Redartz: Hello all! I was thinking about the ever-beloved Bronze Age Babies the other day, and recalled how Karen and Doug would sometimes refer to our present time as a "Golden Age of Reprints". And I'd say they were quite correct to do so. But upon further consideration, I wondered if that could be taken a step further: are we living in the Golden Age of Nostalgia? Some thoughts to consider ...
As Karen and Doug discussed, the generous availability of reprints in many formats allows enjoyment of comics from all eras, all genres, all companies (or most, anyway). From Omnibus volumes to digital comics, tpb's to archived free Golden Age stories, just about anything and everything comics can be found.
But the same can be said for animation, and for television shows: with YouTube, DVDs and streaming, much of entertainment history is there for the picking. I find YouTube to be a wonderful source of almost-forgotten clips from the Bronze Age, the 60's, and everywhen. And, my wife and I recently ditched the satellite tv for an Amazon Firestick and an actual antenna for local broadcasts. I was pleasantly surprised by all the goodies to be seen on these free channels: "MeTV" for instance. It's been Retro Saturday Nights at our house, watching the Incredible Hulk, Wonder Woman, Twilight
Zone, Batman and Star Trek! Another freebie channel shows "Emergency", and yet another fills my wife's afternoons with westerns.
But wait, there's more. Video games? Now we have classic arcade games being released on retro styled systems, and some are available as apps for your phone or tablet (still waiting for an authentic version of "Galaga").
Toys? There are many 'retro' versions coming out of vintage playthings. And of course there's Ebay for the real stuff.
Music? My wife has Sirius Satellite radio, and can select exclusive stations for any decade from the 1940's onward. CD's are cheap just about any flea market you hit. Vinyl is back, and growing (who would have thought; if the next phase is VHS tapes I wouldn't be surprised).
You get the idea; no matter what your nostalgic area of interest, there is unprecedented access to incredible amounts of material both physical and digital. And so, perhaps this is the Golden Age of Nostalgia after all. What say you?
9 comments:
Nostalgia actually means in the original Greek “the pain of returning home”.
It seems our generation has flipped its meaning, where it now is the “the comfort of returning home”.
Going back into our shared past, a retreat from modernity, a yearning for simpler times, speaks more of both easy availability of this old content, and an unsettling appreciation of our current lives.
Comics are dying as a unique cultural bond...they are being subsumed into a triumphant geek culture where comics is simply just one more thread uniting a vast, diverse nerd collective.
I observe my teenage kids and often wonder how their super-individualized generation will reshape society. They do not have much commonality beyond quickly fading memes that briefly flash across their phone screens. They rarely watch tv or get invested in shows. They would rather view highlights of games than watch a game. Anything that can be called a cultural touchstone is digital and will always be able to be instantly recalled for review.
Compare that to us:
Everyone watched Happy Days.
Everyone listened to the radio.
Everyone went to the movies.
Everyone read Romeo and Juliet, MacBeth, and Julius Caesar.
Everyone wanted that cool new toy.
Everyone wanted to get a car as soon as possible.
So yes, this is the Golden Age of Nostalgia, and it might be the end of Nostalgia at the same time.
Yoyo
Nice observation about nostalgia and the effect of having so much available that we have lot a sense of monoculture. I sometimes miss that, but on the other hand, when I think about how the monoculture of our youths was shaped by dominant forces in the culture that erased so many people, ideas, events, and histories, I say "Good riddance."
I am wary of nostalgia and worry that it can lead to uncritically accepting narratives of the past.
Toyota, I am in full agreement. As I walk through the Trader Joe grocery store with my French wife I notice products on the shelves from France and Germany that would have been a rare and happy find 30 years ago e.g, Orangina. Everything you want, whenever you want... what's left to seek?
Red- I am still looking for 'the Marvel Superhero toons from like 1966? I have a bootleg CD from a Chicago comicon like 1995 but the quality is hit or miss. YouTube? "When Captain America throws his mighty shield...!"
Sorry Yoyo! Darn autocorrect!!!
I've got nothing against the wave of nostalgia in general--I'm enjoying it as much as anyone. But Dr. Oyola is probably right; this current nostalgia may be some kind of backlash against the inclusiveness that's finally becoming part of the mainstream. Personally, I like inclusiveness because it's easier to relate to the real world, so I'm in favour of remakes of old properties with new sensibilities.
I actually prefer the term Doug and/or Karen coined at the BAB, i.e., the golden age of reprints, which could perhaps be expanded to golden age of easy availability. In that regard, I'm fine with it: I love that, in particular, so many of the comics I loved reading from my earliest days to my teens and twenties can generally be found pretty easily in one format or another, or that it's pretty easy to find many previously obscure or half-remembered movies or television series on DVD, or in some streaming format, etc.
