Note: this is not Christian related, as I have this lurking in my mind for a while now. And I don’t want to stir up any arguments either, I just need to get this off my chest. And be warned, some of the descriptions are not for those with weak stomachs.
I will be honest. I have nothing against nostalgia, it’s a fond memory to go back into and look back into the past days of our lives. Unfortunately, the main problem I have with it is that we are too obsessed over it to the point where we reject anything (or everything) new or recent. Not only that, we are SO obsessed that we get downright defensive over it when an open-minded person calls us out on our rubbish. Remember the phrase “take off your nostalgia goggles and get out of the past”? This remains tried and true for over a decade now, but unfortunately we fail to acknowledge our narrow-mindedness. Because when someone tells us to stop having a toxic obsession over the past and move on, we get defensive and say “you’re just saying that just to protect modern media from the constructive criticism it rightfully deserves”, “it is not nostalgia, it’s just a fact, stop treating it as such”, or even “you’re just upset because you can’t handle grown adults clinging onto kids’ show that are at least over a decade old”.
I have done this before, including things that I have NOT grown up with because I wanted to be like 90s kids even though I was born in 2000. I foolishly believed that everything from the past was good and everything in the modern days are awful. And when people started to call me out, I replied that I wasn’t driven by nostalgia (I WAS) and that what I’ve known about the horribleness of the modern world is true (I was exaggerating, I completely ignored the good things that happened nowadays). Thankfully, I’ve gotten over this a couple years after I’ve reached adulthood. Sadly, there are many people today that refuse to learn from their mistakes and constantly defending everything from the past, ignoring all the bad things that occurred at the time. Every time I hear a comment or article that reads “Disney/Nickelodeon/etc. is no longer safe for kids because… (insert pathetic reason here)” or “this is the (curse word) kids today have to put up with, today’s sitcoms are a perfect description of modern day teenagers, egotistical, obnoxious, disrespectful, pampered, spoiled, ignorant, etc., look at Hannah Montana for example, Disney turned her into an entitled monster!”, I want to bash my head through my living room wall with rage. Speaking of Hannah Montana and musical sitcoms, so many people complain over them having child/teen actors perform horrible singing relied on autotune and their audiences (or the entire population for that matter) worship the living daylight out of them. Then they complain over these shows being popular to the point of becoming franchises and having their songs played in the background of shops and malls.
I also cannot stand the naivety of society who get upset over the existence of remakes or sequels of media that already exist and fail to acknowledge that THEY are the ones who have obsessed with it in the first place. I’ve seen the common neverending rage against Disney live action remakes claiming that “nobody asked for them” and “they’re ruining our childhoods and deviating from what made the originals good in the first place”. They also claim that Hollywood only cares about making money (who doesn’t? The makers behind famous movies are ordinary people as well. It’s a man-eating-man world out there and without any money, how are you going to survive? How would anyone survive without the necessity to the privileges of basic needs such as food and water without turning to the brinks of misery, insanity, or even cannibalism?) and only care about themselves (ironically we love to claim that yet we fail to see the same problem in ourselves, in other words we fail to acknowledge that nobody is perfect). What I find to be absolutely hypocritical is that we would use that as an excuse to back up our opinionated entitlement. In other words, we complain about live action remakes being awful yet we go to see them anyway. Ever wonder why the remakes of Beauty and the Beast and Lion King were box office hits? Because we’re delusional sadists that get enjoyment out of torturing people who are just trying to make a living!
One more complaint before I end this off, is that people claim that there is a lack of originality in media these days. That complaint is so hilariously ridiculous that I feel the urge to vomit my own blood to the point of anemia or even death. The irony of it all is that originality has already been lackluster for a long time now. And the obnoxious entitlement mindset of society of chronic complaining over minor things and then backing them up with lousy excuses when there are plenty of ways to ease their needs like “I hate the decision Hollywood made with X, how dare they dare they not do Y, and I will not stop complaining until I get what I want RIGHT NOW!!”. This is it, the Veruca Salt “I want it now” syndrome, the main source of the problem within ourselves to torture and blame our peers if we don’t get what we want. We act like we’re entitled to our past and have the right to demand it while treating others like garbage, when that’s not how reality works.
I’ve learned that we are a mess but we are so entitled to our opinions that we fail to understand the logic being offered to us. We have refused to move on and yet we still wonder why we’re stuck in the same old awful positions we’re in now. I was shamed for liking boy bands, tween sitcoms, and so-called generic pop music as a child because that was what the majority teen/adult male population have grown to hate because it didn’t fit THEIR demographic. These days I’ve realized there’s nothing with what I like and I shouldn’t let others’ biased statements get the better of me, even though they are generally annoying and close-minded. In my personal experience, they can complain about the Mario movie all they like, but honestly I really don’t care, I’m still going to the theater to watch it anyway when it comes out, and if they don’t like it, that’s their loss.
