Technology and Our Perception of Nostalgia

Mark Fisher’s “The Slow Cancelation of the Future” touches on a phenomenon that I have experienced time and time again when listening to music. When he recalls listening to Amy Winehouse’s cover of “Valerie,” it reminded me of a similar experience that I had when first listening to Leon Bridges’ single “Coming Home.” The sound of the song mimicked songs by Bill Withers and The Spinners that I had heard previously growing up; as I looked it up though, I realized that that song did not belong to that era at all, but to my own! The same instance happened when I listened to “Strangers” by the Kinks for the first time... I thought that it was an indie song from 2007 until I looked who it was by...

Time and time again, artists reference previous inspirations in their music and this has happened way before the onset of the internet. This occurs in film, as well as TV shows and even fashion. I thought of the film “Back to the Future,” a film that epitomizes the “80s does 50s” nostalgia that permeated the time period. (Marty McFly even having the chance to bring about the start of Rock and Roll!) But technology, and specifically the development of the internet has greatly shifted the way in which we relate to time. There is so much information available and we can easily stream an obscure movie from the 1950s... Thus, the music/films/fashion that artists are referencing are also easily available to us as well. The internet has shifted our relationship to cultural production by making it so much more accessible to anyone and everyone.

P.S. Has anyone watched Derry Girls on Netflix? I was watching the show and looked at their outfits and laughed because we’re basically wearing the same things now even if the show takes place in 1990s Northern Ireland.

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