- Messages
- 10,832
- Location
- vancouver, canada
Yes, my parents born dirt poor on the Prairies moved to the 'big city' to escape the Depression. Working on the killing floor of a abattoir produces little in the way of nostalgia. It worked to get them through the 30/40's and into the post war boom times; house in the suburbs and the mass produced convenience items that for the first time they could indulge. Not especially aesthetically pleasing but functioned well at a price my parents could afford.I hadn’t known of any of that kind of behavior. People actually do that, eh?
I’ve been here for about 15 years now. Things have changed for the worse in some minor ways and for the better in some larger ways. We rarely any longer see the 1930s and ’40s characterized as some idyllic moment we should all strive to recreate down to the final detail. And we no longer seem to conflate a fondness for the styles of that era with an endorsement of every aspect of the social environment of that time.
Part of what brings me back is the focus on the material culture of that bygone era. There are beautiful and not so beautiful artifacts of any era, but the effects of improved manufacturing processes and aerodynamics certainly showed in the fashions and consumer goods of the 1930s and ’40s. A toaster or a radio receiver really doesn’t have to be streamlined, after all. But it can make them look pretty cool.