History Main / TurnOfTheMillennium

* ''VisualNovel/ButterflySoup'' is set in 2008--specifically, the fall of 2008; the characters encounter [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_Proposition_8_(2008) Prop 8]] rallies on their way to school, and later on in the game, Diya and Akarsha talk about UsefulNotes/BarackObama having been elected president the day before. Akarsha in particular is a [[FountainOfMemes fountain of mid-/late-2000s memes]].

* AllCGICartoon: Disney and other feature animation companies began to abandon traditional animation for CGI during this decade, although there was some hope that the two might coexist towards the end of the decade. Of course, anime is stronger than ever before and still averts this trope for the most part. Furthermore, this form finally began to break down the AllAnimationIsDisney stereotype, beginning with Creator/DreamworksAnimation hitting the big time with their 2001 smash hit ''WesternAnimation/{{Shrek}}'' and becoming the first real animation studio to challenge Disney over the long term, although it would have a period of artistic decline until it came roaring back with a new quality commitment with ''WesternAnimation/KungFuPanda'' in 2008.

* WhenThePlanetsAlign: May 5, 2000 was the date of a rather famous planetary alignment which included from Mercury all the way through Saturn; naturally, this figured into many UsefulNotes/ConspiracyTheories. ''VideoGame/EternalDarkness'' even worked this alignment into the plot.

* BareYourMidriff: Continued on from the nineties in fashion and especially in pop music, with midriff-baring made even more extreme by the early-00s fashion for very low waistlines.

While New Year's 2000 came in with a bang, the attitudes of TheNineties mostly lingered for the first year. For the United States (and arguably to a lesser extent, the world), the decade politically started on September 11th, 2001, with the terrorist attacks on UsefulNotes/NewYorkCity and UsefulNotes/WashingtonDC, which not only launched America into ''two'' wars, but continues to be a lingering specter in global politics. It is possible this decade may have ended culturally and politically in 2008–09, which saw the start of the [[HistoryRepeats worst economic crisis]] since TheGreatDepression, followed two months later by the election of UsefulNotes/BarackObama as President, as well as Website/{{Facebook}} surpassing Website/MySpace in traffic, and "electropop era" music like Music/LadyGaga, Music/JustinBieber, and Music/KatyPerry becoming popular. Alternatively, the political end of the decade may have been in 2011, the year of UsefulNotes/TheArabSpring, Occupy Wall Street, and the death of UsefulNotes/OsamaBinLaden. Culturally, the decade started kicking off somewhere around 1998-2003 with the continued rise of the internet, online music downloads, and reality shows, and ended somewhere around 2008-2013 with the rising prominence of the smartphone and social media sites like Website/{{Twitter}}, Instagram, and Facebook becoming very popular. Depending on who you ask, it may have officially ended around early 2007, when [[MemeticMutation memes]] made their way to solid popular culture status. Either way, the transitional period in was about 1998-2003, and the transitional period out was around 2008-2013.

* PostNineElevenTerrorismMovie: ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin - These movies owe their existence to the September 11 attacks.

* DorkAge: Similar to TheSeventies, this is not exactly America's most fondly-remembered decade for many reasons listed above.
** Western animation went through this both on the big and small screen through the 2000s. While the early years were marked with critically acclaimed, plot-driven, high-action shows on TV, several of these shows came to an end during the middle of the decade, with kid-centered networks putting more emphasis on live-action sitcoms. Even ''Cartoon Network'' [[NetworkDecay notoriously tried to expand into live-action programming]], to the derision of all. Disney also didn't have it good here either, as several expensive 2D features flopped and CGI efforts received mixed responses, with Pixar and [=DreamWorks=] (the former of which Disney would later acquire) building up as strong rival studios. Disney would recover by the next decade by going back to their roots.

* ''Series/ThePunisher2017'': The first season occasionally flashes back to TheHero's time in the U.S. Military during UsefulNotes/TheWarOnTerror .

