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Now our current recession may not compare statistically to the Great Depression, unemployment rates are still much lower, the shanty towns haven’t started popping up yet and the work camps haven’t been put into motion.
But when it comes to popular culture, things are looking eerily familiar.
All forms of entertainment were popular during the Great Depression. Escapism was a very useful tool for dealing with the terrible circumstances sweeping the world.
Movies at the time dealt with the overcoming of evil, escape and triumph against all odds.
Judy Garland stepped down the yellow brick road in 1939, whisking her and Toto away from the Dust Bowl and into the mysterious Land of Oz.
Over 70 years on and faced with similar economic ruin, two brand new takes on the famous fairytale are already in postproduction.
The animated Dorothy of Oz will hit our screens next year, while in 2013 Mila Kunis and James Franco will star in Oz: The Great and Powerful, with the story told from the perspective of the Wizard.
Fairytales were popular during the Depression and Disney released America’s first animated feature film, Snow White and the Seven Dwarves.
But 2011 has seen an emergence of the darker sides of age old fables. TV and film is in the process of being inundated with new twists on old classics.
Catherine Hardwicke’s Red Riding Hood took a stroll out of the woods and into cinemas earlier this year and Snow White is primed to follow with Kirsten Stewart as the lead in Snow White and the Huntsman.
TV has been quick not to be left behind with both Grimm and Once Upon a Time debuting recently.
Grimm follows Nick Burckhardt, a detective who is a descendant of the Brothers Grimm and has the ability to see creatures who disguise themselves as humans.
The fairy tales we all grew up with were in fact guides and Nick is the latest in a long line to become a hunter and slay the creatures.
While ABC’s Once Upon a Time focuses on the town of Storybrooke, Maine where the inhabitants are classic fairy tale characters sent to our world by the Evil Queen, and cursed to not remember their past lives or identities.
Emma Swan, the child of, you guessed it, Snow White, must break the curse and help our favourite fairytale characters to remember their past.
Monster movies proved extremely popular during the 1930’s, characterising evil as something monstrous that must be defeated, appealed to victims of the depression.
TV has cottoned on to the same trend and produced two highly acclaimed shows in The Walking Dead and American Horror Story.
So whether it’s thousands of blood hungry zombies or the goings on in a haunted house, in times of economic crisis being scared senseless always appeals.
Possibly the greatest fictional creation to come out of the Great Depression was Joe Shuster and Jerry Siegel’s red underwear wearing, hero for all heroes; Superman.
The champion of the oppressed became an overnight success and role model to children raised during the tough economic times.
Clark Kent hasn’t stopped saving the day since, and now a new generation of kids brought up in the recession will have Zak Snyder’s Superman: Man of Steel in 2013 to pin their hopes on.
Several other films that debuted during the Depression era have since been remade during our recession. Sherlock Holmes, Alice in Wonderland and Robin Hood all hit the silver screen with tales of escape, triumph and sticking it to the man.
So while economically things might not be as bad as during the ‘30s, it seems culturally things never change.