1962?
The movie is set in 1962...but is it really portrayed as in 1962? I'm not an expert about this, but it does look more like the mid 1950s/late 1950s.
Wasn't all that "real" 1950s car culture/music rock'n roll over in 1962?
Music in 1962 preceded the British Invasion of the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, and others. Doo wop, R&B, and girl groups were popular. Surf music was just getting started. The dance in the gym scene was typical of high schools across the nation. The link shows what girls' fashions looked like. George Lucas was a member of the senior class at Downey High in 1962.
http://www.classmates.com/yearbooks/Downey-High-School/5234?page=70
The '60s didn't really begin until 1964. What American Graffiti showed was a continuation of the '50s musically. When Kennedy was assassinated 40 days before 1964 it was a turning point. America lost its innocence, or so they say.
Thanks for your comment. So, your answer in short, YES, this is a good portrayal of the early 60s? I always thought that the whole real rock'n roll culture was over end 1950s, because a few years later we already had the Beatles, Rolling Stones, The Doors etc.
So much changed, and FAST, after 1963-64.
The 40s began with Germany invading Poland.
The 50s began when the soviet union tested their first atomic bomb.
The 60s began with JFK was killed.
The 70s began with the Yom Kippur war.
The 80s began in the summer of 1982.
The 90s began when at THIS MOMENT (first appearence of Nirvana): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y-xsHr-dTrE
The 2000s began on 9/11.
The 2010s began with the movie "The Social Media".
"You keep him in here, and make sure HE doesn't leave!"
The 2020s will begin in November of that year when Trump gets re-elected and all of the Democrat cry babies demonstrate because he won.
The 80s began in the summer of 1982.
Refresh my memory -- what significant event happened in the summer of '82?
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It was not a particular element, but a sum of several things. Fashion, summer movies that defined a generation (ET, Khan, Tron, Poltergeist), the definitive end of disco and mass market of punk, Thatcher and Reagan politics changing the economic landscape, Atari's sales peak in summer 82, etc.
"You keep him in here, and make sure HE doesn't leave!"
I'd say the 70s began with either Altamont (only one year after Woodstock, and they couldn't be more different) or the New Hollywood New Wave era that began with Bonnie & Clyde and Easy Rider. The Yom Kippur War is too late, that would be overlooking Watergate and Shaft.
The 80s, I would say, if nothing else, the seeds were sowed in the late 70s. You already had post-punk, New Wave, the increasing popularity of synthesizers, music videos, slashers and the earliest modern blockbusters.
1975:
Jaws
1976:
Blondie
1977:
Devo
Star Wars
1978:
Van Halen
The Cars
John Carpenter's Halloween
Superman was the first modern comic book superhero movie
1979:
Pat Benatar
The Buggles
"Pop Muzik" by M
The B-52's
I'd say 1982 is too late. 1981 gave us MTV and Reagan, and Nickelodeon had its first real hit with You Can't Do That on Television.
I'd say the 2010s began with Obama, but American Idol viral hit "Pants on the Ground" seems like a 2000s holdover. But then again, the dude (Larry Platt) was 62 when he auditioned for Idol. "Pants on the Ground" and "Tik Tok" both came out in 2010, and "Tik Tok" has aged better. Does "Pants on the Ground" have an app named after it?
I'd say the 2020s have already begun, but at the same time, 2020 really is a lost year.