Why you should rewatch, replay, reread, & re-enjoy
Photo courtesy of Photo Editor, Faith Zatlukal
Since studies show that what we watch as children shapes who we become, never be afraid to indulge in nostalgia.
Lately, I have found myself amidst a weird dynamic: every time I'm yearning to watch something new, I find myself reliant on the same array of media— the same genres, the same themes (maybe accompanied by a different writer), and virtually the same story. While it is okay to prefer a specific genre for the television shows, movies, songs, and books you enjoy, it was not my case. I have come to find that I am not seeking out media with specific qualities, but rather engaging in a vain struggle to recapture a feeling that may have been satiated a long time ago.
What I was looking for was not some satisfactory plot or a dynamic action sequence— though a bonus —but I hoped to evoke a tinge of the heightened emotional state I experienced when first watching any given piece of media. The novelty of nostalgia I get when rewatching these shows has come to offer me much greater satisfaction than I would find through mindless browsing for the next and best media out there.
Through watching The Simpsons (1989– ), early 2000s shows like Phineas and Ferb (2007– ), or Lego Ninjago (2011–2022), books I read in elementary school like The BFG, or any action-based film released in the 2010s, like Transformers (2007), my childhood brain became calibrated to specific content that tickled a specific internal itch. Whether due to elevated emotional states or other stimuli, the media I consumed in my childhood has curated the themes I look for in new media, and you may know this phenomenon well.
While reading this, it may surprise you just how much adolescence informs what we indulge in into our adult life— and, no, you may not be as exempted from this as you think; you are a reflection of what you have consumed.
According to the Society of Personal and Social Psychology, through various independent studies, researchers tried to link these feelings of nostalgia with television, studying the positive and/or negative responses of the participants. But in doing so, they may have uncovered something much more significant. In these studies, it was found that “Overall, we consistently found that people like what makes them nostalgic… These objects of nostalgia are important to them; they’re part of their sense of self.”
Many may throw around phrases about how children today do not consume media as much as they did growing up, but in actuality, this is a serious issue. When it comes to media you consume as a child, your experiences with the themes, characters, and story are integral to informing your character, and not just the fictional kind. The National Institute of Health found this very concept to be true: the more stories one consumes/is impacted by, the more those stories go on to inform said person's world perspective and stand to significantly affect their guiding moral judgements.
Think back to your favorite show, film, book, song, or anything else of the digital variety. If this story had never been created and released, what would be different about you? What takeaways would you not be privy to? What parts of your person would be terraformed entirely? What person would you be without the media you deem instrumental to your being?
You should be unashamed of rewatching, replaying, rereading, and re-enjoying your favorite media. It may sound vain to admit, but we are creatures of habit, and sometimes it's okay to stay in your comfort zone— it’s okay to relax in the known. This is not to say you should resign your media consumption to media re-consumption, but you should let yourself off the hook when that new show, movie, game, book, song, or anything else isn’t cutting it. It’s okay to unwind and relive the media that has been integral to you getting to this point— you deserve it.