1. Stauche Stimpson

    Stauche Stimpson Member

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    Creating a hyper anachronistic/outdated setting.

    Discussion in 'Setting Development' started by Stauche Stimpson, Jan 28, 2023.

    I'm writing a story that is supposed to take place in superhero setting but its quasi utopian Past. Capital P past it's a alternate timeline that will only reflect out real world insofar as how i deem it so typically in a abstract way. It's a non specific past pertaining to no specific era maybe the 70's 80's and 2000's, of American history soicety i know i few things but i don't have much knowledge to draw from. but is supposed to represent a nostalgic time where things where "better". Alot of times this would be conveyed through aesthetics though I don't tend to go into describing architecture and clothing unless it pertains to the more fantastical aspects of my story. So any advice on how to go about this venture would be appreciated. Because the reader should read the story and some part of the setting should register as "outdated" or at least feel ethereal in a nostalgic way.
     
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  2. Naomasa298

    Naomasa298 HP: 10/190 Status: Confused Contributor

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    Well, if it's the 70s and 80s, then...

    No internet.
    Fax machines.
    No mobile phones. Only the rich have carphones, and they're not reliable. So people used payphones.
    Mullets.
    ABBA.

    I'd recommend watching some films made during the period you're interested in.

    I dunno about the 70s, but from what I remember of the 80s and 90s, I'm not sure they were "better". But the 60s is often remembered with that kind of nostalgia.
     
  3. Homer Potvin

    Homer Potvin A tombstone hand and a graveyard mind Staff Supporter Contributor

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    Well if it's anachronistic, that literally means it's not set in time. So you can have the Beatles live streaming on the Internet. Or a moon landing under the reign of Henry VIII. Really, you can go nuts.

    Unless you're talking about an alternate time-line, which can have elements of anachronism, but isn't really the same. Anachronism implies several timelines that have been blended together, usually for symbolic, thematic purposes... like to show how there would have been nothing special about the Beatles if they existed in the Internet age (which I'm not saying, but that would be a reason to do it).

    Best use of anachronism I've ever read is Flight to Canada by Ishmael Reed. It's about Black slaves trying to flee the American South, only they use airplanes, watch Lincoln get shot on live TV, and the like. Excellent, excellent book.
     
  4. Bruce Johnson

    Bruce Johnson Contributor Contributor Contest Winner 2023

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    There was a gas shortage and a Flock of Seagulls.

    Seriously though, what's the motive for having this type of setting? I'm surprised you're taking this angle without already having a semi-interest in a particular period.

    I'm not trying to sound 'woke' but any period can be considered utopian or idyllic if you ignore the bad parts of humanity that was expressed in the period (racism, war, genocide, etc.)

    The movie 'Streets of Fire' takes place in an unspecified time that has elements of 50s culture present (diners, motorcycle gangs, a quasi Doo-Wop band). But it's not utopian.

    You could try focusing on how the technology was minimal but made life better (within your story) so less types of media for entertainment and information meant people actually had dinner together, like actually talked to each other. Divorce rates were probably lower but not sure how you emphasize that.

    One thing that I think about from time to time is that most of post WWII the U.S. was in a Cold War, with the threat of nuclear war which obviously was at a peak during the Cuban Missile Crisis (technically the 60s but aesthetically I associate 1962 more with the 50's) and in the 80s the threat loomed large, maybe because of media, not sure, it just seemed a bigger deal in the 80s than the 70s. Which brings me to my point: from the early 90s to the Summer of 2001 there wasn't this existential threat on people's minds as much, although Global Warming and the hole in the Ozone layer were known. So that to me is a period that could be just as much utopian as the others. Of course in September 2001 everything changed, probably forever.
     
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  5. Xoic

    Xoic Prognosticator of Arcana Ridiculosum Contributor Blogerator

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    What movie was that!!?? I remember it word for word, and now it's bugging the hell out of me!! I think it was something like "You didn't miss much in the 70's, just a gas shortage and a Flock of Seagulls."

    Oh, it was a Marvel movie, wasn't it? It's coming back to me. Somebody telling Captain America about what he 'slept through' while he was on ice. The guy he was running with? Yeah, yeah...
     
  6. Stauche Stimpson

    Stauche Stimpson Member

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    There is primitive internet and flip phones in the setting
     
  7. Stauche Stimpson

    Stauche Stimpson Member

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    The motive is so that i can give different "eras" of my setting a distinct flavor beyond the shift of the tone from optimism to bleakness. And to create a "in universe nostalgia" for a in universe past.
     
  8. Seven Crowns

    Seven Crowns Moderator Staff Supporter Contributor Contest Winner 2022

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    I gave you a like just for having Nishi as an avatar. That's awesome.

    For your story . . . The lack of surveillance was one plus. I don't mean to be a Luddite, but not having a screen in your face all the time was nice too. Maybe you could play up that angle, times that were more "human" and less scrutinized.
     
