Movie Nostalgia

The sequel article to The ReWatchables

In Mad Men’s season one finale, Don Draper talks of the feeling of nostalgia. He says it comes from the Greek of ‘the pain from an old wound’, then goes on to say it’s ‘a twinge in your heart, far more potent than memory alone’. It’s a powerful scene that sticks with me to this day whenever I have a pang of sentimentality experiencing something from my past, specifically childhood.

A common experience that elicits this nostalgia, which is common for almost everyone, is rewatching a movie that you’ve seen as a child or teenager.

I recently had this experience when I rewatched The Sandlot for the bajillionth time. And even after twenty odd some years later, it still holds up and I still have the connection with it that I had as a kid. But watching it this time around with my wife’s reminecent commentary, I realized how it (and other past classics) plays on two levels.

First is the connection with the story and characters — the movie itself. The other level was the connection with myself at the time I first watched the movie. (And by that I mean, the general context and frame of mind at the time when I experienced it.)

Thinking back on it, when I watch this movie, I connect with these characters. I wish I was them, playing ball, getting into harmless trouble, having fun. But layered beneath that is the feeling that rewatching evokes. Or remembering how you felt while watching it. Why this movie means something to me. No preconceived notions, no analyzing, no critics coloring my point of view. Just that sense of wonder, awe, and escape in my own intepretation of the movie.

And this nostalgia trip isn’t limited to a single film. It can be dozens and dozens of movies, with a good chance of a shared feeling of many of them, as films connected, transcend, and are remembered by a generation of people. From Star Wars, to Back to the Future, to Jurassic Park and everything in between.

I’ve seen these movie numerous (hundreds?) of times over the years and they still retain their charm, conjuring that comforting feeling of a favorite t-shirt or jeans. I still have that pang of being a kid again.

So much so that yearly around Christmas time I fire up classics like Home Alone, Christmas Story, and Elf. Every year I watch them, enjoying them for the movies themselves, but also the memories associated with the age and all the surrounded Christmas at that time.

I can go on and on with a list of films that I have a sentimental connection with. Every person, every generation has those films. Sometimes they even cross generations. But the feeling is the same. It transports you back to that time, that moment you experience the film in years past. It puts a smile on your face or gives you that rush of warm comfort. It’s satisfying either way, whether the film holds up or feels completely dated, it doesn’t matter. Your endearment towards the film lives in you and nothing can take that away.

It’s the power of film that it is etched in stone (well almost — subsequent director’s re-cut not withstanding), it can be relived in perpetuity.

There’s a comfort there in the familiar. It can help you escape while also bringing you back. You get to relive that sense of fun and wonder that movies have no equal.

This is not to say that nostalgia always a good thing. By its nature, it takes you out of the present, pulling you back to another moment, another time. Depending on the perspective of interpretation of it can harken the want to go backwards, instead of forwards. To go back to a time when everything was ‘easier’. But almost everything was easier when you were younger. But when viewed in a balanced way, it confirms the staying power of art, even commercial art, and that it’s not about going backwards, but about being able to transcend time and help you remember your childlike wonder in the world.

Nostalgia in its best form reminds us of films continual aura or magic, expanding my imagination, to dreaming about being those characters. Be it playing baseball on a dirt field, traveling back in time, or being chased by dinosaurs, still being able to relive those feelings even decades later is a testament to the power of film and why I am still in love with all things movies.