Nostalgia is by no means exclusive to our age.
TV has always let us escape into comforting stories about the past…
This article originally appeared onDen of Geek UK.
Remember the good old days?
Thats why everything on TV is comforting, coddling, backwards-looking fluff.
A world where, get this, the Soviets have gone into space.
And theres that war in Korea.
Everyones testing hydrogen bombs all over the place, Castros taken over Cuba and innocent people keep getting lynched.
Its little wonder all we want to watch on TV are cozy Westerns.
Switch onGunsmokeand all that worry melts away.
The urge to retreat back to the familiarity of childhoodanybodys childhoodhas apparently never felt stronger.
The real world, they say, has turned to such shit that everyones seeking solace in simpler times.
Stranger Thingsfills that need nicely, its true.
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Theres nothing specific to our time though, about comfort as a function of television.
Nick Berry inHeartbeatgot us through the John Major years almost single-handedly.
TV has always looked fondly backwards.
Were not the first lot to use it as a reassuring la-la-la hum against distant gunshots and explosions.
We wont be the last.
We forget that for the majority of those who lived in them, there was nothing simple about it.
The world, if you take the trouble to look, has always been scary and unsettling.
Bad things happening then were vague shadows, not hi-res images appearing minute-by-minute in the palm of our hand.
Our ignorance was our bliss.
One, because its cheering to remember that things arent quite as bad as all that.
Two, because its not true.
This stuff isnt driven by emotions, but by economics.
(Halifaxs next mascot: a white dog poo and some pink custard.)
Theres been a Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson on screen almost continuously since TV began.
TheHappy DaysTV universe, with its Mork from Ork andLaverne & Shirleyspin-offs, pre-dated Marvel and DC by decades.
If it was ever thus and cultural nostalgia is as much a part of any generation as our own.
Why then, might it feel as though were the ones drowning in it?
A simple explanation is that our collective voice rings louder in the ear than it used to.
Thanks to social networks, were talking more rubbish to more people than ever before.
More and louder pop culture talk is one part of it.
An economy thats involuntarily widened the post-teenage-pre-adult tranche of life for many might be another.
The nos bit of nostalgia originally referred to a physical home that you yearned for in absentia.
You try leaving behind Neil BuchanansArtAttackwhen its the rock youve built your identity on.
Nobodys as nostalgic for their childhood as people their early twenties.
Unlike the rest of us, they can still smell it.
And probably still fit into their old jeans.
This Is Englandcertainly didnt.
The BBCs latest Sunday night period venture, an adaptation of Joseph Conrads terrorism-themedTheSecret Agent, is noCranford.
Were alright, is the conclusion.
Or at least, not really worse off or more damaged than ever we were.
Ours isnt essentially a tragic age, sometimes we just insist on taking it tragically.
So, you know, chin up.
