The Future of Work, via George Jetson (1962), by Anthony Vecchio

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5 Responses to "The Future of Work, via George Jetson (1962), by Anthony Vecchio"

Noah Steinberg says:

April 26, 2014 at 1:39 am

I think the idea behind the slidecast, using a televison show that everyone knows so well, was a great idea. Comparing the time of when the Jetsons was airing to the values of the time (the 60’s), indicates a clear correlation in terms of job and work happiness. It would be quite easy in that time period to assume technologies will make work easier, which is depicted well in the Jetsons. In retrospect, with the examples given, actually do not allow for more leisure time. Interestingly though, it would have been interesting to know if anyone who lived in the 60’s agreed with the consequences suggested in the slidecast. With more free time, perhaps instead of boredom leading to suicide, people could tinker more in their garages and create more Silicon Valleys. I like how there were many different snapshots of the Jetsons show to prove the significance of those values. This provided a nice flow throughout the slidecast and supported the evidence throughout the presentation. I liked how the slidecast approached the topic from the time period of choice (when the Jetsons was airing), while taking a look at what preceded it and what follows. Overall i think it was very well done.

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Addison Wechter says:

April 27, 2014 at 7:05 pm

You had a lot of good information on each slide and the images helped to tell your story. I thought you did a great job describing the details of the Jetsons and how the show envisioned the future. It was very clear form your slidecast that the creators of the show envisioned a future where people would not have to work hard or long hours. I found it helpful that you included the predictions for hours spent at work in the future. The numbers clearly show that technology will significantly decrease the time spent at work, even though we know this to be false. You also did a great job describing the historical context of the 1960s, and how people felt at work. It is evident from your research that people felt strongly about how they were being treated in the workplace and the Jetsons gave them hope for the future. There were a few slides that had a lot of blank space that maybe could have been filled with more images. Other than that, I though you did a really good job.

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Brandon Smith says:

April 27, 2014 at 11:19 pm

Referencing some of the things we talked about in class was definitely in useful idea. Using the washing machine to explain how more technology does not always mean less work illustrated the idea well, and was clear enough that even someone who hasn’t taken the class should be able to understand. That more technology also leads to more leisure time came up in other slidecasts as well, but it seems to be an idea that has become less popular since the mid-20th century. The most poignant part of the slidecast was definitely the slide discussing consequences of a reduced work week. The slide itself was very simple, but the narration clearly laid out how less work could influence people. There have been times when I have been incredibly bored, but lacked the motivation to do anything, so I could easily understand the ideas being presented there. Even though the length of the average work week hasn’t really gotten smaller, I don’t think people have thought as much about what the consequences would be as they have about the benefits.

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Drew Beyer says:

April 28, 2014 at 1:36 pm

I think you did a very good job incorporating the historical context of the Jetsons. I liked the contrasts with the Jetsons view from the current times you drew upon such as the change of the boss-worker relationship and reduced workweek. Its interesting that visions of the future are all focused on remedying the current social problems of the era. I also thought your slidecast was not presentist in the slightest, but it did come off as a little presumptuous at the end. Like, your assumption that decreased working hours would lead to more free time for people to stew in their depression is wrong in my eyes. I wholeheartedly disagree that work is the only thing keeping people sane. But other than that, good slidecast.

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Zack Benedetto says:

April 28, 2014 at 8:24 pm

It was made clear that the historical context that spuured these visions of the future was that in the 1960s people wanting to do less work, and have more leisure time. This was increased due to Wold War 2, because propaganda promised them a technological utopia. A good point was made about increased technology not necessarily being progress, because as the future developed, the the average work week has increased rather tham decreased. It was aso interesting to think about how the people of the past thought that their free time would be used for family and education, when today the free time created from technology leads to more time for work, or time for mindless leisure such as TV instead of productive leisure. I think that Tony did a very nice job of placing the Jetsons into historical context resembling the struggle of the working class. If I had to make criticisms it would just be that a coupe pictures were repeated, and having a wider spread of pictures would help more than hurt. Also, there were a couple slides which had a small amount of text on them, which is okay, but perhaps the text could be centered to the middle of the slide to not have so much empty space. Well done on the organization and narration in general.

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