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When you think about it, the year, as applied to culture, is an arbitrary signpost. No film’s principal production is determined solely by the Earth’s course around the sun; no album’s recording is forced abruptly to end with the arrival of New Year’s Eve. Yet years, in life as in art, are among the foremost markers of the people we were, or hoped to be: The year we were born. The year we graduated from high school. The year of this loved one’s death, of that stinging disappointment, of the first job, the first kiss. Years reduce the scale of a lifetime, an epoch, to something intermediate, even manageable — something you can celebrate the start of, or hang on ’til the end.
In this, the year is also a useful tool for understanding pop culture, an expanse of time wide enough to measure trends and short enough not to be swamped by them. And 1999 — especially its film output — has already secured its place alongside 1939, 1946, 1967 and 1974 as a watershed moment, anointed the “Best. Movie. Year. Ever,” situated at millennium’s close, immortalized by Prince.
The 1999 Project, a yearlong celebration from the Los Angeles Times, broadens the argument. Across film, TV, music, comedy, books, video games and more, we suggest, 1999 produced a dizzying variety of essential pop culture artifacts, milestones and turning points, not only remaking the culture as we knew it then, but creating the culture we live in now.
Throughout 2024, we’ll be marking the 25th anniversaries of those moments with writers’ reflections on what shaped them, how it did so and why understanding 1999 still matters a quarter-century on. Find each new entry in The 1999 Project below as it’s published:
25 years after the original film’s premiere, the actor reflects on his career and ‘The Best Man’ franchise — and reveals the cast’s strategy for keeping it alive.
‘Freaks and Geeks’ may have been short-lived, but for our television critic, who chronicled the series, cast and creators over the years, it remains a beloved work of art.
‘The Blair Witch Project’ transformed movie marketing with its groundbreaking viral campaign — and set the stage for the online promotional techniques of today.
Movies on TV for the entire week, Aug. 15 - 21 in interactive PDF format for easy downloading and printing
South African author J.M. Coetzee’s Booker Prize-winning ‘Disgrace’ stacks crisis atop crisis — and depicts its characters learning to live with it anyway. Sound familiar?
The comic’s 1999 stand-up special premiered on HBO when he had the most to lose — and he pulled no punches with its provocative, no-holds-barred humor.
Reflecting 25 years after the ‘Home Improvement’ finale, the actor says there’s a reason the sitcom that co-starred Tim Allen isn’t part of the ’90s nostalgia wave: ‘It’s about his politics.’
When it launched on June 1, 1999, the peer-to-peer music sharing service responded to a real need. It also heralded a troubling new ethic in tech that still shapes our world today.
Ricky Martin and ‘Livin’ La Vida Loca’ ushered in pop’s ‘Latin explosion’ in 1999. Too bad it wasn’t real.
In summer 1999, Ricky Martin’s ‘Livin’ La Vida Loca’ took over Top 40 radio, ushering the so-called Latin explosion in pop music.
“The Mandalorian,” “Ahsoka” and 25 years of spinoffs show the stealth power of George Lucas’ 1999 prequel, which, for all its controversy, laid the groundwork.
After ‘Battlestar Galactica,’ ‘Westworld,’ ‘Her’ and ‘Ex Machina,’ in 2024 it’s worth revisiting the Wachowskis’ prescient 1999 blockbuster ‘The Matrix.’
“Family Guy,” the animated Fox series, recently celebrated 25 years on the air. The voice cast and showrunners gathered to reflect on the show’s history.
When ‘The Sopranos’ premiered on HBO in January 1999, critics treated it like any other series. Then the fifth episode, ‘College,’ upended the history of American television.
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