Brandon: 0:00

On The Sandlot. Like dad said, it was made in 1993 but it's set in the 60s. But what I enjoy about that is it was set in a neighborhood, and it reminded me of doing pickup games with all of my friends as well. You know, playing sandlot ball with all of my guys at the same field every single summer. But also some of the other things that went on, the group of guys trying to help the one friend connect with the girl, and failing miserably until he didn't. Hello and welcome to the Cup of Tea Critiques Podcast. I'm your host, Brandon Chaisson, and like always, I'll be joined today by the great team that brings you cup of tea critiques.com we are excited to get started on our podcast where we will share our perspectives on several areas in movies and television. At Cup of Tea Critiques, we review movie and television series and tag them with a tea brew that evokes a feel for the production in this way you can decide for yourself if they're your "cup of tea." Here on the Cup of Tea Critiques Podcast, we will dive even deeper into the productions and topics we broach on our website, engaging in conversation and sharing our unique perspectives. Ready for a deep look for the deep brew?

Yhis week's topic: 1:13

nostalgia and throwback productions. So let's get started. Cup of Tea Critiques is a family affair, and I'm here with my brother, Chris, my mother, Reba, and my father, Terry, and fam. Real quick to get started, Dad, I'm going to kick it over to you and just kind of help for our audience members. Can you kind of give us the etymology of the word nostalgia so they know where we're coming from?

Terry: 1:35

Actually, the term was coined around 1688, by a Swiss doctor, and it was to explain the feeling of homesickness by mercenaries. By around the early 19th century, it was more or less linked to depression. So it started out as sort of a negative thing, and then around 1979 a sociologist sort of redefined it to be associated in a more positive light with things in our past that kind of give us this warm feeling, the sense of security,

Reba: 2:15

Yeah, and to expound on, expound on what Terry said, if you think about nostalgia, it's a longing for the past, cherished memories, for example, and those kind of sensory experiences that we have. What your mom's kitchen smelled like on holidays. Some of the songs you heard when you were say 10 years old, and now as an adult, you hear those songs again. You know, what does that bring to mind? How does that make you feel? And so feeling those things again, that is what we mean by nostalgia. And so it's that kind of warm, fuzzy feeling you get when you hear things or see things or feel things that remind you of the past, and it gives you this longing of that time. Now, another thing to add about nostalgia, though, is it is subjective. That is, you know, a song that reminds you of something from the past, that gives you a warm and fuzzy does not necessarily give someone else a warm and fuzzy.

Brandon: 3:20

That's a great point, mom, because for every audience member sitting in the crowd for any production or watching it at home, it is relative to that person sitting there, what they actually connect to or what connects to their past. So we do have to keep that in mind when we're talking about that nostalgic feeling. Chris, I want to go ahead and throw it to you, because while we're talking about how this is subjective, how do throwback productions really accomplish that goal of giving its audience members that feeling?

Chris: 3:46

This conversation was kind of sparked by a mom and dad watching Fight Night and, you know, a peacock original series that starred Kevin Hart and Samuel L Jackson, and it was kind of set in the, I believe, the 70s.

Excerpt from Fight Night: 4:13

Excerpt from Fight Night: The Million Dollar Heist

Chris: 4:36

And so a lot of the hair and the costumes and the makeup was, you know, of that, of that period, and so I think that's the, maybe the first and foremost, or the most, just very obvious, way that that productions create a nostalgic feel is to just show you how people were dressing, how people were were showing out, how people were presenting themselves, and how that and you think about how that's changed whenever you see it, the way people interacted in communities. Sitting on the stoop or walking around, or, you know, everybody knows this person, or this person's got this nickname, or the kind of slang thrown back and forth between people, what people do for a living, you know, might, might have changed. Who are the politicians at the time? If, if it comes up who's, who's in office, or who was, who was the mayor. The mayor put this new policy in yada yada yada, and they just kind of, you know, stoop talk, you know. He's got this new smoking or whatever it is. So I think those are maybe the first and foremost things. But also, also, I would say even what people spend their time doing, the people, are people going to the roller rink? Are they going to the to the mall? Are they hanging out? Basically, what if they're playing video games? What video games are they playing if you're, if you're showing a movie set and way back, it's probably people playing games together, not people playing games on a headset. So, so that's another thing, is just what activities are people indulging in? And I think maybe lastly, shooting and editing your production the way somebody would have at the time. You know, I think about how movies used to begin in the 80s and the 90s, there would be a very long intro credit sequence, or some kind of hit song would be playing over it, and it would just, you might get, like, some kind of, like, wide shot of just like the New York skyline or something like that. And there would just be credits going for what seemed like, yeah, you know, five minutes as a song is playing before, before we meet any of the characters. And movies don't generally begin that way anymore. So, um, so just even how they how they choose to pace it.

