How has nostalgia affected the pop culture?
A Statistical Analysis and Trend Study on the use of Nostalgia and Escapism in the modern culture.
Nostalgia.
“Must be some sort of phobia or algae, I guess” was the first impression of the word on me. But it was much later that I discovered the real meaning — a feeling of pleasure and also slight sadness when you think about things that happened in the past.
Surprisingly, people don’t realize that nostalgia is an involuntary feeling that we experience as humans when we come across random things that make us reminisce. I mean, you should look at my dad’s face when he watches the movie “Predator” or its off-spin appearances in other movies.
But lately, everything has somewhat been defined as either “retro” or “that’s so 80s vibe” in the media culture…that it almost made me question — what if we’re being manipulated or robbed of this feeling of nostalgia? Are we being forced to feel an involuntary emotion such as nostalgia?
Fine, let’s rephrase this as – “How has the pop culture used ‘nostalgia’ to capture its new audience?”
Nostalgia exploited by the music industry
A few days ago, I came across a song called “Devil is a Lie” on YouTube. Without noticing the singer's name, I clicked on it to listen; only to be reminded of the music put out by The Neptunes (which included Pharell Williams and Hugo) and Nelly (the rapper).
Then I learned about the singer, Tommy Richman, who is also famous for his other song called “Million Dollar Baby” which was another hit and the single that actually put him on the radar, as he got ‘TikTok’ famous for the musical beat. His songs apparently remind people of the 2000s music era and the pop culture back then. Not to mention, even the music videos of these songs are shot in the grainy VHS-style film which perfectly fits the vibe of the music.
Here are a few stats about his music, as shown below -
Even songs like “Back on 74” by the British dance music project “Jungle” depict such nostalgic vibes where the whole track and the music video revolves around the vibe of the 1970s. A particular series of dance moves caught the eyes of a few so-called social media influencers, who then propelled this song to the top trending charts all around the world.
All these songs became an instant hit due to their popularity on social media apps in the form of danceability and “catchy-ness”. Even the above-mentioned songs score highly on the danceability (above 90%) which is enough for a song to be an instant hit among the masses in this day and age of social media apps like Instagram, TikTok, etc.
This only leads to huge profits for producers and an overnight famous music artist.
Similarly, in the film industry —
There have been many movies (and TV shows) that depict stories set in the past decades or produce delayed sequels to movies (franchises) that were released in the past few decades. Maybe they bring back actors who had played a role in the previous installments of the franchise movies. Simply revisiting old movies has become a source of nostalgia for many.
However, the film industry has always used this technique of using nostalgia to draw audiences to the theater. Sometimes the story demands for such a setup or sometimes they do it for profits — I’m probably gonna stick to the latter and call out the industry production houses as “modern marketeers of nostalgia for profits only”.
But this trend of setting stories to past decades (from the release of the movie) has always been going on in the industry. With movies like American Graffiti (1973) set in the early 1960s to movies like Back to the Future (released in 1985 but set in the 1950s) and Forrest Gump (released in 1994, but set in the 1960s), there was a trend that followed and called for such chronological setup. This trend continues with movies like Blonde (released in 2022 but set in the 1950s) and Oppenheimer (released in 2023 but set in the 1940s), which have indeed made these movies quite profitable. A few examples are listed in the footnote1 below.
Be it big giants like Marvel (owned by Disney) and Disney, or any other production house in the industry right now, they are all heavily dependent on this very aspect of nostalgia being reduced to a variable in their profit equations. The more nostalgic the movie is, the more profitable it is expected to be.
Even the OTT Platforms like Netflix had banked on this idea at the right moment with the release of the series “Stranger Things” which is a mystery thriller set in the 1980s. This show proved to be an instant hit not only because of its brilliant writing but also the aspect of nostalgia which only drew audiences of all age groups to watch it.
