Most of the great artists are shaped by the harrowing conditions in which they were raised and (sometimes) continued to live in. These conditions seem to make great artists and creative minds.
The stories and artwork that come also naturally borrow characters and themes from those less-than-ideal conditions.
With that in mind, how much do we conceive of the way life was decades or centuries ago through the eyes of these artists who got the short end of the stick?
Combine that with the fact that the extremes make for the most captivating stories and also that good things tend to become mundane and forgettable, whereas we remember every negative comment or situation with acute pain throughout life.
Clearly, there were many awful living situations, but I have a sneaking feeling that very much of life was very mundane and “normal” compared with the stories and pictures we see and use to shape the feel we have for bygone decades.