Head back to the retro-future with us as we explore the relationship between cartoons and retrofuturism! Topics covered include Futurama, the 1939 and 1964 World’s Fairs, Walt Disney’s animatronics and much more!
related material:
Disneyland Goes to the World’s Fair (1964)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HzClhcK97OY
Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow – CGI making of (2004)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4xoMJH_4uAw
The Incredibles – Behind the music with Micahel Giacchino
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zA1XcaQI5eU
I do not own any of the clips presented. Credit to the copyright holders and thanks to the original uploaders.
For the purpose of review/education.
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Love this
excellent content !!!
This is great, please keep the retro futurism content coming.
Great stuff. Would you consider Disney's treasure planet to be Retrofuturism?
I think Wall-E could also be considered to be a retro-futuristic animated movie with great messages about optimism.
I think my view of The Jetsons is significantly more satirical yours. I feel like it was always poking fun at how lazy, complacent, and stupid modern society had become. I mean, it often felt downright mean-spirited toward George, the guy whose job it is to push a single button all day while complaining about it. Sure, it didn't tackle deeper class or race issues, but economic satire (and the rise of consumer culture) was absolutely a part of the show, and condescended-to Rosie isn't sarcastic for nothing.
Finding lots of great stuff on this channel
Subclass? Are you manic depressive?
in b4 channel blows up, keep up the good content, not too many channels dedicated to this.
Pessimistic with No Future. AND THEN CAME COVID. LOL little did you know.
You can also make a video about music and retrofuturism, as sovietwave or the 50's music reuse in the Fallout game franchise.
I also have a great interest in "tomorrows" from the past, Worlds Fairs and related subjects (including films that depicted worlds of the future, such as —and notably—THINGS TO COME, which is very "worlds fair-writ-gigantic" to me). As a kid growing up in Detroit in the 50's we got not only some of the first looks at the works of Syd Mead and "dream car" designers, but twice-a-year visits to one of the exhibits from the 1933 Chicago fair, the Ford Rotunda—which featured, via a mechanized futuristic miniature city, a "day in the life of tomorrow". I regret the passing of the era of worlds fairs as I was only able to actually visit one of the last ones, MAN AND HIS WORLD in Montreal in 1969, which was an outgrowth of EXPO 67, and i never forgot that experience because, well, it was unforgettable! I'll be checking out more of this channel. (Note: Only critique: Slow down your speech pattern a little, as it tends to slight some of the very fascinating things you are bringing up. Hope that isn't being too picky.)
I loved Sky Captain And the World of Tomorrow. I always considered it to be sci-fi film noir. One bit of trivia: the giant robots were a homage to the Fleischer Superman cartoon The Mechanical Monsters.
I just started watching your vids and I'm already hooked.
Why do you talk so fast? It's YouTube. What's the hurry? I had to slow the playback speed to understand you. FYI-I work in video and radio.
I wonder if Sky Captain did not make up for it's losses on the, then thriving DVD market. For quite a time one was inundated by it. On a more genral note: I actually think (retro-)futurism still has a profound task to perform. This sort of stuff might have been naïve and indeed often propagandistic but it still shows us how things could be if we all pullt together as we will have to if we want to survive. The real problem is that people have given up too easily after only jumping on the consumerism bandwagon. Consumerism and capaitalism are not the future. The real future might however still look a bit like these examples, although it will have to be a much more sustainable one. By the way: The perfect retro-futuristic joke is the Mr. Fusion kitchen appliance Doc and Marty stick on the De Lorean in Back To The Future! That thing would solve quite a few problems all on it's own! 🙂
the suicide pod exists…
https://health.howstuffworks.com/diseases-conditions/death-dying/sarco-suicide-pod-controversial-compassionate.htm
I know it flopped but I loved Sky Captain. It essentially did what World's Fair exhibits tried to do- immerse you in a futuristic vision from the point of view in that period of time.
I also have to chime in on Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow. Very enjoyable movie.
You missed Max Headroom.
I gave up after 20 seconds. I couldn't understand a word you were saying…
I love the videos and the channel, but as constructive criticism, yes, please slow down when you speak. You're running words together and slowing down some will make you easier to understand. Thanks, and keep up the great work because I'm really enjoying it!
Your videos are so super interesting and great
no my life as a teenage robot?
Great work as always! Hope is a difficult virtue anymore. Especially without the virtue of tuning out.
I loved Sky Captain; I like to watch it back to back with The Rocketeer and The Iron Giant.
Enjoy your work. Just watched this again and wanted you to know I agree with why you like retro- futurism. I would love you to do a video on the IGY International Geophysical Year. I of course love Donald Fagen's "The Nightfly" album which has a very strong retro futurism theme which got me into the whole history of the IGY 1957-1958. I wasn't born until 1964, but still enjoy reading and watching anything about it. Just started the Alistair MacLean thriller "Night Without End" which takes place during IGY. Thank you for your work!
If. If there's ever a fire in my home, Ill leave with my wallet, my fotos and my copy of Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow under my arm.
Retro futurism is how the world should be. From futuristic ideas of the past
I'm a huge fan of World Fairs
Jane: "Elroy, you've been splitting atoms again" Elroy: "Oh, only a couple mom". I have the opinion that the Flintstones was just Jackie Gleason era shlock, but the Jetsons all but birthed modern american cultural satire. The two cannot really be compared as peers. Watching the Jetsons and Futurama is a treat, a great 420 treat if you are into that.
I really miss the future.
Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow was only a flop if you believe that it cost $70M to make. Budget was closer to $30M and made more than that, domestically.
How could Futurama have been inspired by the 1939 World's Fair? The first episode of Futurama had a Cryonics theme and the word "Cryonics" did not exist back then. That word was "coined up" by Robert Ettinger in His 1962 thesis which was published as a commercially available book in 1964 with the title "The Prospects of Immortality." And the first Person to undergo Cryonic Suspension was a World War 1 veteran and retired Psychology professor by the name of James Bedford on January 12,1967.
I have to watch that now. Sky Captain and The World of Tomorrow
I think futurama show how people would feel in a actual future life isn’t a utopia or a dystopia it’s just some where in between because of the way inventions of tommorow have caused new problems to come up
I hope hwood will make a new buck rogers flash gordon the shadow along with doc savage. In the same way as sky captain it would look cool.
Retrofuturism went from Utopian to Dystopian so quickly. A shame that visions of the future turned to the question, "Will the future be survivable?"
Very insightful. The Animated Batman feature “The Mask of the Phantasm” features the same aesthetic. Bruce attending a New York like fair suggests a glorious future with a woman he loves only to have both his love and the optimism of the fair’s torn down in a dark reality, so much so that the Joker uses the fair’s grounds as a his hideout.
Futurama was such a amazing show. Its really a shame it didnt review more praise during its run. Things like family guy or the Simpsons are still going …..yet Futurama isnt. Really a shame
WELCOME TO THE WORLD OF TOMOROOOW!