The Nostalgia Effect
While consuming something, I generally don’t have many strong feelings towards it. If I were to pause a movie halfway through watching it and you asked me if it’s good or not, I wouldn’t have an answer for you. It doesn’t feel right to judge something before it’s complete. While watching or reading I’m absorbing everything that’s happening instead of creating strong opinions or nitpicking. The processing period comes after I finish consuming; where I can then look back on the piece as a whole and gather my thoughts, opinions and feeling towards it.
Immediately after consuming something I feel like my emotions are at their peak. That is the time when I will feel the most strongly about it; the climax of my thoughts and emotions towards the particular work. Although I might feel quite strongly about the work initially, I tend to forget my views after a while. My emotions towards it begin to dull and the thoughts fade from my mind. This happens with all different works, for example: I watched the film Braveheart for the first time a few months ago; it was a damn good movie. It made me feel things I never thought that a movie would make me feel: anguish, betrayal, empowerment. But looking back on it after some time, I don’t feel exactly the same as I did back then. It feels like my thoughts are watered down versions of that they were. Don’t get me wrong it’s still one of my favourite movies, but I definitely don’t feel as strongly as before.
This feeling is what I call the nostalgia effect. Typically, when you think nostalgia you picture looking back on something you’ve done or seen before and think fondly of it, like an old videogame that you used to love playing as a kid. For some reason, this effect has the opposite effect on me. Most people are able to look back at something they’ve watched or read and still feel strongly about it.
On the other hand, I never feel as strongly about anything when looking back on it or even after watching it a second time. If I really liked a movie, I like it less the more I think about it. What’s crazy is that the inverse is also true; if I initially hate something, looking back on it I’m far less critical and feel a tremendous amount less strongly about it. My opinions about it aren’t necessarily changing, it’s more like the novelty has worn off. I think one of the reasons for this is that I personally struggle with this is that I have a hard time re-consuming things. Once I know everything that happens, the powerful or impactful points just don’t have the same effect on me anymore.
Id say that the maximum amount of times that im able to consume the same work is twice. After the second time it just becomes tedious and tiresome. Therefore the more that I reconsume it, the less strongly I feel about it, and the more I actually come to hate it until the point where it becomes unwatchable.
The sign of a good story is how much it makes you think about it after you consume it.