You missed out on a few things in the 70s.
Defining a decade has been done by numerous individuals from historians to fans and to be fair, a lot of them have hit the mark fairly well no matter how different their estimations of the decade might have been. Those who were born and who were growing up in the 70s likely remember a world that, at that time, wasn’t simple or even easy, but was far less complicated than the place we’re dealing with now. This was a decade that was pre-internet, a time that didn’t have the overwhelming technology, and a time in which people could still enjoy simplicity in a lot of different ways. Plenty of us can look back and think that the world wasn’t perfect back in the 70s, it did have its own challenges and difficulties, but it was also a lot simpler in many ways.
The 70s served as a transitory decade, much like every decade does at some point, but there were also several aspects of this decade that a lot of people still remember as being new, shiny, bright, and warm. Some people actually wince when it comes to remembering this decade and there are reasons for that since the fashion when compared to today, is kind of cringe-worthy, even if it has been able to come back from time to time. Aspects of many decades have been coming back over the years as those who either have no new ideas or are trying to pay their respect to the past decades, and the 70s gave rise to a lot of the ideas that people enjoy today.
It’s fun to imagine what it must have been like to watch a few of those ideas come to life back in the 70s since many of them are still around today, but the original magic that was used to bring some of the things we enjoy now is difficult to impossible to replace, even for those that are just now coming to enjoy those things that were brought to light in the 70s. That’s kind of what happens though, a lot of us are born into one decade or another and tend to miss out on things we like, and have no memory of what it was like when said things were started. But thankfully, it doesn’t mean that we can’t enjoy them moving forward, right?
Let’s take a look at a few aspects of the 70s that were either forgotten, or kicked things off in a way that a lot of us regret missing out on.
The movies of the 70s created several gems we still love today.
The movies back in this decade were revolutionary in a lot of ways that took the theaters by storm and elevated cinema to a new level that would eventually create a fervor as well as a wave of nostalgia that people are so ready to enjoy today. Back in the day, the practical effects were actually not too bad, but the special effects sometimes felt a little cheesy and perhaps a bit overdone, or under-done to be fair. But the stories were great, and they kind of had to be. In order to push the ideas that were so popular back in the day the story had to be deep enough to carry the audience from the beginning of the movie to the end. These days that’s kind of a struggle at times, especially if the acting is subpar and the effects are being used to tell the story more than the actual story itself. Movies back in the 70s weren’t perfect, but they still had the ability to leave people wondering what was coming next, and what kind of story they’d be allowed to sink themselves into next. These days that magic is kind of gone in a big way as the great ideas came in the decades before now and a lot of storytellers have been trying to improve on them ever since.
The fashion of the 70s was unique without a doubt.
The fashions of the 70s have been described as crazy, relaxed, and OMG WTF is that???!, with equal intensity at times since the truth is that the fashions of the day were a far cry from some of the styles that were seen in the 50s, and even from the 60s, which featured extremes that were all kinds of odd. But it almost felt as though the meter that gauges which fashions are popular and which are not had swung back and forth so violently in the previous decades that it was trying to settle, and was taking its time to wander through one period after another to give the 70s an identity and look that would be completely unique. Well, that kind of happened, but at the same time, one has to wonder if it was a good thing or a bad thing, especially since the nostalgia-loving audiences are doing their best to bring back some of the looks that the 70s were famous for back in the day.
The cars were a little more impressive in the 70s…sometimes.
There were great cars of the 70s and there were the cars that people tried to forget about before the decade was even out. This is kind of sad to be sure since there are plenty of cars from back in this era that worked just fine but didn’t make the transition into the 80s and beyond. Some folks still have these cars and can likely remember when they were cruising down the street in their Ford Maverick, their Volkswagen, their Pontiac Astre, their Dodge Magnum, and many other cars that a lot of people might not even remember at this date. Back then it was great to have a hunk of metal with tires and a steering wheel, and if you could afford it, a bit of luxury that was put into the seats and the radio, right? Today’s cars might have some personality, but not nearly as much as some of these rigs since back in the day you can’t help but see how each vehicle had a personality to it that didn’t make the trip through the decades.
The cartoons were color-soaked thrill rides.
Some of the cartoons from this decade were rather silly but they were still fun to watch since they didn’t require a lot of thinking and were pleased as hell to tell you what the artists and storytellers thought you wanted to hear. A lot of the programming that was seen in the 70s would eventually cross over into the next couple of decades, but not in the same manner since once they became reruns it feels as though these cartoons lost a lot of their verve and weren’t nearly as effective. Compared to the top cartoons of the 80s, the 70s toons weren’t all that tough. This was an era when the cartoons were still fairly educational and geared toward having fun without pushing the whole us vs. them the idea. Once the 80s rolled around, a lot of this stuff was forgotten.
The celebrities of this era felt larger than life in some of the best ways.
Celebrities from any era have been impressive in one way or another, but back in the 70s, it felt a lot different for several reasons. One is the fact that there was no internet. If you wanted to see a celebrity in person then you had to make your way to whatever city or sound stage they were on, or possibly find out where their next appearance was going to be. Without the internet, pinpointing the location of a celebrity was tough. Back in the 70s the fact is that celebrities were still eccentric, they were still wholesome, and they were still just as different as they are now, but without the internet, the public didn’t have as much access to them as they do now. One has to wonder if the celebrities that remember those days miss them or if they’ve made their peace with knowing that whatever they do is going to be broadcast around the world.
The technology of the 70s is something people laugh at today.
Does anyone remember having floppy disks that were actually floppy? These things actually made their way into the 80s and 90s, and are now considered to be useless antiques by many since the PCs and laptops we use at this time are miles beyond what we used back in the day. The thing to remember however is that back in the day, this is what there was for technology, and despite the fact that computers were roughly the size of small desks, they were what would eventually give rise to the handheld devices we use today and the technology that allows us to stay hooked into the internet. Hey, everything came from something, but being there to watch it grow is a privilege that a lot of us haven’t had when it comes to many decades in which innovation was on the rise.
WTR? (Why’s That Radass?)
Sometimes it’s best to get another perspective to realize that what we think is so important at this point in life wasn’t even a thought back in the day. We did survive without the internet and people did thrive on just being alive and being a part of the world. The 70s wasn’t the same as the 60s, so get that thought out of your head, but it was still a vibrant decade that sits well between the 60s and the 80s, which I’ll talk about next.
