1999 AD: The future as envisaged from 1967

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1999 AD: The future as envisaged from 1967

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Күн бұрын

Smart homes, bountiful oceans and casual sexism: the future as envisaged from 1967
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‘Yes, life will be richer, easier, healthier as space-age dreams come true.’
In 1967, the Ford Motor Company (then known as Philco-Ford) released the short film 1999 AD, which imagined daily life for a US family in the not-so-distant future. Screened today, the film is a fascinating and humbling glimpse at the ever-fraught business of predicting the future. As the viewer watches the Shore family - mother, father and young son - the film’s forecast of life at the turn of the 21st century stuns both with its prescience and its shortsightedness, all served up with a side of folksy, 1960s-style cheese. While many of the technological flourishes showcased - including instant communication, heaps of screen time and daily fitness tracking - ring true today, the film fails to imagine the broader cultural or environmental shifts to come. Particularly jarring is the relationship between the mother, a homemaker who dutifully prepares meals and takes on the majority of parenting duties, and her husband, a breadwinning astrophysicist who keeps a tight watch on his wife’s spending.
Also notable is the film’s sheen of techno-utopian optimism, in which future oceans aren’t polluted or threatened by rising temperatures, but teeming with a biodiverse array of creatures primed for the human plucking. Much more Leave It to Beaver than Black Mirror, the film exemplifies how, through the lens of capitalism, products and progress never exacerbate but gently whisk away problems, as well as the feedback loop of invention and commercial depiction through which corporations have helped to shape modern history.
Director: Lee Madden
#futurism #retro-futurism #technology

Пікірлер: 21

@kingporter67 5 ай бұрын

Game show host Wink Martindale turned 90!!!

@ilanspierer7496 3 жыл бұрын

i was waiting for the statue of liberty at the beach.

@robertsgerard8669 3 жыл бұрын

I"m watching this video in 2021 in a house built in the 1920's.

@Cinemagic77 Жыл бұрын

Many thanks for posting this cool film. I do remember seeing this film many years ago in school once. This version you have here is the cleanest and best quality I have seen so far. Great job!

@Vahktang Күн бұрын

Mom, played by Marj Dusay, was 30 years old when making this. Martingale was 3 years older.

@Springamatul 8 ай бұрын

Now 1999 is almost a quarter century ago. 😄

@SoCalFreelance 2 жыл бұрын

Interesting they thought there would be a machine for each function, when of course today the home PC is used for schooling, online shopping, organizing finances and banking, checking the weather, video conferencing, etc. I like the idea of food being compartmentalized in the refrigerator, you press a button and it automatically moves to the microwave / convection oven, and then delivered when ready. 😁

@robertsgerard8669 3 жыл бұрын

They were correct about what we now call "remote instruction."

@dpo2078 4 жыл бұрын

This is incredible.

@chozar 6 ай бұрын

In its own way, this happened. I especially like the landing on the moon, which only happened 2 years after this. I remember 1999 very well (born in 82), and if I saw this film then, I would have found a lot far fetched still. But the remote learning, work, shopping, email, and centralized computing really has shifted. I like the style of decor, it reminds me of the original star trek. As it should, it was still on the air in 1967.

@Billinois78 3 ай бұрын

One thing person that nobody seems to be able to identify is the singer at the party.

@fredmckinney8933 9 ай бұрын

I'm watching this in 2023 in a house built in 1970 -- and I was born in 1967. Plus, Wink Martindale, who plays the role of the father, is one of my all-time favorite game show hosts. And, the narrator, the late Alexander Scorby, also does the daily Bible readings on the Bible Broadcasting Network at 2AM and 2PM central time (my time zone).