Originally Posted By Kar2oonMan (Note: I wasn't sure where this topic fit.) I picked up a new graphic novel yesterday called "Whatever Happened to The World of Tomorrow?" For people (like me!) who love that optimistic mid-century optimistic future everyone dreamed about, this book is amazing. It begins with a father and son visiting the 1939 World's Fair in New York, and spans the decades that follow through the last Apollo mission. Walt Disney's view of the future, and the "Disneyland" TV show and EPCOT all are mentioned along the way. On the '39 World's Fair, author Brian Fies writes... "Forty-five million people entered imagining forty-five million different tomorrows, and all left believing in the same one." <a href="http://comicsworthreading.com/2009/06/04/brian-fies-next-book-previewed/" target="_blank">http://comicsworthreading.com/...eviewed/</a> Check it out!
Originally Posted By wonderingalice Very cool, 2oony! Gotta have it. I SO miss that intense feeling of discovery and anticipation I always got as a kid when walking into Tomorrowland!
Originally Posted By Hans Reinhardt Interesting topic for a book. In a way futurism, as it was told though the eyes of Walt Disney (Tomorrowland, EPCOT, etc), is a very old fashioned, 20th Century concept. Unfortunately all the optimism from that era could fix our social problems.
Originally Posted By skinnerbox Eddie Sotto is a huge fan of this book. I've picked it up and skimmed through it, but have yet to make the purchase. I think it's time to acquire this one and "The End of the Innocence" by Lawrence Samuel: <a href="http://www.amazon.com/End-Innocence-1964-1965-York-Worlds/dp/081560890X/ref=pd_bxgy_b_text_c" target="_blank">http://www.amazon.com/End-Inno...b_text_c</a> I also recommend Bill Cotter's two books on NYWF64 as well.
Originally Posted By Kar2oonMan >>Unfortunately all the optimism from that era could fix our social problems. << It could at least get the world out of the funk it's in. The author of the book in the foreword writes: >>As the World of Tomorrow's dark and unintended consequences emerged, the very idea of a hopeful future worth working toward became old fashioned and naive... optimism was for saps; dystopian doom was where all the smart, cool, cynical people placed their bets. I disagree. (This book) is an appreciation of, and an argument for, an increasingly rare way of thinking, creating, working, and living that has value. There was a time when building the future was inspirational. Ambitious. Romantic. Even ennobling. I think it can be again." Boy, howdy!
Originally Posted By Schmitty Good Vibes Interesting that Lawrence Samuel puts The End of Innocence at '64 - '65. For me and quite a few others it was November 22, 1963. I'm going to have to get these books.
Originally Posted By wonderingalice ^^I was 5 1/2, SGV... So my innocence lasted about another six years (at most... I became aware of the hippies' drug culture around '68), but as an adult I absolutely agree with you - November 22, 1963. Watched the subsequent funeral with my dad - it was the first time I ever saw him cry.
Originally Posted By Hans Reinhardt While the optimist in me loves the ideas put forth by the author, the reality is that the human constructs of social injustices and inequality, are obstructions to executing the principles that were the foundation of futurism. The elephant in the living room so to speak with ambitious concepts like EPCOT and mid-century world fairs is that they were squarely focused on being optimistic that they failed to address the very social ills that they claimed to correct. The were, and still are, mostly aimed at middle class audiences. Don't get me wrong - Disney's view of tomorrow was fantastic and incredibly entertaining. However, while some aspects of Disney futurism has transitioned into real world applications, it was mostly a failure in addressing how the advances in technology were going really make the world a better place for all humans.
Originally Posted By Kar2oonMan >>the human constructs of social injustices and inequality, are obstructions to executing the principles that were the foundation of futurism.<< True, but then again, when you look at something like Star Trek, it dared to imagine a future where racial issues had largely become a thing of the past. So futurism wasn't based in our own reality, but more of an imagined reality -- a blank slate, what if scenario. I don't know if kids or young people dream about the future much anymore, at least not in the same BIG way people my age did as kids. Sure, it was partially entertainment, but it was more than that, too. There is a tendency to judge the mid-century futurists by what they got wrong. But really, by putting that "what if" future out there, it gave people something to think about and aim for. I really do hope that we'll start imagining the future again. It;s hard to do in the middle of economic turmoil, but it's important.
Originally Posted By Hans Reinhardt "So futurism wasn't based in our own reality, but more of an imagined reality -- a blank slate, what if scenario." Really? I never got that impression. "True, but then again, when you look at something like Star Trek, it dared to imagine a future where racial issues had largely become a thing of the past." Which was very convenient for the show writers . Seriously, though, I think that Star Trek is pure science fiction, where futurists like Walt Disney were more concerned about how advances in technology were going to be the key to solving the problems faced by humanity during the latter half of the 20th Century. Remember that Walt Disney declared that Tomorrowland's goal was to be "A living blueprint of our future". Walt also said that EPCOT would "take its cue from the new ideas and new technologies that are now emerging from the creative centers of American industry." So, at least his vision was not some pie-in-the-sky fantasy view of what tomorrow would be like. " I really do hope that we'll start imagining the future again. It;s hard to do in the middle of economic turmoil, but it's important." I agree. Still, I think it's important to acknowledge the context in which popular futurism was born and why. I think that people are still dreaming and doing things; it's just being done in a different way now.
