By Nadeem Zafar
A feeling so distant, yet so familiar.
An urge so irritating, yet relaxing and soothing.
A time so long ago, yet distant.
A place at home, yet feels out of place.
Why Nostalgia is what it is
Asking you whether you’ve felt “nostalgic” for something, would be the equivalent of asking a human, “Can you eat?”. It has become so ubiquitous, that we often find ourselves lost in the moment, deep in a truck-load of nostalgic feelings too many times to count. After all, it's one of those things like deja-vu that happens to everybody. It’s the type of subject you’d use to start a conversation, and however overused it is – people always, and will always feel something about their past.
Whether you feel gloomy, or overjoyed about your past – humans have long since retained a connection, of memories, ideas and people to times long passed. And it’s pretty interesting how not only the media and businesses, but pop-culture has absorbed this global phenomenon of nostalgia – to do all sorts of things.
(For reference, the Britannica definition of “nostalgia” goes like this; the pleasure and sadness that is caused by remembering something from the past and wishing that you could experience it again)
The Dominant Trope
Commonly, when we think of “nostalgia”, we often relate to the glorified version of it, which is largely dominated by millennials and people born out of the early 80s. Where people, mostly middle-class consumers, felt reminiscent about how the consumer-culture of the early 70s, 80s and 90s have impacted their lives. Think arcades, hip-hop mixtapes, retro-styled synth music, epic futuristic blockbusters like Star Wars, and Back to the Future. To generalize things, society was becoming more focused on consumerism.
To add to this, the emergence of a more open-minded, liberal thinking, made it so that looking at our world today, it seems virtually different. Soon, a resurgence of emotions and feelings pertaining to the “good old days” hit many people.
However, nostalgia has been there since the dawn of time itself. It simply is the universal feeling of having emotion towards past events – it has happened to everyone, including those before us. In fact, nostalgia itself is a prominent theme that is prominent in many pieces of literature and poetry including Reincarnation Blues by Michael Poore and the Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro. Both heavily involving deep nostalgic feelings towards the past.
Why Nostalgia is Everywhere
Many large branches of pop-culture have erupted from this. If you glance at the Billboard Hot 100 charts these days, you see a resurgence of artists that base their genres out of 70s funk, or even 80s synthwave. (Like the Weeknd’s latest album, Dawn FM, and Dua Lipa’s perfectly titled Future Nostalgia). These albums have dominated the charts, and have revealed this collective emergence of nostalgia amidst times where people feel stressed out, and consumed by the social, political and economic status of the world.
Clothes, on the other hand, and fashion have been particularly receptive to the recent wave of nostalgia. Trends such as wearing really baggy clothes, or hair styles that are reminiscent of the past such as mullets, different-sized afros, or even clothes that style bright, popping, vibrant colors.
Apart from fashion, and music – movie culture has also adapted to the recent wave of nostalgia. More and more of the newer movies these days, are either sequels, or remakes of older movies. Again, pertaining to how people are very much attracted to older titles, for the sake of reminiscing the past – in the face of a much unwanted present. Spiderman for example, stretched far into the early 1960s, cementing itself as the quintessential face of Marvel at the time. Movies like the recent Spiderman: No Way Home, played on the integral characters that were famously portrayed in the 2 previous remakes of Spiderman, and the generational accumulation of nostalgia surrounding other older spiderman media (such as the comics and TV series) – creating a wave of nostalgia for all that was. Culminating in one of the highest grossing movies of 2021. Even the last movie to the Star Wars saga, the Rise of the Skywalker, (released in 2019), played on the fact that it is the last main Star Wars movie in the entire franchise, that spanned well over 50 years. 5 decades that attracted a huge cult following, even so, when older cast members reappeared in the movie – again culminating in one of the highest grossing movies of the year. The same happens with most of the earlier Marvel superhero movies of the early 2010s.
Other than the media playing on our wave of nostalgia – even businesses and companies have started to do the same. Many big brands, including PepsiCo, Coca-Cola – even fast-food chains, have begun to reintroduce old packaging, and labels – reminiscent of goods sold in the past. Apart from packaging, brands have even begun to reintroduce old products – beverages especially, as older flavors are being reintroduced.
Alright… What Now?
To answer the initial question of why it's everywhere, it's simply because we aren’t content or happy with the current situation of the world. However pessimistic it is to say that, it's only when we are discontent with the present – does our mind constantly relate to ideas and events that are positive, times when we were more than content.
So dear reader – if you are feeling down and discontent with everything that’s going on (Read the rest of the Scoop™ Blog to cheer you up, you’ll find something you’d like in here) – its only natural for you to dream about the good old days of the past; but don’t let that sidetrack you from the good things that will come your way – and we’re certain there are better days ahead.
コメント