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"She advised film-makers to focus on character and emotion[...] So evident is Pixar’s formula that it has inspired an internet meme: “What if toys had feelings?

"She advised film-makers to focus on character and emotion[...] So evident is Pixar’s formula that it has inspired an internet meme: “What if toys had feelings? What if fish had feelings? WHAT IF FEELINGS HAD FEELINGS?” [...] Film franchises tap into nostalgia, too. “Toy Story 5” will be watched by more than a few adults who saw “Toy Story” as youngsters 31 years ago." Reminds me very much of Roger Scruton's diagnosis that our popular culture is defined by kitsch (which in turn is defined by sentimentality), echoing Wilde that the big problem of the latter is that it wants to have an emotion without paying for it, gratification on the cheap. And I think animation is particularly ripe for nostalgia, just like gaming because effectively it never ages. The Scrubs reboot is an interesting case because just watching the first episode I think you can actually see Scruton's point, there's something immediately off about seeing the same jokes and characters played out by people well into their 50s in a painfully way too HD recreated set.

ares623 8mo ago
I've always been fascinated by nostalgia. It is such universal source of both positive and negative feelings for people. If anyone has any books or other media about nostalgia I'd love to hear about it. Today's Fortnite, Minecraft, Roblox (blegh) will be tomorrow's nostalgia. I just don't know if there will be cheap hardware available for future adults to experience it though. Plus it seems that pop culture is so much more fragmented now thanks to social media, so it's harder to capitalize on a single IP to milk later on.
- whilenot-dev 8mo ago
  I really liked the article shared here about 3 years ago: https://ravenmagazine.org/magazine/the-paradoxes-of-nostalgia/ https://ravenmagazine.org/magazine/the-paradoxes-of-nostalgi... Discussion at the time: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36465528 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36465528
- ncphillips 8mo ago
  Minecraft is already nostalgia. It reminds me of starting university 16 years ago.
  - fc417fc802 8mo ago
    Minecraft to me is similar to unreal tournament (I forget which version) as well as computer hardware from ~2015 onwards. It happened after some sort of critical point of technological development had passed such that it doesn't feel old to me unless I examine it immediately adjacent to something modern. I suppose that will change for the games if truly high fidelity head mounted displays ever take off. For the hardware I'm less certain because aside from pointlessly bloated web frontends nothing that I do on a day to day basis actually consumes more resources than it did in 2015. Perhaps local AI on low power devices will be the critical point for me there?
- bondarchuk 8mo ago
  >If anyone has any books or other media about nostalgia I'd love to hear about it. Mark Fisher/K-punk on hauntology.
- lordfrito 8mo ago
  > I've always been fascinated by nostalgia. It is such universal source of both positive and negative feelings for people. I read somewhere that nostalgia is just bitterness towards the present. It's an emotional trap and best not to linger in nostalgia too long. Change is inevitable, we can't go backwards.
everyone 8mo ago
The vast majority of our media, most of our culture, has been created by artist / writer types, you know; kinda shallow, superficial, not particularly intelligent, not very well educated people, with nothing to say aside from meaningless platitudes like "all you need is love" I guess that's normal? I dunno, I dont have any further conclusions. Maybe we should be concerned about it?
- ares623 8mo ago
  someone definitely could've used a bit more love in their childhood
  - CSSer 8mo ago
    Yes, everyone. The username makes it clear. Really though, the supreme arrogance of calling the whole of an entirely different industry mediocre is practically indicative of our craft at this point.
    - imtringued 8mo ago
      I think that dismissal culture makes no sense when it is aimed towards artists. For me it is kind of hard to like the things I produce, because of the obvious egocentrism bias. Do I like it, because I like it, or do I like it, because I made it and had to sacrifice something for it? When I'm judging other people's work and I like it, I consider that feeling to be more genuine, even if the creator outright panders to my preferences.
    - wiseowise 8mo ago
      Majority of industry is mediocre. It’s in the definition of the word, ffs.
- pjc50 8mo ago
  "the vast majority of our media and culture has been created by media and culture specialists" - well yes obviously, just as our technology has been created by technology specialists.
RobotToaster 8mo ago
> in a painfully way too HD recreated set. That does make me wonder if anyone has started shooting in SD again to make things look "nostalgic". The only ones I'm aware of are some art films that used super 8 for that effect.
- kennyadam 8mo ago
  I make a point of downloading sitcoms in SD, creating my own DVD rips if needed. There's something wrong about watching Seinfeld or Friends in 1080p.
ekianjo 8mo ago
Gaming ages. Not sure why you are under the impression it does not. For example, what was seen as innovative controls at one point in time becomes really clunky 20 years later
- Barrin92 8mo ago
  >Gaming ages. Not sure why you are under the impression it does not Individual games do. Characters don't. Tifa and Cloud don't age even when you republish Final Fantasy VII decades over. The Toy Story characters and Mickey Mouse are ageless. Hollywood has the problem that is has to resurrect actors from the dead or painfully de-age them and they still move like old people. It makes the morbid character and false economy of nostalgia very hard to ignore. If animation and game characters had creaky knees and sagging skin because they've been doing the same thing for 40 years maybe we'd let them retire and focus on something new.
  - ekianjo 8mo ago
    > Tifa and Cloud don't age even when you republish Final Fantasy VII decades over Those are not the same characters at all. The remake made them into different characters altogether. Plus you are talking about RPGs only so moving goalposts. A 3d platformer that was the best from the 90s would be considered awful to play in 2026.
zelos 8mo ago
Film franchises tap into nostalgia, too. “Toy Story 5” will be watched by more than a few adults I always thought the reason Toy Story works for adults and children is that the toys are the 'parents': caring for their child, but with the awareness that their job is to render themselves unnecessary.
vintagedave 8mo ago
> the same jokes and characters played out by people well into their 50s in a painfully way too HD recreated set Not having watched the reboot yet, what are your thoughts? I'm not sure I understood this criticism since it will be filmed in HD this time... is it that the sets mimic, but imperfectly and look wrong now? I've also definitely wondered how it works with the actors. When I saw the trailer, my first thought was that Zach Braff looked old -- not in the age sense, but his haircut and clothes were simply... ones that didn't suit him.

