Sequels. Reboots. Familiar faces. The past is the new present. The industry is repeatedly pulling things from the past instead of trying to create something new. While this trend may seem appealing, it’s harmful because it limits originality and creativity in modern storytelling. The industry does this on purpose. Nostalgia works because it’s used as a tool in modern storytelling to connect people with memories, giving them emotions, comfort, and experiences that they understand.
An important reason why nostalgia has become so popular is that it brings people back to the parts of their lives that felt meaningful to them. Audiences will enjoy seeing the shows and films that they grew up with come back differently because it will remind them of the earlier part of their lives. For example, shows like Stranger Things rely on 1980s references, music, and aesthetics to create familiarity with its viewers. As Calgary Journal explains, watching reboots can feel like “an addictive yet comforting feeling” that allows the audience to “reconnect with [their] inner child.” Nostalgia can create emotional connections between someone’s past and present, making them feel both excitement and a familiar comfort at the same time. However, having this emotional appeal is what makes audiences willing to acknowledge and accept unoriginal and repeated media.
Another important reason why nostalgia is dominating entertainment is that it works from a business perspective. Entertainment companies know that many people are going to want to watch something that they already recognize instead of taking the risk to try out something new. Because of that reasoning, studios tend to rely on existing franchises, remakes, and sequels because they know they will already have audiences built into them. Shannon Cuthrell, a freelance journalist and editor, states this best: “[Nostalgia] markets itself. The audience’s emotional attachment is already established.” This is clear with the expansion of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, where familiar characters and storylines will make a return in the upcoming Avengers movie. Using existing media is a safe and profitable strategy for companies to use in the entertainment industry, discouraging them from investing in new ideas.
While nostalgia is able to make people feel connected and excited, it ends up leading down a path of less originality in entertainment. Some may argue that because companies are relying so much on the past, it’s limiting the creation of new ideas and fresh storytelling, and therefore also limiting the amount of attention original pieces of media will get. Cuthrell calls the nostalgic pieces of media “recycled relics of our childhoods,” suggesting that even though the use of nostalgia has been a success, it’s making entertainment feel too repetitive. Nostalgia is striving away from only being a storytelling tool and instead is becoming a crutch that’s holding the industry back.
Nostalgia dominates entertainment because of the use of familiarity, emotions, and profit. Audiences are given something that is comfortable and meaningful to them, while companies are given a safe way to get lots of viewership. Nostalgia continues to shape what we watch and appeals to many people today. However, unless the industry begins to prioritize creating original content again, modern entertainment is going to continue to feel predictable and repetitive.
