Comment by aa-jv

>sternness

I really enjoy observing this and other changes in social tone visible through the ages in archaic videos .. One of my favourite idle pasttimes is to watch videos on Youtube of digitized film from a bygone era, especially of cities I've lived in, or visited and with which I am familiar.

For some reason it is just so interesting, for example, to visit the streets of Vienna from 100+ years ago, and see how folks were living back then. So many well-dressed Viennese, looking sternly at the camera, or merely walking in a steady plod along streets I, too, in the modern era, enjoy.

Vienna is particularly interesting because it has a long history with film, and some of them go back to before the widespread adoption of automobiles. It struck me just how easily we overlook the fact that Vienna was built for walking, originally, and all the crazy car life that the city suffers now was grafted on top of routes originally designed to be navigable by foot - or hoof.

Just take a look at Vienna, from 1896:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3aPvmD6ktZs

.. to Vienna, 1926:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FGbTkQX6R0Q

.. pre-war Vienna (30's):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZA9dHEKD-vM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QITjWb29JZ8

.. Vienna, 1939:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w96umMf9r3E

.. post-war Vienna:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q2VbXdrFXB8

.. to Vienna, 1964:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P0WCigqJ_wU

.. and lastly, Vienna in the 80's:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WttS-PP-r4o

Its just so interesting to see how the city has evolved over the century, but also very interesting to see how it hasn't changed much at all, too!

These days I walk many of the streets depicted in these videos, and having binge-watched all the videos I can find on the subject, it has given me a much deeper appreciation of the trials this city has weathered.

(I've got another set of videos for Los Angeles, another city in which I've lived and loved, and it too is very intriguing to see the city evolve over time .. but I'm yet to find a film as old as 1896 for the region, strangely enough..)