* RavenHairIvorySkin: Many subcultures in this decade focused on this look, as a continuation from {{goth}} and punk, and to go against the DarkSkinnedBlonde look that was popular in the mainstream at the time. This is the reverse but quite similar to the Ganguro subculture in Japan during the '90s, which focused on tanned skin, bleached hair and garish heavy makeup to rebel against the traditional Japanese beauty standard of white skin, black hair and [[YamatoNadeshiko modest beauty]]. Ganguro died out in this decade because in Japan, pale skin became even ''more'' desired with the influence of its pop singers and the rise of alternative fashion that focused on [[{{Moe}} cuteness and innocence.]]

* ''WebAnimation/HunterTheParenting'' is set in 2006.

While New Year's 2000 came in with a bang, the attitudes of TheNineties mostly lingered for the first year. For the United States (and arguably to a lesser extent, the world), the decade politically started on September 11th, 2001, with the terrorist attacks on UsefulNotes/NewYorkCity and UsefulNotes/WashingtonDC, which not only launched America into ''two'' wars, but continues to be a lingering specter in global politics. It is possible this decade may have ended culturally and politically in 2008–09, which saw the start of the [[HistoryRepeats worst economic crisis]] since TheGreatDepression, followed two months later by the election of UsefulNotes/BarackObama as President, as well as Website/{{Facebook}} surpassing Website/MySpace in traffic, and "electropop era" music like Music/LadyGaga, Music/JustinBieber, and Music/KatyPerry becoming popular. Alternatively, the political end of the decade may have been in 2011, the year of UsefulNotes/TheArabSpring, Occupy Wall Street, and the death of UsefulNotes/OsamaBinLaden. Culturally, the decade started kicking off somewhere around 1998-2003 with the continued rise of the internet, online music downloads, and reality shows, and ended somewhere around 2008-2010 with the rising prominence of the smartphone and social media sites like Website/{{Twitter}}, Instagram, and Facebook becoming very popular. Depending on who you ask, it may have officially ended around early 2007, when [[MemeticMutation memes]] made their way to solid popular culture status. Either way, the transitional period in was about 1998-2003, and the transitional period out was around 2008-2013.

This was the time in which TheInternet really became a part of society at large, instead of being limited to [[{{Geek}} computer geeks]] and Website/{{Usenet}} groups. Everyone got connected, with many people owning media storage devices, having access to the internet, etc. If you didn't have a computer with internet access, you were left behind. Technology was always getting better and less expensive via Moore's Law, and you could walk into a department store and buy a computer which was at least a million times more powerful than the ones that put UsefulNotes/NeilArmstrong on UsefulNotes/TheMoon. {{Video games}} finally started to gain mainstream recognition, especially near the end of the decade, with the release of the UsefulNotes/{{Wii}}. Games became DarkerAndEdgier, with plots that were much more mature and realistic, although the extent to which is subject to debate (some see it as a repeat of UsefulNotes/TheDarkAgeOfComicBooks). Meanwhile, the sports gaming industry was effectively monopolized by Creator/ElectronicArts.

DarkerAndEdgier became the norm in entertainment aimed at teens, as music and culture took a turn for the gothic and macabre with a shift from [[ContractualPurity squeaky-clean]] [[TeenIdol teen idols]] (I.e. Music/BackstreetBoys and Music/NSync) to {{Pop punk}}, [[EmoMusic emo]], NuMetal,and PostHardcore bands such as Music/Blink182, Music/GoodCharlotte, Music/GreenDay, Music/LimpBizkit, Music/LinkinPark, Music/NineInchNails, Music/SimplePlan, Music/SystemOfADown, Music/RageAgainstTheMachine, Music/JimmyEatWorld, the dreaded and much mocked Music/{{Nickelback}}, and many others in the early part of the decade, although teen idols on the Creator/DisneyChannel and Creator/{{Nickelodeon}} were popular in music. Music/MatchboxTwenty, Music/{{Audioslave}}, and other bands were really popular. This genre exploded in 2005 with the rise of Music/FallOutBoy, Music/PanicAtTheDisco, Music/MyChemicalRomance, Music/ThirtySecondsToMars, Music/{{Paramore}}), Music/{{AFI}} and similar acts, all of whom shared a focus on lyrics about serious topics such as mental and physical illness, sexual infidelity, and America's unhealthy obsession with tabloid stars. The subculture associated with the genre, known as emo, took high schools by storm with its sideswept bangs, skinny jeans, and heavy eye makeup. Ultimately it became one of the defining alternative rock genres of the decade with literally everyone having memories of listening to those bands in middle and high school. However just as the genre was reaching the peak of its popularity in 2008, Fall Out Boy's ''Folie à Deux'' showed a drastic shift in the band's sound and was met with mediocre commercial success, which started a chain reaction. By 2009, pop-punk and emo began its fall from the mainstream thanks to several factors: bands either were drastically changing their sound, [[Music/MyChemicalRomance breaking up]], or [[Music/FallOutBoy going on hiatus]]; oversaturation by an endless string of one-hit wonders; creation and heavy promotion of manufactured bands like Music/TheJonasBrothers by Disney and Nickelodeon as [[TheMoralSubstitute wholesome substitutes]] for authentic emo bands (resulting in the genre as a whole being branded as immature tween fodder); and the replacement of "emo" as popular music with [[Music/LadyGaga electronic]] [[Music/KatyPerry pop]] and as a culture with the "scene" trend -- basically emo with lots of '80s-inspired big hair, makeup, neon, and Franchise/HelloKitty accessories.

