Culture Reflection: 2007-2009
The late 2000s or late Noughties, would have quite a varied number of developments. The election of the first American female president and the introduction of two new states over into the Union would be pretty monumentous occasions. Additionally, with the Internet having grown over into mass public usage, it was something that alot of people were talking about and discussing on social media. Over in international news, the big event would be the new successor state of Saudi Arabia in the new Kingdom of Arabia, now a constitutional monarchy and ruled by the Hashemites. The sigificance of this more well-known to those vested in world events and history, especially given the impact the House of Saud has had. Then again, the 1980s started a decline for them that they weren't able to recover from. This along with the growing discontent with the monarchy, the presence of the Neo-Baathists and so on would lead to the infamous conflict and coup against them. And now, the transitional government has been replaced with the new system, with the hopes that things will remain stable.
General Trends
Trends didn't change too much over from the mid-2000s for the most part. It seemed more like things would be settling down over for the most part. The growing establishment of a new status quo. Social media would see its widespread adoption here as part of the growing mainstream usage of the Internet. More and more people would be using Myspace or ConnectU for communicating with friends, following media icons on Twitter or each other over on Tumblr or seeing the rise of unique media over on YouTube or Veoh through the review of viral videos or more fascinating content. Though speaking of the two, the two major video websites would begin a divegeance as Veoh would try to escape YouTube's shadow by changing the algorithm that drove their websites, focusing over on watch time over views. While it would be having little effect as of now (mainly because a growing number of people use both sites for posting and viewing their videos), some believe this will dictate differing trends over for the website in terms of which videos become popular on each site. After all, the types of videos that are favored by length in terms of ease of production and or flow will do better on Veoh.
Outside of the Internet, there was the interesting trend as this would be the start of the birth of a new generation. After all, 2006 would mark the last of the Millenials being born. The Millenials signaled a transitioned into a new era, one defined by the upcoming new millenium, the beginning of the post-Cold War era and the growth of various new trends and event. As such, it would be unknown what their successors will be named or called, though some having considered calling them Gen Alpha for the time being. For the oldest Millenials, they were entering adolescence as the youngest entering the social media landscape and becoming familiar with all these new platforms. Beyond this, one pattern would be in cars. While not an even example, Millenials would be among those that the trend for not buying cars would be noticeable. After all, their childhoods would be defined by the return of more traditional urban developments along with the increasing decline of the auto industry. That said, it also varies over by location given the size of towns and the like. That said, thoughts by their predecessors, the Freeborn, speculate the cars of the 1990s would likely be the last real era of classic cars, the last considered collectibles for any future afficionado of cars. Though speaking of automobiles, this would be the last years of the hydrogen vs electric debate. Green hydrogen would be getting enough funding and investment to rise in prominence while batteries would become increasingly advanced and capable of holding the power needed for electric. However, while the winner would not be evident until the early 2010s, the deciding factor emerged here.
Though speaking of renewables and electricity, the late 2000s would see the transitional shift begin with renewable power. The costs of implementing solar and to a lesser extent wind power have lowered enough to reach a level of potential wide-scale practical installation. And at the same time, the technology has advanced far enough fo the gains to be worth it regarding efficiency. As such, many would see this as the infancy of a renewable power boom within the economy. And various governments have begun taking notice of this as well with some planning on how to promote or ease such rising implementations to begin with. To many, they see this as just the rise of the future and that it was truly the future for many. And as such, many predict it will begin picking up speed over the upcoming decade. Of course, this would affect many other businesses as well, such as construction of the parts, the storage of said energy and so on. Additionally, this would raise further questions such as ethical implementation, the questions of acquiring the raw materials and so on to ensure some people are not left behind.
And of course, other trends that began occurring earlier really began picking up here or were becoming notable here. One would be with the fashion industry. The concerns of sustainability really became prominent here. While fashion has always held a prominent place in history and culture, it would be here that the concerns regarding abundance and choice really became an issue. Massive sales of various brands became increasingly common over at this time to try and deal with having too much clothing in stock. Though more specifcially, it was legislation that prevented them from certain tactics to try and regain those losses without actually trying to sell it. Some have tried and would be caught and charged, creating some new standards. Additionally, the illusion of scarcity of clothing would be pretty shattered here as inside peeks into the industry could not be shared on social media and spread like wildfire. With this, the fashion industry would be in turmoil, especially as how some handled it would make it worse. And of course, the corporate troubles behind it would lead to some arrests. That said, the industry was not doomed, but changing as some pundits put it. After all, people still needed to wear clothes and there were still some rules of style and fashion that would be followed and tailored to. That said, it would be the beginning of a rough time for the fashion industry due to having to deal with excessive products, a more aware consumer base and regulations preventing them from just dumping their clothes in landfills or overloading them onto poorer nations.
