I've always wondered whether the film Fight Club was set in what was then the near-future, or what now would be an ATL where 9/11 didn't happen.
A lot of cultural commentators seem to note that American culture seemed to be sort of directionless by the late 90s, that the "End of History" was reaching some sort of self-fulfillment. In my opinion, it's no coincidence that a lot of films questioning both the nature of reality and the bland conformity of modern consumerism came out at this very time(The Matrix, The Truman Show, Dark City, American Beauty, Fight Club of course, and, why not? Office Space). It was as if reality itself seemed unreal.
Then, of course, we were welcomed to the desert of the real with 9/11, which presented a new cultural paradigm like few other events managed to.
The more basic level of the question presented here is, do you think that, if 9/11 had not happened- say, Bin Laden is offered by the Sudanese government in 1999 and the US accepts(I heard something like that came close to happen)- America would perhaps shift its focus to native terrorism such as Oklahoma, neonazis, a radical offspring of the anti-globalization movement or something along those lines? Would Bush lose in 2004?
The more philosophical part of the question goes: would the cultural trends of the 90s continue? 9/11 was a cultural reset button for many things, a minor example being the support for gay marriage which was going up and up in the late 90s, only to fall after 9/11 and only begin rising again after around 2005. Would the silly moral outcry over things like South Park, Marilyn Manson, Postal, Limp Bizkit and, well, Fight Club continue in the 2000s? Seeing as "Complaining about shows you don't watch" seemed to be a major part of the duty of so-called Moral Guardians in the late 90s. 9/11, in my opinion, overshadowed both the need to 'draw the line' on pop culture and the posturing of trying to be as shocking as possible, which was what a lot of musicians for instance seemed to be doing ca. the Millenium.
Finally, after continuing for another decade with the 'End of History' would we face the psychological collapse seen in Fight Club? Would American society be overtaken by apathy and despair?
Also, sorry if this seems disjointed and disorganized, I wrote it while sort of following my stream of consciousness.
A lot of cultural commentators seem to note that American culture seemed to be sort of directionless by the late 90s, that the "End of History" was reaching some sort of self-fulfillment. In my opinion, it's no coincidence that a lot of films questioning both the nature of reality and the bland conformity of modern consumerism came out at this very time(The Matrix, The Truman Show, Dark City, American Beauty, Fight Club of course, and, why not? Office Space). It was as if reality itself seemed unreal.
Then, of course, we were welcomed to the desert of the real with 9/11, which presented a new cultural paradigm like few other events managed to.
The more basic level of the question presented here is, do you think that, if 9/11 had not happened- say, Bin Laden is offered by the Sudanese government in 1999 and the US accepts(I heard something like that came close to happen)- America would perhaps shift its focus to native terrorism such as Oklahoma, neonazis, a radical offspring of the anti-globalization movement or something along those lines? Would Bush lose in 2004?
The more philosophical part of the question goes: would the cultural trends of the 90s continue? 9/11 was a cultural reset button for many things, a minor example being the support for gay marriage which was going up and up in the late 90s, only to fall after 9/11 and only begin rising again after around 2005. Would the silly moral outcry over things like South Park, Marilyn Manson, Postal, Limp Bizkit and, well, Fight Club continue in the 2000s? Seeing as "Complaining about shows you don't watch" seemed to be a major part of the duty of so-called Moral Guardians in the late 90s. 9/11, in my opinion, overshadowed both the need to 'draw the line' on pop culture and the posturing of trying to be as shocking as possible, which was what a lot of musicians for instance seemed to be doing ca. the Millenium.
Finally, after continuing for another decade with the 'End of History' would we face the psychological collapse seen in Fight Club? Would American society be overtaken by apathy and despair?
Also, sorry if this seems disjointed and disorganized, I wrote it while sort of following my stream of consciousness.