The modern fascination with nostalgia has become very prevalent in media over the past few years, it seems as though the current young generation are reveling in their youth and everything that came with it, so much so that the media has become slightly hooked on the idea. With remakes of childhood favorites and reunions of past obsession have become the norm. Such examples include Spider-Man: No Way Home, The HBO Harry Potter Reunion and the Friends Reunions that was televised in May 2021.
The trend of nostalgia seems to be most targeted towards the millennial generation, perhaps because whilst we grew up with this, we are always now part of the teams that create content for the masses so it would make sense that we input those past loves in the newest releases.
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The feeling of nostalgia is one of looking back at the past with a warm cosy and heartwarming feeling that empowers positive feeling, much like when watching your old favourite TV shows and films. The Friends and Harry Potter Reunions especially encapsulate this feeling. Since they left the screen they have been rewatched by millions countless times and the love for them doesn't seem to be going away, with streaming services always battling for the rights to have them as the audience is always there. The joyous uproar when we see the actors talk about the characters and the stories take us back to when we first watched the show and films and gives a sense of community with those who loved them as much as we did.
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This has also crossed over into the modern cinema with films such as Spider-Man: No Way Home, which saw villains such as Green Goblin, Dr Octopus and Electro from the Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield Spider-Man movies. Having old characters come into a new story with a new version of the hero makes for not only an interesting watch but also gives the same feeling to see them on screen as the first time we did all those years ago.
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I think it's fair to say that nowadays people love to reminisce about the past, about all the good things we loved back then and wish we could bring back, and it seems some are succeeding. Maybe this is a new genre of media that is growing the niche of nostalgia. But who knows? Nostalgia will always be felt different by different generations, but I guess that's what makes every generational nostalgia unique to miss.
Written by: Holly Proctor