The 2010s are nostalgia's ultimate cautionary tale

As this decade comes to a close, and we start heading into the roaring 2020s, we as a society should look back on this decade to see what went wrong.
Now, there are a multitude of things that led to the formation of society being in the shape it is now, which of course I won't get into, but I will get into one major drawback of this closing decade, and that is the glorification of nostalgia.
Make no mistake about it, the 2010s are nostalgia's ultimate cautionary tale, an example of how the use of nostalgia in popular mediums such as books, songs, movies, shows, games, and the internet, which in previous years was a rather innocent endeavor that brought people together over a shared interest of experiences of yesteryear, has become blown out of proportion to the point it has now started playing a negative, rather than a positive, role in society. 
The 2010s, are, as I put it, nostalgia's ultimate cautionary tale.
Yes folks, this decade was a cautionary tale, a boom box is not a toy... (get the reference? )


Before we get into this decade specifically, let's first go over a historic rundown of nostalgia within the last 50 years;

1950s nostalgia

The first decade to receive that rose-tinted nostalgic vibe from popular mediums reflecting on the youth culture within the respective era was the 1950s. 
Nostalgia for the 1950s had its peak in the 1970s and 1980s with mediums such as Happy Days, Grease, Billy Joel, Back to the Future, La Bomba, and a multitude of others. Yet to this day, even as those who came of age in that decade are already becoming geriatric or are even already dying, 1950s nostalgia is still heavily influential in today's society. To realize this, one must look no further than towards the current president of the US, who played with the fantasy notion of reshaping American society back to a more similar position to when it was in the 1950s, in order to win the 2016 presidential election. White conservative Christians look back on this era as an idealic, almost utopian era, where everyone valued God above themselves, when neighbors and communities were more closely connected, when the kids obeyed their parents, and when one could leave the doors unlocked at night without having to worry about anyone breaking in. Of course, liberals look back on this era with a more negative view regarding the racism and sexism which was prevalent in this era. Let us also not forget the bomb drills, the anti-Communist hysteria, and the fact that smoking tobacco was still seen as normal back then.

Of course, when looking back at the 1950s, I do believe we need to contextualize before we jump into conclusions whether it was idealic or tyrannical. When we look back at what made the 1950s so "peaceful" as these conservatives like to point out, we should look not to the decades that came after, but rather the decades that came before. The 1950s was the first modern decade, the first decade following World War II. "The American Dream", the notion of a nuclear family living in a peaceful suburban middle class neighborhood, which is largely associated with this decade, truly was a dream come true to those that were working class age in this decade. Remember, they would've grown up in the 1920s, a decade when the majority of households still didn't have gas, electricity, plumbing, or running water, and the 1930s during the Great Depression, plus they would've came of age in the 1940s during World War II, the deadliest conflict in human history, in which they would've had to serve in. Being able to live in a peaceful neighborhood, have appliances that require you to do less work around the house, and overall being able to live comfortably, this was a way of life that they couldn't have imagined of in their childhood. Unlike us, they didn't take this way of life for granted, they valued it, and worked hard to maintain it. The reason society started moving in more of a self-ambitious direction in the 1960s is because that was the decade when the Baby Boomers, whom have become accustomed since childhood to this modern era and have come to take it for granted as they had no true perspective on the hard-knock way of life in previous decades, have come of age and started playing an influential role in society and pop culture, and since then, every generation afterwards has grown up similarly and society has moved even moreso in a self-ambitious direction because of it. Now, this modern era is about 70 years old, and practically every living generation outside of a nursing home today has become accustomed to this era since childhood, and now it's taken as a right rather than a privilege, as the wisdom those who experienced the of decades in the first half of the 20th Century is now dying off. 

