I don’t know if that title is a little too assertive or whatever but I was thinking about this today and thought it would be a fun thing to write about on here.
The late 90’s (actually about 94-01) is one of the most interesting eras in film for a few reasons. Technology was at the point where it was advancing rapidly, but things like cell phones and the internet hadn’t yet completely taken over. So crime thrillers will have scenes of people in libraries or police departments searching through paper files or even checking computers, instead of just google searching “missing people”. Maybe a character will have a cell phone, but it is also super common to see characters using land lines and pay phones and horror movies aren’t completely ruined by the idea of “why don’t these characters just call each other/the police?” But at the same time, these technologies are around and are interesting and new and a lot of movies at the time have this really funny idea of how the internet works and what “hacker culture” is like. Even the Matrix which is one of my all time favourites has such a funny idea of what it’s like to be an online hacker.
Speaking of technology, CGI was also at an interesting place. It was functional enough that it could be experimented with and used in some movies, but from what I understand it was expensive (and didn’t look great) so movies didn’t over-rely on it. I notice a huge difference in action movies from this period to the early-mid 2000s. In the 90’s there was some martial arts stuff and a lot of explosions and car crashes, but in the mid 2000’s it started switching totally to cgi like fantasy action. I think the transition point for this is around 99 because that’s when we see the Matrix and also Star Wars: Phantom Menace. Both movies really change how computer effects change action movies. Watch any martial arts action movie from the early 00’s and you’ll see slow-downs and freeze frames like the Matrix. Phantom Menace had a lot of cg characters attacking other cg characters with cg lasers/blue plasma ball things and I feel like this really set the direction of a lot of fantasy/sci fi action movies that is still huge even today (like think of the action in comic book movies).
I’m having a difficult time putting this point into words, but this period has some really interesting tone to the movies. On the one hand there is a kind of almost naive optimism in its approach to social issues and the movies often have a sort of hope to them. However, there are also a lot of like big movies with hard violence and grittiness and this almost like condescending pessimism too. It’s weird because the optimism and the pessimism are so contradicting but really present in a lot of movies in this era. It’s like there’s an awareness of how dark the world is but still an optimism that is can be fixed. That’s why when I define the era, I start at 1994 because that year saw both Forrest Gump and Pulp Fiction and both of these movies have both the optimism and pessimism that I’m talking about. I end the era at 2001 because I really feel like 9/11 really puts an end to the conflicting tones, making everything more black and white.
Hmm I’m starting to get tired and rambly. Anyway these are just some thoughts I had. What are your thoughts on this? or What is your favourite time period of movies? hit up those comments dawgs.
Sheldauntless 