Hooked On Nostalgia
The greatest marketing scheme in history is just a sign of the times.
Over the past few years, television and theaters have been flooded with reboots. Game shows, TV series, movies, and even video games are being repackaged with a fresh face and shipped out. While it sounds uninspired and bound to fail, these reboots are hugely successful. Because they’re making money, they’re going to keep getting made, which leads to the influx of remakes and reboots we see today. The big question: why are reboots so popular with audiences? The one-word answer: nostalgia.
The definition of nostalgia is “a sentimental longing or wistful affection for the past, typically for a period or place with happy personal associations.” By tapping into the popularity of established brands, producers can drum up excitement for new media. When Star Wars: The Force Awakens(2015) was announced in 2014, it knew audiences would return for a chance to feel the same awe and excitement they did from the original in 1977.
As streaming services take over, media has never been more accessible. A side effect has been audiences splintering into niche interests. Analysts have long been pushing that the era of blockbuster mega-hits is ending. Largely due to audience interests branching out into the niche content available everywhere on streaming. By using the influence of past hits like Star Wars, Fresh Prince, Space Jam, etc. new media can catch the interests of a wider swathe of consumers. The effect nostalgia has to bring us back to the past is powerful.
Nostalgia works as an emotional time machine. It transports us back to a time when we felt safe and happy. It’s the core basis behind traditions like holidays, because it lets us remember the past in a positive light. Nostalgia works as affirmation, but also as a response to present issues.
Medical journals first coined nostalgia as a negative effect in the 1600’s. Soldiers experiencing intense homesickness were diagnosed with nostalgia, and doctors even thought they could die from it. In the 20th century, that consensus has changed largely to a positive effect according to recent research by Constantine Sedikides and Tim Wildschut at the Centre for Research on Self and Identity at the University of Southampton in England.
Sedikides and Wildschut argue that nostalgia is a response to combat feelings of loneliness and existential threats. It is a way to reaffirm your self, foster relationships, and provide comfort in the past. They conclude nostalgia is “far from being a feeble escape from the present,” but rather “a source of strength, enabling the individual to face the future.” After a years long pandemic lockdown, it’s no surprise that something that combats loneliness has taken off.
Over the past decade, across the board, fears of climate change, political divides, war, and economic inequality have skyrocketed to the front of public consciousness. At the same time, media has caught onto the success nostalgia has on marketing products. While this might feel to some like artistic stagnation, the amount of success nostalgia brings in means reboots aren’t going away anytime soon.