MovieChat Forums > This Life (1998) Discussion > Signs of being 10 years older

Signs of being 10 years older

posted 18 years ago by nick_thompson2
16 replies | jump to latest

Have you noticed the subtle differences in 1996???

1. No-one, (except Miles' father) has a mobile phone
2. The house phone is the old pull-the-aerial-up-BT-analogue type
3. In 1996 "Friends" introduced us to the coffee shop... In "This Life" they sit in end-of-the-road cafes.
4. People only drink bottles of water after going to the gym
5. Kiera put on some big headphones for her Walkman
6. Egg made a compilation tape from his vinyl collection
7. Miles wears a lot of grandad shirts

"There are 10 types of people in the world... those who understand binary and those who don't"

[–] stephen-alford1 18 years ago

What gets me is the amount of smoking. Here in Scotland we've had a smoking ban in pubs, clubs and resturaunts since March 2006. It's strange to see them sitting in pubs and cafes in amongst clouds of cigarette smoke.

[–] ElHombreDeOtroLugar 18 years ago

...and in work too, could never imagine someone lighting up in my office...they'd get some funny looks

[–] where-angels-play 18 years ago

Yeah the smoking everywhere thing really does it, though I would have thought that even 10 years ago people wouldn;t sit and smoke like that in their offices, especially if seeing clients. Then again what do i know, in 1996 I was still a saturday Woolies girl blissfully ignorant of sitting in an office all day for a living!

Its Kira's hideous gold puffy jacket that i find most offensive, plus last night she was also sporting a waistcoat, a sure sign of the times, loads of girls went (thankfully briefly) nuts for the waistcoat thing for a while.

Also was funny seeing Milly with an old style Marks and Spencers shopping bag, white with green writing.

Its weird to hear all that music though, really doesnt feel like those songs were out 10 years ago.

[–] stephen-alford1 18 years ago

It's when Egg's slagging off Chelsea Football Club for being crap. Well, they were quite rubbish in 1996. How were the writers to know what was going to happen?

[–] mathmaniac 12 years ago

In the commentary for the Will Smith film, 'The Pursuit of Happyness' (excellent excellent film), director Gabriele Muccino, who's an Italian director, says that he encountered the odd problem: the film is set in the 80s, when people smoked. He couldn't find contemporary actors and extras who knew how to smoke cigarettes convincingly. That is, hold the cigarette, lit, and draw and exhale the smoke casually.

[–] james1986london 18 years ago

Delilah and Ferdy had mobiles but they were bricks.

Keira played cassettes and I noticed a Playstation in the living room.

[–] where-angels-play 18 years ago

I thnk the decor also gives it away a bit, there is not a magnolia wall in sight in the house, office, cafe etc, they are all quite bold yellows, grey, and a sure sign of the times is reliance on Terracotta. The bits of the office where Miles and Anna sit with the striped wall paper and borders theme is also dates it somewhat. Egg and Nicky painting the cafe in blinding shades of blue, green and orange was just plain scary though!! Absolutley not yet been hit with the House Doctor-esque neutral colours everywhere.

[–] AnthonyUK 18 years ago

What I find interesting is that not that much really has changed since 1996; you have to pay quite close attention to see the differences. I mean, it's not like comparing 1996 and 1986 or 1986 and 1976 where the differences just jump right out at you.

I remember 1996 pretty well, and I remember looking back at the previous decade quite often with my friends. We used to laugh like crazy. Values, fashion, decor, cars, music, technology - everything had changed dramatically. But looking back on 1996 now, yeah, you can see differences, but they aren't nearly as big.

[–] stephen-alford1 18 years ago

I agree with the last post. The difference in fashion from '96 to '06 isn't nearly as big as you would think and nowhere near as bad as the differences between say, 1996 and '86 and absolutely nothing like as bad as the change between 1986 and 1976. The suits don't look all that different at all and the music's more or less the same style. I don't see all that much difference in women's hair either - apart from Kira's....

[–] Which_Tyler 11 years ago

And another 8 years on after that - it's still mostly unchanged.
The music was better in '96 than now; the fashions are still pretty similar (with the occasional stand-out - Kira); the smoking; the decor.

The other things that stand out now are more a result of my maturity; my 18 year old self missed Miles' bigotry/homophobia for example; but I'm sure that a 37 year old watching it then would have picked up on it with disapproval. Similarly Egg's immaturity.

-----------------
American money - In God We Trust
British banknotes - Charles Darwin

[–] bluemukka 18 years ago

I realised watching it this time round (I am 30 now) is what a total immature arse Egg is. When I was 20 I was half in love with him... That's what marriage and 3 kids does to you!! LOL

[–] nick_thompson2 18 years ago

It's Miles who's the a-hole... all those pathetic little boy snidey comments to Ferdy... he's supposed to be a good soliciter?!?!?

"There are 10 types of people in the world... those who understand binary and those who don't"

[–] dayzee73 18 years ago

..and Windows 95 on all the 'putors at work....

[–] nick_thompson2 18 years ago

...hate to be anal about it, but it looks like Windows for Workgroups 3.11 ;-)

"There are 10 types of people in the world... those who understand binary and those who don't"

[–] RubyM 18 years ago

I agree that most of the changes were subtle - mobile phones, fashion not that different etc - but one thing that's changed about the men is their sideburns. You don't see guys with sideburns that much these days.

[–] gregforttmags 17 years ago

I agree that nothing much since 1997 has changed a great deal, with things looking almost the same - only the early 1990s seems genuinely dated, with stuff from the 1980s still hanging about.