Golden age

[[File:Family watching television 1958.jpg|thumb|right|165px|Ah, the Fifties in America, where life was good (for non-poor whites only).]]
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{{cquote|The golden past was never the golden present.|||attributed to [[Benjamin Franklin]]}}
A '''golden age''' is a [[myth]]ical time period which is held to be the ideal state of [[humanity]]. In a smaller sense, it is used by many [[culture]]s when they [[Romanticism|idealise]] a particular period of their [[history]] — usually one of great prosperity, military power, territory, or creativity. In its most reduced form, it can be seen in an inclination to think fondly of "[[Good old days|the good ol' days]]," when life was simpler. It may be noted, however, that such thinking vanishes like a morning mist when the subject at hand is [[medicine]].

The most well known golden age is the story of [[Adam]] and [[Eve]], who lived in [[Garden of Eden|a beautiful, peaceful garden]] but [[original sin|fell from grace]] due to temptation. It is also found in {{wpl|Hesiod}} writing around 700 BCE whose ''{{wpl|Works and Days}}'' portrays five ages: Gold, Silver, Bronze, Heroic, and Iron, where the first is obviously best; {{wpl|Ovid||'s}} ''Metamorphoses'' (8 CE) has a similar scheme of Gold, Silver, Bronze, and Iron.<ref>{{wpa|Ages of Man}}</ref>

Modern idolisations of the past are sometimes harmless — Tolkien was a peddler — but the theme is also an undercurrent of [[nationalism]]. A desire to turn back the clock on social development is a continuing part of [[conservative]] thinking — [[George H. W. Bush]]'s quote that "we need more families like ''The Waltons'' and fewer like ''[[The Simpsons]]''" being a prime example.

==Historical examples==
The [[King Arthur|Arthurian]] legends are an idealized version of the "age of [[chivalry]]," when 
anyone who wasn't a king or a knight was covered in dung
 bravery and honesty were the standard of behavior and people fought dragons and rode around on white horses and somehow were still interesting. Never mind the fact that Arthur, if he existed at all, was a 5/6<sup>th</sup> century Celtic warlord and therefore predated every institution associated with chivalry by the best part of half a millennium — and even then, that same modern conception of "high medieval chivalry" was fabricated outright in Victorian England.<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=orKjcdNEr5E BBC — ''Terry Jones' Medieval Lives'' - S1 Ep 5 - ''The Knight'']</ref>
 
The [[American Revolution]] was a high point of [[political]] and [[scientific]] thought, when "the loudest yelps for liberty [came from] the [[Slavery|drivers of negroes]],"<ref>[http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=wss-AAAAYAAJ&pg=PA21&dq=johnson+loudest+yelps+for+liberty+among+the+drivers+of+negroes#v=onepage&q=johnson%20loudest%20yelps%20for%20liberty%20among%20the%20drivers%20of%20negroes&f=false According to Samuel Johnson]</ref> and an uprising of people who [[Boston Tea Party|didn't like paying tax led to independence]], and [[equal rights]] for all white, male landowners. The [[Gilded Age|late 19th century]] was also a golden age, except for the [[banking crisis|banking crises]], the [[KKK]], and whatnot. There was ''[[American Dream|definitely]]'' nothing wrong with the 50s, though, the high point of Protestant hegemony before it all went to [[hell|H-E-double-hockey-sticks]] in the 1960s.<ref>Longing, Nostalgia, and Golden Age Politics: The American Jeremiad and the Power of the Past, Andrew R. Murphy, Perspectives on Politics, Vol. 7, No. 1 (Mar., 2009), pp. 125-141, via JSTOR</ref>

The [[Roman Empire|Ancient Romans]] loved harping about the "ways of the forefathers" and how they lived "simpler lives" unburdened by luxury; with Virgil and Ovid amongst those popularising the concept.<ref>{{wpa|Golden Age}}</ref> Ancient Rome is interesting in both its surprisingly modern society at times and its über-conservative [[reactionary]] ruling class that would probably have gone back to the caves if they could have taken their slaves. Another favorite was decrying "femininity" in men that could express itself in wearing expensive garments, not killing enough people in war, or loving a woman too passionately. Of course, none of this ever happened in the "good old days", whenever they may have been.

Among comic book aficionados, the Golden Age stretched from 1938 (the year of Superman's debut) to 1950 (the year ''Justice Society of America'' ended). A Silver Age followed in 1956, ending around 1970. After that came the Bronze Age, ending in 1986. One might assume they are at the Nuclear Waste Age by now, commonly called The Modern Age of Comics.

In the former [[East Germany]], there is a movement known as "Ostalgie" among people with a soft spot for the German Democratic Republic.<ref>{{wpa|Ostalgie}}</ref> Conveniently forgotten are things like the Stasi, [[Berlin Wall]], and that time when {{wpl|East German coffee crisis|the whole country nearly ran out of coffee|.}}

1979 was the best year ever in popular [[music]] that wasn't 1956. Many fresh "new wave" or "[[punk]]" bands released seminal albums, to wit...<ref group=note>This observation has nothing to do with the writer having been 19 in 1979! Really.</ref>

==Examples in popular culture==
In the 2011 film ''Midnight in Paris'', the main character Gil Pender is magically transported back in time each night from 2010 to the 1920s during France's ''Années folles'', a period which he considers to be Paris's Golden age. He hangs out with the historical figures of the era including Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and Salvador Dali, and develops a romance with a woman named Adriana. Near the film's climax, Gil and Adriana travel back in time via carriage to the ''Belle Époque'', an era Adriana considers Paris's Golden Age. They travel to the Moulin Rouge where they meet Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Paul Gauguin, and Edgar Degas. Gil asks what they thought the best era was, and the three determine that the greatest era was the [[Renaissance]]. The enthralled Adriana is offered a job designing ballet costumes and proposes to Gil that they stay, but Gil, upon observing that different people long for different "golden ages", has an epiphany and realizes that despite the allure of [[nostalgia]], any time can eventually become a dull "present", so it's best to embrace your actual present.

In January 2025 the Oligarch Of The Oval Office proclaimed a new Golden Age for America.<ref>
[https://www.wsj.com/politics/trump-to-call-for-revolution-of-common-sense-in-inaugural-address-a6d94c59 "Trump Proclaims 'The Golden Age of America Begins Right Now'"]
</ref>
("America" meaning the United States of A, and excluding the [[Mexico | United Mexican States]], the [[Venezuela | Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela]], and others, but potentially including [[Greenland]] and [[Canada]].<ref>
{{wpa | American expansionism under Donald Trump}}
</ref>) This may equate to [[MAGA | Making America Great Again]] - so we look back to when America was Great - maybe in 1491 ?

==See also==
*[[Presentism]]
*[[Utopia]]

==Notes==
{{reflist|group=note}}

==References==
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[[Category:Arguments]]
[[Category:History]]
[[Category:Mythology]]

Categories: Arguments, History, Mythology