Anglais Retromania

Looking back to the future

Nostalgia and sign of hope

As grand parents fancy to remember the past by watching over and over their favorite shows from the 50’, people experience a similar feeling when they watch at ancient or alike ancient film. The black and white movie The Artist follows two young artists caught in the roaring twenties as the arrival of talking pictures send their careers in opposite directions. As we’re living hard times, the people who watched this film want and perhaps need to remember this golden age full of joy, prosperity, dance, laugh. It’s a way of remembering that human kind has lived better times and I think it can give hope to people because if we have experienced it once, we can do it again by struggling for love and kindness.

The uniqueness and scarcity

The Retro phenomenon, also called the « retromania », includes vintage shopping. It means that you are buying old clothes already worn that won’t be reproduced today because the prints, the buttons and the shape are unique. I think vintage fan like to know that when they invest in vintage garment, they are sure that they will never walk into a room to find another person wearing the same dress or tee-shirt. It gives them the impression that they are special and different. We find the same phenomena with vinyls that can reach 50 000 £, as they are scarce and unique.

Nowadays, with all the electronic devices we possess, it hasn’t been so easy to take hundred of pictures in a couple of minutes. Polaroid is a way to capture a moment instantly and as you look at your work as a photograph you understand that this is a unique creation.

Iconic figures

Consumers wish more and more to identify themselves to celebrities who represent success, beauty and talent. And what’s more appealing than the chance to drink the same Coke as Marilyn Monroe did ? Advertising campaigns often used iconic figures like Einstein (Coca-Cola), famous sex symbols like Dita Von Teese that make excellent salesmen. So, when teenagers are able to see famous figures wearing leather boots (for example), they start wearing some and then other teenagers just follow the trend as they see the phenomenon growing in their school, on Internet, in the magazines… In other words, everything starts with advertising campaigns using iconic symbols and then it’s snowballs and touches almost everyone.

Recover how it feels to share

People barely write letters anymore because they are too busy and they prefer SMS where they don’t have to worry about typing full words or using ponctuation. Nevertheless, since the past few years, some people struggle to recover the loss of letter writing. It’s a retro tradition that they want to sustain because they think it’s important to make time to time the commitment to associate effort and refection and as the pen slides on the paper, you create a personal message that will last.

Fear of futur

Retro can also be seen as a twisted way to face this unfamiliar world of tomorrow that will soon exceed us. For example, the iPhone app ‘8mm Vintage Camera ” allows shooting video in a retro

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