Those were the days: Nostalgia in our popular culture

We’ve been noticing a sort of backwards-looking bent lately in TV shows like Ripley, with its 1960s setting and its black-and-white aesthetic and its lush 1950s Italian pop soundtrack. Or Fallout, with its particular brand of retro-futurism and its Jazz Age-to-Space Age music. Or Sugar, with it classic movie-obsessed protagonist and its neo-noir tone.

There’s a theory that there’s more of an emphasis on nostalgia right now than normal because no one wants to live in 2024. There’s even a whole new Taylor Swift song about it.

This hour, a Nose-ish look at the heightened role of nostalgia in our popular culture right now. Plus: the dark side of nostalgia culture.

GUESTS:

• Jessica Andrews: A novelist and a contributing editor at Elle UK; her most recent novel is Milk Teeth
• Spencer Kornhaber: A staff writer at The Atlantic and the author of On Divas: Persona, Pleasure, Power

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Colin McEnroe and Cat Pastor contributed to this show.

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