Originally Posted By Kar2oonMan >>So, at least his vision was not some pie-in-the-sky fantasy view of what tomorrow would be like.<< You're right. I think I mispoke a bit -- what I meant was that the mid-century futurists were dreaming up technologies not yet invented or perfected. You're correct, it wasn't pie-in-the-sky. >>I think that people are still dreaming and doing things; it's just being done in a different way now.<< Which is a central theme in this book, that we're not wearing Tomorrowland jumpsuits or riding in PeopleMovers, but we have amazing things like iPods and the Internet and so forth. There is one part of the book where a character shares his disappointment with NASA going from reaching out to visit the moon and then focusing on the space shuttle. He describes it as going from sailing across the ocean and then returning to paddling around a small pond.
Originally Posted By Hans Reinhardt I'm going to check this book out the next time I'm at Barns & Noble.
Originally Posted By Schmitty Good Vibes I can't tell you how many men (I haven't noticed any women who've done this) reach a point of success in their lives and decide in their later years that what they must do is attempt to construct some sort of utopian City Of The Future. Walt's idea had much to do with relying on transportation systems to solve many of the ills of society. I've seen the same (emphasis on transport) in other men's visions. I wish I could cite some examples for you at this moment (maybe Dean can help) but none are coming to mind immediately. I just think it's odd, that's all.
Originally Posted By Brian Fies A Google Alert led me here, and I appreciate the discussion and enthusiasm for my book very much. Thanks! One of my book's themes is that mid-century pop culture, from Flash Gordon in the forties to Disney in the fifties to Star Trek in the sixties had a real and large influence on the future we actually ended up building. Disney's "Man in Space" programs guided the public's expectations, which in turn contributed to politicians and NASA trying to realize them. Whatever criticisms anyone wants to throw at the man, Walt Disney must be taken seriously as a visionary simply because millions of people heard what he said and liked it. Hans makes the point that the vision was flawed, and couldn't--and maybe shouldn't--have ever come true. I tend to agree: metaphorically, I don't think flying cars and jetpacks were ever a good idea, and wouldn't have been available to any but the wealthy in any case. One argument I aim to make in my book was that, even though the old vision of the World of Tomorrow was imperfect and misguided, the impulse to conceive it and work toward it was good and even heroic. I think somewhere along the way (I argue the mid-seventies), we threw out the baby with the bathwater and swung too far from naive optimism to cynical pessimism. I find optimism more interesting and constructive. I think there's room for a new, positive vision of the future, informed by 70 or 80 years of mistakes, refined by our experience. I think there's a chance...maybe small, but definitely real...that we may yet come out of all this in one piece. Also, I wanted to mention an Easter egg in the book that I wouldn't expect anyone but real Tomorrowland fans to pick up on. Page 177 is for you. Thanks again, I appreciate my book being a topic of conversation.
Originally Posted By Kar2oonMan Your book is amazing, Brian! I stayed up way, way too late last night reading it, and there's much more to it than I have mentioned here (and it's part of the reason my posts are even more muddled that usual!). >>I find optimism more interesting and constructive. I think there's room for a new, positive vision of the future, informed by 70 or 80 years of mistakes, refined by our experience. I think there's a chance...maybe small, but definitely real...that we may yet come out of all this in one piece.<< Then you are among friends at this site. And it's pretty darn futuristic that we live in a time when the author of a book can join in a conversation of this sort! How cool is that?
Originally Posted By Lisann22 <<<I find optimism more interesting and constructive. I think there's room for a new, positive vision of the future, informed by 70 or 80 years of mistakes, refined by our experience. I think there's a chance...maybe small, but definitely real...that we may yet come out of all this in one piece.>>> Amen! Well for you Brian, at least you know your book profits will pick up a bit of steam due to this little piece of the future only dreamed about as we were kids. LOL
Originally Posted By Hans Reinhardt Thanks for dropping in Brian! I can't speak for everyone, but I certainly appreciate your comments and insight.
Originally Posted By DlandDug One aspect of the old Horizons pavilion I loved was the "futures past" overview that opened the show. How quaint it was to view Jules Verne, 30s sci fi, and 50s populuxe. But now the "realistic visions" offered in Horizons (Cities Under the Sea! Colonies in Space! Deserts in Bloom!) seem just as naive. Eventually, we do get the future that we long for, but only when we want it badly enough. I personally blame "Blade Runner" for making dystopia so darn sexy...
