Fifty years ago everyone was looking to the future: visions of chrome buildings, flying cars, and space travel were popular and everyone impatiently awaited the technology to come. The Jetsons were the model family, and some fifteen years later Star Wars was born. But the truth is, it’s 2016 and we don’t have flying cars, the common man cannot travel to the moon, and we’re reverting back to Classic styles of architecture.
So what exactly does this mean? What is up with this strange longing for the past that our generations are exhibiting? As a whole we are reverting back to simplistic ideals and ways of life. Urban homesteading has picked up tremendously, and the “minimalistic aesthetic” has taken over bookstores and coffee shops alike.
“Vintage” is the new black and you can see it in the hipster movement, the Americana movement, and Instagram posts all across the board. Picture this: your barista makes you a nice looking latte and your first instinct is to pull out your phone, a phone of the highest quality with a camera fit for a professional photographer. You go to post this perfectly set up picture on all forms of social media and the first thing you do in the editing process is slap on a “vintage style” filter. You have used the newest technology to accomplish the norm of fifty years ago.
And what about the popular clothing styles? Rolled up jeans, denim button-ups, and Chuck Taylors have made a rapid comeback. Deep red lips can be found at every night club and 20’s-style fade aways are what all the cool guys are rocking these days. Rag tag beards and slicked back hair are by no means modern. Everyone is competing to have the most vintage look and bring back the past.
Record shops are coming back into style and diner bars are popping up everywhere. Civil war reenactments ravage the southern countryside, and soda pop shops and vintage barber shops are spreading through the north like wildfires.
In my hometown you can find men with civil war era facial hair and suspenders, girls with pin curls and ruby red lips, and old-fashioned store fronts lining the downtown streets. There’s a “vintage baseball” league based out of Nashville and teams from all over compete. Museums have generated more business and the old antebellum houses are gaining more and more tourists each year.
So why exactly are we so desperately longing for the past? Could it be that our present has become to complex to stand? We may not have flying cars, chrome buildings, and everyday space travel, but we have made incredible advancements in the past fifty years. I’ve heard time and time again that “the quality of life has risen tremendously,” but if that’s the case, why are we reverting back to the old ways?
