Whether or not you’re a sports fan or athlete yourself, sports films will forever stand the test of time. They deliver a message of hope, redemption, and self-discovery. The characters resonate with audiences as their stories reflect their own. They speak to our desire to win and teach us to empathize with those who lose. It’s a universal experience that can be moving to just about everyone. Films like Rocky, Rudy, Field of Dreams, and even The Sandlot, transcend sports and offer an incredible vehicle for both storytelling and filmmaking. Then there’s Space Jam and more specifically, its long-gesturing sequel, Space Jam: A New Legacy.
LeBron James stars as a fictionalized version of himself in a bizarre story about ending up in a Warner Bros shared universe where he must team up with the Looney Tunes to thwart an evil corporate plan. He also has to learn to be a good father and save his son from the Warner-verse videogame-esque clutches. But in real life what we see is Warner Bros. desperately wanting to achieve what Disney has done with their Marvel Cinematic Universe and failing at every attempt.
But where Disney has employed talented writers who consult each other over every meticulous story, Warner Bros has….well, one of the worst films I’ve ever seen in my entire life.
It’s not as if the OG Space Jam was regarded as an incredible film, to begin with. Any critic, Looney Tunes fan, or Michael Jordan die-hard could tell you that particular movie is average at best. However, Warner Bros has been able to weaponize nostalgia through the miracle of social media, money, and marketing. The Greek origin of the word nostalgia: translates as “homecoming” or “the pain of homesickness” so, by definition alone, their marketing ploy is going straight for the familiar. And for good reason.
We’re all remembering a cooler version of the past that never happened. A longing return to a better time. In many ways, kids born in the 80s who grew up in the 90s felt the world was stable. We watched that stability die and innocence lost during 911. Regardless of your politics, after that fateful day, America just felt different.
The silly things like video games, pop songs, and sitcoms felt like action figures and board games to be stashed away in the closet to make room for more important things and pressing issues.
Not long after that came the great recession. From freedom and prosperity to justice and racial equality, everything the generation was promised was essentially a big lie. It’s easy to understand why millennials use happy childhood memories as a form of escapism. Just about everything marketed to that particular generation relies heavily on nostalgia.
Look at all this stuff
- Vintage-style videogames and tributes like the NES/SNES Classic
- Reboots of classic 80s/90s/2000s shows
- Sequels (not remakes) to retro movies
- The resurgence of 90s clothing styles
- Music sounding straight out of the 90s (check out 2020’s top albums)
Who cares though? It’s harmless? I watched The Big Green on Disney+ and drank a Clearly Canadian pop. Copped a pair of sick ADIDAS hi-tops and completed Super Mario RPG 100%. Purchased a fuzz pedal I always wanted. All these things aren’t hurting anyone. They’re light and fun. It brought me some satisfying happiness, albeit briefly. Of course, I didn’t let these things get in the way of adult responsibilities. There is work to be done and bills to be paid. Dinner consumed and paperwork to be finalized. There’s no harm in taking a much-needed break by mentally stepping into a time in my life where things were pretty okay.
Sadly, some people care about this element so much, they are willing to tear down anything, not to their nostalgic liking. Maybe even willing to actually hurt someone.
Toxic nerd culture has become the breeding ground of reactionary trolls. Go ask a Star Wars fan their feelings on The Last Jedi. Politically speaking, I’m not sure if you have to look any further than the phrase “Make America Great Again”. (Don’t worry, there’s no political agenda being pushed here. Besides, it wasn’t even the Orange One who coined that slogan. It was Ronald Reagan’s campaign manager in 1979 but I digress.)
It’s next to impossible to yearn for the past without an automatic crippling fear of the future.
How many times have you seen the social media post about wishing Pizza Hut had those cool red glasses, woodgrain aesthetic, and served you the first slice of their delicious Ninja Turtle-esque pizza? How about the one comparing the recent McDonald’s remodel as a “dead-inside millennial”? Or my personal favorite, the one about how we used to have Bob Hope, Johnny Cash, and Steve Jobs or something another. These memes may just be simple boomer-jokes parents post on Facebook. But upon closer inspection, they are very telling on just how far one might be willing to go to retain their preconceived vision of the past.
