Were pavements / sidewalks different in the US in the 50s?
Cooper seems to wonder what year this is after he checked the sidewalks
Also, there are no parked cars in the street (maybe one slightly far away)
Interesting, someone else is insisting that Cooper saw something in front of the house or on the sidewalk which made him ask what year it was. It really looked to me like he was just stopping, suddenly struck with a thought and not focusing on anything in front of him.
I live in the states and no major changes in my lifetime and I was born in 1963.... plus if you go back to the Valero Station scene the gas prices are most defiantly at today's price...
I think he's just frantically searching for any clue, something to suggest this hasn't all gone irretrievably wrong. (Because you know, when time-traveling and crossing dimensions, just being in the wrong year would be a comparatively small problem.) It's very much like Back To The Future II that way. Please, God, just let this be the wrong year. (Pretty sure Marty actually says that.)
To answer your question, I can't think of anything about U.S. sidewalks that would've been hugely different in the '50s. Well, probably fewer curb cuts for wheelchairs. But nothing everyone would know about and immediately recognize. I think it's just baffled despair.
The short answer would be no, there is no significant difference between sidewalks in the 50s on through today, generally speaking. Obviously there are differences, usually it's regional or based on budgets; sometimes the mix of cement will vary of course. If a city is running low on cash it will replace old sidewalks with asphalt.
Anyway, I don't think that's actually what he was contemplating. I think it was more a defeated look down on the ground, and then perhaps a hopeful "ah ha!" moment. If one were to try and look for period details, look at the street lamps and things like that. Those have changed quite a bit over the decades.
I took that to be him almost keeling over from realizing their situation and the enormity of it. Note that Carrie-Laura doesn't respond with the year...in fact, it could be the fact that she *doesn't know it* that makes her realize that reality was off and snaps her out of it.
It didn't register to me that he was inspecting the ground, and still doesn't.
I didn't think at the time he was looking at anything in particular but since seeing it mentioned, it would have been an interesting tie-in to part 8 if he had seen a penny on the ground and picked it up, then noticed the year on it.
I think it's significant that Cooper doesn't seem to notice that the hotel he leaves and the car he gets into in the morning aren't the same hotel and car he was in the night before. Does it really not strike him that he was sent back to the future overnight until standing on the sidewalk outside the Palmer/Chalfont/Tremond house? For that matter, can't he tell that Laura/Carrie is a middle aged woman and that therefore they must be in the 20-teens? I don't know what it means, I just think it's significant and if this hadn't been a show's finale, it might lead to some cool reveals in the future.
If you re-watch, and I only go this looking again today - he definitely realizes the hotel and car are different...there is a pause and looking back at the hotel and an initial surprise at the vehicle....subtle, but it's there.
He definitely notices. The subtlety of it could mean that it's an expected part of that environment, or that he's losing himself around the edge and knows something is off but can't place exactly what.
Laura has a similarly noticeable but subtle reaction to her parents' names. Again, I think this is all about noticing the dreamlike -- and yes, artificial -- nature of that place.
I live in the states and no major changes in my lifetime and I was born in 1963.... plus if you go back to the Valero Station scene the gas prices are most defiantly at today's price...
Who or what are the gas prices being defiant against?
I took that to be him almost keeling over from realizing their situation and the enormity of it. Note that Carrie-Laura doesn't respond with the year...in fact, it could be the fact that she *doesn't know it* that makes her realize that reality was off and snaps her out of it.
It didn't register to me that he was inspecting the ground, and still doesn't.
I like this idea. Her confusion seemed to be comforted by Coop's assurance, but once he began to question everything, she followed suit and Sarah calling her name, initiated a flood of memories.
Do you think he's looking at the lane?
Were pavements / sidewalks different in the US in the 50s?
Hi Teo,
Everything was different in the '50s. 😉
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It's the house Cooper gives a good long stare at. He notices something is adrift. He moves to remember, map and think.
The trees/bushes/plants directly in front of the house aren't what he expects, and that prompts the question.
Do you think he's looking at the lane?
He's looking at the shoddy paving job and wondering what his tax dollars are going to.
Fire walk with