That said, fashion would just be one field of the growing landscape of internet activism. More and more people were sharing and discussion information on the Internet and in turn, it was becoming the biggest place to share opinions and get people informed. However, it would be the original 'badboys' of the Internet in the hackers that would spark this phenomenon. 'Hacktivism' as it would be called would start out in this time period, with the major examples being the public revelation of the crimes committed by the Church of Scientology, exposed by the group known as Anonymous, and the rise of Wikileaks exposing alot of crooked deals and financial transactions. Their means of acquiring this information and protesting involved the dubious means of hacking, getting the information through questionable means. At the same time, this created a sort of rebellious edge to them which would have them be sensationalized over by those following. And through this usage of controversy, more and more people were looking into using the Internet as a prominent tool for the purposes of change, either through informing and organizing or even just downright disrupting the operations of some of these groups, especially as the world is relying more and more on computers and the internet.
Films
Films would begin taking a bit of an interesting turn over in the late 2000s. On the one hand, there would be the classic trend of sequels. Some of the biggest films of this time were sequels, either continuing some films or wrapping them up. For example, Star Wars would enter a new era with the conclusion of the prequel and sequel trilogies that started earlier this decade. The conclusion of the prequel trilogy would see the cinematic tragic downfall of Anakin Skywalker over into Darth Vader; having been broken down by war, tragedy and a lack of proper counseling, Anakin would succumb to the dark side and the Republic would fall. The sequel trilogy meanwhile would herald a new age over for Star Wars with the death of Han Solo along with Luke and Leia Skywalker surviving, but being off to the sidelines. This would be to help prepare a new age for the galaxy. This would be in part due to the creative team wanting to tell more stories and build on the lore of the galaxy's future, especially looking into other expanded materials of the past to aid there. Other franchises would end their serieses here, such as the end of the Shrek trilogy for Dreamworks (albeit with the rise of Renard spinoff franchise) or the end of the Atlantis' trilogy, which reinforced hopes Disney was having regarding what they could do regarding animation and action. And of course, there would be the surprise sequels to, such as Indiana Jones and the Frozen City, which would see the return of Wan Li/Shortround, now all grown up and the film wrestling with the potential future of the franchise. Of course, other sequels would still come and show that some trends are continuing. Prince Caspian would show that Narnia would be going with their film series and cementing "YA novels" as a potential source for adaptations though selecting which ones prove to be a rather interesting endeavor, especially since it depends on which ones are standalones or short series and which ones would be longer. Another prominent sequel would be the legendary
The Dark Knight as the sequel over to
Batman Begins.
In fact, it would seem one of the next big trends would be superhero films. From the success of
Spider-Man 2 and
Dark Knight along with the surprise over of Iron Man, it was looking that the spandex-clad heroes of comic books would be seeing a revival over on the big budget silver screens. It made sense with their long legacies, the new growing audience of readers thanks to the adaptation of new business models and the advancements over of special effects. Interestingly enough, this would not be the only example over as the idea of people with superpowers while not being superheroes would take on their own niches, such as with Push. Of course, while this was a potentially developing tends, it was not indictive of anything quite yet. After all, there were still plenty of dramatic and more grounded films that would keep on captivating people and the cinemaphiles. This included, but not limited to
No Country For Old Men, Zodiac, District 9, Sherlock Holmes, and most groundbreaking over in
Earthman, which saw James Cameron create what was the highest grossing movie of all time so far. And this was of course not counting all the various smaller and more independent films that were becoming a bit more popular over time. After all, with how much attention the Internet can give these films and the growing space of video sites like YouTube, there was alot of growing room for possibility.