Reba: 7:23

Yeah, yeah. I would add to that, too, community and culture. Terry and I really enjoyed the television series Fight Night. And one of the things that really stuck out for me, well, there were a number of things that stuck out for me, but one of the things that really did is the way people looked out for one another in the neighborhood. So the movie was set in 1970 Atlanta, and I was raised in Chicago, so obviously those are two different cities, but the neighborhood feel of Atlanta at that time reminded me very much of the community that I grew up in and in my community, people looked out for one another. As a matter of fact, there were these two or three women in the neighborhood who sat on the stoop and just pretty much looked out for everybody else's kids, including their own. And they they noticed when odd things were going on in neighborhood. And there was one instance in Fight Night where they're setting up for a party, and people are moving things in and out of this house for a party. And so these people going in there, that neighbor, this woman doesn't recognize. And she comes off of her stoop and confronts them. And that just reminded me so much of, you know Mrs. Woods and Mrs. Jackson, they would have done that exact same thing. And so just bringing those kinds of elements. And now today, in a lot of communities, that probably would never happen, but back then, that is how, that is how people operated in those neighborhoods. They were one big family, not connected by blood, but it was a huge kinship. And so that was, that was huge. And this that is, in addition to everything Chris just mentioned, one more thing to add, music is also something that catalyzes the senses, and it is something that takes you back to that period, and it just makes you feel some kind of way.

Terry: 9:16

Yeah, my list is the clothing and the hairstyles, the music has been mentioned. And I mentioned mannerisms, how people interacted, how they moved, I can pretty much associate that to a time period as well, the cars, the buildings. And then the last thing that I mentioned that came to me as I was thinking about this topic, was the pace, how, how things moved in the movie, the pace. Because I think certain time periods had certain pace set to them. Some things happen faster in certain time periods, some things were more slow.

Brandon: 9:57

Those are all very interesting thoughts of. Uh, I'll say the way that, for me, these productions achieve that nostalgic feeling are number one, like with the a lot of the props. So for example, you know, rotary phones. I'm not old, old, but at the same time, like I was around when there were desktop phones, and you couldn't exactly walk around the grocery store with your phone that's still connected at home in the kitchen, you know. So those are some of the props, obviously, clothing, which for me, is a little harder to connect with, because it feels like the clothing of my past is also currently popular, you know, the 90s trends. It doesn't feel that far back, because it's still present. And then, Mom, you touched on it to the music, you know, the music of these productions really does a good job of taking you back in time, which is is funny, because sometimes that's not necessarily, entirely their their their purpose. So take, for example, Guardians of the Galaxy is nowhere near a film that's a nostalgic film, but it's music is all from the past, and every time you hear a different piece from that movie. It takes me back. Pick one, you know, it'll take it back to a backyard barbecue we had. A time hanging out with my grandmother. It's another one, I'll say. And this is just kind of an interesting thing I was thinking about while you guys were talking. So I think about Star Wars as well when it comes to nostalgia, which, again, not a nostalgic film in its own right, but every introduction to a Star Wars movie starts the same. That same intro is the same. And I feel like for a lot of audience members, they know that it's about to scroll the setting of the current movie, but they hear that piece, and the moment it starts, they're taken back to the very first time they ever saw that movie. And so it's just interesting that a piece can have a consistency within its, you know, several iterations, and yet it still has a chance of giving that nostalgic feelings we've established exactly like how productions are able to give us that nostalgic feeling, you know, whether it's based off of music, you know, the jargon that's used, the clothing that's there, etc. But one thing that I'm taking away from this when we were talking is, what do we learn from throwback productions? And just speaking for myself, for example, while I've been watching, it's not a throwback production itself, but I've been watching a show from the past, Lois and Clark The Adventures of Superman. And one of the fun things for me in that show is they use, you know, it's set during a time where newspapers actually existed, so having the deadlines for the newspaper release. But also in the biggest one for me was phones.