It’s not hard to imagine the outrage from every toxic incel. What if in the future they take away the things you once loved as a younger person? Oh no! Mr. Potatoe Head is now genderless! Sweet Lord, Aunt Jemima and Uncle Ben no longer grace the boxes of pancake batter and instant rice respectively. Leaping caterpillars, I can’t crush on Demi Lovato anymore because using acceptable pro-nouns questions my perception of the opposite sex! What shall we do in this dystopian future of sterile brand names, cold storytelling, and gender-neutral pop-culture deities? We must defend our childhoods, keep safe our objections of affections and take back what’s ours!
On the surface, this mindset says all the good art has already been made. Anything new is just weaker and/or bad retelling of the stuff we grew up on and love dearly. Seeking out anything new degrades or diminishes the impact of those same very things.
Ever notice how many times you hear someone say “my childhood is ruined!” when there’s a trailer for a remake of some classic horror movie or animated Disney feature? You can even go further down the pipe with the tried and true cover-all statement from seemingly well-informed music critics. “Their first few albums are great, but their new stuff sucks.” While that might be true for some artists, but where is the line drawn? Is Pinkerton really Weezer’s best album or is it because it was the first one I connected with at 13? Just think if we applied the same logic to an act like Radiohead. There’s no dimension where Pablo Honey is in the same neighborhood as A Moon Shaped Pool.
Here’s where things get even darker. I used to think fear was the most efficient tool in politics but going back to the aforementioned campaign slogan, nostalgia is even more powerful. If you can convince the people the past was better and you have the ability to reset things to their traditional state of glory, you have the souls of the country in your pocket.
I mean, who wouldn’t want to live in the good ol’ days, right?
However, those good ol’ days were never really good. I like to think back to the times when I dropped a sick burn on someone trying to roast me. In my head, I was calm, cool, and collected. I retaliated with the most dignified, soul-crushing, clap back in the history of mic-drops. Jaws dropped, my detractor obliterated, and I stood triumphant on the mountain of victory. Never to be opposed again. If I could perverse a simple memory about a minor clap back into something this grandiose and flowery, I could easily sweeten the memory of being 13 years old in 1996.
Just when was America great anyway? It wasn’t during the civil war. The civil rights movement of the 60s wasn’t great. The Vietnam war sucked too! I guess things were pretty great during the AIDS epidemic of the 80s, or the Gulf War in the 90s. The war on drugs was pretty fun too. What about when that kid shot up a high school or when the politician shot himself on live television? As great as those times were, it’s strange how they are nowhere to be found when someone reminisces of the past.
Sarcasm aside, I am well aware of why nobody includes those bad moments. The whole point of looking back fondly on your youth is to, in fact, look back fondly. You can really only do that by omitting the bad times.
When I was playing Legend Of Zelda in the safety of my living room of course I wasn’t thinking about AIDS. I was 8 years old! When I was reading about Daredevil and Luke Cage, the thought of black people being murdered in the streets didn’t cross my mind. I was a sheltered, white 12-year-old in the suburbs! I knew the world was chock full of terrible things but my present world was about getting to school on time, being home before dark, and not being grounded by my parents. It was a simpler, innocent time. A time most of you can identify with. But that glorious past is a mish-mash of everything you loved rolled into one deceptive, universal lie.
When HBO Max announced they were bringing new Looney Tunes shorts to their initial lineup, social media was in an uproar because Elmer Fudd no longer had a shotgun. Sure, this makes the character a little different seeing as he is a hunter and the very thing he hunts (Bugs Bunny) is a constant foil. When Space Jam: A New Legacy was announced, the producers decided to alter the appearance of the once flirtatious, curvaceous Lola Bunny to appear less sexy.
Pepe Le Pew has even been left out altogether due to his misogynistic character traits.
Well, in the year 2021, guns are a pretty heated topic. Not to mention, pretty dangerous to make light of their presence when marketed to children. As the only female Looney Tune, it feels as if sex appeal was the only thing Lola brought to the table. Speaking of questionable origins, why were sexual harassment and potentially sexual assault ever considered funny when developing Pepe Le Pew? Granted, I doubt anyone has ever gone on a shooting spree after watching Elmer and Bugs have it out. I’m not gonna kink-shame you if Lola Bunny rings your bell. Has anyone ever really raped a woman in the name Pepe?
