If you watched TV recently, you might be wondering what decade it is

 

If you watched TV recently, you might be wondering what decade it is

Transcript¹

The 90s are all over our screens. Most recently there is Hulu's s Pam & Tommy. It is one example of the shows and movies that are revisiting people — and scandals — of the decade.

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:

American entertainment culture is often built on nostalgia². Keeping true to form, the 2020s are looking a lot like the 1990s. The '90s have hit the runways, the music scene and television, including a Hulu show airing its grand finale this week, "Pam & Tommy" - as in Pamela Anderson and Tommy Lee.

(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "PAM AND TOMMY")

UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #1: (As character) Please, welcome Pamela Anderson.

UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #2: (As character) Did you know anything at all about Mr. Lee before you met him?

LILY JAMES: (As Pamela) I knew he was the drummer for Motley Crue.

UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #2: (As character) Did you find him attractive?

JAMES: (As Pamela) I liked his smile.

MARTIN: There's also "American Crime Story," about Bill Clinton, Monica Lewinsky and Linda Tripp.

(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "AMERICAN CRIME STORY")SARAH PAULSON: (As Linda) There's a woman I'm very close to in the midst of an affair with the president of the United States.

MARTIN: Those are just a few of the many shows and movies that focus on major figures of the past and scandals of the decade. To talk about why, Aisha Harris of NPR's Pop Culture Happy Hour had a conversation with our co-host, Leila Fadel.

LEILA FADEL, HOST:

So I'm biased³. I love the '90s, grew up in the '90s, rocked the side ponytail, wore the big scrunchie.

AISHA HARRIS, BYLINE⁴: Me, too.

FADEL: Yeah.

HARRIS: (Laughter).

FADEL: But now it feels like there's this obsession⁵ by everybody with the decade, a flood of movies, documentaries rehashing some of the biggest cultural events of that decade. What kicked this all off?

HARRIS: Well, I think part of it is just there is a natural desire, after a certain period of time, to go back and reflect on things. So obviously, in the '70s, we had shows like "Happy Days" looking back at the '50s. And in the '90s, we were looking back at the '70s and '80s. So this is natural. But I also think there are a couple of different touchpoints from the past few years that can be seen as sort of helping⁶ to kick this off in a way. The first, I think, would be the O.J. Simpson projects. There was "The People V. O.J. Simpson," which was "American Crime Story," Ryan Murphy's series...

FADEL: Yeah.

HARRIS: ...On FX And then there was also the "O.J.: Made In America" documentary by Ezra Edelman. Those came out in the same year. They both, like, were taking this moment in time that a lot of people remember and some people weren't old enough to remember. And they had a few things. They had celebrity⁷. They had scandal that was sort of distorted by the passage of time. And then you had enough time and enough space now to reassess sort of what media and society got wrong through our present-day eyes and attitudes. And I think there's also - you're seeing this in the podcast realm as well. So the podcast "Slow Burn" has...

FADEL: Right.

HARRIS: ...Sort of made its bread and butter off of '90s scandals, whether it was the Lewinsky-Clinton scandal - more recently, the LA riots. So this is all kind of a natural progression, I think.

FADEL: Yeah. I binged both those O.J. series and the "Slow Burn" Lewinsky one as well. So since then, we've seen an "American Crime Story" called "Impeachment⁸" about Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinsky, renewed interest - really, obsession - with Princess Diana, including an Oscar-nominated movie from last year, and multiple documentaries about Britney Spears, whose career took off late in the '90s. And like you said, they put these stories in completely different context than when we were growing up. Let's talk about what links these together.

HARRIS: Well, I think it would be remiss⁹ not to mention #MeToo...

FADEL: Right.

HARRIS: ...Because I think the #MeToo movement sort of casts this moment where we were all kind of looking back at the way women have been treated in Hollywood and in the music industry. And I think that's really important to look at. But I also think, like, the '90s itself - we're talking about all of these women who peaked in the '90s or were - that was where they started to become famous, in the 90's, in the case of Britney Spears.

FADEL: Right.

HARRIS: And it sits at a very interesting moment where you have this explosion of tabloids¹⁰, an explosion of the internet, the rise of paparazzi, live TV. And I think all of those are playing a really important part in the way that we view those things because - I don't know. The '90s, I lived through it. I was a kid. But, like, it was kind of trashy.

FADEL: Yeah.

HARRIS: And so I think, like, that naturally makes - it makes for an interesting way to look back and think about, OK, this is what we got wrong. And how can we sort of reassess and try not to get it wrong in the present day? And so I think that's what's kind of happening here.

FADEL: That's NPR's Aisha Harris. Thank you so much.

HARRIS: Thank you.

1 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

2 nostalgia   

n.怀乡病，留恋过去，怀旧

参考例句：

• He might be influenced by nostalgia for his happy youth.也许是对年轻时幸福时光的怀恋影响了他。
• I was filled with nostalgia by hearing my favourite old song.我听到这首喜爱的旧歌，心中充满了怀旧之情。

3 biased   

a.有偏见的

参考例句：

• a school biased towards music and art 一所偏重音乐和艺术的学校
• The Methods: They employed were heavily biased in the gentry's favour. 他们采用的方法严重偏袒中上阶级。

4 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

5 obsession   

n.困扰，无法摆脱的思想(或情感)

参考例句：

• I was suffering from obsession that my career would be ended.那时的我陷入了我的事业有可能就此终止的困扰当中。
• She would try to forget her obsession with Christopher.她会努力忘记对克里斯托弗的迷恋。

6 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

7 celebrity   

n.名人，名流；著名，名声，名望

参考例句：

• Tom found himself something of a celebrity. 汤姆意识到自己已小有名气了。
• He haunted famous men, hoping to get celebrity for himself. 他常和名人在一起, 希望借此使自己获得名气。

8 impeachment   

n.弹劾；控告；怀疑

参考例句：

• Impeachment is considered a drastic measure in the United States.在美国，弹劾被视为一种非常激烈的措施。
• The verdict resulting from his impeachment destroyed his political career.他遭弹劾后得到的判决毁了他的政治生涯。

9 remiss   

adj.不小心的，马虎

参考例句：

• It was remiss of him to forget her birthday.他竟忘了她的生日，实在是糊涂。
• I would be remiss if I did not do something about it.如果我对此不做点儿什么就是不负责任。

10 tabloids   

n.小报，通俗小报（版面通常比大报小一半，文章短，图片多，经常报道名人佚事）( tabloid的名词复数 )；药片

参考例句：

• The story was on the front pages of all the tabloids. 所有小报都在头版报道了这件事。
• The story made the front page in all the tabloids. 这件事成了所有小报的头版新闻。