1999 Pop Culture Reveals Economic Principles and Societal Shifts - Episode Hero Image

1999 Pop Culture Reveals Economic Principles and Societal Shifts

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Original Title:

TL;DR

  • The Blair Witch Project's 250x return on investment, costing under $1 million and grossing $248 million, established a business model for low-budget horror films, influencing the success of Blumhouse.
  • "Bills, Bills, Bills" by Destiny's Child highlights the growing importance of personal finance and credit scores for young adults in the 1990s, reflecting a societal shift in financial responsibility.
  • Napster's 1999 debut democratized music distribution, fundamentally altering the music industry's economics and paving the way for streaming services and the rise of touring revenue.
  • "I Want It That Way" by the Backstreet Boys illustrates comparative advantage in group dynamics and its lyrics' semantic ambiguity reflects the epistemological instability of modern discourse.
  • The debut of "House Hunters" in 1999 normalized an obsession with real estate, influencing the rise of home-buying shows and potentially contributing to the subprime mortgage crisis.
  • "The Insider" dramatizes corporate whistleblowing and media pressure, with its themes of journalistic integrity and corporate accountability remaining relevant in contemporary media landscapes.
  • The "Fluz" commercial, featuring Whoopi Goldberg, served as an early, albeit failed, example of digital currency and a canary in the coal mine for the dot-com bubble's excesses.

Deep Dive

The Planet Money Pop Culture Draft of 1999 showcases how cultural artifacts, from movies to songs to television shows, can serve as potent lenses for understanding economic principles and societal trends. By selecting and defending their choices through an economic and "Planet Money" framework, the hosts reveal deeper implications about business models, cultural exports, and consumer behavior that resonate far beyond their original release. This exercise highlights how seemingly trivial pop culture can illuminate significant economic forces, demonstrating the pervasive influence of money and business on our shared cultural landscape.

The draft successfully illustrates several economic concepts through 1999 pop culture. Waylen Wong's selection of "The Insider" demonstrates the tension between corporate interests and journalistic integrity, particularly concerning fear of lawsuits impacting public disclosure, a theme with echoes in contemporary media. Kenny Malone's choice of "The Blair Witch Project" exemplifies an extraordinary return on investment and the birth of a highly profitable business model in independent filmmaking, directly influencing the modern horror genre through its low-budget, high-return strategy. Jeff Guo's selection of "Pokémon: The First Movie - Mewtwo Strikes Back" highlights culture as an economic export, showcasing how intellectual property can transcend borders and become a global phenomenon, while his choice of "I Want It That Way" by the Backstreet Boys delves into the concept of comparative advantage within a group and the semiotic ambiguity of pop lyrics, reflecting broader societal uncertainties.

Further economic insights emerge from the song selections. Destiny's Child's "Bills, Bills, Bills" directly addresses personal finance, credit card usage, and the burgeoning role of credit in the 1990s economy, illustrating how pop music can reflect and even comment on consumer financial behavior. TLC's "No Scrubs" offers a commentary on evolving marriage dynamics and economic disparities, suggesting that women may opt out of relationships when potential partners do not contribute economically or domestically, reflecting documented trends in marriage rates across socioeconomic classes. Jeff Guo's wildcard pick of Napster underscores its monumental disruption of the music industry, demonstrating how file-sharing democratized music access and production, paving the way for future streaming services and changing how music is consumed and created. Similarly, Waylen Wong's choice of "House Hunters" points to the cultural obsession with real estate and homeownership, potentially contributing to a broader societal mindset that may have influenced housing market dynamics leading up to the subprime crisis. Kenny Malone's wildcard, a commercial for Fluz.com, serves as a prescient early example of digital currency and e-commerce, foreshadowing the dot-com bubble's excesses and the subsequent challenges of fraud and bankruptcy in nascent online economies.

Ultimately, the draft reveals that 1999 was not only a landmark year for film but also a fertile ground for economic narratives embedded in music and television. The choices made illuminate how cultural products can reflect, shape, and even predict economic trends, from the profitability of independent media to the complexities of personal finance and the disruptive power of new technologies. The exercise underscores the value of analyzing popular culture not just for entertainment but for its capacity to reveal underlying economic realities and societal shifts.

