Okay wow so Blogger has changed everything so much that it apparently refuses to work in the browser I typically use. Now I have to use it in a different browser, which totally ruins the internet for me. I'm not particularly fond of this layout either, especially since it's incredibly easy to miss the title box and the "Publish" button is no longer in the logical place- below the text box, which is proper because as writing goes on, the text scrolls and progresses downward, thus when you're finished you're at your lowest point...
Anyway, that little rant is dreadfully ironic considering the thing about which I originally planned to rant, and on which I will be ranting from this point. Normally I don't complain about the "new" things in life. When Facebook updates, I'm "meh" at best since I've grown used to change every once in a while. The rest of the denizens of the internet don't seem to see eye to eye to me. This is especially true when we get on the topic of entertainment. I'm going to say a word right now, and you're probably going to recognize it...but I want you to think about it's connotation. Ready?
Nostalgia
Thought about it? I mean, what do people really think about it? It's hard to say really. Usually "nostalgia" is referring to some...thing...a movie or a game or a tv show, at least in it's internet form. Nostalgia is essentially a sequel to "epic," an old world that gets slightly warped and egregiously abused to the point that you get tired of it. I don't blame nostalgia though, it's not it's fault that people seem to use it to prolong the life of fads and trends only resurrected by the advent of modern technology and used as a replacement for new experiences.
It could be quite the drinking game really. Go find some videos that are likely to lead to similar videos...the soundtrack to a videogame from two generations ago might do nicely...and take a drink any time someone mentions "nostalgia," "Good times," or reminisces about the game in any way shape or form. I don't recommend doing this with Toonami since you'll pass out rather quickly. So here's my next question. How did we get so obsessed with nostalgia....and why?
Bob Dylan may have written one of the truest songs ever when he wrote "The Times They Are A-Changin'" because dear God do times change. In fact, you could argue that the only thing that doesn't change is the fact that things change. The only reason you could argue against that is because now people seem to have footholds in the past. Whereas before, when something changed, there wasn't any going back, we the people now have the ability to not only review those past things, but pretty much resurrect them. YouTube is the main provider for this ability, wherein you will find...pretty much anything you ask it to. Full episodes of old TV shows and entire walkthroughs of games that died from water damage long ago. They're all there now. Hell, you can even find old commercials and bumps you didn't even know you wanted to see again.
Before YouTube, there was nowhere near as much of this type of thing available. Nostalgia was something that came from photo albums and boxes in the attic. It was about YOU and YOUR memories, typically not the thing or story itself. That's why it always strikes me as odd that 17-18 year olds are having these feelings of "nostalgia," considering it used to be a rare word that was uttered or used when middle aged or elderly people were thinking about what they were like when they were 17-18, and maybe regretting leaving such a life behind.
As I've said in the past, entertainment has become a lot more potent in recent decades, and far, far more immersive. In the 50s, you had novels and TV shows and movies, yeah, but they're nowhere near as expansive as they are now. They don't spawn games and other novels and incarnations in every form of media imaginable. The characters aren't as deep or developed, and they don't last as long. Today we have sensations that are based around stories...there's such things as "fandom" and "multimedia." These stories can go as far as to define entire periods of our lives, even in childhood...the same time that used to be defined by playing baseball and...whatever else. Kind of a different life. I won't pretend I know what that's like since I grew up with franchises like most other people my age.
Though I grew up with the same things as everyone else, there's still disparity about the world "nostalgia" that makes me not want to do it. Personally, I'd find it kind of insulting when used to describe something I did. When someone comments "Oh, the nostalgia!" it basically says "I remember this for the memories it gave me." People who leave their comments at "nostalgia omg" without expanding are basically just saying they liked something because it's old. It's from their childhood. Which was better than now. Look, I know we're a transitional generation....and I know it's not the best of times right now as the world tries to figure out how to keep up with itself, but honestly, it wasn't really those shows and games that made your childhood great. It was the fact that you were carefree enough to have them be the only things on your mind. Now you're older, responsible, and you've gotten used to the ideas and stories presented to you when you were younger. New entries just don't have the same effect on you as the old ones did because now you know some of the sad truths of the world that have always been present in a series. But you don't see them as much in the old entries of a series because when you knew them best, you were a kid. So uh...let me ask you this....WHY did you like those things? Could you answer that in detail?