Another sector would be of course, animation. 2007 marked a prominent year as Jim Henson and Micheal Eisner would depart over from the House of Mouse, signalling yet another major shift in the industry. After all, Henson has been given prominent creative credit for revitalizing Disney starting in the 1980s and beyond. And there was alot to enjoy, even beyond the Muppet films that came out every so often. And even with his and Eisner's departure, animation for Disney would still seem to being well thus far. While
Meet The Robinsons was a modest success,
Samak the Ayyar would go and reassure audiences on the successful future of the company post-Henson and so would
The Princess & the Frog. However, this also came with interesting rumors that Disney may consider focusing more and more on 3D animated CG films for the time being. Some were a bit concerned here, though it did seem like such rumors were only rumors. Some believe this may have been due to concern regarding Pixar and the like. Others note that it could be more of a mix. That said, it did look like hand-drawn animation wasn't out of the picture just yet, There was also the growing experimentations on blending the mediums to try and push both. It was part of the legacy of Henson after all. And DreamWorks was not out of the running. While Shrek may have ended, there were still plenty of work done thanks to various talented individuals, especially Don Bluth. Some promising new franchises were appearing such as
Kung Fu Panda and
Madagascar and even Interworld. And from what it looked like, they were not done yet trying to go and push Disney. However, Japanimation films would prove to have staying power. Sure there was
Ponyo from Studio Ghibli, but there were other big hits in western theaters.
Summer Wars would use the popularity of
The Girl Who Leapt Through Time and the studio that made it to promote itself, getting further interest and doing quite well in the mainstream.
Redline would be the surprising trip for its intense heart-pumping action and even
One Piece: Strong World's release would be a good sign of all the growth.
Television
Television would contnue to grow over in this time, especially as some of the more prominent shows would end here, most notably
The Sopranos. Beyond the ending getting alot of people to talk about what happened, it was als helping to prove that period pieces were becoming increasingly common and popular, especially when it came to some shows over like crime dramas and the like. The most popular one would be
Breaking Even, a thrilling white collar crime drama. However, the show's prominence would also serve as a growing reflection of the changing perceptions within certain fields of employment. While
The Office tackled similar issues, albeit comically,
Breaking Even did it more seriously. It would begin chipping away at the comfort and security commonly associated over with white collar jobs. Walter White (played by Bryan Cranston) would show the growing struggles regarding age and having to delve into "white collar crime", thanks to his new associate, Jesse Pinkman (played by Aaron Paul) who reflects the struggle of younger workers trying to meet with higher hiring standards without necessarily the right training or equal pay. Another show that focused over on the growing troubles of this was
Mad Men. However, there was still plenty of things to look into. From competitions like
Cake Boss or
American Ninja Warrior to self-aware and witty comedies such as
Community, television was seemingly beginning to enter over a wonderful period of growing quality.
Animation would also be going through its ups and downs here. For the grown-ups, it was still primarily focused on older comedies or magical realism.
American Alien was going on strong with its satirical view of 1950s America with various shoutouts to musicals and science fiction. At the same time, there was some speculation on the future of the show. Matt Stone and Trey Parker have noted gratitude over for what Seth have done for them, but also wanted to go and do their own work. However, they also noted they didn't have any 'big ideas' for it. After all, the main characters from their 'South Park' failed pilot were rolled over into members of
Family Guy. That said, they have noted ideas for projects beyond television, with them saying they were on quite a big idea. As for
Futurama, while it was also doing quite well, rumors were going abound that the show may be planning to end soon. Some believed this was due to Matt Groening noting there was not as much for them to explore with the show and its connection to the Noughties. Some have noted it was this train of thought that led to Groening ending
The Simpsons back nearly a decade ago (barring the yearly Treehouse of Horror specials). This gave the rumors more strength and some wondered what Groening may do next. That said, there was still some interest over for more serious adult animation as seen with the adaptation of
the Dresden Files over on adultswim.