  9. Naomasa298

    Naomasa298 HP: 10/190 Status: Confused Contributor

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    Depends how primitive you mean. In the 80s, there was a thing known as BBs (bulletin boards), which were the forerunners of today's forums. You dialled in using a dial-up modem, and you could access text content that way.
     
  10. Naomasa298

    Naomasa298 HP: 10/190 Status: Confused Contributor

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    And people read more... as in, actual printed books.
     
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  11. Xoic

    Xoic Prognosticator of Arcana Ridiculosum Contributor Blogerator

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    I've written pretty much in here already about the 70's, if not the 60's. Try a search for my name and the term 70's, you should be able to find several long-winded posts about it. I'll add a little to it here, hopefully without just repeating myself. But it's probably impossible to understand it if you didn't live through it. And for me there's a sort of golden glow around that whole era, probably largely nostalgia. It was my childhood and teens.

    It was the classic era for music and movies and all kinds of things. The cars were way better. Now of course we know the corporations were already cutthroat and didn't give a damn about us, but at the time it seemed like they did (I was young and naive, some people doubtless knew). TV had like 5 channels, and everybody got a free TV supplement with the newspaper every week that went straight on the coffee table. Or you could pick up the bigger, more deluxe TV Guide at a store if you really wanted more in-depth info about what was going to be on. Many people had a few favorite shows they'd catch every week on a certain day, and we'd plan our week around these. Plus we'd go through and see if any good movies were gonna be on, and make plans for that, to meet at somebody's house, or my friend and I would call each other during commercial breaks and talk about it. A lot of what they showed was still old black and white movies and shows from the 50's and early 60's, like the I Love Lucy and the Honeymooners and Leave it to Beaver.

    It was a high-trust society. A term we didn't know then, I only learned it since it ended. In fact that's how everything was—we lived in a golden age, and as they say, you never know it at the time. By the time you realize it's a golden age it's already ending or already over. In general people were friendly and polite, at least where I lived. Families would do that thing that seems so old-fashioned now, where when a new family moved in you'd all put on your best Sunday clothes and go introduce yourself to the whole family, and each person would be carrying food. A casserole dish with foil over it, maybe a 3-bean salad or a cheese and tuna casserole. A cake in a big plastic cake dish that needed to be returened a week or so later. Dad would bring a bottle of wine or liquor, and that might get opened. Often the kids would get little juice glasses and get to drink some, but not much.

    I don't think cars had air bags yet in the 70's. It's hard to remember exactly when that became the norm, maybe newer cars did, but most people were driving older cars. It seems like air bags became more normal in the 80's. Of course they were a curiosity to people who didn't have them yet. And nobody wore seat belts. You didn't get pulled over for it then. Also people would smoke anywhere and everywhere. There was no such thing as a smoking section in a restaurant, you could just smoke anywhere. And I mean, people would get in your car or come in your house and just light up, no permission asked or anything. If you asked them to step outside most would look at you like you're crazy. It was just assumed to be an absolute right. Unless maybe somebody has asthma or something. No leash laws, dogs just ran free everywhere. No pooper scoopers, nobody walking around with little baggies on their hands picking up after their dogs. It was free range baby! Oh, and dog poop would turn white and chalky and stay around forever!! Apparently it's because of what was being put in the dog food at the time. It was eventually found to be unhealthy and they changed it, and suddenly somewhere in the 80's or 90's people started asking where all the chalky white doggie doo went. It used to just be a reality on every sidewalk and every lawn.

    That's enough. And I'm sure I repeated some things I've said before. But I also said some other things in the past too, so if you search you can find more.
     
    Last edited: Jan 29, 2023
  12. montecarlo

    montecarlo Contributor Contributor

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    I'm sure the 60s and 70s were perfection, at least for those with a loving home and lots of that trust.

    You ever see a sixty-year-old man eat out your twelve-year-old-sister a half hour after almost beating you to death? I'm going to guess your contemporaries that did, they probably see that period as a lot less gilded than you do.
     
  13. Xoic

    Xoic Prognosticator of Arcana Ridiculosum Contributor Blogerator

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    Of course. I'm giving my own perspective. And my own life wasn't all roses and sunshine, but I'm talking in general about the time period, not personal trauma.
     
  14. montecarlo

    montecarlo Contributor Contributor

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    @Xoic I apologize. You didn't deserve that.
     
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  15. Stauche Stimpson

    Stauche Stimpson Member

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    the smoking thing and the "high trust society"

    Infact i would say the high trust society part is very important to the story
     
  16. Jlivy3

    Jlivy3 Active Member

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    When I think of a utopian vision of the past, America in the 1950's is what I picture. That magazine cover vision of good living. Bill Bryson's The Thunderbolt Kid is a good view of one man's nostalgic memory of the times.
     

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