Why nostalgia for late 2000s is already here

Gen Z is wistful for a not-too-distant past. Experts explain the factors behind it.

- By WHITNEY FRIEDLANDER

No sooner have we recovered from melomaniacs’ rekindled excitement over bands like the Lumineers and other “stomp, clap, hey” indie rock music of the late 2000s and early aughts than society must ready its takes on another pop culture staple from that era.

This one too is about brooding men with an inner glow. Lionsgate is re-releasing its blockbuster “Twilight” movies, which ran from 2008 to 2012, in theaters beginning Wednesday.

Nostalgia has a way of coming for us all. But have we ever been this interested in information from such a recent past?

In a 1989 piece for South Atlantic Quarterly, literary theorist Fredric Jameson used the term “nostalgia mode” to reference the way boomers and Gen Xers then viewed the 1960s through rose-colored teashades. Now Rodrigo Munoz-Gonzalez, a professor at the University of Costa Rica who adapted his PhD thesis into the book“ Young People, Media, and Nostalgia,” uses the term “nostalgia economy” to describe how corporations have monetized that feeling.

In a world of decreasing attention spans and increased pressure to make your project stick, of course this year would see a hyper-analyzation of the “Dawson’s Creek” reunion live reading in New York and howthe Goo Goo Dolls managed to have the song of summer 2025 with a’90s hit.

“Nostalgia is almost a guarantee that you will have success in some markets,” Munoz-González says duringa recent Zoom interview. Plus, he says, “Hard times, in economic terms, are triggers. It all stems from an unsatisfactory present.”

This can help explain why AMC Theatres was so keen to get back into the water with “Jaws” 50th anniversary screenings and why Disney was eager for “Freaky Friday” stars Jamie Lee Curtis and Lindsay Lohan to reteam for a sequel.

It also gives a second life to projects that weren't as noticed the first time around, or have since found ayounger audience through streaming and social media.