For the younger viewers, television was a mixed bag. That said, there was a growing decline in live action stuff. Some noted this was likely due to th youth showing more interest on the Internet and video gaming, along with just some of the complications with younger actors. That said, they were still around for the most part and perhaps also, some of the older kids had interest over in other shows not necessarily aimed for them. That said, animation remained pretty reliable of interest though TV animation was going through a bit of a transition regarding good ideas and the like. Of course, Disney still had prominence, especially with the success of
Phineas and Ferb along with various reruns. Shows like
Misadventures of Flapjack and
Chowder kept on going while others like
Camp Lazlo were ending. These three in particular had a prominent following due to the queer-coded cast, especially the protagonists. It was pretty prominent given how there weren't that many SATMIN+ male characters in media for the youth. The showrunners didn't plan to start it that way, but they leaned into it more and more over time and by their second or third seasons , were pretty transparent (such as Flapjack and Lazlo being multi, Edward dealing with gender identity and so on). That said, it was never part of the main story (barring Chowder having to let down Panini), namely due to the shows' focus on comedy and not really having room for romance to be approached seriously (fans have also joked that it'd be a while before said characters would be ready for a relationship). That said, this was still profoundly impactful over on alot of other shows, especially the more serious ones. The rise of
Avatar: The Last Airbender, Ben 10: Alien Force, Tales of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and
The Secret Saturdays would show a growing demand for shows that took themselves and their world-building seriously. The writers also noted the inspiration from their more comical conterparts along with older shows and begin approaching the idea of SATMIN+ romances seriously. One example being from
Last Airbender with Suki realizing she's multi from her growing love with Sokka (a surprising reversal on how a difgen or straight person discovers they may be multi).
Of course, anime itself was also growing more over in prominence
. Fullmetal Alchemist's anime adaptation was becoming a gamechanger due to how different it was compared to the Big 3 while
K-on would revive attention on slice-of-life anime and even becoming popular among guys for how well written it was despite the premise. Some have also noted that channels were undergoing some shifts. MetroToons, who have long been struggling when it came to attention, would start becoming more and more equal to Cartoon Network, Nick, and Disney. While it did have some good original shows, the channel also became a dumping ground of reruns of older shows. It would be getting increased original programming with the various animated series from
Star Wars and it wasn't done yet. The various mergers led to DreamWorks now part of MetroCentury and they would continue to try and compete with Disney with various spinoffs of their shows. The first would be
The Penguins of Madagascar, with the tetrad of penguins getting their own show on their misadventures over in the New York Zoo. There were also announcements that spinoffs of
Kung Fu Panda and
Interworld in the works and that was just scratching the surface from what was heard.
Video Games
The end of the Noughts would mark the beginning of the seventh generation of video game consoles. While Sony's Playstation 3 and Microsoft-Atari's Abox 360 were both powerful consoles, they would both be blown out of the water by the Nintendo Wii. The Nintendo Wii would go and start fulfilling the promise over of motion controls for years now. It would be this that would help it garner massive sales as it also could be enjoyed by people of all ranges and spectrums, along with having fun. Games like
Wii Sports and
Wii Play would see people like parents or even the elderly, with some of these consoles being used for recreational purposes in retirement homes or as an easier memes for people with limited movement to enjoy themselves. The console found a new audience for those that didn't have much interest in games while the additional development time meant it had enough juice to play games of similar quality over to its competitors. It was pretty telling that both the PS3 and ABox 360 would begin developing plans for their own motion control like schemes though with their own added flair and suggestions. Additionally, with how the Internet has become widely used and popular in the mainstream with the rise of social media, connectivity with the Internet has become a key feature with all of these major consoles and with that, playing online. There was a growing display of being able to play with anyone online, without them necessarily having to be in the same room. Additionally, this provided the opportunity to meet up with new people and play wth them. This growing networking would add yet a new layer of socializing and further normalizing video games as a mainstream hobby.
As for the games themselves, it was still a usual display of wonders. Nintendo kept on growing their major franchises with
Super Mario Galaxy, Mario Kart Wii, Pokemon Stadium Wii among many others, including a revamped rerelease of the Metroid Prime trilogy. Atari would also be doing well as a division of Microsoft, being able to begin focusing more and more on their original IPs and making them standout.
Crystal Castles with Bently Bear would see a turn to action roleplaying, navigating though complex environments and peoples, combining a mix of puzzle solving and action. Some even said it was a family friendly alternative to the newer
Fallout games.
