Hmmm maybe. Though the USSR is already on a different track than OTL.
America's Funniest President: Mo Udall Presidency & Beyond
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Hmmm maybe. Though the USSR is already on a different track than OTL.
Still, it's possible those characters may have some sort of role to play.
With no war in Afghanistan, wonder what becomes of Alexander Rutskoy.
Wonder if there's a version of the Mathius Rust incident that cost Marshal Sokolov his job as Soviet Secretary of Defense.
With no war in Afghanistan, wonder what becomes of Alexander Rutskoy.
Wonder if there's a version of the Mathius Rust incident that cost Marshal Sokolov his job as Soviet Secretary of Defense.
Maybe, I'll have to look into those. Glad you're enjoying my work so far
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How are other countries like the UK, France, Canada, Japan and Germany doing so far?
Culture Reflection: 1984 - 1986
Culture Reflection: 1984 - 1986
By the time 1984 hit, the 1980s as people would know it by was going into full swing. It would be recognized as a time of great change, reform and progress. Beyond the introduction to the United States' single-payer universal healthcare through the National Bureau of Healthcare, the US government took on court cases that charged Big Tobacco for lying to their customers over the hazardous nature of their products and more potently, took on Exxon and other fossil fuel companies for conspiring to commit fraud on the American people by misleading people about manmade climate change and the contributions of the usage of fossil fuels to it. This combined with the end of various juntas and like-minded organizations in the Americas and even the rise of reformists with the Soviet Union promising peace and prosperity, it would seem that it would be a greater calm coming over. At the same time, the hunger for change was even greater, especially since it was propelled by the youth.
General Trends
The Second Civil Rights Act and the 27th Amendment were clear signs of that, especially with the progressive reformist attitudes of the Udall Administration ensuring the transition. However, while the political battles were given with strength, winning over the hearts and minds of the American people will be the harder task. Fortunately, the establishment of the American SGO, Intersex, Multi & Transgender Association For Equality has been helpful with a growing number of centers, at least one in each state, to be able to reach out to communities and forge unity and understanding. Meanwhile, women had become more prominent and outspoken against the chauvinist behavior of certain men in the workplace, especially when it comes to sexual harassment and some corporations' mishandling of it. Of course, some have handled it better than others. One example would be the Disney Company; while not as bad as the others, some of the questionable behaviors were being cracked down upon by pressure coming from Henson and his entourage within the company. Even Eisner sided with Henson out of a mix of maintaining a pristine corporate image and a sign of the changing of the times, namely in long term thinking and thus curtailing unprofessional behavior. Some was just honest mistakes and lack of thinking while others required stricter punishments.
Not all places were as well-committed though and it would lead to some pretty surprising blowouts. The trend started in 1984 with the massive accusations of sexual harassment and sexual assault done by comedian Bill Cosby, many have gone back to the mid-1960s. With the overwhelming tide, no one was able to look away and be forced to look into the matter. Many would not that this phenomenon would only begin picking up over time in major business fields and in the media, beginning an ugly yet very needed examination into institutions of power. Speaking of, the government kneecapping the efforts of Big Tobacco and Exxon's entourage would also lead to a growing skepticism toward the positive attributes toward larger corporations, especially among the young. While many young adults would still work at these corporations to secure futures for themselves and their families, that did not necessarily gurantee loyalty or satisfication, especially with some of the headbutting these companies did with the government, primarily because of regulations and the like. Udall's educational reforms to allow greater ease into the blue collar sector was paying quite well. More and more young people were encouraged not just to go into blue collar work, but to organize and unionize. Beyond giving these groups fresh blood and new ideas, it also pushed them to go and examine problems of the past, such as the structural problems or the biases against women or other minorities. Many of the old guard would have to address these issues and indeed be more inclusive to maintain their prominence and lead to genuine growth. White collar and so-called pink collar work remained popular and these growing tides were leading to the possibility of pink collar workers unionizing such as librarians or others. Others within white collar were wanting into similar and one growing movement was for law school students to get the same sort of financial aid for their efforts.
Despite all that, there was still plenty of positivity. With the economy now in full swing, people were looking to spend their growing amounts of hard-earned cash onto various products. At the same time, there was still a sense of frugality within some folk because of the past problems. Even beyond that, what people bought was starting to change. One prominent growing sector was the field of technology. From the return of video game consoles to the rise of the home computer, many of these were getting more and more attention, with a rising tech savvy behavior amongst the brightbangers. Another field was in surprisingly a different direction, but in various outdoor works and projects. Going green did not go just mainstream, but becoming more and more settled. Older suburbs that had been starting to stuggle adapted by starting to grow their own food and having communal gardens while green spaces were becoming more common in cities. Ideas from across the world were being shared on greener ways of living and combining with growing infrastucture. Things like solar chimneys and other Earth-air heat exchangers along with skylights were becoming increasingly common to even green roofs. Another trend was on the gradual return of streetcar suburbs; this was part of a growing city-planning phenomenon as the new rules and systems were less reliant on cars and thus for more locations to be built closer together for walking.
