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2002 in Reflection
2002 In Reflection
2002 brought about optimism to a nation after dealing with one of the great crisises that would define it in the new century. Bin Laden and many of the Al-Queda leadership is dead, the troops in Afghanistan have been thorough in finishing the job of the remnants of Al-Queda and of the Taliban and with clearn-up duty and infrastructure support, it seemed that the USA would leave Afghanistan within the next year if all went well. However, it was also a time of great challenges. The cautious optimism of the Clinton Era had began given away to a growing cynicism, but not at the government itself, on the contrary, the Gore Administration had been doing well and the GOP knew they only retained as many seats as they did now because of luck and putting more work into it. They knew the Gore Administration would step it up next term. No, the cynicism was toward corporation and perhaps, growing at the American Dream itself. The bankrupcies and financial fusterclucks of many companies such as Enron, Qwest and Worldcom alongside the partition of Microsoft signaled a change that the government should take a more active role in fighting corruption within the corporations. While some argue against more government invovlement in the economic sector and a few even saying that less restriction would avoid such things, the general atmosphere was that the corporations or rather those running it need to be reigned in before they could cause more problems. Additionally, many were surprised by the modest improvements sought by Gore and wondered if or when he would become more daring in his reach. Some said it fit his persona while others insisted he needed to do more. Unbeknowist to most, Gore was planning for the long run. While he was not absolute that he would win reelection, he was confident that he had more time for hsi greater goals and currently his plans were in the fold. The budget remained mostly the same as from Clinton, though with more money going into education and in renewable energies with some minor cuts to the military, though more through reorganizations and plans were also being made for some reforms on the military. More money going to soldiers themselves and the need for the military to evolve to face new threats. Others have called for the Pentagon to be audited as with the Cold War over, the military would need its finances analyzed and see how much has gone into it and what hasn't. The idea of auditing the Pentagon around the next year has been catching fire and attention.
Pop culture began reflecting the hope and optimism present. The highest-grossing films were flights of fantasy taken seriously. While the second Harry Potter film and the second Lord of the Rings film performed well as expected, it was the new Spider-Man film that surprised many people with redefining the superhero film for the modern era. While delayed to reshoot a few things, it also brought some new ideas. One of particular was on using the original animatronic mask Norman Osborn used. While the decision was supposedly canned for various reasons, it was brought back as a creative decision to make Osborn look more monstrous, a reflection of the growing focus on high-powered businessmen being portrayed as villainous and monstrous within the film. Other changes included Peter taking the wrestling job to assist his elderly Uncle Ben and Aunt May. Perhaps the largest one being on how Harry Osborne accepted that his father was in fact a monster. While plans were thought to have Harry be vengeful over the loss of his dad, the growing discontent toward powerful corporate figures had the writers decided to not give Norman Osborn any sympathy points.
Meanwhile, video games had been growing in popularity and appeal. The Nintendo GameCube garnered more support than expected thanks to the fact that it and the Gameboy Advance would have the only Sonic the Hedgehog games on Nintendo consoles while SEGA finalized its merger over with Microsoft Operations. Meanwhile, the Playstation 2 by Sony had been dominating the marketplace, but found an unexpected competitor with the Xbox. The Xbox, while primarily popular in the West, began growing over in Japan as beefed-up versions of the Dreamcast's greatest hits, including Shenmue, was being offered on the Xbox and indeed Shenmue was being promoted as a sleeper hit in the West as well. Overall, it was still potentially anyone who could win the console war of this year though many have ntoed the Micorsoft had been preparing to go big with SEGA and plenty of projects were in development there.
Other achievements by the Gore administration would be the construction of the Trianna satellite. It was designed to provide, from a distance of 930,000 miles, a continuous view of the sunlit side of the earth. His reason for its construction was so that Triana would measure global warming by measuring how much sunlight is reflected and emitted from the earth and would monitor weather systems. The hope was that it could assist in the prediction of powerful storms for emergancies.
In pop culture, Al Gore's successes have lead to growing popularity of the President's preferred works, such as the the president’s favorite book, Stendahl’s The Red and the Black and Gore’s favorite film, Local Hero, the Scots eco-comedy, becoming more popular and influencing more areas within the pop culture.
Overall, 2002 was viewed with optimism and hope and many wondered what next Al Gore would do when he finishes with Afghanistan. Others wondered what the future would hold and how the nation would respond it...
"Mr. President... your hunch was spot on. Our investigations are indeed turning up a lot from Exxon-Mobil. Within the next several months, we can finalize our results. I was surprised by what I found, but one of my co-workers, he compared it to the tobacco industry... what are your plans for this, sir?"
Yeah! 2002 is done and gone! Sorry if it seems short, but I'm still learning and I don't think much wold change pop culture wise except the 9/11 effect being much shorter and the focus going onto corporate chicanery. Things are coming into the future though and I'll be happy to answer any questiosn.