04-14-2014, 04:04 PM
When I first joined, I envisioned the popular culture of the world to be very dark in comparison to what we see today. Such as, the 1980's is to the 1950's as the 2040's are to the 2010's. Within the CCD, where drugs, and prostitution are legalized, it would take continuous streams of darker and darker imagery to evoke the same satisfaction in the audience. Like a growing tolerance to a drug. A movie that would be rated R in 1975 is PG in 2045; NC17 ratings in 2010 are PG-13 in 2045. This has a side effect of driving increasing demand for illegal escapades. Spectra is not a movie star in the sense of a Hollywood A-lister like today (Angelina Jolie, Halle Barry, Julia Roberts), yet her fame comes from the adult movie industry and she is every bit as A-list as America's sweetheart Julia Roberts.
Also driving changes in popular culture will be the source of fame. Spectra was a child star before she was anything else, but an illegal one, sold off to a Colombian big bad guy who liked to collect child stars like trinkets for his shelf. Pedophilia being illegal in both the USA and CCD, how did an 11 year old come to be so famous? The internet. Although productions made by legitimate companies like Netflix can compete with movie studios, in the future, illegal companies maintaining anonymity online would certainly be able to compete with legal ones. So you have to consider the source of popular culture, legality, and the audience desensitization. After 10 years of unspeakable, horrid disasters worldwide, people will flock to escapism: innocent or otherwise. Violent video games are no longer controversial because in comparison to the real world, they are quite tame!
So my vision of the 2040's is much darker than Connor's. One that has nothing to do with nationalism and pride, but rather desensitization and heightened tolerance levels. Things that make people cringe today would be perfectly acceptable by then. In general terms, at least.
As far as clothing and style go, Spectra is somewhat different because she was raised outside both the CCD and USA. She puts a cultural spin on fashion trends, however she showcases designer runway styles, so whatever is in vogue is what will be on her body. She wears a lot of metal and sharp edges. There are cutouts in her dresses that reveal curves of her body beneath. Her heels are usually multi-platformed and dangerous. Her hair is large and luxurious. Her lips are usually bright red and plump. So this represents to me also this dark edge on fashion choices. Even the fur coat she wore (until Hood's party got it all bloodied) was dyed frosty blue: turning something soft and luxurious into something that appears prickly and dangerous.
When she sang at Manifesto, there was an enormous amount of synthesized and electronic overlay to her voice. Again, even the music is dehumanized: harmonies are made more from machine than from flesh.
Also driving changes in popular culture will be the source of fame. Spectra was a child star before she was anything else, but an illegal one, sold off to a Colombian big bad guy who liked to collect child stars like trinkets for his shelf. Pedophilia being illegal in both the USA and CCD, how did an 11 year old come to be so famous? The internet. Although productions made by legitimate companies like Netflix can compete with movie studios, in the future, illegal companies maintaining anonymity online would certainly be able to compete with legal ones. So you have to consider the source of popular culture, legality, and the audience desensitization. After 10 years of unspeakable, horrid disasters worldwide, people will flock to escapism: innocent or otherwise. Violent video games are no longer controversial because in comparison to the real world, they are quite tame!
So my vision of the 2040's is much darker than Connor's. One that has nothing to do with nationalism and pride, but rather desensitization and heightened tolerance levels. Things that make people cringe today would be perfectly acceptable by then. In general terms, at least.
As far as clothing and style go, Spectra is somewhat different because she was raised outside both the CCD and USA. She puts a cultural spin on fashion trends, however she showcases designer runway styles, so whatever is in vogue is what will be on her body. She wears a lot of metal and sharp edges. There are cutouts in her dresses that reveal curves of her body beneath. Her heels are usually multi-platformed and dangerous. Her hair is large and luxurious. Her lips are usually bright red and plump. So this represents to me also this dark edge on fashion choices. Even the fur coat she wore (until Hood's party got it all bloodied) was dyed frosty blue: turning something soft and luxurious into something that appears prickly and dangerous.
When she sang at Manifesto, there was an enormous amount of synthesized and electronic overlay to her voice. Again, even the music is dehumanized: harmonies are made more from machine than from flesh.