I’ve been stuck in the past recently. Oh, I bet that sounds as if there is a negative connotation to that phrase. On the contrary, my friends. I have been thrilled on my mental excursion through modern history. This mental journey was prompted by both my viewing of “Hot Tub Time Machine” and my marathon viewing of “Mad Men” on DVD.
These thoughts about the past led to the obvious topic of discussion. How cool would it be to go back in time? A friend and I had that discussion today. The conversation started with the obvious idea about traveling back to 1980s, but we decided that it might not work out so well. Then we thought about how cool it would be to go back just ten years. There would be a lot of opportunities to change our destinies. To me, that might be a problem. I am not sure I want too many ways to mess up the future. As much as it would be a blessing to right some wrongs, it would hinder the good things I have going on now.
Ultimately though, I would want to go back further than the year 2000 or the 80s. Watching “Mad Men” made me realize how interesting of a time period the early 1960s was. First of all, individuality was not really an option as far as what you wore if you were a man. It appears all you needed was a closet full of white dress shirts and a several suits. Hell, the suits don’t even have to be anything classy looking. Most of the ones I have seen on the show, which is historically accurate, have looked like they came off the rack at Goodwill. How cool is that? You didn’t even need to wear nice looking clothing. What a relief that would be.
Secondly, you can apparently drink and smoke wherever the hell you please. Need to have a sip after a rough morning meeting? You can go ahead and down one in your office. Better yet, you could guzzle down some scotch AT the meeting that is giving you a headache. There were “No Smoking” signs anywhere. Want to smoke in your office? Go ahead! At the stadium during your favorite baseball game? Go for it! Perhaps you want to sit back in the movie theater and enjoy a Marlboro. Yeah, you could even do that. Now I know what you are thinking. Nick doesn’t drink or smoke. That is absolutely correct. However, it totally tickles my fancy that I could do either of those wherever the fuck I wanted to. Rumor has it that my employer used to bring around a beer cart every Friday back in the day. I can’t help but think that was a quite helpful considering all the stress that comes with such a job.
Is it wrong that I also think the outfits that the women wore back in 1960 were cute? They are far and away polar opposites of what women where today. The dresses and skirts reached the knees and there wasn’t even a hint of cleavage. However, they still looked damn good. It goes to show that there is some powerful pull when you have some things left to the imagination. Try to tell me this isn’t hot:
Yeah, that’s what I thought. I think I made my point.
Another fascinating aspect of the 60s era is one that I don’t necessarily agree with, but it is still intriguing at the same time. The way they treated women was straight up appalling at times. Not only were women given the most stereotypical jobs, but they were also demeaned and demoralized into thinking they were less important than anything with a penis. Women weren’t even seen as having the capacity to be as “smart” as men. They were sexually harassed like you wouldn’t believe. In fact, I don’t think I could sexually harass a woman that badly if I tried. There was lots of grab ass being played as well as lewd comments that would make even a prostitute blush. To see that played out and study it would be utterly fascinated. Then again, I would get caught up in history because I’d say things like , “you know you don’t have to take that, right?”.
I know most of my ideas about the 60s now come from a television show. However, please understand that “Mad Men” is critically acclaimed for its historical accuracy. They supposedly have some guy who is some sort of history czar who freaks out if they get anything wrong. Even having the wrong kind of pen in a scene will set him off. I bet someone takes a swift punch to the face if they even put the wrong colors together on a set design.
I suppose my point tonight is that if I was able to time travel, I would want to go somewhere in the past, but not too far away. If you go to the middle ages or dinosaur time, you are just going to get killed. Let us also not forget that I would stick out like a sore thumb. It would not be very fun to be burned at the stake as a witch wearing some Nikes. So, the middle of the 20th century seemed like the best option. Why? Well, I could easily snag up some clothing that would have me fit right in. Also, I would get to study the past and still be able to enjoy some modern amenities. They had Pepsi, football, and McDonalds back then. I can deal with that. Of course will sound like a nut job when I keep asking about Facebook.
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