Conversely, the September 11 attacks served as a horrifically crippling blow to America's psyche, causing one of the longest (and most infamous) periods in which works were DistancedFromCurrentEvents. People had become highly sensitive to concepts such as pyrotechnical violence, the destruction of [[SkyscraperCity skyscrapers]], and [[TerrorismTropes terrorism]], leading to the censoring and/or banning of a lot of past media that [[HarsherInHindsight fell in bad taste]] in the wake of the attacks. The live action TV drama ''Series/{{Fringe}}'' can be credited with ending this period via a twist-ending season finale where one of the main characters winds up in a parallel universe, in which the White House was destroyed on 9/11 instead of the World Trade Center. September 11 still remains a sensitive subject in media today, with most references to it being for serious or dramatic purposes.

Conversely, the September 11 attacks served as a horrifically crippling blow to America's psyche, causing one of the longest (and most infamous) periods in which works were DistancedFromCurrentEvents. People had become highly sensitive to concepts such as pyrotechnical violence, the destruction of skyscrapers, and terrorism, leading to the censoring and/or banning of a lot of past media that [[HarsherInHindsight fell in bad taste]] in the wake of the attacks. The live action TV drama ''Series/{{Fringe}}'' can be credited with ending this period via a twist-ending season finale where one of the main characters winds up in a parallel universe, in which the White House was destroyed on 9/11 instead of the World Trade Center. September 11 still remains a sensitive subject in media today, with most references to it being for serious or dramatic purposes.

A lot of humor consisted of CrossingTheLineTwice, and things that would have caused the MoralGuardians to have strokes just a few years earlier were seen as just mildly offensive. As such, an obsession with UsefulNotes/{{Japan}} and awareness of [[FarEast East Asian]] affairs (especially with [[ChinaTakesOverTheWorld China's rapid rise as a world power]]) became popular in the US once more. Movies tended to be more about {{Adventure}} and [[JourneyToFindOneself self-discovery]] than {{Action|Genre}} and blowing things up. Of course, when you consider what started the decade off, it's kind of understandable why.

A lot of humor consisted of CrossingTheLineTwice, and things that would have caused the MoralGuardians to have strokes just a few years earlier were seen as just mildly offensive. As such, an obsession with UsefulNotes/{{Japan}} and awareness of [[FarEast East Asian]] affairs (especially with [[ChinaTakesOverTheWorld China's rapid rise as a world power]]) became popular in the US once more. Movies tended to be more about {{Adventure}} and [[JourneyToFindOneself self-discovery]] than action and blowing things up. Of course, when you consider what started the decade off, it's kind of understandable why.

A lot of humor consisted of CrossingTheLineTwice, and things that would have caused the MoralGuardians to have strokes just a few years earlier were seen as just mildly offensive. As such, an obsession with UsefulNotes/{{Japan}} and awareness of [[FarEast East Asian]] affairs (especially with [[ChinaTakesOverTheWorld China's rapid rise as a world power]]) became popular in the US once more. Movies tended to be more about adventure and self-discovery than action and blowing things up. Of course, when you consider what started the decade off, it's kind of understandable why.

