alternatehistory.com

((This ain't dead! Just been busy! Will add more this later!))

Pop Culture in the McCain Administration Pt. 1: 2008-2012

Pop Culture of the McCain Administration would be viewed as a turning point within the American zeitgeist. While some viewed the Gore Administration as a continuation of 90s culture or perhaps a refinement, the McCain Administration would be marked by the Great Recession and the after-effects that would come with that. However, mroe accurately, this is considered more of a transistion period given how the Recession happened in late 2009 and early 2010. Despite this, it still came with a pronounced effect. While domestic issues were being somewhat neglected, especially with the rising calls to legalize homosexual marriage coming louder, foreign issues had an impact as American intervention in nations across would reach surprising success in part because of the meticulous care and effort put into it to not screw it up, it did bring some focus back into the Middle East for a little while. When the Recession hit, there was a large sense of panic and concern, with faith being put into the McCain Administration to resolve the issue, especially with bipartisan support. However, as more time has passed by, there is a growing sense of doubt and concern over the Administration is adequate enough. Others meanwhile began actually blaming the Administration and both political parties in part for their support of the rich and corporations for doing as such. As such, many see the pop culture here as being the last bastion of the old and the beginning of the new age that will be coming to grow.

Meanwhile, the surprising successes of the McCain administration abroad within the Middle East also was bringing some influence. The deaths of big names like Steve Jobs and Micheal Jackson was a reminder of how time passes by and the rising of new stars in the downfall of the older ones. This was made even more powerful with the #MeToo movement. The exposure of the acts of many terrible men along with some women showed that many industries would need to clean up their act. The McCain Administration made some efforts, but were hamstrung by some problems in both parties, forcing McCain to call both parties to sort themselves out. Furthermore, women would use their to try and assert more the importance of variety and the serious of actions such as sexual assault, allegations and so on. Unsurprisingly, this would reflect more in some of the villains and so on in works. Wikileaks breaking out the news stories and how it helped kickstart the Arab Spring was an immense reminder of the power of the Internet and of information it had. While the perspective of Wikileaks remains controversial (if mainly because of some of the actions or views of Julian Assange), there was a reminder on the importance of internet freedoms.

Video Games
The seventh generation of the console wars entered its end over in the McCain Administration. The PS3 did well, but not enough to Sony's standards that would be needed. The Xbox 360 crushed it as their merger with SEGA meant exclusive console exclusive for Sonic the Hedgehog, Yazuka, Shenmue, Phantasy Star, Super Monkey Ball, Bayonetta and many others on it that would dominate over in Japan while other games did well in the US along with a growing cross section. However, the Xbox 360 would lose, albeit barely, to the Nintendo Wii, who's charm in motion gameplay got many people to get up and play, creating an enjoyable experience for the whole family along with having some more classics for people to play in. Sony would be force to reexamine themselves regarding maketing and gaming while hoping matters improved while Nintendo realized it would need to up its game some more regarding mechanics and creativity. While they were not in the contest for power, they did remember not to put style over substance. It was this decision that led to delay the Wii's successor by a year to further work on it and make sure there were plenty of console exclusives out to better compete with it. Over on handhelds, smartphone game has been seeing a growing rise and becoming the first real competition to Nintendo's dominance on it beyond Sony's PSP. However, it will now be seen how prominent it is becoming with the release of the Nintendo UDS and the Playstation Vita. While more powerful, the Vita's higher costs and production values with the games may doom it while the UDS has used nostalgia to market Nintendo 64 remakes to its audiences and using the income to help come up with new IPs and ideas to be seen. MMOs meanwhile have continued to grow though new games like League of Legends and Minecraft have been seeing new ways to play online. The former started a craze of competitive gaming, especially with the upcoming Dota 2. Social media has been having growing prominent influence on gaming along confronting images, notable when tv turned webshow host Fred Rogers made an episode emphasizing the importance of positive gameplay, limiting play times, good sportsmanship and having fun without acting negatively toward the other.

