade, there were scandals, sex, drugs, and rock n’ roll. The years between 1970 and 1979 were very crazy. In this paper are people that helped shape the 1970’s
Many of us don’t get out of bed in the morning without checking our phone and going on the internet to see what the weather will be like for today, calling our friend to see where to meet before school, and instantly turning on our favorite songs to get ready to. Thanks to the 1990s, all of those things are possible. The 1990s introduced technology such as the internet, cell phones, cd’s, and many other things that has changed the world, and made communication and finding information faster and more convenient.
Television and movies were at its golden moments as majority of Tv shows and movies classics came from the 90s like the simpsons which is “The series currently holds the record for the longest-running prime-time sitcom in the US, running for 25 years since 1989, and becoming the longest-running program on FOX”(Wiki). American movie classics were born like Titanic, Forrest gump, Toys story, and The Matrix. Movies and Tv shows were amazing during this time but the “icing to the cake” of Entertainment came from videogames as gaming companies fought to get more support and purchase of their consoles and games as gaming became popular because of these games Super mario, Pokemon, Mortal Kombat, Sonic, Zelda and Tetris. Fashion of the 1990s was wild and colorful with crazy geometric shapes and If your clothes were not baggy then you were considered lame. Plenty of popular clothing brands in the 21st century made their launch to popularity because of the 90s. The group who molded 90s fashion to be greatest where the youth, the youth were the ones who started so many popular fashion trends that would make the 90s have a unique look. You were not a 90s kid if you did not have a pair or a bunch of Levi’s jeans, Levi’s was the go to jean as the popular 517 and 501 were born and everyone was cutting their Levi’s, Rolling up their Levi’s, or even
Moreover, many products were luxurious in the 80s because the economy recovered during that period. Modern fashion is meaningful; it brings many changes and has a huge influence on general life. Heskett (2002) mentioned that it not only changes the lifestyle, but also changes the minds of a generation.