Action Items

  • Audit 1999 pop culture picks: Analyze the economic themes and business models represented by "The Insider," "Blair Witch Project," "Bills Bills Bills," and "House Hunters" for potential systemic insights.
  • Evaluate the "Pokemon: The First Movie" pick: Assess its representation of culture as an economic export and its role in globalizing anime and Japanese culture.
  • Track the impact of "Napster": Measure its influence on the music industry's business model, the rise of digital distribution, and the democratization of music production software.
  • Analyze "I Want It That Way" by Backstreet Boys: Examine its illustration of comparative advantage in team assembly and its semiotic openness as a metaphor for current societal ambiguity.
  • Review "Fluz" commercial: Assess its predictive value for cryptocurrency marketing and its role as a canary in the coal mine for the dot-com bubble's inherent risks.

Related Episodes

Key Quotes

"We're going to go back to the year 1999 and each of us is going to draft a team of pop culture like you know how an NBA team drafts players we're going to be doing this with a Planet Money lens though who can draft the most Planet Money team of pop culture artifacts from the year 1999."

The hosts explain the premise of their pop culture draft, which involves selecting movies, songs, or wildcard items from 1999 that best represent the "Planet Money lens." This establishes the core concept of the episode: applying economic principles and perspectives to cultural artifacts.

"For the movie we each have to choose from the top 100 domestic grossing movies in 1999. These are movies that I suspect a lot of people will have heard of we've mentioned some already you got your Star Wars you got your Matrix got your Fight Club."

This quote outlines a specific constraint for the movie selections, limiting them to the top 100 highest-grossing films of 1999. This rule ensures that the chosen movies are widely recognized and relevant to the popular culture of that year, providing a common frame of reference for the audience.

"The song of 1999 that I think most epitomizes both 1999 and Planet Money and economics is 'I Want It That Way' by the Backstreet Boys."

Jeff Guo selects "I Want It That Way" by the Backstreet Boys as his song pick, arguing it epitomizes both the year 1999 and the Planet Money ethos. This highlights how the hosts intend to connect seemingly unrelated pop culture items to economic concepts, making the draft a vehicle for economic discussion.

"No scrubs is a guy that thinks he's flying is also known as a buster always taking my money what he wants and just sits on his broke ass. So no, I don't want your number, no, I don't want to give you mine. And now I don't want to meet you nowhere, no, don't want none of your time."

Wailin Wong selects TLC's "No Scrubs," explaining that it speaks to broader dynamics in marriage rates across socioeconomic classes. This interpretation connects the song's lyrics about a financially irresponsible partner to documented trends in marriage and economic desirability, demonstrating an economic analysis of the song's themes.

"Napster which debuted in 1999. So in a way I'm picking all of the songs. The sum total of songery in 1999 was on Napster. And why does this epitomize Planet Money? Well, number one, this was of course a huge economic story. Without Napster, we would not have the iPod. Without Napster, we wouldn't have Spotify. Napster completely changed how the music industry constitutes itself."

Jeff Guo's wildcard pick of Napster is presented as a pivotal economic event that reshaped the music industry. The host argues that Napster's emergence directly led to innovations like the iPod and Spotify, illustrating how a technological development in pop culture had significant economic consequences.

"My wildcard pick I'm going television and I am going with a show that debuted in 1999 and I think you know really changed our entire relationship as a culture with one of the most important sectors of the economy. I am talking about the premiere of House Hunters."

Wailin Wong selects the television show "House Hunters" as her wildcard pick, arguing it fundamentally altered the cultural relationship with the real estate sector. This choice suggests that even seemingly mundane pop culture can have profound economic implications, influencing societal obsessions and market behaviors.

Resources

External Resources

Books

  • "The Insider" by Michael Mann - Mentioned as a film about corporate whistleblowing that is Waylen Wong's favorite movie and relevant to current events regarding CBS.

Articles & Papers

  • "Time Magazine" - Mentioned as a source where Kenny Malone read about "The Blair Witch Project" in 1999.

People

  • Cher - Mentioned as an artist whose song "Believe" was a backup pick for the song category, notable for establishing Auto-Tune as a sound.
  • Destiny's Child - Mentioned as the group whose song "Bills Bills Bills" was selected for its commentary on financial responsibility and credit card use.
  • Jeff Guo - Mentioned as a host participating in the Planet Money Pop Culture Draft.
  • Jason F. Blum - Mentioned as the founder of Blumhouse, whose business model for horror movies was influenced by "The Blair Witch Project."
  • Kenny Malone - Mentioned as a host participating in the Planet Money Pop Culture Draft.
  • Max Martin - Mentioned as a co-writer of "I Want It That Way," noted for lyrics that are semantically open and epistemologically unstable.
  • Michael Mann - Mentioned as the director of "The Insider."
  • TLC - Mentioned as the group whose song "No Scrubs" was selected for its commentary on relationships, money, and marriage rates across socioeconomic classes.
  • Waylen Wong - Mentioned as a host participating in the Planet Money Pop Culture Draft.
  • Whoopi Goldberg - Mentioned as the spokesperson and largest shareholder for Fluz.com, appearing in a commercial for the company.

