How often over the past year did you find yourself scrolling through your camera roll? I did it all the time. I started with the one-year-ago today’s, I went through my photos from Copenhagen, college graduation, high school beach trip, Chicago improv trip, etc. When I was unable to make new memories, I revisited the old ones. And this was comforting, for some amount of time. But I’m sick of it now. My nostalgia tank is running empty and I want to stop marinating in the juices of the past. I’m a steak and this is my barbecue. Welcome to my rant.
Close your eyes and picture this. Okay keep your eyes open to read this but then close your eyes to get the full picture. You’re walking down the street in the East Village, the sun is shining. The sharp scent of Espresso Martinis wafts through the air and the sounds of the Jonas Brothers echo in the distance. You look to your right and a group of early twenty-somethings are wearing low rise jeans, clutch purses, doc martens and smoking cigs. A group of guys are sad about the Knicks loss. You pass a news stand with an US Weekly mag, and J-Lo and Ben Affleck adorn the cover, making out at a salad place in Beverly Hills. You look up and see billboards for Sex and the City, Friends, Fast and Furious, Gossip Girl and In the Heights. It’s 2008!!! Right?
Open your eyes. It’s 2021 and I guess that’s how long it took to run out of ideas. I blame nostalgia! And as my dear friend Gabi coined, “reboot culture.” I do declare that our society is officially and irrevocably* stuck in the past. Dua Lipa even titled her latest album after it. I’ve said it before but I think there’s a lot of comfort in familiarity. This is not a hot take. And it’s easier, on every level, to copy or emulate something that has already been worn or done or made instead of forging a new thing. Sequels and Prequels do so well because people love familiar stories, familiar characters, familiar songs. And I get it. Because new=scary. I’ve ordered the same dish from the same Thai restaurant** for the 2 years I’ve lived in Brooklyn. I’m sure there are other dishes that are great and there must be other Thai restaurants in one of the restaurant capitals of the world, but that’s none of my business.
For the month of June I haven’t been posting on Twitter or Instagram, largely because of this sentimentality I’ve been feeling. This may seem like an easy feat for most of you, and I hope it is, but for someone like me who has been extremely online, it’s been hard. I’m still scrolling through the pictures and likes and comments but I’m not producing anything myself so I’m getting all the jealousy and none of the shallow validation. I want to stop romanticizing my life and start just being in it. I wanted to take this time to recalibrate, to make sure I’m doing things for myself and not for the projection of an experience onto the internet. I’m still taking pictures and writing down my tiny thoughts but they’re not getting shared. Except for here. Which does not count as social media because there are no bikini pics.
Following trends of any kind, from the past specifically, can be a way to feel like you’re part of a community. Everyone’s wearing the Steve Madden platforms again. Everyone is tuning in to the Friends reunion because that’s a show they watched with people they cared about and it has stories and episodes they come back to for comfort on bad days. I don’t, but some people do. Taylor Swift is re-releasing her albums, for a good reason, but people are excited to relive them because of nostalgia. And there’s nothing wrong with that! But I just wish we could, as a collective, lament less. Another note on Ms. Taylor Swift. She is re-releasing her breakup album “Red” during the saddest, most melancholy, most nostalgically tragically chilly time of year: The week before Thanksgiving. She is a genius and she knows what she’s doing and she’s exploiting us all.
In closing, dear PillowTown, I’m not trying to discourage you from going through old photo albums and participating in 2000’s trends as they come back in. Go ahead and watch Fast and Furious 9, because the earth is warming at an alarming rate and you deserve to see cool cars go fast sometimes. But I promise you the future is brighter than your romanticization of the past. Low rise jeans are only flattering if you’re a Victoria’s Secret Angel and those don’t even exist anymore. Everyone has stories to tell, so tell them. We don’t need to hear the same ones again just because we know the tune. Stay optimistic, dear readers, and do and watch and wear what makes you happy. Unless it’s Young Sheldon.
*I learned the word irrevocably from the Twilight series. That film is also where I discovered Clare de Lune. I’ll probably have a separate post on how Twilight changed the trajectory of my life but that’s for another day.
**In the fictional neighborhood of East Williamsburg, Brooklyn there is a restaurant called Sage. It is a second home to me. They have a courtyard and their drinks are good and their food makes me feel good. It might be my favorite restaurant of all time. Sage has gotten me through all the ups and downs of my first 2 years here and I want them to cater my wedding.
Wait what’s wrong with Young Sheldon?
"I want to stop romanticizing my life and just start being in it" - yep, that's it! Thanks for another great column Rachel!