I wish the people who are all into the "we have to return to the 80s/90s/y2k era" concept realized that what they REALLY want, is not to return to some imagined past, but they want to feel the way they did when they were little, and there's a solution to that that doesn't involve fascist politics
It’s an issue I have with any sort of ‘comfy’ media
as someone who has great nostalgia for my own childhood I am acutely aware of how that impulse has been weaponized by the right wing and constantly watch for signs that its corrupting my modern day positions
Same. I just pursue the core appeal of my childhood antics as an adult instead, which just boils down to swim and explore a lot.
Any desire to return to a time you were still alive for will ultimately be tainted with nostalgia. That is why I only yearn to be alive during the Age of Sail
ah, the age of sail, wooden ships and iron men, and god help you if you have a dental cavity
I would set off on a voyage with the Dutch East India company in search of the mythical land of Cipangu and then die of scurvy 4 months in
Even one such as I who's absolutely enamored with such aesthetics out of nostalgia recognizes very clearly that it's merely the aesthetics themselves that are so pleasing, not necessarily the time period they come from. We don't want to time-travel, we want a better present.
exactly. i never want to go back to the year 1981, i just want to feel the way i felt in 1981, and thats a very important distinction that many of the nostalgia bait tiktoks are exploiting
"I think it's worth remembering that what the Democrats promise, the neoliberal dream, did come true once [in the 90s], and we weren't happy. We were famously disenchanted with it." God, I love this video. youtu.be/shSLPcp4C18
I guess that you are right. The issue is that we don't remember those parts because we did not interact with them in our childhood. I was a kid during the tequila crisis and the dictatorship but i mostly remember kindergarten, school, festivals, tv shows, toys. Kids tomorrow will remember the nce
Its just like how boomers say they wanna return to the 50's. It ignores all the problems that were there while glorifying the bits of good there were. I enjoy the graphic design aesthetic of the late 90's/early 2k and the music from that time, but I dont ever want to actually return to that era.
Dunno, depends. We liked some things from those eras, but we would only wish feeling like we did when we were little on our worst enemies (typically fascists)
I mean, fair, except I feel like the present moment has more fascist politics than most of the last 30+ years :/
The people most concerned about this kind of nostalgia are using it to advance those fascist politics. They are saying “let’s go back to the 80s when there weren’t so many immigrants or woke video games”
That’s a perennial form of nostalgia in every generation I think. On the other hoof I think it’s valid to be nostalgic for past design aesthetics and technology. How evolving cultural norms inform design & technology is another lvl of quantum that I probably don’t have the brainpower to comprehend.
100% if i wanna escape to the 80s put on some 80s music and play on my retrocon
we have the deep knowledge of nostalgia, we ageplayers and littles and middles. We know the way to soothe that yearning. It doesn't involve an ethnostate or forsaking the last several decades of social progress and technology
Also the 80s, 90s, and Y2K era did not Look the way every reactionary nostalgia baiter tells you they look they look like conk reet and fake wood paneling and also lots of cigarettes.
Hey, I like concrete. It feels good on my hands. /lh But seriously, I agree.
they only saw the ads, sitcoms, movies, and pictures of the time. not the actual world that existed. not the actual people.
Does it count if I'm a little bit nostalgic for the concrete and cigarettes?
that's fine cigarettes ar e coll and they had to get me to stop fucking the conk reet mixer machine with guns so i relate
My tinfoil theory is that ABDLs have a compositional sensitivity toward Aesthetics. Nostalgia greatly facilitates this exploration because childhood is a time of immense aesthetic source material (among other factors), even if it's idealised in our minds. Feelings linger in memories, not reality.
we feel certain ways when touching, seeing, wearing, specific things and specific colors and they are associated with our own pasts. but its not always about unlocking memories. its often about writing new ones
mhm! What is personal art but continuing the conversation.
It's why I keep cracking the 'socially acceptable ageplay' joke while absolutely eating a dump-truck load of shit elsewhere on that
“Nostalgia is just socially acceptable ageplay” is an extra spicy take, but also one I wanna dwell on mentally a bit! :0
I think a big element of this is feeling like there was time and space When we were growing up, it felt like there was time to think and places we could go to think. As first-world adults in the 2020’s, that’s borderline impossible without being enormously limiting
Radicalisation is a lot easier if you make people feel like everything is happening too fast and you can’t escape And that’s easier than it’s ever been
Internet is a great invention and a bad invention cause your always bombarded by this that or the other only way to truly escape if even for a little while is to literally unplug yourself.
Imagining this as the opening to a video essay and at the end of the opening statement, you pull out a diaper and coloring book!
"welcome back to 1985, 1994, or 2003.. we missed you. here's your busy box and your pacifier"
I'll take one, please
💖Yeas!!💖