Organizations & Institutions

  • Backstreet Boys - Mentioned as the group whose song "I Want It That Way" was selected for its illustration of comparative advantage and ambiguous lyrical meaning.
  • Billboard Hot 100 - Mentioned as the chart from which songs for the draft were selected.
  • Bumhouse - Mentioned as a production company whose business model for horror movies was influenced by "The Blair Witch Project."
  • CBS - Mentioned in relation to "The Insider," where the network pulled an interview due to fear of a lawsuit from a tobacco company.
  • Destiny's Child - Mentioned as the group whose song "Bills Bills Bills" was selected for its commentary on financial responsibility and credit card use.
  • Disney - Mentioned as the company that acquired Jumbo Entertainment and produced "Doug's First Movie."
  • Fluz.com - Mentioned as a company founded in 1999 that offered gift cards for online retailers, serving as a canary in the coal mine for the dot-com bubble.
  • Jumbo Entertainment - Mentioned as a production studio acquired by Disney that produced "Doug."
  • MTV - Mentioned as the channel where Waylen Wong watched "Total Request Live" after school in 1999.
  • NPR - Mentioned as the broadcaster of Planet Money.
  • Planet Money+ - Mentioned as a subscription service that offers bonus episodes.
  • TLC - Mentioned as the group whose song "No Scrubs" was selected for its commentary on relationships, money, and marriage rates across socioeconomic classes.
  • The New Yorker - Mentioned as having featured Pikachu on its cover.
  • Top 100 Domestic Grossing Movies - Mentioned as the list from which movie picks for the draft were selected.
  • Westinghouse - Mentioned as the company that was in the process of acquiring CBS when "The Insider" interview was pulled.

Podcasts & Audio

  • Planet Money - Mentioned as the podcast producing the episode and the draft.
  • Planet Money+ - Mentioned as a subscription service that offers bonus episodes.

Other Resources

  • "The Blair Witch Project" - Mentioned as a highly profitable found-footage horror film from 1999 that influenced the business model of horror movies.
  • "Doug's First Movie" - Mentioned as a potential wildcard pick, representing the beginning of Disney's acquisition of intellectual property.
  • "Fight Club" - Mentioned as a movie from 1999 representing the pinnacle of Gen X culture.
  • "House Hunters" - Mentioned as a television show that debuted in 1999, influencing the culture's relationship with real estate and potentially contributing to the subprime crisis.
  • "I Want It That Way" by Backstreet Boys - Mentioned as a song from 1999 selected for its illustration of comparative advantage and ambiguous lyrical meaning.
  • "No Scrubs" by TLC - Mentioned as a song from 1999 selected for its commentary on relationships, money, and marriage rates across socioeconomic classes.
  • "Pok\u00e9mon: The First Movie: Mewtwo Strikes Back" - Mentioned as a movie from 1999 that served as a gateway for anime and Japanese culture, and was a significant box office success.
  • "The Insider" - Mentioned as a film about corporate whistleblowing that is Waylen Wong's favorite movie and relevant to current events regarding CBS.
  • "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire" - Mentioned as a game show that debuted in the US in 1999 and was highly successful, but did not lead to a sustained game show boom.
  • Auto-Tune - Mentioned as a technology that "Believe" by Cher helped establish as a prominent sound in music.
  • Comparative Advantage - Mentioned as an economic concept illustrated by the song "I Want It That Way."
  • Dot Com Bubble - Mentioned as a period in the late 1990s, peaking in 1999, characterized by rapid growth and subsequent recession in internet companies.
  • Found Footage - Mentioned as a film technique used in "The Blair Witch Project."
  • IP Acquisition - Mentioned as a strategy exemplified by Disney's acquisition of Jumbo Entertainment and "Doug."
  • Napster - Mentioned as a file-sharing service that debuted in 1999, fundamentally changing the music industry and paving the way for digital music platforms and piracy of software.
  • Subprime Crisis - Mentioned in relation to "House Hunters" and its potential influence on the housing market.

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