Breaking Nostalgia

Breaking Nostalgia

Definition: a wistful or excessively sentimental yearning for return to or of some past period or irrecoverable donation; also : something that evokes nostalgia

Nostalgia can be a powerful and comforting feeling, something that can reconnect us to our past, remind us of things we had growing up. Not only do I think there’s nothing inherently wrong with nostalgia, but I think it’s healthy now and then.

We see how powerful a drive nostalgia can be when it comes to entertainment. Reboots, remakes, sequels, a lot of movies, shows, and music find success by reaching back into the past. And I say, “Good for them”. If they can find success and profits through giving people the nostalgia they’re looking for, I don’t see anything inherently wrong with that either.

What I see as a problem is when we become beholden to our nostalgia, when we allow it to make us angry, frustrated, to lash out over cartoon shows from decades ago because they were ‘ruined’. I see people passionately fight for their nostalgia with a similar level of urgency that people struggling for equality and equity in race, religion, and gender do. There’s a reason for it, as I’ve stated many times in past posts self-identity is something we hold very dear to us.

I argue that though I grew up watching Transformers and Ninja Turtles as a child, they are not a part of my deepest, most personal identity, at least not so much as to feel that Michael Bay is personally attacking my childhood. My childhood is over, and barring a literal time machine, will remain as it is. That’s not to say Michael Bay movies are free from critique, but that “my childhood is ruined!” isn’t among the useful ones. If you want a critique of the Transformers movies, I’d recommend Lindsay Ellis’s videos starting here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PRXI__Wixas

The Backfire Effect and Core Beliefs

This is the second time I’m referring readers to The Oatmeal’s comic on it found here: http://theoatmeal.com/comics/believe

In sum, the backfire effect is that mentally we reject ideas and concepts that challenge our core beliefs with the same part of our brain that reacts to physical, violent threats. Things that don’t matter to our core self, our identity, we can debate a lot more easily, are more flexible and less likely to be offended and shut down to alternate ideas. What is more sacred to us though requires a lot more effort and mindfulness, to not give into our impulses if we wish to learn and grow.

We all have core beliefs, things that ground us, things that shape our worldview. And that’s all right. I think to a degree having some things sacred to us is a good thing, that in the heat of the moment if someone is saying that hurting puppies is fun (as a more extreme example), I think it’s reasonable to have our first impulse be complete rejection, as anger, to be mad at the person before we try to thoughtfully and more objectively point out why that’s so terrible.

I don’t know enough about the subject matter to say what is and is not within our control to hold as core beliefs. Obviously some things like faith and family more easily become deeply rooted than our favorite brand of snack. And it is the latter that this post is concerned about. Of things like snacks, games, or movies, and how when we let nostalgia get the better of us, we lose sight of more important things.

A Few Examples

Ghostbusters

Ghostbusters. I know I’m late to the punch, but it was this spectacle that first made me wonder if nostalgia could be taken too far. Although certainly not a majority, a number of vocal individuals could not accept the idea of a female main cast for Ghostbusters. They reacted with complete rejection, anger, rigidity, everything that would suggest that the masculinity of a comedy franchise about busting ghosts was deeply important to them, potentially even a core belief. This was all before the movie was released.

To be sure, sexism certainly was a part of it, that the same level of vitriol wasn’t direct at the other things that mar the Ghostbusters franchise from a critically-mixed second movie, cartoons that were marketing schemes for selling toys, and the issues between Bill Murry and Harold Ramis that stalled and ultimately prevented the original third movie. However, there were those who passionately spoke to nostalgia, and allowed themselves to feel deeply hurt and offended before having any real critiques to go on other than it wasn’t like the old days. Other aspects of the franchise past, present, or future became lost in a debate that didn’t even reflect the movie itself. Even the greater question of gender roles in media and society was lost on those who felt their views on Ghostbusters were part of their core beliefs.

The Princess Bride

The other discussion that really brought my attention to how we treat nostalgia was Robin Wright’s role in the Princess Bride compared to Wonder Woman, and to a lesser extent how Carrie Fisher’s Leia changed from a princess the original movie to a General in The Force Awakens. I love both The Princess Bride and Star Wars A New Hope, I have fond memories of both movies (nostalgia, if you will). Part of the celebration many had, the inspiration seeing actresses playing damsels in distress later in life play much more assertive and powerful roles did hold criticism to those earlier movies. The point is there that those earlier movies I enjoyed growing up did not give women dynamic and strong roles.

There is a part of me that does have a slight urge to defend those old movies, but luckily for me I don’t feel The Princess Bride is part of my core beliefs. I can accept criticisms of the movie without it being a personal attack. More than that I can even accept some of that criticism as valid, and though I’ll still watch it again, am willing to look at it through a new lens.

Pluto

I grew up learning about nine planets in our solar system, Pluto being the ninth. We grew, we learned, we discovered that there were other celestial objects like Pluto and in light of the new information downgraded its classification to a dwarf planet.

It is an inanimate object.

No human being has touched its surface, and likely will not for a very, very long time.

It’s not like most of us are astronomers.

Yet somehow Pluto was still personified in many ways, seen as being bullied by the other, “big” planets. Here is a link to typing in “Pluto not a planet” into the google search engine for images: https://www.google.com/search?rlz=1C1CHZL_enUS687US687&biw=2004&bih=1018&tbm=isch&sa=1&ei=29sXWrKNNsmOjwOYhYy4Bg&q=pluto+not+a+planet&oq=pluto+not+a+planet&gs_l=psy-ab.3...0.0.0.8620.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0..0.0....0...1c..64.psy-ab..0.0.0....0.1VetzUuGnnU

As much as I get a good chuckle out of them, I can’t help but draw the connection to how nostalgia can make us view even the cosmos in silly ways. It may not have the toxicity that the Ghostbusters argument had, the inspiration that Robin Wright transition from damsel to warrior held, but it serves as one more anecdotal case of our nostalgia. We’ll draw sad eyes on Pluto over it.

The Choice

I will not argue in this post about whether your religion, family, career, peer group, or any number of other things belong as part of your core beliefs, those things that you will rarely if ever yield on. If you wish to place your childhood entertainment into the same space of your inner being, that is your call. I would ask you to consider whether or not it is wise though. Do you wish for a decades-old movie or show to hold the power to ruin your day should someone denounce it? As our society and the greater world grips with deeply complex social issues such as partisanship, religion, race, sexual orientation, gender, nationality, and more, digging our heels into the ground and drawing lines in the sand of us vs. them, do we really need to do that for nostalgic entertainment as well? Can we allow at least these more superficial aspects of our lives to be open to critique and analysis without it becoming contentious?

Maybe if we can break nostalgia, those heavier matters that divide us will be the next step?

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(IN)ACTION!

The next time you hear about a remake, reboot, or re-whatever about something you loved as a child, or the next time one of those nostalgic memories is given a criticism when looked at through current-day-ethics… don’t sweat it. Don’t feel you have to take action over it.

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What’s Next?

I think what I want to go over is to go over what I see as flawed, disingenuous, or even toxic strategies that I see are used in debates in our society today. It will likely be similar to my Ten Strategies post I made before, but will likely have to go deeper. I’ll cover some of the common strategies that halt progress, describe why it’s tempting to use them and why it’s still not worth it, and hopefully ways to counteract them.