Retro-extremists? What are we called?

[Marc Chevalier]

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"Atavistic?" Meh. Rin Tanaka cast a cold eye on the scene and came up with the purest term of all: "vintage freak." :eusa_clap And yes, he raises that freak flag high. To wit:


--------------------------------"We need to 'reset' the world with vintage freaks." -- Rin Tanaka http://inspirationla.com/


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[Senator Jack]

I wouldn't mind getting a large plasma either, if it was one in a wood frame that matched my living room.

This is my current television:

 

[Senator Jack]

And here it is. Frame my tv. Pricey, but probably worth it.

http://www.framemytv.com

 

[LizzieMaine]

Let's put it this way, Skyvue, are you able to hold a conversation about modern culture for more than five minutes? I certainly can't. I can't say much more about the Tea Party movement than what I read in the Times, and I wouldn't know Lady Gaga if she (he? I dunno) bought me a cup of coffee. Yet, ask me about mid-century Brit Literature and film and I can go on for hours.

Regards,

Jack

Hah! I had never heard of Lady Gaga until she was mentioned in a shoe thread in the Powder Room last summer -- but unless she had shoes on, I couldn't pick her out of a lineup. It's not that i'm being "militantly vintage" about it or anything -- if people like that sort of thing, fine. But it just *isn't my culture,* any more than a Zuni buffalo dance would be. I know it exists and has meaning for people, but I also know I'm not a part of that. On the other hand, give me a stack of Ozzie Nelson records or whatever, and, well, that *is* my culture. I didn't go out and find it, it was just there.

Maybe that's the key to the whole thing, right there -- an Atavist or whatever you want to call it has a profound and continuing sense of being *in* the modern era, but not being culturally *of* it. It's more than just an aesthetic thing, it's an actual sense of disconnect.

My TV:

What more than that do I need to watch a ball game?

 

[Marc Chevalier]

What more than that do I need to watch a ball game?

A fellow 'atavist' to watch it with, perhaps? [huh]



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[LizzieMaine]

A fellow 'atavist' to watch it with, perhaps? [huh]



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As long as he keeps his feet off the coffee table. And picks up a couple of pastrami sandwiches on his way over.

 

[Marc Chevalier]

As long as he keeps his feet off the coffee table. And picks up a couple of pastrami sandwiches on his way over.

lol Yes. Avatists or not, all guests should be so polite. :eusa_clap


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[skyvue]

One might point out that not knowing much about Lady Gaga could as easily be a product of one's age as of one's preference for days gone by. I suspect that plenty of people over 40 don't know much, if anything, about her. I, for example, know only that she's a pop star who traffics primarily in dance music and dresses outrageously.

I couldn't pick out one of her songs on a revival of Name That Tune even for a grand prize of one million dollars. And I keep up more with current music trends than most of my close friends of roughly my age.

I know that my citing the age factor doesn't negate the preference for older pop culture factor, but it plays a role.

Jack, I wonder if it might be including the following: That the atavists in questions are drawn, as I am, to those decades they missed, not those they lived through. Those who continue to live the lifestyle of their youth or young adulthood are trafficking in something closer to nostalgia, seems to me.

 

[Edward]

Hmmn. I've been giving this some thought since I first saw the title. It seems to me that there are three basic types of person involved in our broad community here:

1] those who are interested in one aspect only - say, WW2 buffs who collect the jackets, people who are hat people only, etc - right up to those who are fond of the clothes but may have no interest in the era.

2] The "total immersion" (or close to) folks who seek as far as possible to live life as if it is still their chosen period.

3] those who might aspire to something close to 2], but are less purist, more inclined to incorporate the new if it works for them.

I'd say 3] probably covers most of us, but with both 2] and 3]... I think I've sid this before somewhere on the Lounge, and it's still something I haven't fully articulated in a way I'm fully happy with, but.... Well, there's something that reminds me of the Amish. Okay, so they stick to a much earlier time period, but in essence what they have done is to decide for their own reasons that the lifestyle of a particular era was the way to go. Anything that they add to that as time goes on (some Amish do now, I understand, keep a cellphone for emergency purposes, relying on a friendly 'English' neighbour to charge it up for them) they add because they regard it as offering something genuinely beneficial to their lives, something that makes sense. Okay, this is an imperfect analogy as we're talking lifestyle choices in the broadest sense unlikely to be motivated by religion, but nonetheless, I can see something of that "show me your future can benefit me rather than make me its slave" attitude in both. I don't know whether in thinking about it that way it might offer something towards the definition / wiki article, I just throw it out there as a thought.

