Retro-extremists? What are we called?

Bustercat · Jun 17, 2010

Can't nostalgia be collective, societal as well as personal? Certain things are shared among people and yearned for. Nostalgia is often talked about as a group activity, i.e. "Boomer nostalgia"
And I'm not sure you had to actually be there to yearn for a different time. You could yearn for the things you saw in your grandmothers house and the time period it evokes, or that shown in old movies, supplemented by research about the time. It can be yearning for something in the collective memory, IMO.

In anycase, the definition is not as absolute and specific as you make it. It used to be a diagnosed as a true blue mental illness for years, but no one uses that definition anymore.

And what we're about IS rose-colored to a degree, which aligns with the concept of nostalgia. We might like 1920s fashion, music, expressions. But how many of us look for, say vintage Klan robes, and try to revive 'historically authentic' anti black/jew/catholic leagues in our neighborhoods? That was a huge part of that era for many, many people... not to mention expectations and roles for women, etc.

I do think Nostalgia is too open ended a term for what were aiming for here, but it does apply pretty aptly...

Tiller · Jun 17, 2010

Nostalgia does not have to be a yearning for an individual's personal past. Nostalgia is defined as a longing for the past, often in an idealized form. Once it was used medically to describe homesickness, now it has to do with idolizing supposed Golden Ages, specifically from the perspective of Romanticism. I think it is essentially what a large portion of us do here, of course not all.

Of course I don't have a problem with the word vintage, even with it's connection to wine. Most males in the vintage community are now simply being called Retrosexuals. As you can currently see on the front page of Merriam and Webster.

Bustercat · Jun 17, 2010

bleargh, really? lol
guess it was only a matter of time before someone made that rhyme.

BinkieBaumont · Jun 17, 2010

"Indeed put it in backwards when forewords Fails"

http://www.oldisnew.org/

Fletch · Jun 17, 2010

OK, I guess nostalgia can apply to a romanticism for a time not experienced - altho that's a usage of the term outside the pop culture imagination. There's a reason that syndicated AM radio feature was called The Music of Your Life: that's what sells Polident and life insurance with no physical exam.

"Retrosexual," OTOH, has a cultural and gender meaning. It started out as a media backlash against "metrosexual." In the pop discourse, it's reactionary: the past the retrosexual focuses on is built out of yearnings for myth as much as it is gleanings from history. It's different from just "retro," which a metrosexual could conceivably be. He couldn't be both a metrosexual and a retrosexual.

I just thought of a term: retroactives, or if one is into living history or education, retroactivists.

Jack Scorpion · Jun 17, 2010

Fletch said:
I just thought of a term: retroactives, or if one is into living history or education, retroactivists.

Thanks for that retrosexual link. I think it's an awesome term... though limited by Fletch's determination that "He couldn't be both a metrosexual and a retrosexual." Metrosexual has been used just to describe men who dress well, too.

I like the term retroactive from a linguistic sense. Going back to my last post, I still think it defines something by negative space instead of positive space though. Reactionaries are defined by what they are against, not what they are for... which is why I like the term retrophile better.

My favorite related adjective, however, is anachronistic. What is the singular active noun for that one? Anachronist?

P.S. Almost all of these are great band names. The Anachronists. The Retroactives.

Feraud · Jun 17, 2010

Jack Scorpion said:
P.S. Almost all of these are great band names. The Anachronists. The Retroactives.

Or superheroes.

Snookie · Jun 18, 2010

I'm coming to this discussion late, but in the interest of trying to contribute something new/not already established I did skim every page of it (albeit some much faster than others...) Let's see how I do:

I live in the Los Angeles area, where there are a wide range of historical period subculture groups, and I've dabbled in several of them. As someone who has knowledge of these groups but is not an invested member of them, it's important and natural for me to categorize them. They are loose categories - you do not pay dues and carry a card to prove you are a member. Being a member of a particular internet forum does not make you a member. And not everyone present at a particular event/location/discussion falls into the same category.

I self-categorize myself in the "jitterbug" sub-culture. This means I am a swing dancer who also loves vintage _fillintheblank_ (you may thing they automatically overlap, and you'd be quite wrong).

I do not live a vintage lifestyle - although I am fascinated by early- and mid-20th Century Western social history, living it day in and day out does not suit me. Therefore, I fall in a different category from Lizzie - although many of our interests overlap, our expression of those interests are quite different.

For years, I have used the term Vintage Lifestyle Enthusiast to describe people who live/try to live like it's the past day in and day out. As an outsider, I think this term is accessible to anyone who hears it for the first time. "Lifestyle" is the key term to me - I'm a vintage "Dance" enthusiast, and a vintage "Clothing" enthusiast. I'm interested in the way people used to live, but I don't regularly physicalize that interest, it's more intellectual.

