Nostalgia Effect

Nostalgia is a topic that is particularly interesting to me. From discussions with friends, I have noticed that my ability to remember my past/childhood is especially good. I remember a lot of events and details.  I love remembering the past, even the more difficult parts.  To me, nostalgia seems to have two elements to it: a fondness at the memory and an implied loss at the past that no longer exists. Depending on the individual and the situation either one of these two elements can be emphasized more than the other. I believe that my nostalgia leans to the side of fond remembrance; I love where I am now in life, but I like to remember what got me here.

“The Sweater” by Sheldon Cohen seems to be emphasizing the other element more.  The boy in the film misses his sweater and romanticizes the time he had with it.  He compares his life to what it use to be, and how present life appears to be lacking so greatly in comparison. A term that I believe applies to both elements that make up nostalgia is rosy retrospection.  This refers to when people rate past events more positively than they would have when the event occurred.  They wear rose-tinted glasses. I think this is a very common thing for people to do.  Memories are so fluid and changeable, and people would rather be happier than they actually were at the time.

This is what makes Peter’s reaction to returning to Never-land so interesting. He reacts oppositely of rosy retrospection; he resists feelings of nostalgia to a fault.  He’s faced so much reality, so much sarcasm, contrivances, and pretentious people, that it takes him a long time to recognize sincerity, innocence, and openness.  He has to relearn how to be a child before he can become Peter Pan and feel true nostalgia.  It is easy to feel like nostalgia is worthless, it can never be made the same as it was, but it can change something: it can change the perspective of the person feeling it. Once Peter has changed, has felt that nostalgia, he may not be able to stay in Never-land as Peter Pan, but he can go back home and be better connected and a better father to his children.  I believe that the nostalgia he felt is what changed him, and it made him a better person as well.