From today’s perspective, the first decade of the 20th century can seem like a more distant history. In many corners of urban civilization, polite institutions like cabarets, tea rooms and other roughly classifications Belle Epoque There was a lot of concern. For those who lived in that era, it must have been easy enough to believe that 19th-century style aristocracy and imperial methods could perpetuate themselves forever. But they were also Georges Merris’ year. Le Voyage Dans La Lunethe Wright brothers’ first flight. The number of cars and subway trains has increased dramatically. Russia’s loss of war on Japan and its first revolution. Einstein’s discovery of relativity, photoelectric effects, and Brownian motion. And Picasso Les Demoiselles D’Avignon.
In other words, the world gave way to the world. This is the context of documentary footage that has been collected, coloured and turned upwards. Video at the top of the post. Starting on a bustling working-class street in Hollinwood, England, this tour from the 1900s continues in places such as Spain, India, China, New York, Japan, Brazil, Denmark, Austria, Germany and more.
One aspect of all this footage, responsible for capturing the eyes of the 21st century, is the display of all myriad forms of transport, some running solely on animals and human muscles, and some are driven by the types of engines at the heart of the industrial revolution around the world. (You can also get a glimpse of Wuppertal’s suspended Schwebahn.
All this gives us a clear sense of why so many modern observers expressed civilized whiplash feelings. For those living on the edge of progress, the form of things to come (the phrase later used as the title of such observer’s book, the prolific HG well) was no guess from anyone. Still, it would have seized a visionary heart, not to mention two world wars, to foresee the promotion of communism, Nazism, the American Empire and massive broadcast media. William Gibson was not born yet, but he could not speak up with the famous quote now, but as we can see, the future was already here at 19 tens, unevenly distributed.
Related content:
Videos of cities around the world from the 1890s: London, Tokyo, New York, Venice, Moscow, etc.
Paris had a moving sidewalk in 1900, and Thomas Edison’s film was active.
The perfectly restored film allows you to revisit life in New York City in 1911
The Berlin Street Scene shot beautifully the film (1900–1914)
Watching life on the streets of Tokyo in 1913 footage: caught between tradition and modern times
Watch the 1920s City Symphony starring some of the world’s great cities: from New York to Berlin and Sao Paulo
Based in Seoul Colin marshall Write and broadcasting stationTS about cities, languages, and culture. His projects include the Substack Newsletter Books about cities And the book The Stateless City: Walking through 21st century Los Angeles. Follow him on social networks previously known as Twitter @colinmarshall.
Source: Open Culture – www.openculture.com
