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| quote: | Originally posted by MrJiveBoJingles
Good point about those. I think the "nostalgia for something you never had" may just be plain old romanticism, not really nostalgia. |
Perhaps it might be stretching the definition to its threshold of elasticity, but minus a former possession of the romanticized object, I think many of the same criteria occur. Red Letter Media (http://redlettermedia.com/), in his review of Avatar, cites an article(s) about a jump in suicides prompted by the idealized world of Pandora and a yearning to live there. Such a phenomena could hardly be considered 'nostalgic' being that the beholder has only witnessed a conception of something which does not exist.
What nostalgia is, whether it approaches pathological thresholds or not, is a form of escapism. That said, I don't think anyone is immune to it. Since I've left Austin, TX, for instance, I have yet to find as consistently decent, a culinary land-scape anywhere else I've lived. Now, without having lived in foodie cities, like Chicago, New York City, or San Francisco, I can't say Austin's the best but I still have my preferences - even for restaurants in Austin which have since closed.
Even those places I have been, outside of Texas, which offer cuisine comparable with or even better than what I've had in Austin, seem to be missing that indefinable, supernatural zest; that essential flavor of home which rests over each bite of food, like a regional accent permeating even the words of those who are living there from abroad. It is in the Pizza. It is in the Mexican and Chinese food. It is in the staid, quintessentially American greasy spoon. That flavor which says, I am home. This is who I am. This is where I am from.
| quote: | Originally posted by MrJiveBoJingles
Then again, I think what SYSTEM-J is talking about may be different than Renaissance fairs, because even if the twenty-somethings themselves never experienced, say, the '60s or '70s, they know plenty of adults who did. That kind of connection is lacking in Renaissance / medieval times enthusiasts. So maybe it's like a "borrowed nostalgia" or "nostalgia by proxy?" |
Well, I think in the end, where it crosses thresholds into possibly pathological territory, is when you have a triangle of idealization, minimalization and devaluation. There is the idealization of whatever the nostalgic holds dear, in which the object is imbued with qualities which make it special. Minimalization is concurrent to idealization as a part of dismissing otherwise perceived qualities which detract from the uniqueness of the object. Devaluation occurs with objects which are in competition to the uniqueness of the object.
Not that I oppose to distinctions being made, but whether one has experienced it or not, may largely be immaterial since essentially the same mechanisms appear to be at work.
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Now with extra singles!
my old stuff, not quite up to snuff - but I still dig it - UPDATED 9/23/2012
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