A lot of what I am reading about concerns the great dissolution of contemporary culture—the enshitification, as you will. After reflection, could nostalgia be the significant culprit here?
TLDR this month:
What is nostalgia?
Why people turn to it.
The problems with it.
The people shaping it.
How brands are using it.
Why it might be time to stop.
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Our pervasive and powerful obsession with nostalgia is defining the current cultural landscape. We are stuck. We live in a postmodern bricolage, where the internet dissolves time and space.
“You could argue that when the culture became knowing, it signed its own death because it became stuck. You’re constantly Meta-ing. Really, what Meta is about is nostalgia. It’s a posh word for nostalgia. Nostalgia is history altered through sentiment…Society has become so dependent on ideas from the past we are completely unable to envision a time when things are better…” Adam Curtis.
We collectively find ourselves caught in a captivating dance with the past as we navigate the intricate interplay between cherished memories and a desire for modern innovation. We have reached a paradoxical combination of speed and standstill. From the resurgence of vintage fashion, interiors, and food to the revival of retro video games, the allure of bygone eras has seeped into every facet of our lives, redefining how brands connect with their audiences.
Have we reached a tipping point? Could our culture's yearning for nostalgia impede its capacity to move forward? Perhaps our fondness for the past is a consequence of our culture's stagnation, leading us to revere more eventful and progressive eras. Where are the significant or new genres of subcultures of the twenty-first century?
‘The funny thing about our time is that it is all times, all eras at once. Something about our time makes you wish you lived in another one.’ Glenn O’Brien
Nostalgia has evolved from a mere sentiment into a powerful cultural force, weaving into the fabric of our daily lives. In contemporary culture, the trope of nostalgia has surged to the forefront of creative expression, permeating fashion, media, and music.
The theorist Gilles Lipovestky says, “We live in a paradoxical present that ceaselessly exhumes and rediscovers the past.”
Our fetishization of nostalgia isn’t a post-pandemic thing.
Nostalgia is a complex and multifaceted emotion that various stimuli can trigger. It doesn't always require direct personal experience. It often revolves around the emotional resonance of a particular time or cultural context, regardless of whether one lived through it.
Often, a period is revived as people are amused or charmed by it - it grants things a new status value. As negative associations fade, trends are primed for a comeback. Once a convention is removed from circulation and no longer associated with present-day ‘adopters,’ it can be resurrected - this has now shortened to a 10/15-year cycle.
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What is contributing to our current nostalgic cycle:
Youth culture
Though all generations are prone to nostalgia tendencies, youth culture drives the current culture the strongest. In his 2023 book, W. David Marx muses about culture: “Each generation overvalues the culture of their youth, and their hunger for nostalgia as they become financially independent pushes culture towards their particular sensibilities.” Gen Z has been the catalyst for the current Y2K fetish.
Nostalgia for Simpler, Stable Times
We often experience nostalgia for a time before the complexities of adulthood, times associated with innocence, exploration, and fewer responsibilities. This longing for simpler times drives a sense of comfort and familiarity. For Gen Z, this moment is in the ‘00s - when they were kids. There is also a desire to escape present lives' constant connectivity and technological saturation. 66% of Gen Z crave simpler times and would like to travel back to experience the world pre-internet (VICE 2023). In times of social and political division, people may yearn for a sense of unity and shared values, which they perceive as existing in the past. Nostalgia can represent a collective longing for a more cohesive society.
Cultural & Technological Overload
The frantic pace of the internet pushes humans far beyond the acceptable rate of change. We have unprecedented access to vast information, entertainment, and cultural content. This can lead to a sense of cultural overload, making it tempting to retreat to the familiar and comforting content of the past.
Distinctive aesthetic
We like a moment characterised by iconic fashion trends, memorable music, and classic movies and TV shows. The ‘00s were celebrity media, reality TV, high-budget music videos, MTV channel shows, My Space, print magazines, and fan merchandise. The content is endless. 40% of Gen Z buy pre-loved clothes because of an aesthetic they want to create (WGSN, 2024).
Media + Product Accessibility
Digital platforms and streaming services have made accessing and engaging with this content accessible. From rewatching popular TV shows to discovering legendary music albums, these platforms have bridged the generational gap. Over half of Americans watch a rerun every week (YouGov 2023). And with the rise of resale platforms—Depop, eBay, The Real Real—access to ‘vintage’ items across 100 years is easier than ever.
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So, here we are in 2023, where the current culture is exhuming 2007, and it feels disappointingly familiar.
It is disappointing because cultural stasis is not trivial; we gauge the well-being of our society by looking at how much creative and meaningful cultural work it generates. And right now, much of what is being created doesn’t feel meaningful or thoughtful.
It should be noted that I’m not against referencing history – I firmly believe that we can use history to provide more context about modern society. History is important and will always hold value. It serves as a guide for our culture today. However, when there is an overwhelming yearning for the past, it is a sign that the future may have a problem.
Nostalgia can be a form of denial - 'golden age thinking' - the mistaken belief that a different time period was better than the one we live in. This belief can be dangerous. Pierre Bourdieu calls this ‘Hysteresis - the lingering values of a previous age continuing to guide our judgments.’
But why can't we romanticise our past? Well, for one, it has its flaws. For those asking this, are you a middle-class, white, non-disabled, straight man? Think about how different your life might have been 50 years ago - or even just 20 years ago - if you weren't.
“Nostalgia can be a dangerous thing; People are nostalgic for times that never fucking existed.” Richard Linklater, Dazed and Confused Film Director.
For many people, nostalgia can be hurtful. It celebrates a past that wasn't equitable or safe for people like them. A brand creating a rose-tinted version of that past can seem ignorant if they don't acknowledge these issues.
What is another concern is that with so much time, energy, and attention channeled into the excavation, who is genuinely working towards the radically new?
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Ironically, the creative class's pioneers and innovators are more addicted to the past and have taken up new roles—as archivists. There’s curation instead of originality. They communicate their superiority by manipulating past culture. The avant-garde is now arriere-garde.
“Curatorship is arguably the big job of our times; it is the task of re-evaluating, filtering, digesting and connecting; in an age saturated with new artifacts, these people are the new storytellers - meta authors.” Brain Eno
Some of the most influential Instagram accounts are curated faceless ‘archive’ accounts;
What do these accounts create—a new social currency?
A valuable signal is based on the exclusive possession of knowledge from privileged information and intelligent choices. Or have we become victims of our ever-increasing capacity to store, organise, and instantly access vast amounts of cultural data? And we get off on a meticulously organised constellation of reference points.
At times, it feels like Gen Z has abandoned previous generations’ determination toward radical artistic innovation for laid-back amateurism. I think this is due to them feeling more pressure to be authentic, which raises the bar for switching to new things. The past is more helpful in crafting personas than a fleeting present.
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Nostalgia has undeniably served as a prevalent marketing strategy over the past decade, with brands consistently striving to resonate with consumers.
However, brands and their strategists need to ask themselves some questions. Are you telling stories that make sense of the things we used to love? Are you helping us remember why we were so drawn to them? Are you inspiring devotion? Or are you being extremely risk-averse and lazy, repeating every generation's childhoods like an endless lullaby for the rest of our lives?
For a brand to use nostalgia, it must first be relevant and modern and used as a short-term tactic to remind and delight. Without this contrast, a brand is just doing what it has been doing all along, being stuck in its glory days while the world, culture, and consumers all move on.
All signs point towards what is necessary for our future is defiance not nostalgia.