A lot of humor consisted of CrossingTheLineTwice, and things that would have caused the MoralGuardians to have strokes just a few years earlier were seen as just mildly offensive. As such, an obsession with Japan and awareness of East Asian affairs (especially with [[ChinaTakesOverTheWorld China's rapid rise as a world power]]) became popular in the US once more. Movies tended to be more about adventure and self-discovery than action and blowing things up. Of course, when you consider what started the decade off, it's kind of understandable why.

Gaming's turn towards {{Realism}} was reflected in speculative fiction. There was a great demand for more [[DarkerAndEdgier "realistic"]] depictions of what happens if we were to actually [[FirstContact meet aliens]] or [[RobotWar fight robots]]. If we are higher tech, there is a good chance that HumansAreTheRealMonsters, and when we have the inferior tech, don't expect to come out of the situation alive or overcoming bad odds. This shift is perhaps best exemplified by ''Series/{{Lost}}'' and ''Series/{{Battlestar Galactica|2003}}'', two of the defining sci-fi shows of the decade, which were both heavily focused on [[NoughtiesDramaSeries character-driven drama, philosophy and gritty realism]] (the latter especially in ''BSG'''s case).

This was the time in which TheInternet really became a part of society at large, instead of being limited to [[{{Geek}} computer geeks]] and Website/{{Usenet}} groups. Everyone got connected, with many people owning media storage devices, having access to the internet, etc. If you didn't have a computer with internet access, you were left behind. Technology was always getting better and less expensive via Moore's Law, and you could walk into a department store and buy a computer which was at least a million times more powerful than the ones that put UsefulNotes/NeilArmstrong on UsefulNotes/TheMoon. {{Video games}} finally started to gain mainstream recognition, especially near the end of the decade, with the release of the UsefulNotes/{{Wii}}. Games became DarkerAndEdgier, with plots that were much more mature and realistic, although the extent to which s subject to debate (some see it as a repeat of UsefulNotes/TheDarkAgeOfComicBooks). Meanwhile, the sports gaming industry was effectively monopolized by Creator/ElectronicArts.

Gaming's turn towards realism was reflected in speculative fiction. There was a great demand for more [[DarkerAndEdgier "realistic"]] depictions of what happens if we were to actually [[FirstContact meet aliens]] or [[RobotWar fight robots]]. If we are higher tech, there is a good chance that HumansAreTheRealMonsters, and when we have the inferior tech, don't expect to come out of the situation alive or overcoming bad odds. This shift is perhaps best exemplified by ''Series/{{Lost}}'' and ''Series/{{Battlestar Galactica|2003}}'', two of the defining sci-fi shows of the decade, which were both heavily focused on [[NoughtiesDramaSeries character-driven drama, philosophy and gritty realism]] (the latter especially in ''BSG'''s case).

This was the time in which TheInternet really became a part of society at large, instead of being limited to [[{{Geek}} computer geeks]] and Website/{{Usenet}} groups. Everyone got connected, with many people owning media storage devices, having access to the internet, etc. If you didn't have a computer with internet access, you were left behind. Technology was always getting better and less expensive via Moore's Law, and you could walk into a department store and buy a computer which was at least a million times more powerful than the ones that put Neil Armstrong on the moon. {{Video games}} finally started to gain mainstream recognition, especially near the end of the decade, with the release of the UsefulNotes/{{Wii}}. Games became DarkerAndEdgier, with plots that were much more mature and realistic, although the extent to which s subject to debate (some see it as a repeat of UsefulNotes/TheDarkAgeOfComicBooks). Meanwhile, the sports gaming industry was effectively monopolized by Creator/ElectronicArts.

