Nostalgia

Everyone grew up around something right? We were all either exposed to it or we discovered it on our own. For example, my mother played the Eagles around me when I was little, so I grew up listening to them. I found Pokémon on TV and fell in love with it almost immediately. Since then, I’ve found I don’t mind listening to the Eagles, and I still love to play the Pokémon games.

                However, the fact that I do doesn’t mean that the Eagles are a fantastic fountain of talent (at least, I don’t think they are) or that the Pokémon games have really changed over the years, it just means that I love them because I remember loving them as a kid. In my heart I still want to be the very best, I still wish I were a Hogwarts student, and I still check my closet for Narnia. The reason, however, is mostly based on this remembered fun associated with them.  This doesn’t make them bad; it just means that I have a bias toward them because of it.

                There are several of my friends who would argue to me that the first 150 Pokémon are the best, and that all of the other generations are no good at all and should have been forgotten. I don’t agree with them, because I believe that their answer is entirely based on nostalgia because their only argument is that the non-originals are non-originals. I can agree that as the generations continue they are a bit lacking in some respects, but I wouldn’t condemn all of them, merely cut some of the more ridiculous models out, including some from the originals. I think I would call it the ultimate generation when I was finished with it; but I digress.

                Francine Prose saw a similar scenario in books, claiming that adults choose mediocre novels from their childhoods as their top lists of literature, also claiming that nostalgia is the cause. (Prose, I Know Why the Caged Bird Cannot Read)

                So what is this tie then? Does nostalgia really play that big of a part in our choices of media and the like? It would seem so, and I think, as a people, we need to step back and look at why we really like a thing. It’s ok to like something for nostalgia, but in contests of true talent, that reason for liking a thing must be left out. Harry Potter, as enjoyable as it is, does not stand up to the might of J.R.R Tolkien, Terry Goodkind, or many other adult books for quality. It may stand on top of children’s books, but should not be judged in a contest for the best written adult literature. So please, think about why you like something before you declare it the best.