“Just keep swimming” has become a personal mantra of mine since that forgetful little fish, Dory, recited it in the 2003 Disney-Pixar hit, “Finding Nemo.” Dory, along with her pals Marlin, Nemo and company, swam her way into the consciousness of our entire generation. If you’re being completely honest with yourself, you know you could watch that film today, tomorrow and 30 years from now, and still love it, and for good reason.
So, it isn’t surprising that when Pixar and Ellen Degeneres herself announced April 2 that a sequel to “Nemo,” entitled “Finding Dory,” would be released in November 2015, a generation of young adults audibly squealed.
A teaser poster for the upcoming animated feature I posted on my Facebook page received over 60 nostalgia-induced “likes” in less than four hours.
This burst of nostalgia is just the latest blast from our past to occur in the past few months.
“Whose Line is it Anyway” is slated to return to cable this summer. “Courage the Cowardly Dog,” “The Powerpuff Girls” and “Samurai Jack” were just added to the Netflix lineup.
Justin Timberlake’s newly released album, “The 20/20 Experience,” is his first complete solo musical endeavor in seven years, and he, yet again, brought sexy back.
And I know I personally got a little too excited to hear that the cast of “Boy Meets World” was returning to TV in a Disney Channel-produced sitcom, “Girl Meets World.”
So, why now? What is it about our market in 2013 that all of our past addictions are primed to come back?
Even my older sister thought it was funny that all the girls at my senior prom wore neon dresses like she saw worn in the ’80s.
But now, I’m only 21 and I see “Finding Dory” posters, and little boys playing Power Rangers. At 21, should we be seeing our childhoods as the new “vintage”? Should Mötley Crüe be considered “classic rock”?
As a culture, we’re pushing forward so fast that we’re burning through fad, after fad. Then, all we’re left with is returning to our past. Now, however, it isn’t taking 20 or 30 years to cycle through, but only a decade.
In five years, will we see a return of Hollister clothing and poufed-hair don’ts?
Don’t get me wrong: I am so excited for all of the returns to my childhood I will be experiencing in the next few weeks, months and years. It is just such a poor reflection on our attention span as a generation, and on our ability to grasp something new and unexplored.
We are too young to quit trying to invent, and too influential of a demographic to slack now. Nelly’s “Hot in Herre” was my song, and I really love “Space Jam,” but I’m looking forward to seeing what we can present.
