Feb. 22, 2008 \ The Clarion
ARTS & LIFE
Page 9
Nostalgia in tlie age of iTunes
by BJ Wanlund
Staff Writer
Nostalgia. Such a word
sometimes brings up harsh,
painful memories, such as our
parents’ musical taste.
Sometimes such a word brings
up wonderful memories, such
as the music we listened to
when we were kids, or the
television shows we watched,
or the movies we saw.
Most of the time, the word
“nostalgia” brings us face-to-
face with a harsh, painful
question: How do we, the
consumer, interpret nostalgia
in this modern day and age,
when children’s television isn’t
at all what it used to be and the
movie and television industry
is increasingly reluctant to treat
“nostalgic content” the way
that they should?
This article may be able to
shine some light on those
things that may be overlooked
by the mainstream, or if it is a
mainstream item, maybe this
might increase the sales
enough to really start a torrent
(pun not intended) of older
content to be distributed
through digital channels.
First, let’s talk music. There
is a ton of music on iTunes,
most of it is what is called
“catalog music” by the people
who run the music labels to
shun people away from “that
old stuff’ and focus them on
“the new stuff that’s happening
right now”.
But that hasn’t stopped
labels like Walt Disney
Records from releasing a ton
of older material onto iTunes,
like the 20,000 Leagues Under
the Sea soundtrack, beautifully
remastered by Randy Thornton
(which WILL be reviewed in a
future issue of The Clarion), as
well as a ton of lesser-known
material, like most of the
Aimette Funicello albums when
she was the Britney Spears
(without the rampant drug use)
ofhertime.
Second, let’s talk TV The TV
we as kids watched back in the
80s and early 90s was our
generation’s biggest source of
happy memories. With
cartoons on Saturday
mornings like The Smurfs,
Disney’s The Adventures of
the Gummi Bears, Jim
Henson’s Muppet Babies,
Garfield and Friends, and many,
many others, along with such
live-action fare every other day
of the week like American
Gladiators, Double Dare, GUTS,
and Mama’s Family, created a
generation of TV watchers,
wanting to watch every
episode that came along.
What can we watch right now
that can bring back those
happy memories for us? Well,
there’s a Smurfs DVD either
coming very soon or is already
out, the Gummi Bears’
adventures are finally out on
DVD, The Muppet Babies’
DVD adventures are in limbo
thanks to Disney buying the
right to this property and doing
absolutely nothing with it, and
Garfield and Friends has a glut
(pun intended) of DVD releases.
American Gladiators is on
iTunes right now, as “Classic”
American Gladiators Six Packs,
to “avoid confusion” with the
new American Gladiators,
which is also on iTunes, thanks
to NBC-Universal not actually
producing the show! As for
those other shows, the only
show that is represented on
iTunes right now, sadly, is a
single episode of Mama’s
Family about Mama getting a
goose for Christmas diimer as
a present.
This is, in my opinion, simply
outrageous and something
should be done about it.
However, every single
television studio blatantly cites
“poor sales” as an excuse to
not do anything. Yeah, the
sales are terrible, because YOU
have nothing on there! It’s a
classic Catch-22 that should
NEVER have been true in the
first place.
However, there ARE a few
shining examples. Case in point
The Jim Henson Company,
because even though they
made a pretty heinous mistake
in selling some of their most
well-known entities to Disney,
they were still smart enough to
retain a few of their more well-
known IPs, such as Fraggle
Rock and Farscape, the first
seasons of which are now on
iTunes!
I’m eternally reminded of a
quote from Walt Disney about
this very subject, and if all the
studios, especially Disney,
follow Uncle Walt’s advice,
they would seriously be a lot
better off: “You’re dead if you
just aim for kids. Adults are
just kids, except all grown-up.”
Also, there’s a wonderful
initiative started by Jocelyn
Stevenson, a writer for Fraggle
Rock, called Save Kids’ TV.
This initiative is mainly in
Britain, but it certainly should
apply around the world, as
more and more developed
countries try to make plays for
kids’ health that involve
controlling every aspect of
what children eat, and I’m living
proof of the fact that it doesn’t
work; I feel that the children
HAVE to learn about healthy
eating on their own and NOT
because of parents controlling
it.
Now, let’s talk about movies.
Older movies sometimes get a
DVD release that is wonky at
best, like The Man Who Would
Be King and The Goodbye Girl.
Sometimes, older movies,
especially if those older movies
are “mainstream” by nature (or
basically a much-loved
feature), examples being Snow
White and the Seven Dwarfs
(Disney), The Wizard of Oz
(MGM), or the six Star Wars
movies (LucasFilmLimited), get
a ton of DVD releases, and the
studios have multiple chances
to truly get it right.
I’m really glad that Warner
Home Video announced a
moratorium on releasing The
Wizard of Oz recently, because
multiple releases of that film
seriously get old, and sales
continue to be caimibalized in
multiples of each release.
But some cult favorites, like
Saludos Amigos and The Three
Caballeros (Disney), The Man
Who Would Be King (MGM),
or the three Indiana Jones
flicks (LucasFilmLimited) only
get maybe one or two releases,
and one or two chances to
really get it right.
My hope is that these films
get more of a chance. I know
that my calling the Indiana
Jones flicks “cult favorites”
might get me some flack, but
seriously, compared to the
absolute juggernaut that is Star
Wars, it is a cult favorite.
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