A major trend in Hollywood filmmaking that emerged in the 2000s and continues today is the legacy sequel. In 2015, the true renaissance of the legacy sequel era began, with “Mad Max: Fury Road” (2015), “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” (2015), “Jurassic World” (2015) and “Creed” (2015) all released in the same year. Quality disparities aside, the huge successes of these films proved that the legacy sequel was poised to become the future of filmmaking. Now, over 10 years later in the post-“Avengers: Endgame” (2019) era, the legacy sequel has become so naturalized that it seems inevitable.
The trend quickly expanded beyond Hollywood. Soon, commercials, TV show reunions and other forms of American mass culture joined the nostalgia wave. Though film has always been an inherently commercial art form, the box office successes of early legacy sequels indicated that fans responded enthusiastically and effusively, that the movies had captive audiences. Fans were eager to see more from the franchises, and filmmakers were motivated to return to the worlds of their creations. Since then, however, as the political and cultural milieu of th e country has atrophied, nostalgia continues to be corporatized and shoved down our throats. In Hollywood, the success of the legacy sequel sparked a barrage of more for franchises more obscure than the mainlines of “Jurassic Park,” “Star Wars,” “Mad Max” and “Rocky.”
At least in the realm of film, this trend can still appeal to fan desire, with fans desperate to see what their favorite characters are up to five, 10 or even 20 years later. More concerningly, however, the trend has spread to commercials and advertising. Zach Braff and Donald Faison, for example, star in a T-Mobile commercial that premiered during the 2024 Super Bowl. Though not legally playing their beloved characters from “Scrubs” (2001–2010), the banter between the stars knowingly recalls their dynamic on the show. Similarly, at the start of the college football season in early October of last year, Terry Crews — sitting in the brand new Ram Truck he was promoting — gets so inspired he attempts to write his own fight song. When Vanessa Carlton’s “A Thousand Miles” plays instead, Crews notes that it’s a favorite of his, recalling the famous scene from “White Chicks” (2004).
This trend cynically says: Remember this thing you like? Buy our product, and you’ll feel just as great as you did then! A regressive nostalgic wave that started out of fandom has quickly become consumed by corporate interests. Nostalgia for movies and TV shows we loved in the past is being repackaged as an escape from the breaking point the United States is rapidly approaching. Remember “Scrubs? Switch to T-Mobile internet and it will make you forget about the militarized federal law enforcement parading around our cities right now. It will take you right back to how it felt watching “Scrubs” when things were better. Want to forget about the illegal war being waged in Iran right now? Buy a Ram Truck and you’ll feel like you did when you were cackling at “White Chicks.”
Not only are corporate interests cynically co-opting nostalgia to sell us products as a distraction from the frankly terrible state of our nation, but such emphasis on regressive nostalgia may also reflect a concerning sign for the political future of the country. When a demagogue with a powerful cult of personality begins deploying paramilitary units into his own country and disguises it by appealing to a time when things were better, one cannot help but recall Italy’s II Duce, Benito Mussolini. Fascist rhetoric in Italy appealed to the greatness of the Roman Empire to justify and distract from the gross violations of personal and civil rights. ‘The paramilitary squadristi in Italy were only murdering socialists because we remember how great the Roman Empire was.’ As bitter as this sounds, by becoming aware of it, we can begin to resist it.
That’s not to say we shouldn’t watch our favorite movies from the past because we’re worried about our country falling to fascism. Being aware of how nostalgia is co-opted for corporate interests as a form of cynical manipulation of the atrophied American mass cultural zeitgeist can prevent us from being blinded by it. Let’s ‘Make America Great Again,’ right?
