The Influence Of Nostalgia In Pop Culture

Lately, we saw the rise of 80s and 90s nostalgia in the media ranging from movie remakes of timely classics such as ‘Ghostbusters’, ‘It’, and ‘Robocop’ from the 80s, ‘Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle’ and the long-awaited reboot ‘Tomb Raider’ which both originally came out in the 90s, to television shows which uses touches of retro nostalgia such as ‘Riverdale’, and ‘Stranger Things’. Meanwhile in mainstream music, we have the recent album release of Paramore ‘After Laughter’ which is a reminiscent of the 80s new wave and synth-pop, and the whole discography of the Superheaven whose music utilizes a mixture of 90s grunge and early 2000s rock are just examples in pop culture of the utilization of a mix of modern music styles with the nostalgic trends and aesthetics of the past. These elements in pop culture attracts the current youth due to the aesthetics and simultaneously drives the youth’s curiosity of the “vibe” of the past. At the same time, it also draws the attention of older generations due to the fact

Usually, older generations would prefer trends or fragments from their own generation due to the sense of familiarity and attachment it gives, and when the cycle of nostalgia lands on their generation, it would draw their attention like a magnet. With this in mind, most contemporary content creators would tend to mix modern concepts and recycle popular trends from the past in the making of their content, which in return, sells more and appeals to audiences of different demographic. Content creators are currently banking off of nostalgia which explains the numerous reboots in the recent years. In 2017 alone, Hollywood was able to produce approximately 47 reboots, remakes, and sequels, which just goes to show that the movie industry is indeed utilizing this phenomenon to earn more