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Weaponized Nostalgia and Me
- SuperflyPete
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Sadly, I had a wealthy friend with an older gamer brother so all of the Dark Tower, D&D, and Avalon Hill stuff was always around me, despite me never having any of it.
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Ken B. wrote:
Michael Barnes wrote: Jojo’s comments really put me in mind of Ready Player One. I think one of the biggest failings of that film (or book I guess) is the assumption that in he future 20,30,40 years from now...young people will still idolize and idealize Buckaroo Banzai, Battletoads, and Chucky. Really? Buckaroo Banzai has never been a household name! Thinking over it...where the hell are all of the hot characters and IP from like, 2025-2030? It’s almost chilling when you really think about it...people are so content and satiated with the old pop culture that they have stopped making new pop culture. Or it could be that “geek” dads poisoned the well by foisting their endless childhoods on their kids.
Now 90s nostalgia is a thing and it’s all about Rugrats. But what are today’s kids going to remember of NOW outside of social media junk and celebrities?
In its defense, I believe that was part of the point--that so much of the world had become impoverished or poor, and many had sought escape in the world created by one guy, who was nostalgic for these very things and as such they defined that world. Since so many were living there, they were content to recreate what they saw and stunt their imagination to only what they had been given. It was also clear that the Big Business didn't care about creating new IP, only monetizing as much as possible that which already existed. It's cheaper to monetize what's already there than take creative chances, spend money, and fail.
Maybe I'm giving it too much credit. But that's what I took from it.
But that's kind of why the book is sadder than the movie. In the movie, it's not just that dude's 80s nostalgia ruling everything, because it includes pop culture bits from all over, from King Kong through the 80s, and straight up to Overwatch and Halo. It doesn't go past present day, which makes sense. If they'd created some kind of fictional future pop culture references, how would we know that's what they were, and not just some generic sci-fi bullshit? They would've had to take the time to set up that this is a future reference, and why bother spending the screen time?
The book is sadder because it actually does show a future where the crazy rich dude managed to make it so that with all the possibilities of VR, everyone just made 80s references. Now, I totally believe that in a future VR world, it'll 1000% be nothing but cultural references, but I'd like to think that it'd be both references to every damn thing ever, and also constantly evolving. Maybe I'm crazy, but I'm pretty sure we'd see X-wings and F-16s flying around next to Nyan Cats and unicorns shitting rainbows.
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- Black Barney
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