Shawn Harper was born in the '80s, grew up in the '90s, and is now running an online project called Saturday Morning Nostalgia for everyone who shares the timeline.
Be it about movies, video games, food, or other important aspects of a kid's everyday life, Harper's content evokes the cherished memories of yesteryear and transports us back to when the world seemed like it was filled only with joy and innocence, a world that was simpler and brimming with excitement at every turn.
More info: saturdaymorningnostalgia.com | Instagram | TikTok
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Adult Swim was the best, late night on Cartoon Network...Space Ghost Coast to Coast and ATHF!
According to the creator of the new BBC One period comedy The Power of Parker, it's the desire for a simpler time when life seemed easier that fuels our enthusiasm for content about the 1980s and 1990s.
Parker's creator, Paul Coleman, believes people tend to crave nostalgia when facing adversity. "Times are tough at the minute with [challenges like] the cost of living ... Most things you look back nostalgically at you do with rose-tinted spectacles ... you remember the good times – there's a bit of that going on," he said.
I had to rescue a kid from one of the metal ones last summer. She got about halfway down and got stuck somehow. She was wearing shorts and I could practically hear her skin frying. Poor kid
*said in Bikini Bottom narrator voice* "Three Hours Later..."
Coleman was a teenager in the 1990s himself, so he looks back at the era with a smile on his face, but he thinks younger generations who weren't even born then feel the appeal of the period too: "Things seemed a bit simpler because we had less noise. But also because they think, 'I would've been able to pay rent, that would've been amazing' because it's really impacting that generation."
Facing uncertainties such as the climate crisis, he said it was perhaps no surprise youngsters are harking back even though the Brit said "I was living through Thatcher at that time and ... thinking 'this is dire,' particularly for northern communities.
As Coleman pointed out, the decade was not without violence and tragedy, including the Bosnian genocide, the Rodney King beating and subsequent L.A. Riots, the bombing of the World Trade Center, and the Columbine High School shooting.
Still, the decade is often remembered as relatively peaceful and prosperous: the Soviet Union fell and the rise of the Internet ushered in a radical era of communication, business, and entertainment.
I still have a few I found when my mom passed away and I'm legit nervous to have them developed...
However, some think that our fascination with the 1990s might also be a bit of a fad.
"Every generation looks back at past trends," said Dr. Renee Middlemost, a Lecturer in Global Communication and Media at the University of Wollongong's Faculty of Law, Humanities and the Arts.
"I believe it has something to do with the way people are watching media these days. With platforms like Netflix around, people recommend shows to each other, and there are less people seeking out new things. Our tastes seem to have narrowed.
Or just gazed into your soul. Those things were creepy af, especially once the batteries started to die *shudders*
This is so true. Childhood looked a lot easier before the internet became so ingrained in our lives. A NES, a soda, some probably toxic levels of sugar and a bike. Had everything we needed.
"The whole sharing thing with ... recommendations that has narrowed the tastes of people in regards to television viewing has been seen in cult cinema, too," Middlemost added.
"It's all been done by word-of-mouth. And with the sharing of videos and content, the online world has made the pop culture loops come around much more quickly than before."
Mario Kart was cool, but my friends and I played James Bond 007 Goldeneye like there was no tomorrow.
Whatever the case might be, the 1990s still seem preferable to what came next: the worst terror attack on U.S. soil, two long and inconclusive wars, two stock market crashes, and a financial crisis that precipitated a deep recession. After the '90s, said Kevin Howley, a DePauw University communication professor, "It's as if history jumped a track.''
But then they'd check the return box and just like that, your weekend was going to okay.
I remember getting one after saving up my allowance and keeping it in a ziploc bag. I'm not kidding when I say that thing took my tongue down a few layers and I'm not sure it's ever recovered.
I can smell this picture... musty basement, dryer sheets and glade carpet powder.
I was the odd duck in that I'd rather watch Monty python or The Labrynth for the 743rd time.
But then you had to wait a half hour before you could go back in so you really waited until you were starving to get out
Never went down the Beanie Baby rabbit hole. I was more of a Cabbage Patch/My Little Pony kid.
When my family stays at hotels, I never get a bed. SO I KNOW EXACTLY WHAT IT FEELS LIKE TO BE IN THIS PICTURE!
I worked at Walmart in Electronics when these were there. Kids would be there the entire time their mom was shopping. Lots of adult men, too.
And the baseball, basketball and soccer balls too! Somehow they seemed to taste different
A guy at my lunch table beat mine to death while I was in the bathroom
The chocolate banana was the best flavor ever. I'll die on that hill.
This was the beginning of my birthday and Christmas wish list each year 🥰
Saw Ren & Stimpy in reruns, 1991 was a few years before my time, parents completely freaked out when they saw me watching it. Happy Happy Joy Joy!
Saw Ren & Stimpy in reruns, 1991 was a few years before my time, parents completely freaked out when they saw me watching it. Happy Happy Joy Joy!