International, Japan would become a powerful cultural force thanks to its economic boom and with a prominent middle class and a lot of experience, many animated films and shows were produced within the nation that would capture the imagination. And before long, it would spread across the grapevine and many people within the industry outside of Japan would be quite intrigued and captivated by what their island neighbor in the East is doing. So much so that various companies began making arrangements and deals to bring some of the products over to their countries in the hopes of replicating such a success. From the toys resulting in franchises to Disney becoming intrigued in making deals and collaborations ever since the opening of Disneyland Tokyo, it seemed like Japan was on quite the hot streak when it came to its relevancy in the world, especially when it would come to electronics.
Films
Films were growing to become flights of fancy or spectacle along with some becoming more grounded or darker views of the past. Films like Ghostbusters and The Dark Crystal were becoming franchises of sorts in their own rights and becoming cultural icons with the former's comedy and the latter's dark imagination. Other films that captured this sort of imagination would be that like Labyrinth along with a growing number of fantasy styled stories. Many action-oriented films would take place in this sort of magical locations and captured, either animated or live action. Horror films like Friday the 13th or Nightmare On Elm Street still kept a prominent phenomenon of people having to survive against monsters though beyond being scare fests and showing off special effects, someone did have fascianting glimpses of writing, started back with the original Friday the 13th. Unlike the others, Nightmare on Elm Steet would be an ongoing series rather than be an anthology. Another one would be in Aliens: Retribution which would be lauded for having a strong heroine while maintaining the horror elements.
Meanwhile, other films focused on the struggles of young and everyday life such as Karate Kid, The Breakfast Club and Stand By Me. While some were not as good as others as understanding the changing youth, many still captured the feeling of rebellion and struggle that the brightbangers were feeling, especially as some were growing old enough to be able to enter the industry and contribute into the writng. Science fiction would also begin seeing a gradual return as well. Speaking of the youth, films aimed at children were starting to become more prominent in their own way. Beyond Dark Crystal, the success of Land of the Wild and Great Mouse Detective showed that Disney was back into their growing stride and all the signs were pointing that they have not yet began pushing themselves with them having some ambitious plans to say the least. Others would become mild cult classics or even lead into their own success. One was none other than My Little Pony The Movie. Namely in how it would lead to an MLP-themed Dungeons and Dragons setting. While Hasbro and TSR Inc had been in talks for the latter to create a setting and rules for one of the former's properties, it didnt seem like much progress was being made. Said arrangement came after TSR Inc found a fair bit of financial success and popularity rise when they partnered with Henson and created a Dark Crystal D&D sort of setting aimed at all ages and done also as an experiment to simplify the rules and better introduce people. However, with the release of the My Little Pony film, it would inspire a few new folk to make a setting of it and introduce it. With little other ideas, TSR would go ahead with it and find themselves there was a surprising level of creativity done, likely due to the limitations and presented. Lastly, many would mark 1986 as a changing point. With the legal changes done to protect people from discrimination of sexual orientation and people wanting to know more, Hollywood and television would take notice.
And set up the foundations for the media phenomenon that would be called "queersploitation".
Television
Television would see a growing number of sitcoms, especially focused on domestic life and providing a comforting glimpse to aspire to be or just something enjoyable. At the same time, despite the somewhat tame approach of it, these sitcoms would begin serving a fascinating purpose in helping people start growing acclimatized to SATMIN characters over in the mainstream. One memorable sitcom, predominately for African-Americans would be Huxtables’ House. An African-American family sitcom with NBC, it was originally planned to star Bill Cosby and he played a predominant role in planning and writing the show. However, after his infamous arrest for his various sexual assault charges, this left NBC scrambling to find a replacement for him, eventually securing Glynn Turman for the main character of the patriarch of the family. Despite the initial concerns, the show would go on to quite a hit and launch Turman’s career to new heights.
Other shows would be more action-oriented shows like MacGyver and the A-Team, that helped provide a form of escapism and keep viewers over on their toes. Another form of action seen would be in various animated shows. While there was some skepticism over the quality of the shows because of the association with toys, the restored regulations along with newer ones meant that more effort had to be put in for storytelling and the like. Of course, this did provide opportunity for the more creative writers to try and come up with various ideas and approaches for it while some of the marketing folk had to try and figure other means of products.
