Monday 26 December 2011

"Future" from the "Past"

"Future" from the "Past"

Assessing the Utopian "Tomorrow" from the Unrealized "Yesterday" 




For sure most people tend to look at these pictures as scenes from movies or from Comic books. "Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow", "League of Extraordinary Gentlemen", "Captain America" are basic examples to feature these.

However, behind all the comics and movies are mainly ideas of a "Future" that is, idealistic yet unrealized. As most industrialized nations and its colonies rather focused on the war during those times, especially in creating weapons of destruction, these edifices aren't been realized, or if there is, end up destroyed as planes bombed them over. So sad as this writer would say, and if there were ones being rebuilt, some are being rehabilitated as most rather left it rotting and end up demolished away, kinda strange as most tend to think "come what may."

But then, in this writeup assessing the promising future from an unrealized past, it also tend to recall how the past tries to interpret the future, yet how come the future forgets its past. Well, the advancing path of progress lies different outcomes such those of forgetting, an amnesia as this writer would say in regards to heritage, be it may about the past...or about the future such as these pictures shown below:




Quite cute and stylistic to see these vehicles made in pursuit of a promising future driven by diesel, but as time progresses, for sure these are end up sold for scrap and deemed to be forgotten. If there are remnants of such vehicles similar to these they are rather placed in the museum calling it a remnant of once was as most tend to think of it. Lucky that there are Volkswagen beetles roaming in some cities around the world despite being phased out and replaced with another new one; but these vehicles? 

Same as the buildings once ought to be built but it end up unrealized:






These proposals are likely to be realized yet these end up whether scrapped off or unlikely to be set up especially due to the Second World War. The first picture above was ought to be built before the Nazi takeover, but then it was never been built same as the model drawn for a theatre to be built in Moscow in 1924. These strange edifices somehow considered as a showcase of the future despite left entirely as blueprints or drawings made by prominent architects of long ago.

So was this:




To others, these drawings, proposals were made in response to the idea of making edifices "to invoke fear" as it feature high rise concrete blocks and sculptures featuring strong-willed, valiant people. But despite unlikely to be unrealized, these features of the "Future" made from the "Past" are rather served as inspiration to others trying to create a future that is, promising and satisfying. In fact, it all reminds of the buildings in Manila end up demolished in the name of progress long ago, especially those of standalone theatres that end up left away and rotting. So sad as this writer would see and remember every edifices, same as the proposed city north of Manila that end up commercialized rather than idealized as shopping centres and commercial establishments being built in a land supposedly more of gardens and streamline mass-housing.

The writer somehow personally thinks that since people back then, whether they are Steampunk, Teslapunk, Dieselpunk, Nukepunk or what, they are trying to replicate the future based on their understanding. The world is in fact changing although every systems tried to stop the cycle of social progress as we see-that poverty, as one basic example, are its very own by product of it.

After all, the world, like man, tries to create perfection. As we carried the torch of knowledge, everyone has the obligation to advance and steer the wheel of progress as evidenced by every edifice and innovation resulted from thine work for total salvation.