Now, I completely understand the brand reviewing itself and adapting a less controversial approach to its brand. All of us could do some self-reflection. It’s progressive. But these seemingly small examples spread out across our culture inadvertently normalizes them. This creates an ecosystem that excuses, encourages, and sometimes rewards toxic and dangerous behavior.
But people being this upset over these revisions drives the point home. They’re so passionate about preserving their sacred traditions, they’re willing to suspend any and all societal growth.
So no matter which side you support, A New Legacy takes aim with weaponized nostalgia. The target? Your hard-earned adult money, of course.
As a side note: if Warner Bros were playing the progressive card in A New Legacy, why are there so many adult-centric callbacks as cameos? It, the nun from The Devils, Rick & Morty, Game Of Thrones, The Droogs from A Clockwork Orange, and the Joaquin Phoenix version of Joker, aren’t what you would call family-friendly properties. While these characters were meant to be subtle nods to the adults watching, the landing doesn’t quite stick. If anything, it proves the Warner Bros expanded universe isn’t as expansive and varied as they want it to seem.
When a person is enamored with nostalgia, they tend to spend more money. I didn’t really need that Godzilla action figure on my mantle, but it looked cool and reminded me of my childhood and it was on sale at Target so who cares!? In that simple transaction, a brand capitalized on my personal longing to live in the past. In the same sense, that same longing inadvertently tells me to cherish the little things in life. Maybe it’s an action figure, but it could very well mean spending more time with the people who are important to me. After all, everything you love in life will eventually expire and we don’t realize we were in the good ol’ days until we’re no longer in them.
No matter which side the coin lands on, someone is profiting from your stance. More importantly, they are capitalizing on your feelings.
Don’t worry, I’m not suggesting you throw away all your worldly possessions and become a hedonistic love-child of Jim Morrisson and Iggy Pop. All I’m saying is to take a closer look at what nostalgia is doing for you. Is it making you value time with your loved ones and keep in tune with your inner child? Does it depress you to know your best years are likely behind you and you may never experience the same joy ever again? Or does that longing breed paranoid xenophobia where you are willing to destroy any person, place, or thing that doesn’t uphold tradition.
Somewhere down the line, Warner Bros lost sight of the prize. A sequel to Space Jam was the perfect opportunity to poke fun with Hollywood’s infatuation with shared universes. It was also a fantastic time to offer up a story of hope and unity where people of all walks of life could come together for a common cause. Something inspiring, hopeful, and funny. Poorly acted, poorly directed and entirely superficial, A New Legacy is a sight to behold. Outside of some interesting CGI makeovers for the Looney Tunes and a single visual gag relating to Michael Jordan, A New Legacy is somehow even worse than the idea of the original film all the way back in 1996.
Undoubtedly, Space Jam: A New Legacy exists on these merits alone.
Sure, most kids are probably familiar with Bugs and Daffy, but was anyone born in the last 10 years really clamoring for a Space Jam sequel? Of course not! This film was greenlit strictly for the people who grew up watching the original. There’s something warm and fuzzy about revisiting a monumentally hyped movie from your past. After all, nostalgia is all in good, healthy fun. But where’s the nuance? The risk?
Alternately, they gave Zack Snyder free rein to release a 4-hour remix of Justice League, so I know they and care very little about risk. Why take Space Jam and go all-in on the millennial nostalgia card?
Nostalgia is a complex emotion and should be handled as such. There’s nothing wrong with enjoying a movie like Space Jam: A New Legacy. Life is hard and we could all use a colorful distraction every once in a while. It’s also okay to reject a soullessly superficial Hollywood cash-grab. I just feel like there’s enough of that trash drowning out good, thought-provoking art out there. But it’s what you do with nostalgia that really makes all the difference. Is it your sanctuary or your weapon? The ball is in your court.
(okay, that was a terrible pun, but not as bad as Porky Pig leading the rest of the Looney Tunes into a rap battle.)
Space Jam: A New Legacy is in theaters now and streaming on HBOMax