Film
The turn of the decade would see the decline of YA novel film adaptations as none have been able to reach Harry Potter in terms of popularity (though some believe that other venues like television may hold promise) and the rise of superhero films. The successes of the Marvel Cinematic Universe along with that of the DC Film Universe was also giving off that something amazing was in the works. The Dark Knight trilogy wrapped up and the so called MCU released The Avengers which brought together all the elements that were assembled in the past four years to create a saga though the cliffhanger at the end indicated that it was far from over. The so-called DCFU meanwhile was going at a rather strange pace with Superman Returns along with Green Lantern being the first films of it. The speculations of the trilogy being part of it, but were ultimated dissuaded from at the last minute. Beyond superhero films though, James Bond seen a surprising return to form and environmentalism continues to be explored in different forms and fashion. The growing more serious nature of films that kicked off in the Gore era along with white collar crime films would end up taking a bit of a back seat at first in light of the Recession to make way for escapist films. Animation meanwhile continued with some new films from DreamWorks along with Disney making the shift toward CGI though many hoped hand drawn animation and the like would be able to continue on as such. Disney would announce that they would make a return to more fairy tale like stuff with Tangled being announced in 2013, a beautiful looking film based on Rapunzel. Indie film was seeing a rise thanks to the partnership between Project MAY and Openfilm creating Project MAY-O and its big hits in the Scott Pilgrim film trilogy. An adaptation of the graphic novels (about two novels a film), it garnered surprising success and brought plenty of attention to Canada. Furthermore, some creative liberties were taken to make the film stand out more from the books (such as clarifying Scott's view) and smoothing out details to make a more coherent story. Furthermore, Scott being portrayed as a "directionless slacker" would end up garnering more sympathy and empathy since many would relate to his situation as a reflection of the problems of the Great Recession. The Great Recession would come to be a subtle influence on films.

Television
Television meanwhile seemed to not have changed that much for the most part. Though there were growing changes. The Office maintained its popularity and many noted the direction change due to the Great Recession helped bring new life. White Collar took off after the Recession as it would have plenty of source material regarding white collar crime to look into and to get inspiration from. Shows like Monk and Everybody Hates Chris would end completing their run. New shows would come in like Glee to fill in the void. Overall, the direction seems to be rather varied though a focus on more serious work is a bit noted. However, the big breakout hit was Breaking Bad, which was seeing the rise of a meth kingpin and exploring how poverty affects people, but also exposing the worst aspects of others. Perhaps of more note was animation. Animation had been undergoing a bit of a slump that various networks were trying their best to resolve. Nick for example were banking more on action shows after the success of Constant Payne and Avatar: Last Airbender. While the former was delayed due to contract disputes and higher wages for the animators, additional pressure forced them to captiulate, which paid off quite well as Constant Payne is one of the most popular Nick shows. However, 2010 saw the rise of such animation becomone quite popular. Cartoon Network would signal a triumphant return with Adventure Time, Sym-biotic Titan, Regular Show, Amazing World of Gumball and most recently, Young Justice. A show with a darker tone than Teen Titans, it was inspired by the comics in turn. It starts Tim Drake as Robin, Connor Kent as Superboy, Bart Allen as Impulse, Cassandra Sandsmark as Wonder Girl, ghostly superheroine in Greta Hayes/Secret and a brand new character, that of the second Aqualad in Kaldur'ahm (civilian name lter revealed to be Jackson Hyde). Nick meanwhile, realizing they screwed up with Phineas & Ferb and Adventure Time (which included some brutal mockery of it when enws broke out on social media), quickly got Bravest Warriors on their channel while also looking for other potentials, such as a potential sequel to Last Airbender. Disney meanwhile would also begin a return with a quirk new show known as Gravity Falls as well as Randy Cunningham 9th Grade Ninja. They also began making their own superhero shows with Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes, which is a fair more accurate to the comics while giving more updates to the team. The founding team consists Iron Man, Thor, Ant-Man and Wasp after they save Hulk from Loki and they form a team, with it progressing from there. Adult animation was also undergoing some changes. The return of Futurama made plenty of people happy and while the Simpsons was over, there was still some specials and longer Treehouse of Horror episodes, which they attributed to wanting to explore more with the Simpsons now that they were not under as much constraint. Shows like Archer, Bob's Burgers and various others were filling in the void of the Simpsons slowly but surely, though others were still drawn to more action-oriented shows aimed at all ages.

