Gen X Nostalgia is out of control

4,088 Views | 54 Replies | Last: 1 day ago by TequilaMockingbird
General Jack D. Ripper
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When I was younger, Gen X would get a kick out of older generations' attachment to nostalgia. We always kind of laughed at it and found it a bit pathetic. Yet, here we are and Gen X is chugging down the nostalgia and pandering to greater degrees than the prior generations.

All the remakes and reboots. It's pretty weird and leaving us with crappy product.
Well…you sounded taller on radio.
Bruce Almighty
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I guess your Gen X childhood was different than mine. The students at my school loved the late 60s and 70s.
Belton Ag
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When I was a teenaged Gen Xer, the only nostalgia that we thought was vile and being foisted upon us by the prior generation was disco music.

Everything else was pretty awesome. Music (most of it) and movies of the 60's and 70's pretty much laid the foundation for much of what we loved when we came of age.

Now, everything that the younger generation produces is pure crap (j/k).
BowSowy
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It's almost like people's tastes change over time
Definitely Not A Cop
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C@LAg
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General Jack D. Ripper
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Bruce Almighty said:

I guess your Gen X childhood was different than mine. The students at my school loved the late 60s and 70s.


Perhaps there a distinction between nostalgia and retro. Nostalgia to me seems more pandering. Nostalgia to me is more a wanting to go back.
Well…you sounded taller on radio.
YouBet
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General Jack D. Ripper said:

When I was younger, Gen X would get a kick out of older generations' attachment to nostalgia. We always kind of laughed at it and found it a bit pathetic. Yet, here we are and Gen X is chugging down the nostalgia and pandering to greater degrees than the prior generations.

All the remakes and reboots. It's pretty weird and leaving us with crappy product.
We are objectively the best generation that grew up during peak America so this is all very understandable.
Brian Earl Spilner
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No, you're just old enough that your generation is more nostalgic now.

It happens to every generation.
AGinHI
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General Jack D. Ripper said:

When I was younger, Gen X would get a kick out of older generations' attachment to nostalgia. We always kind of laughed at it and found it a bit pathetic. Yet, here we are and Gen X is chugging down the nostalgia and pandering to greater degrees than the prior generations.

All the remakes and reboots. It's pretty weird and leaving us with crappy product.
All of the remakes and reboots and past celebrity idols continued representation (e.g., just recently with Mike Tyson) is because the current cultural paradigm has stifled creativity and today's generation's ability to raise up an icon/s that the broader society can all rally behind.

We all watched Mike Tyson fight. We all listened to Phil Collins (strange that Jake Paul entered to In the Air Tonight when their has been 43 years of music to choose from, surely this generation could have produced something more representative of kids today?).

We all cheered for Rocky. Italian-American from Philadelphia overcoming the odds. I was a child in a small town outside of Philly, and unbeknownst to me at the time, full of Italian families. But all of America could relate. It's hard for me not to think that the final Rocky film influenced this absurd fight. It appears life imitates art and not the other way around.

And despite the obsessive cries of racism we all watched The Jeffersons, Sanford and Son, and The Cosby Show, which was only one of two tv shows to spend five consecutive seasons as the number-one rated show.

When we watched in Hicks's staticky video feed a terrified Hudson yelling "The Sarge is gone! Let's get the **** out of here!" We empathized with the loss of a good leader.

We felt that loss again when a masculine Latina sacrificed her life and would die held by a cowardly (white) lieutenant who redeemed himself by attempting her rescue.

What I'm getting at - because I can continue to ramble on with examples - is the reason for the nostalgic remakes and reboots is

Our music was better. Our stories were better. Our respect for one another was better. Our cultural identity as Americans was better.

Our generation was better.

So there

double aught
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Belton Ag said:

When I was a teenaged Gen Xer, the only nostalgia that we thought was vile and being foisted upon us by the prior generation was disco music.

The only thing that really beat me down growing up in the 80s/90s was Woodstock. Boomers constantly talked about it like it was the greatest thing ever and was responsible for single handedly saving our nation.

Ok, boomer.
Rocagnante
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AGinHI said:

General Jack D. Ripper said:

When I was younger, Gen X would get a kick out of older generations' attachment to nostalgia. We always kind of laughed at it and found it a bit pathetic. Yet, here we are and Gen X is chugging down the nostalgia and pandering to greater degrees than the prior generations.

