Nostalgia Pt0: Anemoia, nostalgia for a time you’ve never known
It is always the same. I find myself in bed, late at night, lost in thought, checking something on the phone when suddenly it hits. In this case, I really should have seen it coming. The installing of old games, checking old equivalents of interests of mine...
Specifically today, the trigger was Kowloon Walled City, City Pop, and old consoles such as the original GameBoy.
Why these topics? Because I am interested in big cities, Japanese music, and videogames. But why these in particular? I was not alive during most of that time after all. Let us first check what all these topics are.
Kowloon Walled City by Atlasobscura
Kowloon was built naturally, it grew and grew up until 1993, when its demolition started. It offered many amenities for its residents, such as doctors, technicians, water sources... And although the Urban Hell looks and the many drug, gang - triads -, gambling... problems, people often talk about it fondly.
I do not have any connection to this place whatsoever. It perhaps may not even be the best example. But I find something about this strangely familiar.
Matsubara Miki, Best Collection by Spotify
City Pop on the other hand was created as an introduction of occidental culture into the 70s and 80s Japan. The music takes inspiration from funk, R&B, and soft rock among others, and you can tell by the funky bass, the techno piano, and the unique drums. Again the only connection I may be able to make is Spanish 80s ballads, which my parents used to play when they were my age.
Pokemon Gold by The Orion
Then for my latest example is the original GameBoy / GameBoy Color. These were released in 89 and 98 respectively. I was born in 1998, so I have not experienced them at all. I have no older siblings nor family who may have exposed it to me. I did start with the GameBoy Advanced later, but the feeling is different.
I returned to them recently, even bought an original GameBoy second hand. And It definitely feels like I have experienced this before.
It turns out that, of course, the internet has a word for this feeling. According to The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows:
Anemoia - n. nostalgia for a time you’ve never known.
That is exactly how I feel about some of these. And I know I am not alone on this.
Very prevalent in my generation is the liking for things that have old qualities attached to them, even if they may not be.
One of these would be Lofi music. A style that aims to replicate the Low Fidelity aesthetic of older mediums such as VHS or cassettes. These are mostly recent, but perfectly exemplify it. And it is not as easy as creating some pixel art game, or some grainy sounding music.
My favourite is old songs but it's lofi remix. But there are other, more modern, lofi videos on YouTube.
Undertale does this to perfection. At least to me, when I first played it I felt as if I was playing an older title of my childhood.
The game was of course brand new, but everything from the art to the music had that aura. And it is strange that my generation has this love for old things. Such are the Vines compilations that still roam around the internet - even though Vine has been discontinued for years already. Or your family is asleep and you’re playing minecraft on a cool 2012 summer night.
So it is not that farfetched that new pieces are created to scratch that itch.
Who knows, maybe as I grow older I will experience nostalgia for these things I am now exploring, a nostalgia towards a fake nostalgia. Like having the freedom to write a blog post at 3:30 in the morning - after my previous one was deleted completely, thanks Tumblr.
Nikon 35Ti by emulsive.org
But do try to give it a look. Perhaps if you are interested in cameras try researching about the 90s film cameras, and take some lofi on your way. Or if you are interested in music check some older synthesizers. You may not know what you have never experienced, perhaps you were 10 years late to experience it, that does not mean you have to miss it completely.