Other
Internet culture was also to beginning to have more of an effect. Project MAY-O began branching out when OpenFilm joined in and they renegotiated their contracts of their unique business venture. The big success story was that of Canadian musician Justin Bieber. Justin Bieber, under the mentorship of Justin Timberlake and careful guidance of Artistshare and associates, rose to become a prominent and beloved musician. Thanks to Timberlake, he helped him deal with the potential excesses of fame along with maintaining a good and healthy view. Bieber seemed to bring back a sort of nostalgia for boy band-esque music while also branching out to his own paths while helping other musicians growing on YouTube. Other instances included the retirement of Fred Rogers from his webshow, bringing fears that his time on the show would be coming to an end with his declining health. In comic books, 2010 was seeing something of a shift. By now, Marvel has become comfortable with the new status quo and while still having some old stories to retell and sorting out some of the more obscure parts of their lore, they were introducing new elements. One was the Young Avengers. Planned out and teased before the reboot, they underwent some revisions though remain the same. Founded by heroes inspired by Captain America, Thor, Hulk and Iron man, they reflect the changing times and new hopes. The team is led by Patriot aka Elijah Bradley. The grandson of Isaiah Bradley, the latter was the "Black Captain America", the successful case of trying to recreate the Serum though underwent side effects because of long-term problems with the imperfect serum though the traits would be passed down to his son and from him to Elijah. Elijah's capabilities would be kickstarted after a blood transfusion from his grandfather. Elijah and Isaiah would embraced by the community with Steve giving Patriot his own shield. Asgardian was revealed to be Billy Kaplan, a young man who would start a relationship with his teammate Hulkling. Billy would later discover his powers are liked to Asgardian magic, from his parantage... specifically in having a third parent in Loki (who during their "missing year" in guise as a mortal, acting as the surrogate for Billy's parents) and thus inherited Loki's knack of magic. Hulkling meanwhile was the son of Mar-Vell and a Skrull Princess in a forbidden relationship, raised by adopted parents and his mother's lady-in-waiting as his aunt. Called such for his bulky green form, he wrestles with his hertiage of two worlds along with not knowing who Mar-Vell was (though a scene were Death permitted them to talk had Mar-Vell be proud of his son and wholly accepting of his sexuality.) Last is the mysterious Iron Lad, a young man who wears a suit of powered armor and seems to know Tony, with mysteries surrounding their potential identity. Rumors even circulate he may appear in the next Iron Man film. New members to join were included Kate Bishop as Hawktress (trained by Hawkeye and Mockingbird) as well as Hope Pym becoming Ant Girl. Other bits of news included the planned marriage between Black Panther T'Challa and superheroine Spectrum, Monica Rambeau along with the revelation of a lost Norse god in Odin's older brother, the Norse God of Fear, returning due to the disruption from the previous Ragnarok cycle. Meanwhile, DC has been doing something similar with structuring their history and their heroes along with bringing in some new blood for the characters. For the most part, it has been currently working some various plot points like explaining various facets. For example, hinting at a group known as the "Parliament of Owls", a secret society of elite characters that are said to be of urban legend in Gotham and the main reason that keeps Bruce and others like him from helping Gotham's crime problem. Wonder Woman has been going more into Greek mythology while Martian Manhunter returns to prominence along with Aquaman. Overall, many are excited to see what new developments will be coming with DC's restructure with.