This is a period in history and pop culture that has been the subject of endless fascination for me - the term "Reality Check" for this period was coined by former Inthe00s member John Titor. This thread finds itself in "More than a decade" because however you define it, this period stretches from either 2009-2013 (John Titor's proposed span) to as far as 2006-2013 (my proposed span).

I find the period interesting because, to me, it coalesces the best parts of both the 2000s and 2010s, before 2014 when political divisions in the US led to the fraying of our society according to left and right. In other words, it's the last time in recent memory when there was a general (if fragile) consensus in the nation. John Titor and I gave this period the name "Reality Check" with reference to the American public turning on the Bush administration after bungling both Fallujah and the Hurricane Katrina response. I think John Titor probably begins the era at 2009 because of Obama, but I'd take it back even further to 2006 because of the midterm election blowout that led to the biggest Democratic victory in almost 30 years (at that time). Then of course there was the Great Recession and the perception of President Obama as our next FDR (the disillusion with his presidency beginning in 2014 definitively marks 2013 as the end of the period).

But in terms of pop culture, this was a time when rock music was declining but was generally still considered to be the "dominant" genre of mainstream music, between post-grunge bands like Daughtry and Breaking Benjamin and emo groups like Fall Out Boy and Panic! At the Disco. By the end of the period, rock was largely regarded as dead, having been supplanted by EDM and its related genres. Social media was still in its infancy, with MySpace spending the early part of this period being more popular than Facebook, and AIM was still in widespread use. By the end, Facebook was clearly dominant, having been spurred by the advent of smartphones.

Movies were in an interesting spot, with the Hollywood franchise nostalgia porn market only just beginning to emerge (Transformers, the very first MCU movies, etc.) - it's crazy to recall how huge Harry Potter and Pirates of the Caribbean were at the time, which are now dwarfed by these nostalgia porn franchises. But you also still had some unexpected artistic gems like Hugo and The Artist. Of course, there was also that indie film trend that never really seemed to take off beyond the early 2010s, with such releases as Juno, Adventureland, Superbad, Youth in Revolt, and Where the Wild Things Are. If you saw any of those movies, you know exactly what I'm talking about.

Finally, most interesting of all, at least to me, was the beginning of the indie revolution in gaming - Valve of Half-Life and Portal fame paved the way for easier access to market for small developers through Steam, culminating in the gaming revolution that characterized the rest of the decade through such releases as Hollow Knight, Hyper Light Drifter, Return of the Obra-Dinn, and Hypnospace Outlaw - none of these titles would have been possible without Steam.

I'd be interested to hear your thoughts about this "mini-era" straddling the line of two different decades. Happy discussing!

From the thread title I was guessing this was about 9/11. But with the years specified, this was the period in pop music where electropop gradually worked its way to the top. 2006 was the first origins of it (Sexyback, SOS, Promiscuous, etc.). It exploded in early 2009 and became the defining sound of 2009 - 2012

From the thread title I was guessing this was about 9/11. But with the years specified, this was the period in pop music where electropop gradually worked its way to the top. 2006 was the first origins of it (Sexyback, SOS, Promiscuous, etc.). It exploded in early 2009 and became the defining sound of 2009 - 2012


Interesting perspective, I never thought of the possibility that 9/11 might be regarded by some as a reality check (I guess something along the lines of snapping people out of the millenarian mindset of a utopian high-tech future and reminding them that we live in a global system with modern threats). I assume John Titor's thought process was the same as my own when naming the era, with the "reality check" being the Great Recession snapping people out of the euphoric era of neocon military adventurism and rampant financial speculation driven by "disaster capitalism," towards the more populist and anti-corporate zeitgeist of "Hope & Change."

Anyway, I think the thing that I like the most about this era is the movies. Stardust, Hugo, Valentine's Day, Wall-E, Speed Racer, City of Ember, Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay, it was a fun era in movies.