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Highpoint of 20th Century American Culture?

Started by Queequeg, October 13, 2013, 03:01:11 PM

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Greatest decade of American culture in the 20th Century?

00s
1 (2.9%)
10s
0 (0%)
20s
7 (20.6%)
30s
2 (5.9%)
40s
1 (2.9%)
50s
5 (14.7%)
60s
3 (8.8%)
70s
3 (8.8%)
80s/Jaron
5 (14.7%)
90s
7 (20.6%)

Total Members Voted: 33

Queequeg

Rereading Nixonland, there's repeated references to how little people in the 60s thought of the previous decade.  However, more I thought about it the 50s seems, in retrospect, to be the highpoint of American culture in most respects.  The idea that the decade that produced Vertigo, Kind of Blue, Elvis, Night of the Hunter and Lolita represented a cultural nadir seems absurd on the face of it. 
Quote from: PDH on April 25, 2009, 05:58:55 PM
"Dysthymia?  Did they get some student from the University of Chicago with a hard-on for ancient Bactrian cities to name this?  I feel cheated."

The Brain

A tough one. It's not the 90s at least, grunge made sure of that.
Women want me. Men want to be with me.

CountDeMoney

Quote from: The Brain on October 13, 2013, 03:02:56 PMIt's not the 90s at least, grunge made sure of that.

Soundgarden doesn't care what your cheaply made, no right-angled plasterboard IKEA ass thinks.

The Brain

Quote from: CountDeMoney on October 13, 2013, 03:08:40 PM
Quote from: The Brain on October 13, 2013, 03:02:56 PMIt's not the 90s at least, grunge made sure of that.

Soundgarden doesn't care what your cheaply made, no right-angled plasterboard IKEA ass thinks.

I beg your pardon.
Women want me. Men want to be with me.

Ed Anger

Stay Alive...Let the Man Drive

Ideologue

1980s.  Alan Moore was in his prime, and he was marketed to a largely American audience.  There's Bon Jovi and Journey.  And James Cameron and Steven Spielberg were doing cool stuff.
Kinemalogue
Current reviews: The 'Burbs (9/10); Gremlins 2: The New Batch (9/10); John Wick: Chapter 2 (9/10); A Cure For Wellness (4/10)

Sheilbh

Let's bomb Russia!

garbon

I picked the 90s. Only really had the 80s and 90s available unless I wanted to celebrate American culture as sexist and racist.  Picked the 90s as not only did culture go digital, it went worldwide. :cool:
"I've never been quite sure what the point of a eunuch is, if truth be told. It seems to me they're only men with the useful bits cut off."
I drank because I wanted to drown my sorrows, but now the damned things have learned to swim.

Queequeg

Quote from: PDH on April 25, 2009, 05:58:55 PM
"Dysthymia?  Did they get some student from the University of Chicago with a hard-on for ancient Bactrian cities to name this?  I feel cheated."

Ideologue

I did almost say 60s before I realized what was being asked.  If you look at culture overall (i.e., how people related to one another) it still might be the best decade. Music and movies and comics weren't as good, though there's many legitimate successes in those media.
Kinemalogue
Current reviews: The 'Burbs (9/10); Gremlins 2: The New Batch (9/10); John Wick: Chapter 2 (9/10); A Cure For Wellness (4/10)

PDH

The 1930s.

Culture is in part how it is remembered, and the Great Depression allowed America the times to remember itself in vivid detail and the ability (through the New Deal) to record those memories wholesale.  The greatness of the 1940s through the 1970s were a product of this reflection.
I have come to believe that the whole world is an enigma, a harmless enigma that is made terrible by our own mad attempt to interpret it as though it had an underlying truth.
-Umberto Eco

-------
"I'm pretty sure my level of depression has nothing to do with how much of a fucking asshole you are."

-CdM

katmai

Fat, drunk and stupid is no way to go through life, son

HVC

Being lazy is bad; unless you still get what you want, then it's called "patience".
Hubris must be punished. Severely.

mongers

So for the first time the mass of the population having the ability to publish their wisdom on the internet counts for nothing ? :unsure:
"We have it in our power to begin the world over again"

dps

Quote from: mongers on October 13, 2013, 06:28:41 PM
So for the first time the mass of the population having the ability to publish their wisdom on the internet counts for nothing ? :unsure:

No, it doesn't count for nothing.  The problem is that it caused an overall drop in the culture level.