How We Can Spin Nostalgia Without Overwhelm Us
In the wake of multiple forms of media, some of which have lost traction in the modern era, we often find ourselves curious of the future and in the process embrace the past. This is a common them in entertainment, this desire to establish a comfort zone with something from childhood or just before our childhoods and become either hung up on something “tainting memories” or being good, but necessary on it’s own. What’s more is as time progresses we find new things becoming Nostalgic and under the threat of being remade as in a way that misses the original’s point. This is something incredibly common in video games and movies, the most noteworthy of 2016 being DOOM and Ghostbusters respectively. Even though each borrowed the idiotic naming convention of reboot/new story with the successful brand name attached to it (which carries its own risks) can be successful or unsuccessful partly based on memories, but more importantly based on its value as a stand alone product.
So with that in mind, where does that leave things like the ever-evolving world of video games. Well in Yahtzee Croshaw’s blog Extra Punctuation, not only is the logic of how Nostalgia should work in terms of video games (operating on a 20 year minimum cycle) adequately explained, but also asks questions how we should treat the material. There is a remake/remaster of the Crash Bandicoot Trilogy coming out in the near future, games that came out for the Playstation 1 from 1996-1998 respectively. The question on must ask is can someone who grew up with these games, like my self be asked to judge it fairly. Furthermore, consider how many of these remakes/remasters that have come out have been a big part of journalists’ lives, especially in the video game field where few journalists are older than 40. It raises a question of how a journalist should treat nostalgia and how much it should fuel their opinions.
I think that just like anything where a journalist or just a regular person has emotional investment can create memories and biases that can shape the future. As Yahtzee points out, many gamers were driven away from computer gaming by an elitist mentality, that their way was the only way and in the process those gamers found a home in the PS1 and in process giving a rise to many great games and gaming consoles never before seen. So in the end, there is a difference between loving what came from the past for its innovation and ignoring the modern take on something while also ignoring the history that made that important to us at all. We can pine for nostalgic things, but we need to acknowledge that if done properly and in a timely fashion, both old and new media can coexist together, and while debate about which is better is not inherently wrong, we need to focus just as much on content as well as the content when it comes to remakes of classic. Failing to do so is arguably the greatest journalistic faux pas we can make, creating a bias bubble that limits honesty and alienates new audiences. Memories and nostalgia can remain sacred even for journalists, but a line must be drawn to ensure fair reporting and media enjoyment go hand in hand, a dilemma quickly creeping up on the next crop of journalists.
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