Children's Media as Nostalgia

Nostalgia has a very powerful effect on the human mind, both as a means of escape from what may be a difficult present, but also to recall important moments in our development that can help us cope with our current circumstances.  Fond Nostalgia can often provide a return to childhood or else childlike qualities such as faith, hope, love, humility, honesty, and kindness.  Children are able to look at the world in a very raw and innocent way, which allows them to escape many of the harsh realities that in many ways they are either sheltered from or else simply do no understand.  Responsibilities are all but unknown to children, thus a return to childhood can be an escape from responsibilities and difficult choices.  While this may be a good thing in some situations (learning from past mistakes in order to deal with current situations, recognizing childlike virtues that can lead to a stronger moral compass) it can, when taken too far, have very detrimental consequences.

Nostalgia is really only something that applies to adults.  Children don't really experience nostalgia since they are living their childhood now.  Seeing things like "Power Rangers" or reading Christmas stories are fresh and new to them, but as such, they are likely to create memories related to these media sources that will become nostalgic for them later in life.  We are living in a time now where nostalgia is a great source of ideas for many films and other media, for example all the reboots of old movies/franchises like Transformers, Marvel comics movies, and even more gritty things like the remakes of classic horror movies, looking to bring the old scares to a new generation while simultaneously reminding the older generation of the classic scares of their youth.  Sometimes these ideas are big hits, while others are flops, and the reason for flops usually is because the intellectual property (nostalgic element) is no longer applicable (like in the case of John Carter) or else it is just too antiquated for the current generation to care.  

As we watched Hook in class this week, I was impressed at how well it fits into this category.  It embodies nostalgia in many ways.  First, I saw this film as a kid at my friend's house.  I loved it and would ask to see it every time I went over to his house.  He got bored of it pretty quick, but I never did!  When my parents got a DVD player for the first time, Hook was one of the 5 DVDs they got along with it, so I watched it over and over again (partly because of nostalgia, partly because I had no other DVDs).  The second reason this movie is nostalgic is that it is a retelling of the Peter Pan story, which I also loved as a kid.  The tiny jokes and nods to the old play and movie are just thrilling!  Finally, the story itself is a story of nostalgia, where Peter has forgotten all about his past and must remember in order to deal with his current family problems, as well as to save his children from a demon from his past.  He finally remembers, but is caught up in the memory and loses himself, his goals, and his focus on reality.  Only when he remembers his responsibilities as an adult is he able to find a happy medium between what he used to be and what he has become.  This is exactly what nostalgia can do for anyone.  Brilliant filmmaking and the perfect choice for this week's viewing.