The commodification of nostalgia
The relationship between media producers and the audience
has been a long one, and has raised many questions about
who dictates trends.
“[It’s] a question that scholars and the media have been asking since mass media started to come into play, and the way of approaching it has oscillated from blaming the media to empowering the audience,” said Lucia Cedeira Serantes.
Serantes is a PhD student in the Media Studies Department at Western University, and has chosen to focus her work on the relationship between youth and popular culture.
A major question that’s being raised now is why movie remakes, adaptions and sequels from past popular culture iconography are overwhelming the industry.
“It’s been happening forever. But now it happens faster,” Serantes said. “The experience that our generation has of time is faster. things go in and out of fashion so quickly that trends can be commodified as ‘returning to the past’ faster also.”
There’s so much white noise in the digital ether, with thousands of posts from media outlets reaching our screens every day, Serantes theorizes that young people need an anchor so we don’t get lost in the sea.
“I have a couple of friends that are 27 or 28, and they talk about Gilmore Girls. They went to high school with Rory, moved onto university with her. Media right now is everywhere; it’s your companion as you grow up. These products tell your story, or at least help you to remember it as you’re getting older.”
Serantes likened this to owning physical copies of books. “Even though e-books are more convenient and cheaper, people still like having the physical book because you look at your shelf, and see your history as a reader. You see Harry Potter. But your taste changed and you started reading more mature things. Your textbooks from university are there. You move on in your life, but you don’t leave Harry behind, the book comes with you.”
In much the same way, media producers will bring the story with you, through sequels and adaptions of films. Toy Story 3 is one notable example.
We all know Andy as the young boy who played with Buzz Lightyear and Woody. In the most recent film, we saw Andy packing up and going away to college, not coincidentally at the same time that the original young audience of the movie had.
“You hear people say that sometimes they re-read favourite childhood books because they bring them comfort. We’re talking about the commodification of nostalgia, but I think a lot of it is the commodification of affect, or emotions. Of your own feelings towards this product.”
Another thing that plays a role in the popularity of reimaginations of older materials is how youth-driven our culture is.
“Even if you’re an adult, you still want to appear to be young. It’s a trend not just in culture, but in the recognizing of the self. If in your 20’s, you get married and have kids, it feels like you’re going for a certain kind of life. But now, even if you have kids, you want to be a young parent. If you compare that to twenty years ago, it’s completely different.”
Parents weren’t so concerned with being involved in cultural trends then. But now “adults wanted to be on Facebook even though it was predominantly for teenagers,” she added.
“The idea of ‘youth’ is not just age, it’s the mentality, consumption practices, a lot of things,” Serantes said.
“There’s a business created around the idea of telling stories,” she added, bringing the thought process of media creators into the conversation; more particularly, stories that tap into your emotion. With adaptions and sequels, “[media producers] already have an audience. they don’t have to create it.”
“Media corporations are going to try to commodify anything that they can because they’re in the business of making money. We, as an audience, crave stories. When you go camping, you tell stories around the fire. When you go out for a beer, you’re talking with people, hearing and sharing each other’s stories. It’s how we connect as humans.”
“Star Wars is something that is not just from your generation of people. You do have people in your generation that are fond of Star Wars, but my dad – who’s in his 60’s – is also a fan,” Serantes said.
“With nostalgia, you tap in on affect, on emotion. People still have that connection with the original [piece of media], and because of that connection to the product, you want to revisit it – that feeling.”
The media and audience seem to move, morph as one organism. They react to one another so much that it’s hard to tell where one ends and the other begins. There’s undoubtedly a call from us to find solitude, a resting space, in the midst of our busy lives. And, for many of us, that comes in the form of sitting on the edge of our seat in a onesie, wrist-deep in a bowl of popcorn, reliving the spectacle of our first heroes.
“[It’s] a question that scholars and the media have been asking since mass media started to come into play, and the way of approaching it has oscillated from blaming the media to empowering the audience,” said Lucia Cedeira Serantes.
Serantes is a PhD student in the Media Studies Department at Western University, and has chosen to focus her work on the relationship between youth and popular culture.
A major question that’s being raised now is why movie remakes, adaptions and sequels from past popular culture iconography are overwhelming the industry.
“It’s been happening forever. But now it happens faster,” Serantes said. “The experience that our generation has of time is faster. things go in and out of fashion so quickly that trends can be commodified as ‘returning to the past’ faster also.”
There’s so much white noise in the digital ether, with thousands of posts from media outlets reaching our screens every day, Serantes theorizes that young people need an anchor so we don’t get lost in the sea.
“I have a couple of friends that are 27 or 28, and they talk about Gilmore Girls. They went to high school with Rory, moved onto university with her. Media right now is everywhere; it’s your companion as you grow up. These products tell your story, or at least help you to remember it as you’re getting older.”
Serantes likened this to owning physical copies of books. “Even though e-books are more convenient and cheaper, people still like having the physical book because you look at your shelf, and see your history as a reader. You see Harry Potter. But your taste changed and you started reading more mature things. Your textbooks from university are there. You move on in your life, but you don’t leave Harry behind, the book comes with you.”
In much the same way, media producers will bring the story with you, through sequels and adaptions of films. Toy Story 3 is one notable example.
We all know Andy as the young boy who played with Buzz Lightyear and Woody. In the most recent film, we saw Andy packing up and going away to college, not coincidentally at the same time that the original young audience of the movie had.
“You hear people say that sometimes they re-read favourite childhood books because they bring them comfort. We’re talking about the commodification of nostalgia, but I think a lot of it is the commodification of affect, or emotions. Of your own feelings towards this product.”
Another thing that plays a role in the popularity of reimaginations of older materials is how youth-driven our culture is.
“Even if you’re an adult, you still want to appear to be young. It’s a trend not just in culture, but in the recognizing of the self. If in your 20’s, you get married and have kids, it feels like you’re going for a certain kind of life. But now, even if you have kids, you want to be a young parent. If you compare that to twenty years ago, it’s completely different.”
Parents weren’t so concerned with being involved in cultural trends then. But now “adults wanted to be on Facebook even though it was predominantly for teenagers,” she added.
“The idea of ‘youth’ is not just age, it’s the mentality, consumption practices, a lot of things,” Serantes said.
“There’s a business created around the idea of telling stories,” she added, bringing the thought process of media creators into the conversation; more particularly, stories that tap into your emotion. With adaptions and sequels, “[media producers] already have an audience. they don’t have to create it.”
“Media corporations are going to try to commodify anything that they can because they’re in the business of making money. We, as an audience, crave stories. When you go camping, you tell stories around the fire. When you go out for a beer, you’re talking with people, hearing and sharing each other’s stories. It’s how we connect as humans.”
“Star Wars is something that is not just from your generation of people. You do have people in your generation that are fond of Star Wars, but my dad – who’s in his 60’s – is also a fan,” Serantes said.
“With nostalgia, you tap in on affect, on emotion. People still have that connection with the original [piece of media], and because of that connection to the product, you want to revisit it – that feeling.”
The media and audience seem to move, morph as one organism. They react to one another so much that it’s hard to tell where one ends and the other begins. There’s undoubtedly a call from us to find solitude, a resting space, in the midst of our busy lives. And, for many of us, that comes in the form of sitting on the edge of our seat in a onesie, wrist-deep in a bowl of popcorn, reliving the spectacle of our first heroes.