Excerpt from Lois & Clark: 12:37

Excerpt from Lois & Clark

Brandon: 12:54

You know, they had desktop phones. They were all they were not cordless. They were cords. You know, they had, you could only stay basically around your desk. You couldn't migrate over across the room. They had to literally leave the office to go get coffee from out front, and they were unavailable at the time, and they had to and for me, it reminds me of an appreciation of a time frame where we had to interact with each other in order to get by. It wasn't just having access to our phones, where the internet is at our fingertips and we can Google anything and completely distract ourselves and keep ourselves from interacting with other people, and it reminded me of like, hey, it was still important to connect, and hopefully I don't forget that. It also gave me an appreciation for what can be, which is the ability to go into my phone and find the phone number of that long lost friend or whatever, and reach out to them, as opposed to needing to track down an address book and hope that I actually have their numbers still written down, and then also hope that they may still live at that address where that phone number is active. So it was nice to, I learned to appreciate the ways that we can communicate today, as well as the the lesson of making sure to connect in the present like we used to in the past. Panel, I'll flush this out, Chris, maybe I'll give it to you first here. What? What do you feel like you learn from throwback productions?

Chris: 14:25

Pretty much the same thing. I think you mentioned using technology to get by. I think even just for even for trivial things, sometimes the limitations that we had made it made it easier to bond. It could just be as simple as something that we would look up today, instead of asking, you know. Like, I feel like you could be with a group of friends, you know, 30 years ago, and, you know, ask if a certain actor was in a movie. And. You could take sides on it, whether or not this actor was in this movie, and you could go back and forth about it for you know, who knows how long that's never going to happen again? At some point somebody's going to pull out their phone and go to IMDb really fast. So I think you know, while some people might hear that say, well, good, you didn't waste any time, but, but you, you might have just missed out on a fun, you know, bonding moment with, with people. And so, I mean, you know, there's a, there's, see, I guess that's the bittersweet aspect to nostalgia in general, is, you know, you we, we've solved problems, but we also lost potential moments to bond with each other.

Terry: 15:49

Oh, yeah. An interesting thing for me in throwback productions is you guys touched on this a bit, is setting things in that particular time period, and looking at those, those how much we had advanced from a previous time period, what was considered cutting edge technology at that point in time, in the setting, and then comparing that to the times previous to that and present day. It's interesting to kind of put those things in perspective. So that's one thing that that I learned when looking at throwback productions.

Brandon: 16:34

Mom, you got anything here you want to add with that?

Reba: 16:37

I guess what I am struggling with this one, I guess I look at when I look at films, I'm looking at them more for entertainment value, and I just happen to, you know, develop an affinity for them because they take me to a time and place where, a time and place where I just felt good. That reminds me, for example, of, you know, when my mom was here and I hung out in the kitchen with her as she as she cooked for holidays, or when I played games outside with my cousins. And you know, it reminds me of that, certain activities we did at school. And they're not, they're not learning moments for me, they're feeling moments for me. And so I separate those kinds of throwback films, the throwback films that is that give me that feeling of nostalgia, from historical films. So if you were to ask me, for example, what can I learn from a historical film like Hidden Figures, then I would have certainly an answer for you, because it was those were events that I knew absolutely nothing about. That had nothing at all to do with the tools that they use to calculate extensive, complicated math problems. It had to do with the significance of Black women playing just these significant roles in in space travel at NASA. So I guess that's why I struggle to answer your question, because I separate films for nostalgia versus films for history.