ares623 8mo ago

I've always been fascinated by nostalgia. It is such universal source of both positive and negative feelings for people. If anyone has any books or other media about nostalgia I'd love to hear about it. Today's Fortnite, Minecraft, Roblox (blegh) will be tomorrow's nostalgia. I just don't know if there will be cheap hardware available for future adults to experience it though. Plus it seems that pop culture is so much more fragmented now thanks to social media, so it's harder to capitalize on a single IP to milk later on.

whilenot-dev 8mo ago
I really liked the article shared here about 3 years ago: https://ravenmagazine.org/magazine/the-paradoxes-of-nostalgia/ https://ravenmagazine.org/magazine/the-paradoxes-of-nostalgi... Discussion at the time: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36465528 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36465528
ncphillips 8mo ago
Minecraft is already nostalgia. It reminds me of starting university 16 years ago.
- fc417fc802 8mo ago
  Minecraft to me is similar to unreal tournament (I forget which version) as well as computer hardware from ~2015 onwards. It happened after some sort of critical point of technological development had passed such that it doesn't feel old to me unless I examine it immediately adjacent to something modern. I suppose that will change for the games if truly high fidelity head mounted displays ever take off. For the hardware I'm less certain because aside from pointlessly bloated web frontends nothing that I do on a day to day basis actually consumes more resources than it did in 2015. Perhaps local AI on low power devices will be the critical point for me there?
bondarchuk 8mo ago
>If anyone has any books or other media about nostalgia I'd love to hear about it. Mark Fisher/K-punk on hauntology.
lordfrito 8mo ago
> I've always been fascinated by nostalgia. It is such universal source of both positive and negative feelings for people. I read somewhere that nostalgia is just bitterness towards the present. It's an emotional trap and best not to linger in nostalgia too long. Change is inevitable, we can't go backwards.

everyone 8mo ago

The vast majority of our media, most of our culture, has been created by artist / writer types, you know; kinda shallow, superficial, not particularly intelligent, not very well educated people, with nothing to say aside from meaningless platitudes like "all you need is love" I guess that's normal? I dunno, I dont have any further conclusions. Maybe we should be concerned about it?

ares623 8mo ago
someone definitely could've used a bit more love in their childhood
- CSSer 8mo ago
  Yes, everyone. The username makes it clear. Really though, the supreme arrogance of calling the whole of an entirely different industry mediocre is practically indicative of our craft at this point.
  - imtringued 8mo ago
    I think that dismissal culture makes no sense when it is aimed towards artists. For me it is kind of hard to like the things I produce, because of the obvious egocentrism bias. Do I like it, because I like it, or do I like it, because I made it and had to sacrifice something for it? When I'm judging other people's work and I like it, I consider that feeling to be more genuine, even if the creator outright panders to my preferences.
  - wiseowise 8mo ago
    Majority of industry is mediocre. It’s in the definition of the word, ffs.
pjc50 8mo ago
"the vast majority of our media and culture has been created by media and culture specialists" - well yes obviously, just as our technology has been created by technology specialists.

RobotToaster 8mo ago

> in a painfully way too HD recreated set. That does make me wonder if anyone has started shooting in SD again to make things look "nostalgic". The only ones I'm aware of are some art films that used super 8 for that effect.

kennyadam 8mo ago
I make a point of downloading sitcoms in SD, creating my own DVD rips if needed. There's something wrong about watching Seinfeld or Friends in 1080p.

ekianjo 8mo ago

Gaming ages. Not sure why you are under the impression it does not. For example, what was seen as innovative controls at one point in time becomes really clunky 20 years later

Barrin92 8mo ago
>Gaming ages. Not sure why you are under the impression it does not Individual games do. Characters don't. Tifa and Cloud don't age even when you republish Final Fantasy VII decades over. The Toy Story characters and Mickey Mouse are ageless. Hollywood has the problem that is has to resurrect actors from the dead or painfully de-age them and they still move like old people. It makes the morbid character and false economy of nostalgia very hard to ignore. If animation and game characters had creaky knees and sagging skin because they've been doing the same thing for 40 years maybe we'd let them retire and focus on something new.
- ekianjo 8mo ago
  > Tifa and Cloud don't age even when you republish Final Fantasy VII decades over Those are not the same characters at all. The remake made them into different characters altogether. Plus you are talking about RPGs only so moving goalposts. A 3d platformer that was the best from the 90s would be considered awful to play in 2026.

zelos 8mo ago

Film franchises tap into nostalgia, too. “Toy Story 5” will be watched by more than a few adults I always thought the reason Toy Story works for adults and children is that the toys are the 'parents': caring for their child, but with the awareness that their job is to render themselves unnecessary.

vintagedave 8mo ago

> the same jokes and characters played out by people well into their 50s in a painfully way too HD recreated set Not having watched the reboot yet, what are your thoughts? I'm not sure I understood this criticism since it will be filmed in HD this time... is it that the sets mimic, but imperfectly and look wrong now? I've also definitely wondered how it works with the actors. When I saw the trailer, my first thought was that Zach Braff looked old -- not in the age sense, but his haircut and clothes were simply... ones that didn't suit him.