Another question for those who are probably slightly older than me and remember movies that were not cartoons: I want to write a short story for my university's creative writing publication, one that's set at some point between 1999 and 9/11.  As a writer I feel it's my responsibility to pull the reader into the world as well as possible, so the first thing I try to do is really get a feel for the times I'm working in.  Problem is the setting I'm interested in exploring was a time when I was barely moving up into middle school, so I don't know a damned thing about what it was like to go to John Mayer concerts or why we voted for a guy who said the word "strategery."  Anybody know some movies I can watch that'll give me an idea what America was like before 9/11?  Y'know, the general national and cultural mood leading into the War on Terror?

this is a pretty comprehensive list of movies released in 1999.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1999_in_film

a few titles that come to mind are

10 Things I Hate About You
Office Space
The Wood



ya know.... whenever anyone ask a writer for advise they almost always say "Write what you know"  just sayin'

There is some fun in learning things as you write too, y'know. ;)

The mood of the from 1999 to about September 11, 2001 was very optimistic and fun. But this is from a perspective of a person who was in 4th grade to 7th grade during those years so my perspective might be bias or limited.

I remember 1999 as a very fun year for people because people were counting down to the new millenium with a sense of great hope.

2000 had the same energy, except the 'Dot com' bubble popped on March 10, 2000 and the economy was now past its peak. We were still doing great, but we had peaked. It was the last full year of the Clinton years and the election of 2000 was a controversial one.  ::)

By about late spring of 2001 we were in a recession that lasted for most of that year. 2001 was still okay, but it no longer had the feel of optimism or euphoria. Then came 9/11 came and then there was feeling of patriotism, but also fear for a few months after the attacks and thus the energy of the 90s had officially ended with 9/11.

Movies that are from this era? American Pie (1999), American Beauty (1999), She's All That (1999). The Cell (2000), The Perfect Storm (2000), Gladiator (2000).

Rush Hour 2 (2001), Lara Croft: Tomb Raider (2001), Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (2001), and more.

That era is one of my favorites, I'm old enough to remember it well, I was 13 in the year 2000. People were way more optimistic than today and the economy was the best ever basically. We were entering a new millennium with the strongest economy in history of course people were happy. We were less divided than today and President Clinton enjoyed solid support even with the scandals. Movies big in that era: The Sixth Sense, Blair Witch Project, Toy Story 2, Austin Powers 2, The Matrix, Meet The Parents, Gladiator, Pearl Harbor, Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's stone, Shrek, American Pie 1 and 2.

I have a feeling that "American Pie" may be the "Bye Bye Birdie" of that generation reflecting the happy life of that time, and the "American Graffiti" of that generation in terms of nostalgia has yet to occur (note that 1973 was 11 years after 1962 when American Graffiti took place and 1998 was 13 years after 1985 when the Wedding Singer took place, and to average it out 12 years after 2000 is 2012 (which would be when such a movie would now come out at the earliest in terms of production). A movie redepicting this era may have some success now given that today's teens barely remember a time before 9/11.  Overall, this era was much more technology focused, and even as the dot-com bubble collapsed, the Internet/cellphones were still doing their magic into transforming a national/regional world into a global world. VHS gave way to DVD, the first MP3s came about gradually replacing CDs, film cameras were giving way to digital cameras (now unfortunately referred to as just "point-and-shoot" nowadays), and most people saw their first HDTV broadcast during this time (though it wouldn't become mainstream until a few years later). Also, a big, gass-guzzling culture with big pickup trucks and SUVs are ideal of this era.

I really hate American Pie movies.  I really really really do....

Anyways, as far as early 00s movies go, Fast and the Furious, XXX, The Mummie Returns series, Slackers,and a bunch of others I would mention later....

I have a feeling that "American Pie" may be the "Bye Bye Birdie" of that generation reflecting the happy life of that time, and the "American Graffiti" of that generation in terms of nostalgia has yet to occur (note that 1973 was 11 years after 1962 when American Graffiti took place and 1998 was 13 years after 1985 when the Wedding Singer took place, and to average it out 12 years after 2000 is 2012 (which would be when such a movie would now come out at the earliest in terms of production). A movie redepicting this era may have some success now given that today's teens barely remember a time before 9/11.  Overall, this era was much more technology focused, and even as the dot-com bubble collapsed, the Internet/cellphones were still doing their magic into transforming a national/regional world into a global world. VHS gave way to DVD, the first MP3s came about gradually replacing CDs, film cameras were giving way to digital cameras (now unfortunately referred to as just "point-and-shoot" nowadays), and most people saw their first HDTV broadcast during this time (though it wouldn't become mainstream until a few years later). Also, a big, gass-guzzling culture with big pickup trucks and SUVs are ideal of this era.


I remember the early HDTVs were like 4000-5000 bucks lol. MP3 players that held literally a handful of songs would sell for maybe 300. Back in those days I had an MP3 CD player which was like 50 bucks but I could put a few hundred songs on an MP3 CD so economically it made a lot of sense.

Wow you guys, thanks for all this!

I have a feeling that "American Pie" may be the "Bye Bye Birdie" of that generation reflecting the happy life of that time, and the "American Graffiti" of that generation in terms of nostalgia has yet to occur (note that 1973 was 11 years after 1962 when American Graffiti took place and 1998 was 13 years after 1985 when the Wedding Singer took place, and to average it out 12 years after 2000 is 2012 (which would be when such a movie would now come out at the earliest in terms of production). A movie redepicting this era may have some success now given that today's teens barely remember a time before 9/11.  Overall, this era was much more technology focused, and even as the dot-com bubble collapsed, the Internet/cellphones were still doing their magic into transforming a national/regional world into a global world. VHS gave way to DVD, the first MP3s came about gradually replacing CDs, film cameras were giving way to digital cameras (now unfortunately referred to as just "point-and-shoot" nowadays), and most people saw their first HDTV broadcast during this time (though it wouldn't become mainstream until a few years later). Also, a big, gass-guzzling culture with big pickup trucks and SUVs are ideal of this era.


The Y2K era was technology focused but in a different way than today.  A big difference is computer technology back then was more for leisure, vs today where it is as necessary as the refrigerator or the microwave oven.  Not everybody had the Internet and if you did it was probably dial-up.  As for wireless, you were in style if you had a flip phone.  Texting was just coming out and nobody had heard of a smart phone.  Thanks to $10 oil (and 99 cent gas) huge gas guzzling SUVs, most notably the Hummer, were iconic of this era.  Most malls still had a CD store and CD was still the primary medium for recorded music, as the iPod had not yet been invented and the mp3 players that did exist just were not very good.  Nobody had heard of emo.  If you were a teen you were either a prep (wore Abercrombie) or a skater.  The dark, goth culture of the 90s was on its way out.  Most notably, as has been mentioned, people were far more optimistic about the future back then.  Today, its all doom and gloom.

I'll throw in Like Mike. The movie was hyped up in my school at the time. I seen it again recent and it really took me back.