// NOSTALGIA
Most kids get impatient when their grandparents start telling stories about how much better life was when they were young. The smart ones shut up and smile. They know they will be in the same position themselves before long. Nostalgia has a pretty bad rap. Its more than memory. In fact, its really the opposite.
The bad bits get edited out, and the good bits showcased. Its the Director's Cut version of your life - self indulgent and unwatchable by anyone else.
But what about fads? When fashion trends recycle, or eighties music is rediscovered by a generation that was barely alive the first time round - is that not also a kind of nostalgia? Aside from personal memories, Societies also have a way of selectively reconstructing the past.
For what its worth - here comes my own big idea. I call it the theory of Era Affinity. According to Era Affinity - the era that you are most likely to glamorise is the one in which you were born, not the one you grew up in.
Why? If like me, you were a teenager in the early nineties then all those baggy pastel clothes and bad house music are not just memories, they are memory pegs to specific life events. I can't think about them without thinking about my own early life. And for the most part, that makes me cringe.
But the seventies. Well, thats another story. I was only four years old when they ended. Whether it was because of groovy soundtracks that played ambiently to my infant ears, or the pop culture icons of the period like Warhol and Hefner - I find myself thinking about the disco decade with a fondness disconnected from my own direct experience.
Test it yourself. Ask people when they were born, do the math, and probe them on what they consider retro cool as opposed to retro kitsch. I'm pretty sure you will find that Gen Y consumers love the eighties, Gen Xers love the seventies and Baby Boomers the fifties and sixties.
It makes a crazy kind of sense. Our happiest memories tend to be of things that never actually happened.
But what about fads? When fashion trends recycle, or eighties music is rediscovered by a generation that was barely alive the first time round - is that not also a kind of nostalgia? Aside from personal memories, Societies also have a way of selectively reconstructing the past.
For what its worth - here comes my own big idea. I call it the theory of Era Affinity. According to Era Affinity - the era that you are most likely to glamorise is the one in which you were born, not the one you grew up in.
Why? If like me, you were a teenager in the early nineties then all those baggy pastel clothes and bad house music are not just memories, they are memory pegs to specific life events. I can't think about them without thinking about my own early life. And for the most part, that makes me cringe.
But the seventies. Well, thats another story. I was only four years old when they ended. Whether it was because of groovy soundtracks that played ambiently to my infant ears, or the pop culture icons of the period like Warhol and Hefner - I find myself thinking about the disco decade with a fondness disconnected from my own direct experience.
Test it yourself. Ask people when they were born, do the math, and probe them on what they consider retro cool as opposed to retro kitsch. I'm pretty sure you will find that Gen Y consumers love the eighties, Gen Xers love the seventies and Baby Boomers the fifties and sixties.
It makes a crazy kind of sense. Our happiest memories tend to be of things that never actually happened.
In most parts...I tend to agree w/ this.
Obviously, you can never account for 100% of the population and theirs likes. As a pretty good guess though...
"Our happiest memories tend to be of things that never actually happened."
..is very true. Coin that phrase!
Posted by: Ian McCallam | February 05, 2007 at 05:16 PM
same thing with the best love stories are those unsuccessful..
Posted by: thesa | June 07, 2009 at 11:27 PM
"Our happiest memories tend to be of things that never actually happened."
-I started reading your thoughts few weeks ago. And now I'm starting to quote you!
I totally agree on this. No wonder why no matter how bittersweet the feelings nostalgia can bring, we still love it.
Posted by: Heidy | June 30, 2009 at 01:59 AM