A short introduction to nostalgia, jameson + cinema

A short introduction to Nostalgia, Jameson and Cinema

Modern cinema and its relationship with self-referential nostalgia and pastiche is a complicated and ongoing process, which seems to show no signs of stopping. From the endless Hollywood reboots, sequels and remakes of bygone productions such as It, Blade Runner, Star Wars and Ghostbusters to the saturated 80s aesthetic fetishisation of Stranger Things, Black Mirror, Deutschland 83 and The Goldbergs; nostalgia for the past seems to have a bigger cultural appeal than looking to the future. Of course, looking to the past for influence is by no way a new phenomenon, rather a necessary process of artistic inspiration. However, this current relationship with the past runs deeper than before, with the incorporation of the images of the past to the images of the present show such an entangled relationship, that any sense of critical distance them to collapse. This phenomenon in its essence is not directly related to our current condition as inhabitants of the year 2019, more a new periodic shift in our material relations to capital; creating a new stage of what Jameson calls, transnational capitalism or late capitalism. This material shift to transnational capitalism undoubtedly inhibits cultural repercussions. With the collapse of the apparent individual subject in an economic climate of ruthless commodification and transnational dominance, the turn to nostalgia and pastiche is symbiotic of this period. If, we agree with notion set forth by Jameson that the time of individual style has passed then what is left than to dress in the skins of past cadavers and as Jameson puts it ‘speak through their masks and with the voices of the styles in the imaginary museum?’.