I spent the large part of my teenage-hood wishing that I had been born in a different era. My friends and I would sit around and watch Dazed and Confused, imagining just how fun it would have been to be a teen during the 60 and 70’s. We would listen exclusively to Aerosmith and Lynyrd Skynyrd, and even went so far as to put on our own annual music festival in my friend’s backyard wherein the music was, of course, distinctly from a generation that we were never a part of.
Sure, some of it was superficial. People who were into old music, movies, and books were just cooler – end of story. There was something that felt good about mounting our high horse to look down on all the uncultured followers of the mainstream who were spending their days listening to Miley Cyrus instead of pondering the intricacies of a Rolling Stones’ quote. Our tastes were more refined.
But this narrative that we pushed forward, that the cultural phenomena and values of generations past were undeniably better than those of the present, was wildly misguided. This concept has been dubbed “Anemoia” by Urban Dictionary and “historical nostalgia” by academics, and centers around the idea that we can feel nostalgia for a time we’ve never known.
You may recognize this notion from Woody Allen’s Midnight in Paris, in which Owen Wilson’s character continually travels back in time to eras he’s always dreamed about. Night after night he is amazed by times and places that exceed his expectations. But as the nights go on he becomes slowly less impressed, coming to the sad realization that his same problems will follow him wherever he goes.
The fact that we romanticize past times that we’ve read about in books or heard about in movies is not surprising. During chaotic times in our lives, it makes perfect sense to daydream about days that would have been simpler. These idealized thoughts of previous eras are made even more comforting by the fact that we know what happens next. And to a 17-year-old who is petrified of the future and needs a secure fantasy to latch onto, Dazed and Confused is catnip.
Owen Wilson’s conclusion in Midnight in Paris – that any era will eventually become dull if it is your present (and if you let it) – may sound depressing at first. Our reality will always be a little disappointing because, well, life will always be a little disappointing. But this hard truth nudges us and reminds us that our present reality is all we have. Too much time spent wishing ourselves into another person’s reality, or agonizing about our own future reality for that matter, is time taken away from this moment, right now.
Images courtesy of: Busites and Woody Allen Pages