These unsettling times mean the appeal of a bygone period when all was well in the world is even more seductive
One day on my way to work I walked past McDonald’s, over the zebra crossing and into 1966. The shop-fronts had been cleaned to a hand-buffed gloss, the signs replaced and painted with jaunty shadow. What had yesterday been a mobile phone repair shop was now a record store, what had been a Korean supermarket was now a grocers and a chemist and a shoe shine station. A Volkswagen Beetle waited where the recycling bins used to be. The feeling, walking back in time that morning with a podcast about racism in my ears, was one of extreme and jubilant calm. They were shooting a film – the lighting trucks took up the entire block beyond – but I will never forget that transcendent second before the truth became clear. Rather than seeking out nostalgia, I had fallen into it, and been allowed a moment to bask before modern life caught up.
A study into how the “entertainment landscape” has been impacted by Covid-19 found many of us are seeking “comfort in familiar, nostalgic content”. Which, of course, is no surprise to anyone, not least those of us who spent Saturday in their pyjamas watching an entire season of Sister, Sister on Netflix, or who have leaned heavily on Nigella’s recipe for twice-buttered toast, or – as the second lockdown was announced – immediately filled their freezer with Alphabites, or who have reread their poetry set text for English GCSE twice since March. It will come as no surprise to anyone who has taken up knitting, or painting, or who has sought out the fabric softener their nan used to use. It will come as no surprise to the people redecorating their homes after watching The Queen’s Gambit, or buying jumpers inspired by Diana in The Crown, or questioning their politics after seeing Gillian Anderson as Thatcher. Those of us abruptly tearful at a Fleetwood Mac song, or those who have become accustomed to seeing in the dawn with a game of Grim Fandango and a hot Ribena. Those moved by Lynx Africa.