Visions of a future full of technological innovation became popular in Europe and the colonized regions during the 19th century. The French author Jules Verne was probably the most famous artist in this genre. In the early 20th century, authors like H. G. Wells found success with science fiction about Martian invasions and the possibility of time travel. Despite writers, painters and, a bit later, film directors often portrayed the problems of the future, the dominant view in society was a conviction that the future would be better than the present. People were convinced that new technology would conquer existing problems. In the printed press, images of the amazing future were extremely common until the 1960s, but after these experiences with nuclear weapons and other new technologies muted optimism about the future some. But by then, it had still managed to survive two world wars.

A distinguishing trait of the visions was that people continued existing lines of technology innovations, but their appearance was marked by contemporary aesthetics. Similarly, the people who showed up in the images of the future tended to be very fixed in their time of creation in terms of behavior and appearance. Usually, people didn't consider gender roles and age-related stereotypes among others as things that could significantly change.