The Quickening: Nostalgia

Nostalgia. Who would say that such a harmless feeling would become a lucrative source?

In recent years the number of series and films that take advantage of a plot and characters that we know for years, made with the purpose of taking advantage of the feeling that is inside all of us: nostalgia.

That feeling is not bad. On the contrary, many people enjoy watching a series of characters that accompanied them during their childhood, but seeing so many examples today (reboots, remakes, sequels) makes us wonder: is this nostalgic material or nothing at all has changed?

This anticipated game has finally come out and reviews are being harsh with it (at least the backlash hasn't been as horrible as Mighty No. 9). Some say it fails, other say it delivers such a nostalgic journey. But, considering it's mixed reactions, should we start to stop trusting our faith and money in the indies? (I'm worried about Them's Fightin' Herds now)

On the aesthetic level there have been changes for the best. But as far as the plot and the characters are concerned, things vary. There are series made just to appeal to a specific audience, while there are others that have resurfaced thanks to greater forces, causing a stronger impact than in its beginning.

Although there are also aberrations that shouldn't have seen the light of day.

With this we, can see that appealing to nostalgia brings good and bad elements. And all of this begins with our childhood. You see, as we grew up, the pressure to mature became present and in our teenage years we all began to leave those likes aside by the pressure of wanting to fit into society (what will they say of me if they see me watching cartoons?). And in the case of the people who was born in the 90's, this was more serious, given that we had to witness the second half of the 2000's, consider by many the worst era for cartoons. And that make the "today's cartoons are shit" feeling more current during our lives. But once we mature and we get rid of that stupid feeling, we can afford to enjoy those series without remorse or shame. Moreover, many of the current cartoons have more adult demographics than children.

Does that sound familiar?

Now, are reboots and remakes exclusive to this era?

Of course not, this has been done at least since the 80's with series such as Ghostbusters, Rambo, Men in Black, the list goes on, but currently there are levels of overexploitation never seen before. Also, in those times there was no Internet or social networks to call feedback.

Finally, while there are series that deserve to be continue and even give them a conclusion that they didn't have in their days (Samurai Jack), appealing to nostalgia just to get audience is bad because it's an obstacle to generate new material. And in the end, the only ones left to blame are us.

It's true that executives cannot leave their comfort zone or think outside of the box, but the reality is that we, the public, have no idea about the demands we want. When it comes to preparing demands, we aren't clear of what we want.

We complain about the exploitation of nostalgia, but we never miss an episode of Dragon Ball Super.

We claim new ideas and criticize the lack of originality, but when these ideas arrive nobody watches them.

There are many reasons why this show has become the most underrated one of the decade and one of them is the lack of support, from both viewers and producers.

We plead for a series to be cancelled because it's becoming monotonous, but we demand a new season of Gravity Falls.

Once again. Does that sound familiar?

One of the worst things a developer can do is give in to pressure from the audience (one of the reasons why Korra hasn't aged well and will never surpass Aang is the AWFUL ending demanded by the fans). Today, there is a constant struggle between nostalgia and new content. Nostalgia is good in small dosis and without oversaturation.

Not as good as the original, but it's a good example of using nostalgia nowadays.

This makes me wonder: are we really that conformists?

The world of entertainment changes too slow because of us. Because we like to play a remake before a new entry, because we acclaim the use of fanservice, because we don't mind playing the same story over and over, because we love to feel like children playing the same game of 20 years ago. But if you already have success and recognition for doing what works for you, then ... what else can you expect?

A great follow-up to a classic, it celebrates and criticize nostalgia at the same time.

But what do you think about nostalgia? Share your thoughts in the comments.