Brandon: 18:35

That actually is a great point to bring up. I'm glad you did, because a movie that did cross my mind was 13 days, which is a movie made in 2000 but it's about the Cuban missile crisis from the early 60s. But it's kind of hard for that to give a feeling of nostalgia. Now, of course, if you're watching it, you can if you were alive during that time, you can see the dress, you can hear the way that the president and his cabinet members spoke, and that may take you back to that time period. So it may give you a small sense of nostalgia, but to your point, it is more of a historical piece, as opposed to a piece meant to evoke nostalgia. So that is a separation between those two. Look at that in comparison to say, the movie Bumblebee, which is obviously an action flick. It's about transformers, but Bumblebee was set in in the late 80s. And I I'm bringing this up because there was one moment of nostalgia, but it makes me appreciate and talk about things we learn from throwback productions. There's a part in the movie where they bring up the Internet and there you hear the dial-up sound for trying to connect to the Internet. And the nostalgia I get was it was kind of cool the first couple of times my parents allowed me to use the modem. And then I think about present day. I'm like, Thank God I don't have to deal with that dial. I'm telling you, waiting and hope. Hoping it connects, and Heaven help us if somebody picked up the phone while you're connected to the Internet, what have I learned to appreciate today's way of connecting to the internet, as opposed to the past? Thank goodness. With that wonderful moment, Fam, I'm going to go ahead and I want to try and bring this one home for us here, like we've talked about, you know what nostalgia is? We've talked about, like, the ways these productions give that nostalgic feeling. But fam for you, and we'll go with the person that can can take it back the farthest. Dad, tell us, like some of your favorite nostalgia pieces.

Terry: 20:45

Another swipe in another podcast. Hmm, okay, yes, I'm keeping count. Favorite, favorite, I'll say the three that stand out the most to me, that I like are the TV series The Deuce, which was both a bit nostalgic and informative to me.

Excerpt from The Deuce: 21:31

Excerpt from The Deuce

Terry: 21:39

It was surrounding, really the making of Times Square. And so that setting, seeing everything that transpired between the time they decided to venture on making this transformation of that area all the way through to it actually becoming Times Square was both entertaining and informative. Everybody Hates Chris The TV series, just because it gave you that neighborhood feel. And the characters in there just reminded me of, you know, people in my neighborhood and growing up, and then last and not least, The Sandlot, because our neighborhood was one similar to that.

Excerpt from The Sandlot: 22:25

Excerpt from The Sandlot

Terry: 22:32

It was a bunch of kids that love to play sandlot ball, be it baseball, football or what have you. We're out there, either in the field or somebody's backyard, playing something.

Reba: 22:51

Yeah, so I think my favorite is probably Soul Food. Soul Food is probably my absolute favorite. The cinematography in Soul Food made that feel like a throwback film, and it reminded me very much to see interior of the house, the conversations around the table and especially the fights among the sisters, reminded me very much of my family, and I was the youngest in my family. We had a large family and and so I got to see it all and hear it all.

Excerpt from Soul Food: 23:31

Excerpt from Soul Food

Reba: 23:35

And Soul Food has felt very much like a throwback film in every way, even in terms of weddings being held in a big hall, even in terms of the music that was played. It was very much like that. Another would be Fight Night, which I think I've already expressed. And it was because of just everything. As Chris mentioned, I was quite motivated to write about how that movie just made me feel some kind of way. And it was because everything about it, the lighting, the the costumes, the hairdos, the conversations, especially the neighborhoods, the people in the neighborhoods. It was it just, it just took me back. It took me back to the point where I had tears in my eyes. And it wasn't even so much about what the movie was about. It wasn't a story. It was, it was, it was everything else. It was the other elements of the film that that took me back. So yeah, those would be mine.

Brandon: 24:53

So for myself, I'll say that a few of my favorite productions I have, like two movies and a TV show here. Yeah, one is The Sandlot. Like dad said, it was made in 1993 but it's set in the 60s. But what I enjoy about that is it was set in a neighborhood, and it reminded me of doing pickup games with all of my friends as well. You know, playing sandlot ball with all of my guys at the same field every single summer.

Excerpt from The Sandlot: 25:26

Excerpt from The Sandlot

Brandon: 25:44

But also some of the other things that went on. The group of guys trying to help the one friend connect with the girl, and failing miserably until he didn't. And then there was the imagination piece to it, the beast that was next door. We didn't have a dog itself in our neighborhood like that around our park, but I do remember thinking that some families own this ginormous dog, and now that I'm an adult, I realize that dog is no bigger than my knees. So it's just funny to think of how big we thought it was when it wasn't. Another piece is, Remember the Titans, which was created in 2000 but it's set in 1971 again, I wasn't here yet, but I do like that. It takes me back in time. It has a lot of cool elements in it, including the music. And the music itself reminds me of actually going back in time, and all of the barbecues or the house parties we have where all the family was together. And I remember just hearing that when I go visit like my cousins or my grandparents and everything. And so that's for me. Remember the Titans does a good job of that. And then lastly, I chose Agents of SHIELD, which is set in present day for the most part, or like, kind of a futuristic present day, scientifically speaking. But the last season actually spent most of it in the past. They spend time in the 30s, in the 50s and the 80s. And I enjoyed seeing some of the ways that they pulled off those those time periods. Seeing police officers with their thicker wool uniforms, and when they go to the 80s, and what is supposedly a futuristic time, at that time, when we had the digital age.

