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The Trappings of Nostalgia

One state of mind nearly everyone is familiar with, especially in the entertainment world, is that of nostalgia. Nostalgia is defined by Merriam-Webster as "a wistful or excessively sentimental yearning for return to or of some past period or irrecoverable condition", and it's undoubtedly something you see occur all the time in animation discussions, both in and out of designated circles. And much like any broad concept, it has many upsides and downsides that are definitely worth acknowledging and discussing. Because not only has it affected how the general public has viewed entertainment of all generations, but it also majorly changed how the mainstream entertainment industry approaches their productions, both sides making mistakes that are important for everyone to learn from.

I think nostalgia is at its best when you find the media you've revisited has, barring technical evolution, holds up just as well in your adult years - maybe even better. No matter if it was clearly made for children or even preschoolers, you know what it feels to experience it as someone in the target audience because you were there, and thus you naturally enter the right mindset upon revisiting.


To name a popular example, Winnie the Pooh is such a beloved property because he and the other stuffed animals are such simple yet defined personalities that pretty much anyone of any age can relate to, with their little antics trickling through the youth's imagination and worldview. "VeggieTales" has a similarly wide adult following because of its ability to translate religious stories and values into humorous but still earnest retellings, with many of the humor being plucked right out of adult works like Monty Python. And, one of my personal favorite memories, Humongous Entertainment's junior adventure PC games boasted strong artistry for such primitive technology, wide array of creativity that knows how to attract young minds, and its innovative way of constantly keeping things interesting by changing up the gameplay upon restarting. Each of these may have easily fallen into the stereotypes of their respective types of programming if not for the passion and care for not just the little ones, but also providing wholesome entertainment that even has a bit of grown-up appeal, making them greatly stand out.

Sometimes, for one reason or another, there's simply a greater appreciation of what we grew up with based on the expectations of the time. SpongeBob, to name a mainstream example, may have been hated when it released, but it grew into the pop culture phenomenon that it is today thanks to the kids of the time outright adoring it, and thanks to the show's longevity these kids upon growing up were able to conveniently share it with their kids. This also partly explains why, the more time passes, the more the middle-to-late seasons of the show get appreciation they previously did not have. Similarly, you have the classic Cartoon Cartoons, which were already considered game-changers in the field, but many years later, more people are realizing how much the likes of "The Powerpuff Girls" and "Ed Edd n' Eddy" stood out from all the other studios' offerings, as well as their unforgettable styles that could only come out of the late 90s. And of course, there's also the matter of increasingly aware social value, like how "The Proud Family" brought forth black voices in a manner that few other mainstream shows did at that time.

But no matter what time period, there will always be those shows that got robbed of attention the first try, and only with slow, gradual accessibility and word-of-mouth will they gain the popularity at their fullest potential. "Clone High" could've been a big player in MTV's animation lineup of the early 2000s, but its chance didn't last long thanks to political activists in India not reacting well to the show's depiction of Gandhi and thus America couldn't get all the episodes. But then, the few who caught it would spark word gradually passing, growing especially with Lord & Miller's heightened reputation in the field, to the point where a revival was announced in 2020 and the show subsequently becoming a goldmine for meme fodder. "Invader Zim" was a show that had a much more bitter fate, with Nickelodeon deciding the show's tone wasn't for them midway through production, but a very similar effect in terms of fan reaction and resurgence. Even more current ones like "Glitch Techs" and "Infinity Train" seem to be going down this same general path. In essence, nostalgia can bright light to stuff that may have otherwise been kept in the dark.


On the flip side, there's many things we've grown up with that we are all too aware weren't actually good or at least don't hold up, like many of those cheesy preschool VHS tapes such as "Wee Sing" or G3 of "My Little Pony". But let's be real, we still revisit them anyway because we have a good time thinking back to the cheesiness we were exposed to. Often, we end up having an ironic laugh, thinking how we used to eat this up because we didn't know better. Or, thanks to our own exposure, we just see some genuine, unironic quality in there that others don't, either because it reached to us on a personal level or because one had to be there in order to fully appreciate the experience. This is definitely the case with the likes of "Space Jam" and "Rocket Power".

