AmeliaJane
1-3-13, 12:27pm
For those who are Netflix streaming subscribers, the full run of The West Wing is now available. Due to a case of the holiday crud, I have been on the couch marathoning Season 1 (1999-2000) for the last few days. It is fascinating to see what has and hasn't changed in 14 years (also a little sad in some cases).
Interestingly, in terms of style, the biggest thing I notice is how different the cars look. The women's hair and clothing looks somewhat dated, especially on the younger women who would be expected to be more fashion-conscious (a lot more turtlenecks, long hair with barrettes, and skirt suits than nowadays) but I could still imagine seeing women who look like that. The men look not that different from what I see on the news. I guess forty-something guys in Washington DC don't keep up with trends... Offices don't look that much different, other than the lack of flat screen monitors (they never really show computer screens, which I understand require extra special effects technology to show on TV, or did in the 1990s).
Some of the comments about the Internet are hilarious, (Actual quote: "The Internet--it's not going anywhere!") and there is one sequence where something is about to happen, and a character says, "It's on the Internet...it's going to break tomorrow." Clearly, at that time "real news" still happened in print/television. THere are a couple of plot lines that wouldn't even exist with modern technology (characters get hopelessly lost on a road trip--GPS, dude!--and at one point a character turns up and surprises the staff by being a different gender than expected and having a physical disability that no one knew about...unthinkable in the age of Google.) On the other hand, character use cellphones a lot and when a Supreme Court nomination is under discussion, the staff nails the fact that privacy rights are going to be a major issue for the next generation.
Still the same: fighting over education funding (although no discussion of No Child Left Behind), concern for the neglect of veterans (although veterans are all older), gun control being a major issue (although in the context of drugs and urban crime, not massacres in the suburbs), budget and pork issues, weather disasters, hate groups.
Not yet on the horizon--very little discussion of Muslim extremist groups. The only Middle Eastern terror-type incident focuses on the Syrian government. Air travel and security is still pretty simple--in the pilot, one of the characters gets into an argument with the flight attendant about using his electronics during landing. Not that it doesn't still happen, but everyone around him is completely ignoring them. No way that would happen today. And of course, nothing like the lightning fast reaction times of the news cycle today. At one point, a major military movement takes place in highly populated areas in Asia, and the US doesn't know about it until they see it on a satellite photo. Hard to believe that would happen in these days of cellphone video and Youtube...
Anyway, I am totally enjoying the time travel and recommend it highly...it's still great television.
Interestingly, in terms of style, the biggest thing I notice is how different the cars look. The women's hair and clothing looks somewhat dated, especially on the younger women who would be expected to be more fashion-conscious (a lot more turtlenecks, long hair with barrettes, and skirt suits than nowadays) but I could still imagine seeing women who look like that. The men look not that different from what I see on the news. I guess forty-something guys in Washington DC don't keep up with trends... Offices don't look that much different, other than the lack of flat screen monitors (they never really show computer screens, which I understand require extra special effects technology to show on TV, or did in the 1990s).
Some of the comments about the Internet are hilarious, (Actual quote: "The Internet--it's not going anywhere!") and there is one sequence where something is about to happen, and a character says, "It's on the Internet...it's going to break tomorrow." Clearly, at that time "real news" still happened in print/television. THere are a couple of plot lines that wouldn't even exist with modern technology (characters get hopelessly lost on a road trip--GPS, dude!--and at one point a character turns up and surprises the staff by being a different gender than expected and having a physical disability that no one knew about...unthinkable in the age of Google.) On the other hand, character use cellphones a lot and when a Supreme Court nomination is under discussion, the staff nails the fact that privacy rights are going to be a major issue for the next generation.
Still the same: fighting over education funding (although no discussion of No Child Left Behind), concern for the neglect of veterans (although veterans are all older), gun control being a major issue (although in the context of drugs and urban crime, not massacres in the suburbs), budget and pork issues, weather disasters, hate groups.
Not yet on the horizon--very little discussion of Muslim extremist groups. The only Middle Eastern terror-type incident focuses on the Syrian government. Air travel and security is still pretty simple--in the pilot, one of the characters gets into an argument with the flight attendant about using his electronics during landing. Not that it doesn't still happen, but everyone around him is completely ignoring them. No way that would happen today. And of course, nothing like the lightning fast reaction times of the news cycle today. At one point, a major military movement takes place in highly populated areas in Asia, and the US doesn't know about it until they see it on a satellite photo. Hard to believe that would happen in these days of cellphone video and Youtube...
Anyway, I am totally enjoying the time travel and recommend it highly...it's still great television.