Excerpt from Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: 27:17

Excerpt from Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.

Brandon: 27:39

I laugh because I'm like we thought that was technology advanced for the time period, and today it is nothing like what we we're able to pull off with all the technology we have. But I also liked it too because of the contrast it had to the show. So here's a show set in the present, and they took elements of the present and showed that they were out of place. You know, they had kind of like these cyborgs that were chasing them throughout time period. So it's funny to think of a futuristic robot from the 3000s existing in the 1930s so I just kind of enjoyed how it showed me the differences between where we could be going and where we've been, Chris, why don't you go ahead and share some of your favorites?

Chris: 28:27

So my favorites, I would realize, obviously The Sandlot's been mentioned. I do want to throw that one in there, along with Wonder Years, Everybody Hates Chris, and The Goldbergs. I think it's interesting, those four productions also have voiceover, which kind of helps give you that throwback feel, because it's, it's the the main character is telling you about this, you know, is in the story, but also talking about himself while he's in the story. So it kind of helps you. It helps to give you that throwback feel.

Excerpt from The Goldbergs: 29:04

Excerpt from The Goldbergs

Chris: 29:05

Barber Shop, I think is a good one, because I think it's, you know, it's a, it's a passed down business to the main character. So he's got all these people in there that that knew his father, and refer back to his father and you know people he's known for years, people relationships he's had for years. And the way it operates, kind of certain people you know, like guy comes in after a job interview and Calvin gives him his haircut for free, that kind of stuff. So I think barber shops a good one. A sleeper, I don't know if it's one of my favorites, necessarily, but ATL came out of the mid 2000s which was starred TI, and Big Boi from from Outkast was in it. And it's kind of about kids at the end of high school, and I just remember, you know, I think it's a good throwback movie, because it's just them trying to enjoy their last days of high school. And I think a lot of people can relate to that.

Excerpt from ATL: 30:35

Excerpt from ATL

Chris: 30:54

Another one is, I think the last one here is Menace to Society, which is, it's a, it's not a great nostalgia movie in general, because of it, there's so much violent crime in there. And it's actually, you know, it's, it's actually kind of sad in a lot of ways. But it is, again about kids near the end of high school, basically. But what I thought was nostalgic about it is a soundtrack was a little different than a lot of, a lot of kind of, the shoot them up movies at that, that time period that they usually had, you know. They were all, you know, kind of gangster rap, but Menace to Society was a little different, because they did, they had songs like Love and Happiness by Al Green, Atomic Dog, by George Clinton, Got to Give It Up by Marvin Gaye, Only the Strong Survive, by Jerry Butler. They had all these kind of like these, these songs from an older time, actually, you know it that were, you know, this movie set in the early 90s. They had songs from a couple decades prior. So, so I thought that was interesting, an interesting aspect to Menace to Society.

Brandon: 32:12

Yeah, Chris, you just literally took us all the way through what nostalgia really is. It's in the music, it's in the settings, it's in the time frames that these events occurred. So that's perfect. So with that, we're going to wrap up this edition of the Cup of Tea Critiques Podcast. Thanks so much for listening and figuring out your cup of tea along with us. Honestly, we could go on and on like we do at our dinner table, but we look forward to you joining us again next week for another great discussion. Make sure you rate and follow the Cup of Tea Critiques Podcast wherever you listen to your favorite podcast, and don't forget to leave a comment and share your favorite throwback productions. You can stay in the loop on all things COTC by subscribing on our website at cupofteacritiques.com you can also find us on Facebook. Check out our Instagram@cupofteacritiques, and on Letterboxd at COTCritiques. For Reba Terry and Chris, I'm Brandon. We'll see you next week for another deep look with a deep brew.