Is nostalgia killing the current media landscape?
These days, it feels as though most things we see on screen are regurgitations of old ideas that had their heyday many years ago.
Every other new release is a remake, adaptation or spinoff of an idea created in a bygone era, with creativity and originality seemingly being a thing of the past as studio executives struggle to come up with new ways to reheat old concepts.
Whether it be the exhausting stream of live-action Disney remakes or the recent remake of Naked Gun, it seems nearly every project is an attempt to rehash the success of an earlier film, capitalising on our nostalgia by reanimating characters we used to love.
Nostalgia is one of the most powerful and visceral emotions, with the sound of a jingle or the lighting of a single frame bringing us back to a different time, a simpler time that we look back on with fondness. It could be the opening theme song to Gilmore Girls, which always takes me back to memories of my first London flat and a time in which I desperately needed the comfort of Stars Hollow and all its quirky inhabitants.
Or it could be the first episode of Mindhunter, which was released during the first term of my undergraduate degree and proved to be a great distraction while I studied something I hated. It might not be a particularly soothing show, but there was something about its heightened darkness that allowed me to detach from my own life, becoming absorbed by the mysteries that consumed the main characters.
When I rewatch films and television shows that I enjoyed during particular periods of my life, it is always with the intention of finding solace in the familiarity of it. We go back to The Goonies when we want to be transported back to the simplicity of childhood and the endless adventure that could be found in everyday life. When I rewatch Succession, it takes me back to a golden era of television and a time when writing was a respected craft, something that seems to be fading in the age of technocapitalism.
But this feeling is rare and special, and naturally, something that the film industry at large is trying to exploit in every way possible. The people at the top have recognised that nostalgia is a highly evocative and powerful emotion, and during troubled times when people are craving comfort and the safety of the past, the decision to mine past projects for profit is an obvious decision when coming from such a parasitic industry. It’s a trend that feels frustratingly relevant after the announcement that a spinoff of The Office, aptly titled The Paper, will soon be released into our overcrowded media landscape.
The Office is, without a doubt, one of the most beloved comedy series of all time, with the story of Dunder Mifflin and the antics inside the paper office becoming a staple addition to the sitcom genre. From Dwight’s maddening power trips, to the endearing delusion of Michael and slow-burning romance between Pam and Jim, the show quickly became a hit, filling a niche in the market by centring around people who didn’t feel that different to us.
But while it might be a widely loved show, this doesn’t mean that we need to see it again. Time and time again, the industry has shown that they don’t care about the creative integrity of the projects it remakes, instead doing so for profit and doing a disservice to the charm of the original. When we make shitty remakes of everything, we only taint the power of the original show/film – the upcoming The Office spinoff will only make us reflect on the early show in a different way, knowing that its spark has been corrupted by something that is so clearly being made with a solely monetary goal.
Every successful project of the past is now just viewed as a cash cow for current media conglomerates to exploit and milk for profit. You liked The Substance? Get ready to see a musical version on the West End in a few years. Your childhood favourite film was Snow White? Well, you can say goodbye to your fond memories of the animation after watching the live-action monstrosity they turned it into.
Everything we know and love is being tainted by the greed of the current media landscape that exploits our nostalgia by rehashing great stories into cheap copies. We might have loved The Office, but the hand-made charm of the original show will be impossible to distil into a remake, and only reminds us of a different age in which original storytelling was still a concern, and our nostalgia grew from projects with their hearts in the right place.