All the remakes and reboots. It's pretty weird and leaving us with crappy product.
All of the remakes and reboots and past celebrity idols continued representation (e.g., just recently with Mike Tyson) is because the current cultural paradigm has stifled creativity and today's generation's ability to raise up an icon/s that the broader society can all rally behind.

We all watched Mike Tyson fight. We all listened to Phil Collins (strange that Jake Paul entered to In the Air Tonight when their has been 43 years of music to choose from, surely this generation could have produced something more representative of kids today?).

We all cheered for Rocky. Italian-American from Philadelphia overcoming the odds. I was a child in a small town outside of Philly, and unbeknownst to me at the time, full of Italian families. But all of America could relate. It's hard for me not to think that the final Rocky film influenced this absurd fight. It appears life imitates art and not the other way around.

And despite the obsessive cries of racism we all watched The Jeffersons, Sanford and Son, and The Cosby Show, which was only one of two tv shows to spend five consecutive seasons as the number-one rated show.

When we watched in Hicks's staticky video feed a terrified Hudson yelling "The Sarge is gone! Let's get the **** out of here!" We empathized with the loss of a good leader.

We felt that loss again when a masculine Latina sacrificed her life and would die held by a cowardly (white) lieutenant who redeemed himself by attempting her rescue.

What I'm getting at - because I can continue to ramble on with examples - is the reason for the nostalgic remakes and reboots is

Our music was better. Our stories were better. Our respect for one another was better. Our cultural identity as Americans was better.

Our generation was better.

So there





G.I.Bro
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OK BOOMER
Bruce Almighty
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Nostalgia is driven by the younger generations, not the generation that is being pimped out. In the case of 80s/90s nostalgia that we are currently seeing, it's mainly pandering to the younger millennials and gen Z.
Definitely Not A Cop
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Jake Paul choosing Phil Collins was an obvious reference to this:

AGinHI
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Maybe.

Maybe not.

Watching him solemnly lip sync "I've been waiting for this moment all my life" struck me differently than mocking Tyson, but a narcissist who believes he has arrived.
Teslag
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Bruce Almighty said:

I guess your Gen X childhood was different than mine. The students at my school loved the late 60s and 70s.


Yep. And arguably one of the greatest GenX era films about growing up was Dazed and Confused, set in the mid 1970's.
An L of an Ag
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Teslag said:

Bruce Almighty said:

I guess your Gen X childhood was different than mine. The students at my school loved the late 60s and 70s.


Yep. And arguably one of the greatest GenX era films about growing up was Dazed and Confused, set in the mid 1970's.


Agreed. Even if it DID unleash Ben Affleck and Matthew McConaughey on the world.

Our bad.
HollywoodBQ
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Recycling hits is nothing new.

In the 80s, I'd always get disappointed when some artist would have a popular song on the radio and my mom already knew the lyrics because it was a hit from the 60s being redone by Tiffany or Billy Idol, The Bangles, or Bananarama, etc.
wangus12
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Quote:

Our generation was better.
No your generation grew up in the world created by the greatest generation. Everything has gone to **** since y'all became adults jk
tk for tu juan
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Jugstore Cowboy
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Quote:

The only thing that really beat me down growing up in the 80s/90s was Woodstock. Boomers constantly talked about it like it was the greatest thing ever and was responsible for single handedly saving our nation.
God, it seemed like every day of every month of every year was some special Woodstock anniversary. That film was on PBS all the time. From like 1983 on, it was non-stop 20th anniversaries and micro anniversaries of things that happened in the 80s'. You would've thought all boomers were old hippies to went to Woodstock to celebrate their success in the Freedom Rides.
Belton Ag
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Gen Xers were the ones trying to revive Woodstock, though. Who do you think was attending Woodstock '94 and '99? Wasn't Boomers.

torrid
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As an aging Gen-X'er, give me more nostalgia.
aTmAg
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Maybe it's just me, but during Christmas, the music gives me nostalgia for a time that I wasn't even alive for yet. Seems weird.
double aught
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Belton Ag said:

Gen Xers were the ones trying to revive Woodstock, though. Who do you think was attending Woodstock '94 and '99? Wasn't Boomers.


