The classic cartoon, created by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera, showed long before the arrival of Covid-19 situations that are part of everyone’s routine: online classes, home office and video calls
The Covid-19 pandemic meant for many to rediscover technology or to have to learn to use tools they did not know existed. However, what for some was new in 2020 and again in this 2021 (such as taking classes and working online or having to go out with masks) for the characters in The Jetsons was already normal since the ’60s.
The animated series was created by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera (who is behind another classic like The Flintstones) in 1962, but with a story that took place in the future 2062.
The story follows the father of the Super Sónico family, his wife Ultra, who is a housewife, Lucero the teenage daughter, Cometín the youngest son, Robotina the robot worker at home and her pet Astro, among others.
In that world where the protagonists live, there is everything: houses suspended in the air, flying cars (not at all similar to normal cars) and robots as servants, but also five things that describe life in the covid-19 pandemic:
Medical consultations at home
In an episode in which Cometín feels unwell, at the push of a button, his mother calls a doctor who treats him through a screen. Currently, with the pandemic, even psychological consultations have been made by video call.
Capsules or masks
In the introduction to the cartoon, when Super says goodbye to his children who go to school, they are put in capsules that remind many of the current use of face masks and masks, and this is due to the way they arrive.
Exercise at home and by video call
With restrictions to prevent more virus infections, such as staying away and staying home, in addition to closing gyms, people have started training more at home with YouTube videos or live social media courses such as Instagram or platforms like Zoom.
This was normal for the Jetsons as well, and in one chapter we see Ultra getting up, turning on his screen to move from home.
Video calls
Even the minimal communication between people had to become virtual in 2020 and with the pandemic still present, it is still so. Well, for the Jetsons this was normal, in several chapters we see them talking to friends or family on screen.
Home office
Poor son Sonico would not leave him alone or at home, so we see him doing an office at home or working at home like thousands of people who had to learn this dynamic in the pandemic.