Despite this, some shows managed to maintain their successes and record. The He-Man franchise was pretty successful despite having been delayed by a few years due to the economic troubles though the series did further solidify its concept. While initially planned to be a sword and sorcery based line, the concerns of ripping off Conan had it adopt some cosmic and science fiction elements, no doubt inspired him the renewed interest in space. By the time it came out in early 1984, it was more fleshed out than the original, a few critics compared it to Star Wars, saying “if Star Wars was Arthurian knights and wizards in space, then He-Man was Conan in space.” Prince Adam would transform into He-Man through “advanced transformation bracelets” (1) and gaining a buffer look, resembling a barbarian made of a golden metal (later installments would specify this as advanced nanotechnology) as he and his friends fight Skeletor, an “alien undead lich”, with many noting his sickly radioactive green glowing skeleton to be haunting. The show was quite popular mix of sword and sorcery in space along with He-Man becoming a queer icon for multi and SGO males, especially for his closeness with some of his friends. This interpretation was passively supported by Mattel over time. Other notable shows would be the Mechasaurus (2) line of toys. Brought from Japan, it came from another line of toys involving robots turning into vehicles, but with the cultural changes, marketing went over to the robots that turned into dinosaurs as believing they would have more of a long term investment. The story would tell of the Mechasaurus, dinosaurs that were abducted by aliens and turned into war machines only for them to regain their will and escape to their home on Earth, fighting against the aliens’ agents with their human allies. It has spun off a moderately successful television series, especially with the leader and Tyrannosaurs based Mechasaur, Nobilis Rex, being viewed as a heroic and selfless hero, with voice actor Peter Cullen becoming iconic for the role. A more recent addition would of course be the My Little Pony show, being known for surprising dark at times in its fantastic setting, surprisingly well-written educational episodes and of course for its D&D setting and rules list, unofficially called “Ponies and Pathways”.
Music
Music of the 1980s would be viewed as one of the best decades for it with many memorable hits. From Madonna’s “Ethereal Girl” to Bon Jovi’s “Living on a Prayer”, many standout hits were being produced and would become a prominent display of pop music and rock music. It would cover a wide selection of topics and themes. Around this time also would be seen the cultural affects on music. “Ethereal Girl” was a prominent song of the immaterial nature of womanhood and proudly influenced by the third wave. The underground scene became rebellion against big corporations along with the seeds down for what would be “green punk”,punk music e it h themes and motifs of the environment, with some of the more experimental having animal sounds or weather sounds within music. Synthesizers were becoming more commonplace and styles becoming wilder. A growing trend was also on trying to break free of the handles of the big music industry, spurred on growing anti-corporate attitudes of the time and the era.
Other
Video games were making a comeback as a console thanks to the release of Nintendo’s NES within the western lands and suddenly, much of the competition found itself nervous and having to play a lot of catch-up to what the folk of Nintendo have been doing. Besides the success of Super Mario Bros, other grand slams included Legend of Hyrule (3), which saw the protagonist Link journey in the land of Hyrule to save Princess Zelda, and there was of course Metroid, which saw the brave space warrior Samus Aran journey to defeat the Metroid menace, with the revelation that Samus was a woman making her one of the most beloved characters and helping to promote video games to women.
Comic books meanwhile were approaching a new era of revolutionary writing that would become known as the Brass Age. More and more new writers were coming in to push the envelope and with the changes going on in the real world, there was a resurgence of creativity fueling writing that it would be a brave new world of invention. This would best be seen with the “Crisis of Infinite Earths”, which would see an intense transition to the Brass Age, with many heroes having fresh starts and ready to reflect the changing modern world with new characters planned on the horizon to reflect the status quo and many wondering if Marvel would be following suit, especially with the event “Secret Wars” having become a success though also leading with problems regarding Jim Shooter. Many also hoped that more themes and genres would make their ways back into comic books once more after their dominance by superheroes, with horror comics becoming of the more promising venues.
Other news included regarding board games such as Dungeons & Dragons becoming popular hobbies, especially with some parents viewing it as a way to keep children out of trouble due to the concerns of crime rates or other issues that were happening at the time. The success of the collaboration with Disney for the “Dark Crystal” setting along with the upcoming collaboration of TSR with Hasbro for the so-called “Ponies and Pathways” setting would be helping to ease some of the kids into this strange new world of dice and character sheers
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(1)- They got rid of the sword since they figure why bother if he’s rarely gonna use it. He does wield a spear that is a scepter in its untransformed state.
(2)- OTL’s version of Transformers, though what if the would-be Dinobots became the stars and so on. Probably not as super successful, but still pretty successful.
(3)- OTL’s Legend of Zelda. Nothing changed except the title to evoke kinda of a storybook sort of vibe.
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Love it. Say, ever hear of a book series that started in 1986, Baby-Sitter's Club?
Sergeant Foley
Banned
@CountDVB I am assuming ROK President Chun Doo-hwan finishes up his term on February 25, 1988 & his friend Roh Tae-woo replaced him as ROK President in this timeline like he did in real life?
Would aspects of that book series be changed to reflect this alternate 80's, you think?
1986 just ended, hold your horses
I do picture some political aspects and votings remain the same though others would be different, like no Thatcher here.
Most likely yes, especially given how pronounced the changes to this 1980s are.
Yup they have. Think I mentioned that earlier, but Udall definitely doing more than what Reagan did in OTL.
For other Warsaw Pact nations, I can see Gorbachev attempting to influence his fellow Eastern Block leaders to take up versions of his reforms, though some will, some won't. Look up some of them, to get an idea of what I mean, Ceausescu of Romania, in particular.
Not sure. Novel wise, curious how this new 80's will influence versions of Tom Clancy, Stephen King, and other authors.
King I imagine will have a lot of the same stuff.
Tom Clancy will probably not like this timeline given what happens and how basically it jives against personal views. Not sure if he’s adjust to it or double down on it and go bananas.