Swordquest would be a more traditional approach over. While initially taking inspiration from Zelda, it would also be looking to other RPs like Elder Scrolls Oblivion, but with its own lore and tone. A charming tone that was still serious. Playstation 3 kept up on going over with its successes, even if the sales were not as promising as expected. Handheld games continued to be a popular thing with the GamePal DS and the Playstation Portable competing fiercely in that niche. The former had price and game selection on their side, but the latter had raw power and graphics letting it do more. MMORPGs were growing bigger and bigger in popularity and influence, such as
World of Warcraft. However, the biggest development would be the release of game over on PDAs. PDAs were becoming more and more advanced in their capabilities and there was a phenomenon of seeing them now over in not just businessfolk,but also some of the adolescents. This trend really began picking up when NeXTech released their Nexton. A successor over to the old Apple Newtons, the Nexton had all the classic features of a PDA, but also the features from their NexPleis regarding music and videos. Camera functions were also being considered added and there was of course, the touch screen. As such, they were becoming quite popular, especially among the youth and Microsoft wouldn't be too far behind, working with their old contacts to do something similar. A few games were present over on the classic flip phones, but they were simple ones, like
Tetris. Lastly, there would be the growing of 'indie' games; the video games made by small indepenedent groups or even individuals, showing a new generation of growing developers.
Music
For music, one of the big changes would be none other than the rise of YouTube and Veoh. Songs would be uploaded in video format, either combined with still images, video from differing sources or even just the lyrics of the song. For many enthusiasts of the Internet, it was becoming a place to go and find new music or for those who knew how, try and download all sorts of songs for free. However, it would also expose more people to new types of music and serve as an even greater communal ground. Moreover, it would also reveal what people desired with music. Some of the most popular of these videos would be soundtracks to video games or anime. It was showing a demand that few parties have seemed to tap into and furthermore, it was also showing off some interesting new talent. After all, YouTube and Veoh's increasing popular among the mainstream populace meant a bigger audience and more opportunity. And some people were noticing this faster than others. One prominent group that would be working to take advantage of this was ArtistShare. Having helped pioneered the idea of crowd-funding for creatives and having helped bail out Napster, it would be unsurprising that they would show interest over in YouTube and Veoh. After all, how much undiscovered talent laid there? Furthermore, it would provide ample opportunity to grow their model and way of doing business, without having to bend the knee over to the deals of the major record companies.
Beyond this, it seemed that the trends of musical tastes continued. Hip hop and rap had some prominence left though still undergoing its soul searching on subject matters (though a couple of songs have explored the idea of "white collar rage"). Rock and pop remained popular as always though there was a growing trend toward certain bands and styles. Overall, it was seeming like it was a matter of who would be popular and for what reasons. Some of the popular songs include: "Irreplaceable" by Beyoncé, "Hey There Delilah," by the Plain White T's, "How to Save a Life" by The Fray, "Home" by Daughtry, "Bleeding Love" by Leona Lewis and so on. Daughtry was among the new big names rising in popularity, alongside Katy Perry and Taylor Swift, though this was also with the growing flux because of the crowd-funding model. While having been around for a bit of a while, more and more big names were getting interested and recommending it over to the new talent. After all, if the new stars would become famous through this model, this could help bring out alot of change over for how things are done over in the music industry.
Other
By the oncoming end of the Noughts, the comic book industry was nearing a new status quo. The "comics compendium magazine" model that Disney used for their works (themselves inspired by Shonen Jump) was becoming more and more dominant. After all, through this model, people could be introduced to a compendium of different titles and works and then the big companies can use the successful sales of compliations to see what the audience was wanting. Furthermore, it forced the industry to evolve past the comic book shop model and in turn, be rewarded with a seemingly rejuvenated financial windfall. Of course, by now as they were settling in, they were beginning to deal with more unique problems. DC and Marvel's vast and varied collection presented a unique challenge for their magazines. After all, they had quite alot of them being released fo all the various heroes, teams and so on. Their current solution so far was to release multiple magazines, categorizing them into various broad genres that the various magazines could cover. Of course, this was easier said than done on how to do so, with the companies going on various approaches. DC for example would use the more famous heroes as headliners and group them up based on genre. One magazine for example had Batman as a prominent focus alongside other "normal" heroes such as Green Arrow or the Outsiders, Wonder Woman would lead focusing on some of the fantastic and so on. Marvel meanwhile would also be doing something similar in that regard. The magazines something included comics not part of the verse, such as the Neoversal's X-Men alongside the another. Disney meanwhile was able to keep things more organized from the getgo. Image was the underdog here, but their creator-focused format also gave them a unique advantage along with cooperation with the other smaller comics groups.
