It's possible to like something from the past, without it being because of nostalgia.

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UraniumRocker@reddit

I listen to a lot of rockabilly, and doowop. It’s not a 50s nostalgia thing though. I genuinely think it’s good music, and I’m still finding new stuff to listen to all the time.

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AppropriateFan4530@reddit

It’s far more likely that you wouldn’t enjoy a large amount of the pop culture you do from your childhood if you had been born at a different time. But who cares if you like it, enjoy it.

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red286@reddit

I have that issue with things from my childhood that I simply missed as a child.

Whole bunch of movies that people swear are the bestest movie ever, I watch as an adult and I'm like "this movie is ass, wtf are people on?" Like the Goonies... if you're over the age of 13, that movie is ass, no matter what year you were born in. But if you saw it before you turned 13, you likely think it's one of the best children's movies ever made.

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juniper3411@reddit

Never ending story rules no matter what :)

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AppropriateFan4530@reddit

Goonies isn’t good but our generation waxes about it poetically

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Cloud_Disconnected@reddit

Not because it's without merit. Our tastes and expectations were shaped by the zeitgeist we grew up in whether we were born in 1959, 1977, or 2003.

It seems like you might be trying to get ahead of the argument that "things used to be better." The thing is, they were better. For example, writers were educated on the classics, and many had to work for years in high-pressure writers rooms where you had to turn out consistently good work on a schedule day after day. Those who couldn't do it went and did something else. That environment doesn't exist anymore, executive assistants with one credit are getting handed showrunner positions, and the quality suffers. This is happening across the arts and media, there are no gatekeepers anymore, and there's no gauntlet creators have to run to home their craft before their output gets to us.

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AppropriateFan4530@reddit

You just went on a rant about your nostalgia for the era you grew up in 👏

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xRVAx@reddit

Like the Rockapella "Where in the world is Carmen Sandiego" a capella theme song?

Pure appreciation of quality there. 0% nostalgia.

BOWWWWWWWW!

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iridescentrae@reddit

yeah it can just be something you like because it’s still good not because it was great back then or whatever the technical definition is, it can just be something you like in general that’s retro or vintage for example

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Mountain-Fox-2123@reddit (OP)

In contrast to what some people think, good things does not suddenly turn bad becasue it was made more than 5 minutes ago.

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iridescentrae@reddit

definitely, it’s just way way way harder to find online lol

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amindfulloffire@reddit

Well, yeah. I like plenty of things from the past that I wasn't around for. I think most people do.

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Mountain-Fox-2123@reddit (OP)

I am mainly talking about things you where around for.

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red286@reddit

It is, but nostalgia can make you appreciate trash simply because you liked it in your youth.

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Mattimvs@reddit

I love classical music (but not because of my fond memories of partying in Vienna in 1790)

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poofyhairguy@reddit

I am a big fan of disco music even though it was made fun of for our entire childhood.

Eventually I just gave it a chance (mostly thanks to the movie The Martian) and was like “ah all those cartoons were overplaying how much this sucks as a whole jus because people in the 1990s were sick of The Bee Gees.”

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capthazelwoodsflask@reddit

You've got to admit that those parties were pretty wild, though

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Cool_Dark_Place@reddit

gif

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DrMcJedi@reddit

My sister still has Lisztomania…

gif

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ScreamThyLastScream@reddit

Nostalgia isn't about invalidating your like for something, but reaffirming ignorance of the things you didn't like about something. It is a curious and common thing.

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ToBePacific@reddit

If it wasn’t, people would be incapable of enjoying anything made before they were born. But obviously, we have museums full of very old paintings.

Like, I enjoy looking at Rembrandt’s paintings, but I’m not capable of feeling nostalgia for his works because none of us was alive back then.

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Appropriate-Food1757@reddit

Yes

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psilosophist@reddit

Of course? I don't know who'd be arguing against that. I enjoy lots of old things, often things that were made before I was born.

It's the weaponized depression form of nostalgia that I think folks have an issue with. If you're in your 40's and just wish you could sleep in a race car bed again and are really excited about the new He-Man movie, that might just be depression.

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Tinyhulk27@reddit

There's a new He-man movie!!!....

...Oh crap....

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Slippery-Pete76@reddit

About that…. Idris Elba as Man-at-Arms?

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Mountain-Fox-2123@reddit (OP)

I have never seen any He-man movies or tv shows.

And i have never read any He-man comics.

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blissadmin@reddit

You were just a little late for the show. It was the shit from 1983-1985, definitely core stuff for elder Xennials if you liked the toys.

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GeetarEnthusiast85@reddit

I was born in 1985 and loved He-Man!

Watched the cartoons as reruns, had the Masters of the Universe movie on VHS as well as a few of the Golden Books stories on VHS.

So, most of it was second hand but I loved He-Man.

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the_kid1234@reddit

You know what’s wild is that Synthwave produces a visceral reaction in me. A deep longing and heaviness like if you think back on the best times of your history. Most nostalgia does not do that to me, I see SMB3 and think “that was fun!”. Or showing BTTF to my kids and thinking “what a fun movie”. Songs like Endless Summer by The Midnight make me long for a past I didn’t quite experience.