As far as 90s cartoons go, it's true there were some uniquely gifted writers, animators, and designers active at the time. But let's not forget that in the 90s we also had cartoons that were made even earlier than that. Take for example, Tom & Jerry, which I now occasionally watch on Cartoon Network around lunch time. When I watch those cartoons now, some of the slapstick actually makes me laugh. The absurdity of the situations makes me chuckle. I don't really remember laughing all that much at shows when I was a kid. This is really weird because I have a wide understanding that these shows were made entirely by adults that have a real understanding of how the real world works. Yet, at the same time, I understand that that is what makes cartoons new and old FUN. These people get to experience a world without limits so that the viewer can experience a world without limits. Tom running under an anvil and getting flattened isn't coincidence...it's completely deliberate. It's just so absurd that you have to revel in it. It might even pose a mature question...what happens in a world in which people can't die? Kind of a neat thing to consider, yeah?
Yet instead of considering these things with the new, more mature viewpoint that the children of the 90s now have, most just settle for "this was from better times!" Believe me, I miss being a carefree kid too, but I can still admit to using entertainment today the way that I did then. I'm constantly looking for new things while revelling in the old ones...and when I happen to stumble on a few episodes of Dragonball Z or Dexter's Lab, I'm always far more interested to catch what I missed as a kid when I was taking everything very, very seriously. When I say I took it seriously, it means I was always entirely immersed in the world of the show, even to the point where I sometimes didn't even understand what was going on. The same thing applies to videogames, where I might play the first level or world of a game over...and over.....and over...and over...and never win but never get mad either. Somehow the goal of the game was never to get to the end, but play until I was finished. Maybe it's these weird outlooks that I had that give me my view on nostalgia now.
Even so, I'd say describing something as "nostalgic" is shallow. There's so much more to that work than the time at which it was released. There are other things that make those stories great. Or not great. "Nostalgia" doesn't even commit to whether or not something was even good. It's irrelevant to the series itself since it really refers to the context surrounding it. Again, I have fond childhood memories of games that I never played past the second level. They're actually fond memories, despite the fact that I can't actually have made a fair judgment on the game based on the amount I'd played. Maybe games were never "good" or "bad" to me. Even though I understand now that I can never experience things for the first time again, I almost don't want to since I can now look at things more completely and accurately. I'm not comparing things to their older counterparts, and when I'm playing a sequel to something I've actually played, I have to fight the urge to enjoy it less due to the fact that it's not entirely new.
This whole nostalgia craze is toxic to the current creative environment too. If people are staying rooted in past series and refusing to get into new, modern things, then there's far less people to draw on for making something the next big thing. People will write off entire franchises simply because they have replaced the old ones, despite the hours of work put into them and the level of quality that ultimately results. People will condemn further entries into a series just because they haven't experienced them in the same context that they did earlier entries, despite the fact that all the things they thought would be awesome as a child are now in this game or show. When they're too busy watching, researching, talking about, and commenting on 297 episodes of Dragon Ball Z, they're not going to notice all of the new series out there that will come to define this time period.
It's ironic, since nostalgia only effects certain people. The concept itself isn't really timeless. Comments concerning nostalgia are often accompanied by "I weep for kids today since they won't have shows/games as good as these!" That's hilarious. The kids today are too busy making future nostalgia on their own. Just like Bob Dylan suggests, what's here today will be different tomorrow, and when the times change once again, the kids that were screwed out of the supposedly implacable experiences their older siblings/friends/random older people on the internet cherished will long for the context of their old shows and games. And who knows what they'll see. Coming back to right now, I know what I want to see is depth over nostalgia. Let's talk about why something is actually great. Let's recognize things on their own merits, and keep the ones we find we love for no apparent reason our own little treasures. We can use these things to connect the dots, not just admire the unfinished bigger picture.
Consolidate. Combine. Fuse. Integrate. We have so many luxuries these days. Not only did us 90s kids get to enjoy the richest selection of stories and entertainment ever available, we also have the means of enjoying them whenever and however we wish as we so choose. It would be an abuse of those luxuries to use them just for playing the same old things over and over again. As they say, there's a difference between growing up and getting old.
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