Of course, beyond the distibution models, there were the stories themselves. DC and to a lesser extent Marvel were starting to stagnate a little in their stories as of late. While not terrible or even mediocre, some have noted a sense of "directionlessness" in some of the arcs. While the character writing and growth had improved, especially as editorial became more flexible, there was a looming sense of "what do we do now?" over in these stories. At the same time, this did lead to a lot of focus on some of the more obscure characters or those without as prominence. Indeed, older ideas were brought back and new directions taken (like Green Arrow's renewed focus on Native American history or Renee Montoya becoming the second Question). Graphic novels kept on growing here, seeing a notable boom. Besides adaptations of classical stories (and even a few modern ones) into graphic novels, newer stories were coming out, especially by younger writers who indulged in the format to tell the stories they wished to read when they were young. There was also the growing trend of drawing more and more from real life. From
Aya of Yop City's stories of growing up in Côte d'Ivoire, to
A.D.: New Orleans After the Deluge, which told the stories of those who survived Hurricane Katrina along with stories of the brave individuals aiding in cleaning up and rebuilding, there was a fascinating appeal in combning real life stories with the format. For many, it was more appealing than just the words alone as the pictures could often say and present more than by themselves. It also would see a bit of a growing trend in magical realism within these works along with inspiration of what people wanted. Moreover, this was being recognized enough to where ads for grapical novels, along with comics and even some novels themselves, were being advertised across different mediums. Veoh, having been purchased by Akashica founder Jeff Bezos, would in particular note some of these works.
Over for the Internet, it would be the late 2000s that really saw the surge of users across many websites grow. It was also viewed as something of the twilight of an era of sorts. Sprite comics were undergoing a decline in popularity while the affiliated forums with them were shrinking or consolidating in some form. Larger groups and so on would begin migrating to the various social media platforms though these older sites were remaining relevant for many of their users, least for the time being. Memes were growing in popularity, symbolizing the strange, frustrating yet wonderful beauty over of living and existence. ConnectU and Myspace became juggernauts in the new cyber landscape while newer sites were born like Twitter and Tumblr that provided niche opportunities and holds for the people. Watching videos in the Internet became more and more a hobby and people began making them. Veoh and YouTube were becoming household names, especially as the two services began slowly differenting themselves, mainly in Veoh's change to favor "watch time" over Youtube's style of "number of views" in terms of the website's algorithms of what videos would be popular around the time though there were still growing subcommunities and more often than not, most of the growing content creators uploaded their videos to both websites. Additionally, said sites were influenced by other major websites: social media became the main way for these videos to spread and grow while ArtistShare would make news for discussions over with more websites regarding potential plans of cooperation. After all, they had proven crowdfunding could be possible for growing music artists, so what would happen if other independent creators could do it...?
Overall, the end of the Naughts was seeing a fascinating transition of sorts. With these growing websites becoming big enough to see usage fo many people, it seemed like only a matter of time before they played a role in the offline parts of life. Additionally, the election of Olympia Snowe was considered part of a phenomenon going on at this point in which women were becoming more prominent in positions of power and influence. At the same time, this came about with a rising wave of criticism toward male-dominated culture, or at least the very unpleasant aspects of this. The major defining instance of this was the 2008 arrest of Jeffrey Epstein , a prominent financeer who would become infamous with the revelation of a number of sexual assaults, especially with the aid of his accomplice, the British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell. Both would get life in prison and the revelations of what happened would lead to growing call on how to better handle and prevent these sort of actions. At the same time, this would be coming in with the rise of "hacktivism" or using computer hacking and similar tricks for activist purposes. Anonymous' war against Scientology and the rise of Wikileaks occurring in the same year as the rest also signaled this growing interest. It was a reflection of how much the online world was reflective of offline, the usage of computers and the further need to rebel against unjust circumstances yet also with the confident of people doing the right thing. After all, the various officials involved with Epstein's arrests went above and beyond to ensure he could not slither away from charges. Life went on however though here, the seeds of change were also seen. More and more it was becoming clear that people's enjoyment were in experiences and services rather than just physical objects. Going out to do something fun was already the popular thing, but now it was starting to gain a new level of significance thanks to the influence of social media, exposing media to all sorts of revelations, ideas and activities that they could go and do.
