The Impact of Nostalgia on Pop Culture Emotional Connections through Media
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| Format: | Thesis |
| Kulcsszavak: | communication interpersonal communication interperszonális kommunikáció kommunikáció marketing Pop culture popkultúra public relations |
| Online Access: | http://dolgozattar.uni-bge.hu/58751 |
| Abstract: | This study researches, how young people feel and express nostalgia - through pop culture and personal memories. The focus is on how emotions and cultural images form this feeling, especially when media helps people to feel connection with the past, even if they have never lived at that time. The research is based on the analysis of ten personal essays, written by high schoolers from Bishkek (Kyrgyzstan) in the age of 15-16 years old. Using qualitative content analysis, I was able to identify recurring emotional motives, references to media and symbolic language, through which teenagers describe their nostalgic experiences. The results show, that young people's sense of nostalgia is influenced not only by personal memories, but also by the media. In student essays, themes of childhood innocence often come up, media content as memory trigger, emotional comfort, bittersweet feelings and searching identity. The research highlight an important role of cultural aesthetics - such elements as retro- filters, vintage music and familiar stories, - in creating an emotional response and forming a shared memory, even if the events in question were never experienced by the participants themselves. This study shows, that nostalgia - is a powerful emotional language in pop culture. It does not only bring sense of comfort, but also helps young people better understand themselves, sense connection with others and to make sense of what's going on around. Of course, the small sample and narrow demographics impose limitations on the results, but the work opens the way for future research - how nostalgia manifests itself across ages and cultures in the digital age. |
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