And I like the term Enthusiast because it's positive and slightly generic - I can apply it to people who are all part of the group, but have different levels of commitment.

Fletch · Jun 18, 2010

Jack Scorpion said:
Thanks for that retrosexual link. I think it's an awesome term... though limited by Fletch's determination that "He couldn't be both a metrosexual and a retrosexual." Metrosexual has been used just to describe men who dress well, too.

The way I see it, words that are too inclusively defined lose their context, and then their power to communicate. But that's just me talking.

I like the term retroactive from a linguistic sense. Going back to my last post, I still think it defines something by negative space instead of positive space though. Reactionaries are defined by what they are against, not what they are for... which is why I like the term retrophile better.

I have to say, tho, that I have learned a lot of precious stuff from negative people - people whose reactionary-ness, cynicism, or lack of connection with humanity allowed them to be open to other, great things.

I sometimes suspect what they seemed to feel intuitively - that the light of day will fade these treasures, and the love of even a few more people will leave them smudged and threadbare.

My favorite related adjective, however, is anachronistic. What is the singular active noun for that one? Anachronist?

Yep.

Mr Vim · Jun 18, 2010

I saw the atavist idea being thrown around and people are right, its close but no cigar.

Fletch, retroactivist is nice, I like the idea of the word ending in -ist, that works.

What about Nostalgist?

Or Retroist?

They are both a bit shorter and roll nicely. I'm leaning on retroist myself.
Fletch, you have a grand way with words what are your thoughts on those two?

Bustercat · Jun 18, 2010

Retroactive is pretty general in scope, and used in too specific a way by too many people, I think...
And retroactivist sounds kind of political.

Mario · Jun 28, 2010

Flat Foot Floey said:
I always just hear terms with "swing" in it because its the more lighthearted part of the 20s to 40s. As in germany..ah not again.:eusa_doh:

So they call my Hepcat or Swingheini or something ...not very creative and not even my own choice but I guess it could be worse.[huh]

I'm afraid that most people here in Berlin don't even know what a hapcat is. I do get a lot of remarks that are making reference to the Mafia, namely to Al Capone, but then I live in a part of Berlin that, at times, has a distinctly gangsterish flair about it anyway.

Mario · Jun 28, 2010

Bustercat said:
And retroactivist sounds kind of political.

Oh yeah...we need a manifesto! :eusa_doh:

Redwoodjedi · Jun 28, 2010

Mario said:
Oh yeah...we need a manifesto! :eusa_doh:

Something Latiny sounding like The Manifestos Anachronistus.

Bustercat · Jun 30, 2010

Mario said:
I'm afraid that most people here in Berlin don't even know what a hapcat is. I do get a lot of remarks that are making reference to the Mafia, namely to Al Capone, but then I live in a part of Berlin that, at times, has a distinctly gangsterish flair about it anyway.

Where do you live?
When I was in town last (06), "white trash fast food" was pretty swinging. There were retro/tiki stores in prenzlberg and golden era burlesque on the spree... has that grown at all?

Mario · Jun 30, 2010

Bustercat said:
Where do you live?
When I was in town last (06), "white trash fast food" was pretty swinging. There were retro/tiki stores in prenzlberg and golden era burlesque on the spree... has that grown at all?

I live in Neukölln, next to Kreuzberg/Friedrichshain.

There are some golden era/burlesque-inspired events like the Fête Fatale or the Bohéme Sauvage. Both events are held by the same group of people, with the Fête Fatale taking the burlesque part. The Bohéme Sauvage is the 'tamer' vintage-inspired event.

The White Trash is of course still swinging.

Miss Peach · Jul 3, 2010

Well...(joining in late so I may be repeating)...

Couldn't we just go about the old-fashioned way and say "I'm old-fashioned?"

The Good · Jul 3, 2010

Miss Peach said:
Well...(joining in late so I may be repeating)...

Couldn't we just go about the old-fashioned way and say "I'm old-fashioned?"

I made that same exact point some months ago in this thread. Thinking about it again, I'm fine with that one, as well as the "retro" label, but little else appealed to me. Some of the phrases coined here seem a bit heavy, wordy, or awkward. "Vintage enthusiast" also works for me, but that itself is lengthy. If I had to label myself, I'd probably be something of a 1940s/1950s retro, even though I only actually own modern clothing, though inspired by the decades to a degree. I prefer to believe that I simply dress "classic."

Just my opinions, of course.

Bustercat · Jul 11, 2010

How limited should the appeal be?
If we're just talking 'golden era,' is there a term like 'Antebellum' that applies to the ww1-ww2 era?

Derek WC · Jul 20, 2010

I am nuts about the 1930's - 50's. The only modern thing I do is look at the computer, and that is just a mean to the end.

I've got one finger in the 21st century, and the rest of me in the Golden Era.

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