Why we need to dream again like it's 1999

I don't know what's wrong with me lately, but I can't get over this 90s nostalgia

I keep thinking about 1995, the year Molly Nilsson sings that the future was to arrive

Because it was. It was the exact moment the World Trade Organization began, the biggest trade project in human history. Almost every country signed a deal to play by the same rules and follow them at home. It changed everything: it ended tariffs, created one global market, allowed free competition and strictly protected copyrights. This deal changed the world and brought a wave of optimism, creativity, and faith in tomorrow that we haven't seen since

You can see this big change in movies between 1995 and 2000. Since global markets opened and copyrights were safe from piracy, movie studios invested grandly and brought a huge wave of blockbusters like never before: Toy Story (1995), Independence Day (1996), Titanic (1997), The Matrix (1999), Fight Club (1999), Gladiator (2000). It was a golden age that peaked in 1999, which many people consider the best and most creative year in movie history

The best part about that time was the amazing quality of everything. They were original stories that broke all the rules. Studios made huge historical movies with real sets and thousands of real extras, instead of computers. The soundtracks were massive orchestral pieces made to touch your soul. Those movies showed exactly how life felt back then: you could feel the optimism, the desire to build big things and the belief that everything would get better. People had total faith in humanity and a shared global goal where borders didn't matter, wars would end and new technology would bring peace, equality and happiness to everyone

But after the year 2000, that happy bubble burst. We got the September 11 attacks, the 2008 global economic crisis, political division, trade wars and social media that connected us online but split us apart in real life. Today, no one feels optimistic. Hardly anyone believes in the future, and countries don't work together on big goals anymore. The future we were promised never came. It did come, but was nothing like what they sold us

I'm sure older people will tell me, "Virginia, you're romanticizing the 90s, not everything was perfect." And they are right, because nostalgia makes us forget the problems. But I fight hard to hold onto that optimism because we desperately need it today

For me, remembering that there was a real moment in history when almost every country sat down to work together, make rules for the common good and choose peace and free trade is like the piece of wood Rose held onto in the freezing Atlantic. It is my North Star, the lighthouse that stays on when everything else is dark

It doesn't matter if you are left or right wing, capitalist or socialist, orthodox or heterodox. The 90s are proof that when people want to, they can cooperate, agree and build shared systems and ideas that let us dream big again

So let’s dream again like it's 1999