are we stuck in nostalgia?
and, can we get past it?
Nostalgia is something we all experience on some level but I can't help but feel myself using nostalgia as a way to contribute to consumerism. I cling on to older forms of media, dvds, record players, cd’s for the sake of what is essentially nostalgia. Nostalgia in the media is everywhere - we have seen it through the wave of Disney remakes, utilizing live action as a way to separate the remakes. I find myself thinking about my past through media and the feelings of ignorance I felt while watching said media during my childhood. There are a handful of childhood favorite films that I have on dvd that I almost never pull out because I can stream these films, and for the most part, they were purchased post streaming era. I find myself attaching some level of coolness to myself for finding most of my collection at used video games or movie stores that may be on their last limb. These films tend to remind me of a simpler time, a time where I was ignorant to the global world, when my mind didn’t understand conflicts outside of my bubble in Minnesota. Maybe my parents protected me during this time or maybe I found these films to be reflections of what I saw around me, helping me understand and come to terms with the world, while remaining, to some degree, ignorant. Two movies in particular resonate with that idea for very different reasons, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate factory, (and charlie and the chocolate factory) and the Day after tomorrow.
Willy Wonka, a story about a poor child living with his parents and four grandparents in what is essentially a one bedroom house, wins the lottery through finding a golden ticket to tour the famous chocolate factory. The trick is, he has to be morally just to come to the riches promised to him. I find that part of me related to Charlie's disposition as someone who grew up poor. He wanted to explore the world, while simultaneously understanding the world with a close eye. Charlie understands that the other children are dealing with their parents misguidance and clings to his grandfather for the stability he provides. He must be morally good so that he passes all the trials within the factory, setting him up for ample chances to fail. Charlie debates thoughout the film if he should just skip the factory and steal recipes that could take him out of his circumstances. Charlie even takes the bait at one point by drinking a liquid left in one of the factory rooms. The instant repercussion of sipping the forbidden drink was their bodies floating from the elixir. As they float higher and higher, they realize they are inching closer and closer to an industrial factory fan, seemingly capable of doing life threatening harm. Luckily they get away with it until the end of the film, when the Willy Wonka confronts for not following the rules they laid out before entering the tour, it was his final test. I find that I need to keep my morals in this life in order to be fulfilled, regardless of any hardship I have faced. There is always a smart part of my brain that wants to run off and make money in the easiest ways, like dropshipping or schemes. Even in my childhood, I remember thinking about how being honest and following some moral code would give me the ultimate reward, and while I'm not sure what that reward is, I think it still holds true for me. I watched that movie countless times as a kid because I subconsciously understood my circumstances better because of the film, I don't think I fully realized that, hence the nostalgia I feel for the film now. The day after tomorrow is a different story. I saw the film years after its release around the age of 12. There were a number of films I can think of that came out at this time period that i feel intense nostalgia for but to keep it short here is a bullet point list:
Spider man 2 (specifically, the second one for it ability to have a solid villain and a questioning of what your identity means)
National Treasure
Jennifer's Body
Superbad
The list could go on. And, while these films aren't in the same genre, there is a connection between the films, place, and time. The films are set up to perfectly capture the early 2000s. Day after tomorrow to me, represented a future from the lens of someone in the early 2000s, viewing how climate change is slowly getting closer and closer. Elizabeth Kabert details the next extinction, in The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History, being a slow process that we don’t realize until it fully consumes us. It says we are already in the six extinction made through our direct harm to the planet we inhabit. Day after Tomorrow shows us an accelerated version of this extinction through an ice age, caused by our need to accelerate and continue production as normal. While I agree with that notion, I also agree with the film's view, showing us how rapid climate change can disrupt us as quickly as the snap of fingers. It makes the nostalgia of the film still feel like it has some distance, but we see that rapidly changing. When I was younger the film felt far-fetched, in the sense, we had an ample amount of time before any climate disaster would be drastic, to the point that I felt comfort in that distance. Clearly , the younger me was wrong.
Now, it feels like we are trapped between the everlasting battle of resources and climate disasters. The film in a way, loses its nostalgia through the ideas that there is no place to long for. Without the planet, there is no memory of it, just suffering. It carries all the Algos, none of the Notros. I think about how in Texas we can see a natural disaster, such as flooding, catastrophically affect an area that could have been protected through better policy and investment in our understanding of climate. We live in a world where everything is politics, even the weather and perhaps, even nostalgia. We can't get past it, because our past IS our future.
In
post, the quiet grief of growing up, they saySometimes, it feels like I’m stuck at the halfway point, at war with myself, where i’m caught between what i’d hoped to be and what i can still become.
What is nostalgia but lost hope? If nostalgia is longing for a memory for time, is that not just hope for something to last forever, which feels like an extension of consumerism? Within the fold of nostalgia, have I hidden this hopeful desire to become wealthy through a moral means, or, do I desire to delay the effects of climate change by clinging on to the physical dvds. And, is having physical media a way for me to purchase these memories, making them tangible. Do I collect these books and films because of what they contain or is it because of the memory I have attached to them? I'm not ready to give up on the things that make me feel nostalgic just yet. I still feel the attachment between myself and the physical mediums around me that is intrinsically tied to my hope. but i’ll leave you with one final question: do we need to physically see our memories for them to exist? Do they need to be written down, or displayed through a photograph? Is it the chicken or the egg?
But maybe one day that will all change, but for now i will keep my dvds, books and records.