I will be honest. I have nothing against nostalgia, it’s a fond memory to go back into and look back into the past days of our lives. Unfortunately, the main problem I have with it is that we are too obsessed over it to the point where we reject anything (or everything) new or recent. Not only that, we are SO obsessed that we get downright defensive over it when an open-minded person calls us out on our rubbish. Remember the phrase “take off your nostalgia goggles and get out of the past”? This remains tried and true for over a decade now, but unfortunately we fail to acknowledge our narrow-mindedness. Because when someone tells us to stop having a toxic obsession over the past and move on, we get defensive and say “you’re just saying that just to protect modern media from the constructive criticism it rightfully deserves”, “it is not nostalgia, it’s just a fact, stop treating it as such”, or even “you’re just upset because you can’t handle grown adults clinging onto kids’ show that are at least over a decade old”.
I have done this before, including things that I have NOT grown up with because I wanted to be like 90s kids even though I was born in 2000. I foolishly believed that everything from the past was good and everything in the modern days are awful. And when people started to call me out, I replied that I wasn’t driven by nostalgia (I WAS) and that what I’ve known about the horribleness of the modern world is true (I was exaggerating, I completely ignored the good things that happened nowadays). Thankfully, I’ve gotten over this a couple years after I’ve reached adulthood. Sadly, there are many people today that refuse to learn from their mistakes and constantly defending everything from the past, ignoring all the bad things that occurred at the time. Every time I hear a comment or article that reads “Disney/Nickelodeon/etc. is no longer safe for kids because… (insert pathetic reason here)” or “this is the (curse word) kids today have to put up with, today’s sitcoms are a perfect description of modern day teenagers, egotistical, obnoxious, disrespectful, pampered, spoiled, ignorant, etc., look at Hannah Montana for example, Disney turned her into an entitled monster!”, I want to bash my head through my living room wall with rage. Speaking of Hannah Montana and musical sitcoms, so many people complain over them having child/teen actors perform horrible singing relied on autotune and their audiences (or the entire population for that matter) worship the living daylight out of them. Then they complain over these shows being popular to the point of becoming franchises and having their songs played in the background of shops and malls.
I also cannot stand the naivety of society who get upset over the existence of remakes or sequels of media that already exist and fail to acknowledge that THEY are the ones who have obsessed with it in the first place. I’ve seen the common neverending rage against Disney live action remakes claiming that “nobody asked for them” and “they’re ruining our childhoods and deviating from what made the originals good in the first place”. They also claim that Hollywood only cares about making money (who doesn’t? The makers behind famous movies are ordinary people as well. It’s a man-eating-man world out there and without any money, how are you going to survive? How would anyone survive without the necessity to the privileges of basic needs such as food and water without turning to the brinks of misery, insanity, or even cannibalism?) and only care about themselves (ironically we love to claim that yet we fail to see the same problem in ourselves, in other words we fail to acknowledge that nobody is perfect). What I find to be absolutely hypocritical is that we would use that as an excuse to back up our opinionated entitlement. In other words, we complain about live action remakes being awful yet we go to see them anyway. Ever wonder why the remakes of Beauty and the Beast and Lion King were box office hits? Because we’re delusional sadists that get enjoyment out of torturing people who are just trying to make a living!
One more complaint before I end this off, is that people claim that there is a lack of originality in media these days. That complaint is so hilariously ridiculous that I feel the urge to vomit my own blood to the point of anemia or even death. The irony of it all is that originality has already been lackluster for a long time now. And the obnoxious entitlement mindset of society of chronic complaining over minor things and then backing them up with lousy excuses when there are plenty of ways to ease their needs like “I hate the decision Hollywood made with X, how dare they dare they not do Y, and I will not stop complaining until I get what I want RIGHT NOW!!”. This is it, the Veruca Salt “I want it now” syndrome, the main source of the problem within ourselves to torture and blame our peers if we don’t get what we want. We act like we’re entitled to our past and have the right to demand it while treating others like garbage, when that’s not how reality works.
I’ve learned that we are a mess but we are so entitled to our opinions that we fail to understand the logic being offered to us. We have refused to move on and yet we still wonder why we’re stuck in the same old awful positions we’re in now. I was shamed for liking boy bands, tween sitcoms, and so-called generic pop music as a child because that was what the majority teen/adult male population have grown to hate because it didn’t fit THEIR demographic. These days I’ve realized there’s nothing with what I like and I shouldn’t let others’ biased statements get the better of me, even though they are generally annoying and close-minded. In my personal experience, they can complain about the Mario movie all they like, but honestly I really don’t care, I’m still going to the theater to watch it anyway when it comes out, and if they don’t like it, that’s their loss.