But as the sands of time slowly trickle, so do people's perceptions of what they have distant memories of. There's a consistent level of overgeneralization going on between their generation's content verses the current generation, usually in a derogatory and reactionary fashion. And this is because people like to think back on what they had and consider they had a pretty happy life, even if that wasn't the case, subconsciously repressing the bad memories they most likely encountered - spreading to the entertainment consumed. And while there's nothing inherently wrong with that, there is an issue many people like myself take when people oversimplify the actual tone of a show and claiming innovation that wasn't actually there (2003's "Teen Titans" comes to mind). This, along with a need to mature past what the public perceives as 'kiddy', results in a disproportionate level of attention between the old and new, to the point where familiarity advantage alone is enough for even the mere announcement of a reboot of revival, no matter the reception, to reach major trending levels all across the board.


However, any weaknesses shown on the public end are nothing compared to how the corporate end is eager to exploit it at seemingly every corner. The onslaught of cheaply-produced, corporate-manufactured, and/or in-name-only reboots and revivals are mostly the result of blind nostalgia and knowing its built-in audience will have no choice but to give it some form of attention. Even negative attention can sell the show more than actual hype can, which can especially become transparent when updates constantly reach the press that rile up the fans nearly every time without fail, as it notoriously happening with the CW's take on the Powerpuff Girls and Netflix's live-action "Avatar: The Last Airbender". But even when that isn't the case, there's the notion that anything that uses nostalgia on some level (even if loosely, like your average crossover) gets promoted way more than anything new across all channels, despite the latter generally needing the push way more. To be fair, there are great examples of nostalgia if it's used to bring back stuff that worked like Crash Bandicoot's remakes, but more often than not we get stuff more on the level of Powerpuff 2016 and 2019's Lion King remake.

To give my own perspective, there was a period where I proudly held a certain disdain for nostalgia, specifically how frequently people would throw it around. Not because I didn't still love acclaimed shows like "Courage the Cowardly Dog", "Rocko's Modern Life", and "Recess" (just to name a few), but because I was tired seeing the same 90s/00s shows get referenced ad nauseum with little care given to the new stuff, to the point where I was determined to even the playing field out of sheer bitterness. I would push the most current seasons of SpongeBob when the post-sequel era hit full swing, and would insist stuff like "House of Mouse" was overly safe compared to the the newer Paul Rudish shorts. I obviously did ease down on this mentality over time as I realized how it's important to appreciate the old to properly appreciate where we are now, as is the nature of history, as well as just discovering the joy there is in revisiting old favorites. Plus, as I also learned, the problem isn't the nostalgia itself, but not knowing to separate the nostalgia from the quality.


In many ways, it makes complete sense why this inevitably ends up happening among so many people, regardless if they intend it or not. Psychologically, people want to believe they had a fantastic or at least a moderately nice childhood, and the entertainment we happened to encounter (be it religiously or even just a glance) are arguably some of the biggest insights into that as, barring a little lost media here and there, it's so readily available for us to come back to. This goes doubly so with any stresses we suffer in adulthood, as we just want an escape from it and returning to what made us happy in our younger years. Not only that, but there's also something inherently curious about deciphering what formed the starting blocks of our interests and personality of today. Obviously, as discussed earlier, these are generally simplifications of our childhoods, but from a psychological standpoint, if nostalgia is used correctly it's generally a good way to provide ourselves some comfort from the increasingly transparent reality, which is certainly respectable when used right.

As discussed earlier, people are bound to find some things they watched in their preschool years that greatly hold up (this is arguably what made Mr. Rogers the legend he is today), but there are others that some may enjoy out of reminiscing but are lacking in actual quality. Nothing wrong with fondly remembering whatever, but I believe it's vital to at least consider what you're looking at on face value. This is essentially the approach I take when I revisit my favorites of years past, being consciously aware of the good times I had, but also making a point to take that factor out of the equation for at least a moment when judging it through a current lens. Not quite ignoring the nostalgia entirely, as that can make for some of the most worthwhile commentary imaginable, but knowing there's more to a show or film than that.


So, in essence, enjoy your nostalgia, get immersed in it, share it with your friends, and even allow companies to exploit it within reason. But, like anything else, keeping perspective is key, and with that perspective hopefully more will understand that the world of entertainment is more nuanced than 'old good, new bad' and that there's plenty of room for new favorites to arise, even if it may not appear so on the surface.

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