Golden Ages

A Golden Age is a period of time perceived to be a pinnacle, this is usually the perception long after the age has passed.  Golden Ages throughout history have been attributed to various industries and human endeavour.  They are defined by a collective adoration or reverence, with an elevated level of prosperity which meets an unusually low level of resistance. 

The Golden Age of Television for instance is generally perceived to have occurred during the 90s and early 2000s.  This was a time when TV shows were commissioned at an elevated rate, they were prolific, they were profitable, and many of those that came about during this time period are still around today as repeats on TV and through streaming services.

The Golden Age of Video Games is widely agreed to be during the 80s and 90s when the video games industry experienced one of its greatest periods of expansion and ultimate saturation.  Again as with Television there are many games still revered to this day and regarded as classics that were created during that era.

Despite being something that the conditions for are well known, it isn't easy to reproduce these periods.  Even if you provide the same environment that existed and try to seed the creative process with the same approaches as before in an effort to spawn a new Golden Age, the endeavour often fails.  One of the reasons for this is Nostalgia, or more importantly the affect that Nostalgia has on our perceptions.

I made a point to state in the first paragraph of this post, "this is usually the perception long after the age has passed" - that is the most crucial part of this whole concept.  You can not know a Golden Age is happening until after the fact.  You will only know if you achieved your aim when enough time has passed for people to look back on it and judge it for what it was, not what it is.  That's where the difficulty lies in recreating these great ages of creative expression, even at the time, those that created content did not know nor did they understand fully the impact they would have.  The intention I am sure was there, the ambition too, but the foresight and the ability to see beyond the moment is something not many people possess.

That begs the question, if a Golden Age can only be known after the fact, then looking at the world around us, and all that is being created through various industries and human endeavour, what potential Golden Age are we living through?  What will we look back on in decades to come and say these years were the pinnacle of creation in that field?