Jamie Baron distinguishes between two nostalgias evoked by the archive affect (“the overwhelming sense of time’s passage and of all that has been irrevocably lost to the present” [121]). Restorative nostalgia idealizes the partiality of the archive and leads to a desire for the past that never was and reflective nostalgia takes an honest look at the past and the passage of time—in the case of the archive, images are not fetishized or fixed and our interpretation of the image remains flexible (129-130).

In my video, I try to take a nostalgic clip from 50s American culture that evokes restorative nostalgia and alter it to (hopefully) evoke a reflexive nostalgia. I chose an advertisement for snack foods) played during the intermission at drive-in movie theaters . Drive in movies were at their most popular in the 50 and early 60s, have been in decline since the 1970s, and are very rare today. The loss of this slice of American culture and the viewing of This advertisement has the capacity (for those who recognize it) to evoke the archive affect and restore the 50s/early 60s idealized past. It displays snack foods singing, urging people to buy snack food for the movie. This is followed by a popcorn machine and then four movie goers happily eating the snack food advertised. The ad is all underlain with the catchy “Let’s all go to the lobby” jingle.

In order to create a more reflective nostalgic experience, I try to re-edit this clip to emphasize the pervasiveness of the snack food products—the true purpose of these advertisements. Although some may remember the jingle in relation to drive in movies and an idealistic time, the intention of the original video is to push the viewer to consume snack food.

 

 

I start with the people eating, slow down the jingle to create a slightly disturbing effect, and then allow the food products marching down the movie aisles to appear below the layer of people eating. My intention was to give the impression that the food products have now become ingrained in the people’s (and perhaps our own) psyches through repetition. It’s not just a happy jingle, it’s a sort of invasion into the brain.

I’ll finish by pointing out that in order to recognize this archive affect (and archive effect) one must 1. Recognize that this is an old cartoon and not a contemporary cartoon and 2. Recognize the jingle and its context. If a viewer is unaware of the jingle and its role in advertising, then they will not understand the video, or its attempt to create a different nostalgic effect. This leads me to wonder about the extent of contextual knowledge necessary for nostalgia to be evoked. Is it only necessary to recognize time has passed?  Is it also necessary to recognize the ideal portrayed by the object being observed? In other words, can nostalgia (restorative or reflective) be evoked subconsciously?