I recently had a chat with Andy from Colours May Vary on the subject of nostalgia. I had recalled that Andy had been writing an essay on the subject, and I approached him as I felt it has a lot of bearing on my own subject of focus.
Some of the interesting points we discussed were:
. Nostalgia can be attributed as a psychological coping measure, and that during economic/future uncertainty individuals may fixate with what they remember as being secure, i.e the past
. Nostalgia is used as a marketing tool, for both mature consumers and young children (a parent may purchase a toy for their child as they had a personal connection to the same product as a child)
. Nostalgia has been used as a therapeutic relief for dementia patients. For example, a house can be refurbished to appear as it once did in the 40s or 50s, thus being comfortably familiar to the individual
. The past is fixed and therefore 'safe'. Individuals also often filter out the negative connotations of time periods... for example Victorian-age obsessives often neglect to recall how the Empire was built on slavery and war.
.Nostalgia as a key theme within merchandise. It is worth mentioning that rare and preserved merchandise have become a new form of luxury ware. Star Wars toys from the 80s may now sell for several thousand dollars.
Andy has since emailed me book recommendations, which will appear in a future post.
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