This was the time in which the internet really became a part of society at large, instead of being limited to computer geeks and Website/{{Usenet}} groups. Everyone got connected, with many people owning media storage devices, having access to the internet, etc. If you didn't have a computer with internet access, you were left behind. Technology was always getting better and less expensive via Moore's Law, and you could walk into a department store and buy a computer which was at least a million times more powerful than the ones that put Neil Armstrong on the moon. {{Video games}} finally started to gain mainstream recognition, especially near the end of the decade, with the release of the UsefulNotes/{{Wii}}. Games became DarkerAndEdgier, with plots that were much more mature and realistic, although the extent to which s subject to debate (some see it as a repeat of UsefulNotes/TheDarkAgeOfComicBooks). Meanwhile, the sports gaming industry was effectively monopolized by Creator/ElectronicArts.

Thanks in part by 9/11, escapism became big in movie entertainment and UsefulNotes/TheBlockbusterAgeOfHollywood reached previously ''inconceivable'' heights - every year had at least two movies that would gross over $750 million and, by the end of the decade, at least one each year would surpass the billion dollar mark. In 2002, for the first time, [[Film/SpiderMan1 a movie]] made more than $100 million just on its opening weekend. Thanks to new computer technology, most of these were incredibly expensive, ComputerGeneratedImages-packed extravaganzas, with superhero movies (like ''Film/SpiderMan1'' and ''Film/TheDarkKnight'') and fantasy epics (such as the ''Film/TheLordOfTheRings'' trilogy, the ''Film/HarryPotter'' series and the ''Franchise/PiratesOfTheCaribbean'' series) being the dominant genres in terms of box office success. Much of the reason why studios began to concentrate so hard on these types of movies was to keep drawing in an audience despite the [[DigitalPiracyIsEvil advent of digital piracy]] during this decade; if there was so much stuff on screen, the experience would be lost if it wasn't seen on a big screen. Pretty similar to how studios in TheFifties tried to keep audiences away from television with 3D and widescreen, really. Thanks to the size and scope of these films, smaller-scale movies like comedies and romances lost their box office power, with some major figures in the movie world wondering if soon cinema would be entirely dominated by these colossal spectacles and people would lose interest in more down-to-earth movies. However, {{digital piracy|IsOkay}}, {{Creator/Netflix}}, and movie websites such as Website/RottenTomatoes have brought attention to indie movies and foreign films which many people wouldn't have previously discovered, even if this didn't help these movies make a profit in theaters. Well, with one major exception - the martial arts film ''Film/CrouchingTigerHiddenDragon'' became the first foreign-language movie to gross over $100 million in the United States.

Thanks in part by 9/11, escapism became big in movie entertainment and UsefulNotes/TheBlockbusterAgeOfHollywood reached previously ''inconceivable'' heights - every year had at least two movies that would gross over $750 million and, by the end of the decade, at least one each year would surpass the billion dollar mark. In 2002, for the first time, [[Film/SpiderMan1 a movie]] made more than $100 million just on its opening weekend. Thanks to new computer technology, most of these were incredibly expensive, CGI-packed extravaganzas, with superhero movies (like ''Film/SpiderMan1'' and ''Film/TheDarkKnight'') and fantasy epics (such as the ''Film/TheLordOfTheRings'' trilogy, the ''Film/HarryPotter'' series and the ''Franchise/PiratesOfTheCaribbean'' series) being the dominant genres in terms of box office success. Much of the reason why studios began to concentrate so hard on these types of movies was to keep drawing in an audience despite the [[DigitalPiracyIsEvil advent of digital piracy]] during this decade; if there was so much stuff on screen, the experience would be lost if it wasn't seen on a big screen. Pretty similar to how studios in TheFifties tried to keep audiences away from television with 3D and widescreen, really. Thanks to the size and scope of these films, smaller-scale movies like comedies and romances lost their box office power, with some major figures in the movie world wondering if soon cinema would be entirely dominated by these colossal spectacles and people would lose interest in more down-to-earth movies. However, {{digital piracy|IsOkay}}, {{Creator/Netflix}}, and movie websites such as Website/RottenTomatoes have brought attention to indie movies and foreign films which many people wouldn't have previously discovered, even if this didn't help these movies make a profit in theaters. Well, with one major exception - the martial arts film ''Film/CrouchingTigerHiddenDragon'' became the first foreign-language movie to gross over $100 million in the United States.