However, I kind of shy away from the term nostalgia, because I share some of the concerns mentioned by Osvaldo and Mike W. (Don't have a degree in history for nothing!) But even outside of those wider socio-political considerations, though, i.e., at a more personal level, while I may get hit with a wave of pleasant memories when reading and viewing something I liked from childhood, it certainly doesn't make me pine for those times or want to turn the clock back. That was never really something I indulged in; even back in, say, high school, I recall conversations in which some school-mates would wax nostalgic about kindergarten or first/second grade, i.e., "man, remember how easy we had it? No homework, no stress..." and so forth, and I would just think they're not remembering well. Since I was from a mostly non-English speaking home (I usually spoke English with my older sister and brother, but not my parents), in those early school years I had trouble communicating so even ordinary playground interactions were stressful - to say nothing of the fact that in class I had serious reading comprehension problems. Also, I quite vividly recall how mean little kids can often be to each other, and how older kids never missed an opportunity to pick on us littler guys.
And then there's all of that pining and nostalgia for high school or being a teen, which has been a staple of American pop culture since I can remember - geez, I remember being so happy when I graduated from high school and was done with that crap - I've never, ever looked back on my teen years with misty nostalgia.
I bask in nostalgia from time to time (it's what drives me to this site). Most of it revolves around memories of family interactions, and solitary pleasures like reading comics and watching TV (less so to do with rose-colored looks at society, and more broad social interactions which often dredge up all the memories of past foolish, embarrassing or ignorant views and behaviour.
But yes, the cultural touchstones are definitely fond memories. One fun aspect of modern society is how you can track down TV that you haven't seen in years on Youtube (a while back I found old CBS Dungeons & Dragons episodes). I don't go back and watch these things, but knowing they're there is kind of fun, as is knowing a hot blast of nostalgic whimsy is just a mouse-click away.
Having said all that, I don't really seek out reboots or remakes, finding them just different enough that I don't get much nostalgic kick, but the same enough that I feel like I've seen it all before. I've pretty much abandoned Marvel and DC comics because they're just re-spinning old ideas, but remaking them in a distant way that I lose any emotional investment.
So I'm pretty much enjoying new projects, new stories, new ideas. Luckily there's plenty of that out there. And if I do need a shot of something familiar, the local library has trades or DVDs to access the original stories I loved. And then there's always the internet...
-david p.
You all have made some very good points and observations; thanks and kudos to each of you. I quite agree with the consensus here, regarding the potential pitfalls of "nostalgia" (thanks Yoyo for the background on the term). In putting together this post, I used the term in a more generic manner to refer to the various elements of popular culture so readily available today. But the discussion has opened up a wider view of nostalgia, and it's fascinating.
I'm thrilled with the variety of retro choices around us in this day and age. That said, I don't subscribe to the 'good old days' thinking for many of the reasons given by Osvaldo, Mike and Edo (like you, Edo, I don't recall High School very fondly). Additionally, pining for some idealized past causes one to miss the many advantages to life as we find it today. There is much in our world now that is deeply troublesome, but that was the case in the past as well. And there is also much in today's world that is wonderful, incredible and cause for optimism.
Thanks for expanding the topic, guys!
I'd strike the middle position between Yoyo and Dr.O and try to nuance that a little. Specifically, yes, we all watched Happy Days, but how many of us also watched Good Times or Soul Train? We all listened to the radio, but we each also chose our stations. And yes, we all went to the movies, but again we only saw select movies and usually only once as opposed to some of us who saw a film multiple times which was a very different experience and carried a different status. There were a host of choices which we made, and if there is a difference that strikes me between how our generation consumed these entertainments and the present generation which is at the age we were when we did so, is the degree to which those choices are now automatically tailored. Twitter recommendations, and "you might also likes" but also the advertisements we see when we browse are directed far more subtly, pervasively, and automatically than in our youth. This, however, has had an inverse effect on the longing to be part of groups and the discontents fostered by exclusion among millennials. The more things suit them/us individually, the more we/they wish to be included with others.
I wouldn't hazard to predict how it will affect them, but speaking from my own case and experience, I found my taste for comic books, films, television, etc... to be a rather isolating one at the time. There was no one I could share what those stories or what that art meant to me. More broadly, and I think this is what Red is remarking upon, a fundamental part of our consumption of these media, which formed an integral part of the experience, was lack. You missed shows, and movies and issues, and that lack flavored both what you were experiencing and what was being produced. What's the point of a trilogy if you miss part one? What is the point of continuity if you only get your hands on an issue once every few months? And lack, missing out, not being able to share has aspects which resemble nostalgia, now, as a yearning for what is missed, absent, and inaccessible to us, i.e. our past. If the question of the Golden Age of Nostalgia is whether the coming generations will ever feel a similar nostalgia, I think the answer is yes, but not for the reasons we did, because we did not have access to these materials and experiences through that lack, but rather through an abundance.
When I collect old issues I do so the fill in gaps of what I missed because I couldn't get to it physically or financially. I think they might do the same to collect what they couldn't because there was so much else competing for their attention. In short, they can consume anything, but they cannot consume everything at the same time. Their choices, like our choices, are still limited and will still need to be revisited, fleshed out, turned around, and reconsidered, and re-experienced. Will that experience of nostalgia be different than ours? Probably. But I think we will all be able to understand and empathize with it.
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