For example, movies like “Spiderman: No Way Home” were indeed treated as a revival movie for Marvel’s failure to grab audiences to the theatres, after the “Avengers: Endgame” movie. This showcases the failure or perhaps the lack of creativity in the industry right now. Not to mention, Marvel and Disney continue to struggle with their movies (stories) and have massively reduced the original content. They have been lowered to a “woke" organization that prefers representation over creativity. No wonder they continue to face the backlash via their profits and share prices.
But that’s what movies are right now, wouldn’t you agree? An appearance from an old actor like Silvester Stallone in a new installment of the “Expendables” movie or Tom Cruise doing a new reboot like the “Top Gun: Maverick” or “Mission Impossible” Franchise would only lead to a huge audience grab and massive profits to the producers.
So, it’s indeed a win-win for the producers and audiences but it’s a huge loss to creativity and movie culture in general.
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But what about marketing adverts?
Similarly in advertisements and marketing ads by companies, they use scenes and themes from the past to attract and persuade the audiences to buy their products.
Often companies resort to relaunching an old product or naming a product based on its historical line of products, in inorder to garner attention toward the new product and increase their sales. Many have used this technique as it immediately catches the eye of the audience and at the same time helps in generating more profits.
A few examples could be —
1. Wieden+Kennedy - Nike
Nike's "Dream Crazy" Campaign: Wieden+Kennedy created a nostalgic yet forward-looking campaign featuring Colin Kaepernick and other athletes. The ad tapped into past and present social movements, connecting with audiences' memories of significant cultural moments.
2. Coca-Cola - "Real Magic" Campaign
Coca-Cola launched the "Real Magic" campaign in 2021, which included a Christmas ad titled "Chimney." This campaign plays on the long-standing tradition of Coca-Cola's iconic holiday ads, evoking memories of past holiday seasons and reinforcing the brand's association with festive cheer.
3. Apple - "Behind the Mac" Campaign
Apple's 2021 "Behind the Mac" campaign includes a series of ads featuring well-known creatives who have used Mac computers over the years. The campaign taps into nostalgia by showing archival footage and highlighting the enduring presence of Mac in the creative industry.
4. Pepsi - "Soda Shop" Campaign
Pepsi launched its "Soda Shop" campaign in 2021, bringing back classic soda flavors and featuring a nostalgic ad with Doja Cat performing a cover of "You're the One That I Want" from the musical "Grease." This ad draws on the retro theme to create a sense of nostalgia for the 1950s soda shop era.
Like the above-mentioned examples, many more companies are resorting to this “nostalgia campaign” to market their new line of products. This has indeed proven to be quite successful for corporates to boost their sales and profits, as they bank on the decades-long trust and loyalty from customers who would do anything to relive that era.
So, how are we being affected by nostalgia?
A data study by GWI on “how nostalgia affects various generations” lead to a few major highlights like —
Despite many younger generations being born during the 2000s, they still feel nostalgic and relate more with the 80s and 90s era.
Many still feel like they’ve been born in the wrong era and fantasize about the past which has led to increased rates of depression in the Gen Z population.
While the audience prefers that they rewatch or revisit certain elements of the past in pop culture right now, they also dislike the lack of creativity in the media industry right now.
It’s the same story with every generation being envious of the future and nostalgic about the past. This cycle goes on.
Despite the younger audience being obsessed with nostalgia, it is a whole other experience for people who were born in these eras. These are the generation who are affected by nostalgia in a much truer sense. They experience depression and pleasure, depending on their encounter with the idea of “escapism” to relive their memories.
While there are positives and negatives to this feeling of nostalgia, it simply cannot be reduced to a voluntary feeling by the “power-grub, money-churners” of the media industry. It cannot be allowed to overrule the creativity and naturally evolving trends of pop culture.
Alas, the American editor and Novelist, Peter De Vries, has rightly said that,
“Nostalgia isn't what it used to be.”
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Sample list of all the movies that were set in decades earlier than their release dates. It gives off the nostalgic vibes.