She Geek Critique – For the Sake of Nostalgia

It’s fair to say that geeks are born, not made. It’s just something that’s in us from the start – we gravitate to those things that put us in the category, whether it’s pop culture, sci-fi, fantasy, books, games, science, technology or whatever else is considered beyond mainstream. As such, a big piece of being a geek is indulging in nostalgia. And these days, there are plenty of ways to do that, from collectible figures to movie memorabilia to reboots of shows to movies based on favorite books. But there’s a distinction between true nostalgia and simple reminders. 

Last week I saw Ready Player One. I enjoyed the book and had been looking forward to the movie to a certain degree. The book is definitely aimed at kids of the 70s and 80s with all the mentions of the pop culture of the time. And there are moments in the book that do evoke some nostalgia. But the movie never really had that in its sights. There are loads of pop culture characters onscreen in just about every minute of the film. And audiences have loved seeing all of the recognizable faces and cars and weapons and locations. But the problem is that’s all it is – seeing the reminders of things we like.

There’s a difference between being reminded of something and feeling nostalgic. Reminders are on the surface, there’s no depth or meaning to them. Watching Ready Player One is like someone taking all of their favorite action figures and throwing them at you. You’ll catch a few, miss most and ultimately drop them all because it means nothing. And you’ll also get tired of having things thrown at you – that happened pretty quickly for me while watching the movie. I stopped caring about all of the pop culture pop-ups because it became nothing more than a checklist. There was no nostalgia for the audience.

In contrast, I recently indulged in a current trend and went to a barcade. Bars have always had a game or two to occupy patrons, but now they’re literally upping their games by focusing on pinball and video games as an attraction to customers. And because they’re cheaper to acquire, most of the games are “retro” or “vintage” (which might make geeks over 30 feel old because we remember when these games were new!). Anyway, walking into one of these places evokes real nostalgia for any kids of the 70s or 80s who spent time (and a lot of quarters) at neighborhood arcades. As I played Dig Dug, Ms. Pac Man and BurgerTime (I love BurgerTime!) on their big old cabinets, I forgot when I was – it was just me and the game, with other “kids” in the background making noise playing their own games.

That’s where the difference lies – the enjoyment that takes you back, the true sentiment behind why we love what we love. It’s not a matter of showing us character after character to say “Hey, remember this one? What about this one? And this one?” It’s about “Hey, remember when you first saw this character and you were with your friends and it inspired you to do this awesome thing?” So look for the real deal. Find the true nostalgia that makes you step back and remember how much you enjoyed a character, a game, a book, a movie, a show in the first place and what it really meant to you then.

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