Because we never heard the end of how amazing and world changing the original was.
The Sun
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Belton Ag said:

Gen Xers were the ones trying to revive Woodstock, though. Who do you think was attending Woodstock '94 and '99? Wasn't Boomers.




It was literally three boomers who put on Woodstock 94 and 99.

Michael Lang
John Roberts
Joel Rosenman
Belton Ag
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The Sun said:

Belton Ag said:

Gen Xers were the ones trying to revive Woodstock, though. Who do you think was attending Woodstock '94 and '99? Wasn't Boomers.




It was literally three boomers who put on Woodstock 94 and 99.

Michael Lang
John Roberts
Joel Rosenman


That's why I specifically said "Who do you think was attending". It was totally marketed for and aimed at Gen Xers.
Brian Earl Spilner
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For those folks who are around my age (mid to late 30's), the newest LOTR movie (The Hunt For Gollum) which is currently in production will be a nostalgia movie aimed directly towards us, those who grew up watching the LOTR trilogy.

By the time it releases in 2026, it will have been 23 years since ROTK.

So we're definitely entering the millennial nostalgia era.

There's also that Y2K movie.
The Sun
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Belton Ag said:

The Sun said:

Belton Ag said:

Gen Xers were the ones trying to revive Woodstock, though. Who do you think was attending Woodstock '94 and '99? Wasn't Boomers.




It was literally three boomers who put on Woodstock 94 and 99.

Michael Lang
John Roberts
Joel Rosenman


That's why I specifically said "Who do you think was attending". It was totally marketed for and aimed at Gen Xers.


Yes but it was revived by the boomers. We had tons of festival concerts in the 90s. We weren't clamoring for any of it out of nostalgia. We just wanted a good show and to have fun.
Belton Ag
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The Sun said:

Belton Ag said:

The Sun said:

Belton Ag said:

Gen Xers were the ones trying to revive Woodstock, though. Who do you think was attending Woodstock '94 and '99? Wasn't Boomers.




It was literally three boomers who put on Woodstock 94 and 99.

Michael Lang
John Roberts
Joel Rosenman


That's why I specifically said "Who do you think was attending". It was totally marketed for and aimed at Gen Xers.


Yes but it was revived by the boomers. We had tons of festival concerts in the 90s. We weren't clamoring for any of it out of nostalgia. We just wanted a good show and to have fun.


Fair enough. I just think that if Gen Xers hated the idea of Woodstock and didn't want anything to do with it, then those music festivals wouldn't have been called Woodstock.

I do agree that most Gen Xers I know hated hippies and thought they were a joke, but everyone hates hippies.
maroon barchetta
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double aught said:

Belton Ag said:

Gen Xers were the ones trying to revive Woodstock, though. Who do you think was attending Woodstock '94 and '99? Wasn't Boomers.


Because we never heard the end of how amazing and world changing the original was.


I watched a documentary on Netflix (I think) about how Woodstock all came together and how the National Guard brought in supplies to help and how it all ran.

It's amazing it happened at all. It was a good watch.
YouBet
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Brian Earl Spilner said:

For those folks who are around my age (mid to late 30's), the newest LOTR movie (The Hunt For Gollum) which is currently in production will be a nostalgia movie aimed directly towards us, those who grew up watching the LOTR trilogy.

By the time it releases in 2026, it will have been 23 years since ROTK.

So we're definitely entering the millennial nostalgia era.

There's also that Y2K movie.


Missed that memo. What's the premise?
Brian Earl Spilner
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The period of time between Bilbo's 111th birthday, and Gandalf returning to the Shire to check that the Ring is safe, is 17 years in the book. It's unspecified in the movie.

In that period of time, Gandalf and Aragorn hunt down Gollum to find out what he told the enemy about the location of the Ring.

Presumably in the movie it'll be a couple years at most rather than 17.

And they'll probably have to come up with a lot of window dressing to fill out the story a bit.

But good news is it's just one movie and not a trilogy. So we definitely shouldn't have an entire movie (or 2) of fluff like what happened with The Hobbit.

Will be very interesting to see if they choose to cast McKellen, Mortensen, etc. My guess is they do, and use deepfake to age them all down, considering this all occurs during the span of time we see in FOTR.

Also Andy Serkis is directing.
Tanya 93
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Proud member of Gen X

I even did the whole backpack thru Europe thing after college
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