Essay Research

I wanted to share on the blog some research I've been doing for the essay that might help anyone else as I've been particularly inspired by Simon Reynolds Retromania which highlights how our cultural obsession with the past (what we explored as the initial part of the project by investigating influences in our own lives and personalities that are affected by past era's, fads and trends) is stunting cultural progression on a wider scale. His point is that there is a too greater focus on imitating the "sounds and cultural signifiers" of past decades than trying to create anything original. This, I believe, can be related to politics. The same things are being protested, anti-fascist marches in response to the rise of the Far-Right in politicians and their supporters, huge global warming and Extinction Rebellion protests as the climate disaster only worsens. Politicians are too preoccupied with their perception of the past as the glory days for their party and their country that they are failing to engage with the current moment and fresh solutions needed to address these issues that we are still continuing to face. Once we collectively acknowledge the failures and realities of certain time periods and their key figures, then we will be able to stop glorifying and romanticising what has more often than not simply been the precursors to the problems we see today. 
     Mark Fisher in his book Ghosts of my Life, draws the conclusion that this strange yet apparent disappearance of hope and vision for the future, politically and culturally, has been a result of policymakers destroying conditions that allow the new and original to sprout from the old. Essentially, by eliminating and reducing unemployment benefits, tuition-free education, the record industry, squatting opportunities etc., the stress-free environment and the resources allowing creatives and academics to create and plan for actual progress no longer exist. Furthermore, this is all occurring in a time where basic necessities like housing and water are hypercommodified whereas the only kind of indicators of cultural progress are technological, such as the iPhone and are only becoming more readily available to the everyday consumer. Fisher talks of how "to be in the 21st Century is to have 20th Century culture distributed by high speed internet". This constant access to everything via smartphones and the proliferation and growth of content on the internet is what feeds into our feelings of isolation and superficiality, as well as fostering a disconnect with the present moment. This feeling we all know too well is a crucial factor as to why it is so appealing for us to indulge in nostalgic content, old games, old music etc from a time that we weren't so stressed and there was hope for the future. We are constantly trying to relive this innocence of childhood that was so much more present and politicians are tapping into exactly this to gain support for their own policies which are more often than not trying to replicate these eras too. We need to shed our consciousnesses of this obsession and concentrate our energies on our future that is only just still possible. These are the main themes that I'm planning to explore in the essay that reflecting on the video has spurred for me. 
I recommend you guys check out Mark Fisher Capitalist Realism and Ghosts of my Life and Simon Reynolds Retromania if you haven't already!! 

Liz