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psilosophist@reddit

Do you like Boards of Canada? I've been a huge fan of their since the late 90's, to me they do nostalgia the right way- as a product that is as much from memory as it is from the imagination, where what is real and what is something you just saw or heard gets very...indeterminate.

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the_kid1234@reddit

Yes! I know what you mean. For them it’s partially true nostalgia from college.

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theshub@reddit

… but my therapist said I can keep the race car bed!

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Prossdog@reddit

I sleep in a racing car! Do you?… 😏

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Yojimbo_2025@reddit

I sleep in a big bed with my wife

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Cool_Dark_Place@reddit

Are you gonna get a CB so you can talk to other race car beds?

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mouse6502@reddit

I ended up with the air mattress 🐢

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bgva@reddit

~~ Of course? I don't know who'd be arguing against that. I enjoy lots of old things, often things that were made before I was born.

I’m not the OP but I’ve seen posts here where someone says “Bring back the 90s” for various reasons, and someone will point out that people were shitty back in the day and a lotta messed up things, so you’re only seeing that era through rose-colored glasses. Not that they’re wrong, but sometimes you just wanna go back to a different time. Not everything needs a #WellActually.

At least that’s my interpretation.

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Inspi@reddit

But race car beds are awesome

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Blackbird136@reddit

I listen to a shit ton of 1960s and 1970s music. I go through phases where that’s all I want to listen to for weeks or months.

Although, to play devil’s advocate on my damn self, I’m not totally sure that it’s not nostalgia because that’s what my parents were listening to when I was a kid. 🤪

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Gullible-Apricot3379@reddit

Yes.

Nostalgia is about pleasant memories that something invokes. For instance, I actually kind of like watching Ancient Aliens because it reminds me of my dad, not because I actually like the show.

On the other hand, I developed a deep appreciation of 19th century gothic novels in my late 30s (like the kind of stuff my high school English teachers wanted me to appreciate 20 years earlier).

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BullCityCoordinators@reddit

Liking is one thing that isn't nostalgia. But being obsessed with something from the past and not moving on is nostalgia and is problematic.

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BoltsGuy02@reddit

That’s not what nostalgia is by definition

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Mountain-Fox-2123@reddit (OP)

I don't get obsessive about things, never have

I do agree that getting obsessive over things and not moving on from the past is problematic.

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Scrapla1@reddit

Absolutely

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LeopardDue1112@reddit

I don't know why some people think nostalgia is an inherently bad thing. It's perfectly normal to feel nostalgic, and engaging in nostalgic activities can even help with depression. As with most things in life, moderation is the key. Don't live entirely in the past, and don't confuse your nostalgia with actual history.

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Mountain-Fox-2123@reddit (OP)

I know its normal, and i don't say its wrong to have nostalgia but personally i am not a nostalgic person, and its extremely rare i get a nostalgic feeling.

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LeopardDue1112@reddit

And that's fine! I wasn't talking about you directly. I don't like it when people look down on those of us who do feel nostalgia.

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GladosPrime@reddit

Yeah, I like Rear Window, a movie made decades before I was born. Talent is not limited to the present

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14ANH2817@reddit

Sure, if you don't mis-remember it, especially in glowy ways. I've really come to loath smartphones, and probably can say I'd prefer the era before them. But I don't kid myself about how much extra effort there was for many activities, in the absence of smartphones.

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TijayesPJs443@reddit

I’m not sure I understand your context.

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IHAVENOIDEA0980@reddit

I absolutely love the dresses from the Victorian era. I'm definitely not nostalgic for that time period.

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EmPalsPwrgasm@reddit

I like games from the 90s more than today's games, not only because of nostalgia (though in part), but also because many modern problems in gaming didn't exist yet.

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piscian19@reddit

Sure I heard “Expressway (To Your Heart)” by Soul Survivors 1967, for the first time recently. That song is awesome.

Thief (1981) is one of my favorite movies, didn't see it until I was an adult.

I find it more concerning when people "only" like the things explicitly from a certain period in their lives.

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Mountain-Fox-2123@reddit (OP)

I enjoy plenty of things from every decade and plenty of different centuries.

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Warrior-Cook@reddit

A lot of the old media I still love, can be viewed that way. You like what it is, not where you were when you first experienced it.

People who don't like a particular thing and can't understand why anyone would like it, typically chalk it up to nostalgia...

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FoppyDidNothingWrong@reddit

Of course. Because most things 30 years ago were awesome and we still enjoy them!

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bikeonychus@reddit

Yes.

Something can exist in our past, that we had no connection to at that point in time, and didn't interact with in any way; but in the present, we now utilise it, or appreciate the idea of it in a way we didn't or couldn't in the past.

Nostalgia is remembering or appreciating something we experienced in the past. Nostalgia requires a previous connection to the thing, in the past.

Or at least, that's my take on it.