So what should we do? Instead of glorifying this decade as a perfect utopian time, we should recognize both the bad, and the causes behind the good, in order to learn from this decade to improve society in the present.
We should never resort back to racism or sexism, but we should try to incorporate the notion of being content with what you have and not taking it for granted, and in a way, I think we are headed in the right direction.
One such example is the tiny house and off-grid movement, which is being popularized by Millennials. Rather than bitching about how much better and less selfish society was in years past, these individuals are making the choice to live with less instead of more, and to be content with simplicity. They are resorting back to this attitude of not taking anything for granted, without resorting back to trying to enforce racism, sexism, Cold War hysteria, or tobacco use in the public. 
They are the ones trying to change the world for the better. The ones bitching about how much better society was back in the 1950s are just part of the problem, and deserve no credibility. 

1960s and 1970s nostalgia

This segment is going to be short, as nostalgia for these past two decades tends to come solely over popular mediums such as music, movies, and TV shows which were popular in these decades rather than from a retrospective on how society was. 
In fact, because of the Vietnam War, Watergate, and Oil Crisis, these decades are often looked back on to learn from rather than for nostalgia.

1980s, 1990s, and 2000s nostalgia

If there's any decade that has blown nostalgia out of proportion in the mainstream pop cultural media, it's the 1980s. 
Even as the decade is nearly 40 years old, there are still a multitude of radio stations across the country dedicated to music solely from this decade, you still have TV shows and movies coming out presenting this decade as a cool and flashy time, you still hear Gen Xers boasting about how great this decade was, and you still see new fashion trends trying to replicate the decade, it has become utterly cliche at this point. There was a multitude of 1980s nostalgia back in the 2000s, but it has become inescapable in the 2010s. 
Whether it's because Gen X feels they need to be vocal for being stuck between two larger generations, or because decades both before and after this one have been rather subdued in comparison to how flashy and bubbly this one was, 1980s nostalgia has become so dominating that I would argue 1980s songs, shows, and movies are just as mainstream in 2019 as songs, shows, and movies coming out today. 

The reason I am tying the 1990s and 2000s into this is because I feel the magnitude of 1980s nostalgia has made way for 1990s and 2000s nostalgia to become as mainstream as it is now. If 1980s nostalgia wasn't shoved down everyone's throats, I can guarantee 1990s nostalgia would be a lot smaller, and 2000s nostalgia wouldn't even exist at all. In a way, 1990s nostalgia became popular as a countermovement against 1980s nostalgia, '90s kids wanted their era to be as cool as the '80s, which is why they started blowing their nostalgia just as much out of proportion. Yes I know a lot of it also has to do with disapproval over how pop culture has become in the 2000s and 2010s as well, but you can't deny that 1980s nostalgia definitely had a strong impact on 1990s nostalgia, and now, 1990s nostalgia is starting to have the same impact on 2000s nostalgia. The year 2000 isn't even 20 years old yet, and 2000s nostalgia is already in the mainstream, not just for the Y2K era, but there's also a multitude of nostalgia for emo music and culture as well, and I don't mean emo culture from the likes of American Football, The Get Up Kids, or Sunny Day Real Estate, I mean emo culture from the likes of Hawthorne Heights, My Chemical Romance, and Fall Out Boy. 

So what has been the result of the over glorification of nostalgia? Constant remakes, too many TV shows and movies taking place in the past, starter packs and throwbacks everywhere on social media, and mediocre kick starter games such as Yooka Laylee and Mighty No. 9 which have heavily disappointed a fanbase that honestly should've came to expect what they were getting, but moreover, it has led to this decade's vibe largely being shaped by previous decades rather than having its own unique vibe. I'm not saying this decade doesn't have its own vibe at all, as dubstep, hipsters, and the abundance of lo-fi cooker cutter pop and hip hop songs would tell you otherwise, but you can't deny that this decade does not have nearly the strong sense of cultural identity as previous decades. All this decade may be remembered for will likely be the political turmoil and maybe a few TV shows and movies, and that's it.

Now, this issue I presented regarding nostalgia for the three decades preceding the 2010s is not as serious as the issue I presented regarding nostalgia for the 1950s, but I do think it's an issue we should learn from. I do think we should start moving away from nostalgia, and start looking towards shaping the future while learning the lessons of the previous decades. 

What do you think regarding this topic? Do you agree or disagree? Let me know in the comments below.