Remember the pre-COVID world when Stranger Things dominated Netflix, and Adam Sandler fought aliens by beating them at real-life arcade games in Pixels? Those titles stirred up plenty of nostalgia for the eighties, a simpler-seeming time of relative peace and big hair bands.
By comparison, the nineties brought more angst and uncertainty. However, the collective fear of computers crashing due to a virus named Y2K feels almost laughable when experiencing an unfolding pandemic. If traveling back in time to the age of grunge rock, Slim Shady and the Spice Girls feels welcome, there’s a world of titles ready for streaming. The following four have been specially selected to meet the needs of 90s-loving viewers at every age and stage of life.
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During the nineties, the coming-of-age classic Boy Meets World ran for 7 seasons. Starring Ben Savage as Cory Matthews, the series focused on the mostly light-hearted struggles the teen faced as he navigated school, friendship and romance. His teacher and next door neighbor Mr. Feeny served as a father figure for Cory and his friends. Meanwhile, Girl Meets World features a middle-aged Cory Matthews assuming Mr. Feeny’s former role as a teacher and mentor.
In the spin-off, Cory has married his childhood crush Topanga and moved to New York City, where he teaches his daughter’s class. The series focuses on Cory’s daughter Riley and best friend Maya, a free-spirit with a somewhat troubled home life who mirrors Cory’s childhood best friend Sean. It features many of the same actors from the original and plenty of jokes that nod to the nineties.
When it comes to the more serious side of nineties nostalgia, Mid90s nails it. A film directed by comedy star Jonah Hill, the coming-of-age drama provides a stirring snapshot of nineties skate culture.
Set in Los Angeles, it focuses on a 13-year-old named Stevie who befriends a group of older boys at the local skate shop. The boys introduce Stevie to drugs, sex and reckless abandon. They also support each other in navigating trauma, as well as social challenges like race, poverty and addiction. The film is a clear throwback to Hill’s childhood that feels especially relevant today.
Based on Candace Ng’s novel by the same name, Little Fires Everywhere is set in the late nineties. It also stars Reese Witherspoon, Kerry Washington and Joshua Jackson–who grew up during the nineties themselves. Playing mothers from different socioeconomic backgrounds, Witherspoon and Washington lead and co-produce the Hulu series.
The result of their collaboration is an entertaining masterwork that manages to be simultaneously funny, intriguing and sad. Like Mid90s, it serves as an important social commentary that speaks directly to current issues.
Starring Jonah Hill and Emma Stone, Maniac provides a portrait of what life might look like if nineties technology had developed differently. As a result, the Netflix original series feels a bit like it’s set in the future and the past. This works for the story, which focuses on the non-linear psychedelic experiences of participants in a controversial drug trial.
A dark comedy with a hopeful conclusion, Maniac makes for a great escape when imaging how 2020 might look if nineties tech had advanced along an analog, rather than digital, track. It also provides welcome inspiration for how a person can change their present by re-examining the past.
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