FWIW, I prefer the term 'atavist' over anachronist; the latter suggests a negative connotation to me in respect of being 'out of time' or 'belonging in the past'.

Although rather a different beast in some respects, it might be worth looking into the Chap Manifesto at www.thechap.net. The "modernity in moderation" maxim works very well for me.... but then I'm probably more comfortable being considered a dieselpunk than an atavist, as my willingness to combine some of the cultural mores and the aesthetics of the past with those elements of the contemporary that I wish to adopt is arguably more retrofuturist, in a sense, than atavist..... maybe.

Gah.... I'm just confusing myself now. Maybe there's some sense in this post.... maybe not.

 

[Marc Chevalier]

...it might be worth looking into the Chap Manifesto at www.thechap.net.

But Edward, isn't The Chap a satire?


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[jamespowers]

And here it is. Frame my tv. Pricey, but probably worth it.

http://www.framemytv.com

I'll take your TV over that thing. if I have to take down The Coming Storm print over my fireplace for that---forget it. I have the ugly black plastic Tv thing in the living room but it at least sits atop a 60 year old piece. [huh]
I am with you about the latest music films and celebrities though. People have to show me pictures or describe who they are talking about. My children even dress vintage for goodness sake. They go to school looking like something out of Leave it to Beaver. lol lol lol
I am not retro---everyone else is just too steam punk.

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

I always tell people that I think I'm stuck somewhere in 1927. Personally, I prefer to call myself a Retroviste.

 

[dhermann1]

Ah, me. No wonder other people are confused by us. We're confused ourselves. All part of the charm of the thing. The point is, we're all really individuals and individualists. Personally, I wouldn't have it any other way.

 

[Marc Chevalier]

The point is, we're all really individuals ...

[YOUTUBE]<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/LQqq3e03EBQ&hl=en_US&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/LQqq3e03EBQ&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>[/YOUTUBE]


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[Carlisle Blues]

we're all really individuals and individualists.

Members: 13,051 All individuals I agree... Individualists I do not know. As a group we cling to the past, shunning the present in one form or another. Sounds like any other special interest group. Not that there is anything wrong with that.

 

[kamikat]

I second anachronist. True, it may not be a proper word, but unlike atavist it isn't as likely to send people away puzzled, or rushing for their dictionary.

Here's a big "NO" to "anachronist" and here's why: there is a formal reenactment group called The Society for Creative Anachronism and they are generally looked down upon by so-called real reenactors. They started out as a LARPing party hosted by some UC Berkley professors. Calling anything an anachronist or anachronism automatically calls the SCA to mind.

 

[Marc Chevalier]

Here's a big "NO" to "anachronist" .... they are generally looked down upon by so-called real reenactors.

Are we worried about whether other people will look down on us? Heck no!


Furthermore, we're looked down upon already: http://www.styleforum.net/showpost.php?p=1242398&postcount=30


And scroll down to post #5 in this link: http://forums.filmnoirbuff.com/viewtopic.php?id=6217



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[V.C. Brunswick]

20th-Centurions.

Non-scientific names seem worse...

Why am I suddenly thinking of Deco-Romans???

 

[jamespowers]

Are we worried about whether other people will look down on us? Heck no!


Furthermore, we're looked down upon already: http://www.styleforum.net/showpost.php?p=1242398&postcount=30


And scroll down to post #5 in this link: http://forums.filmnoirbuff.com/viewtopic.php?id=6217



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Thank God for people like that. I can more easily judge just about where we belong in the whole scheme of things. Uninformed fools trying to make a point make what we do look easy.

 

[Carlisle Blues]

Here's a big "NO" to "anachronist" and here's why: there is a formal reenactment group called The Society for Creative Anachronism and they are generally looked down upon by so-called real reenactors. They started out as a LARPing party hosted by some UC Berkley professors. Calling anything an anachronist or anachronism automatically calls the SCA to mind.

Oh no someone will look down upon us...... lol http://www.thefedoralounge.com/showthread.php?t=10929

Half the time when someone posts here they are looked upon in judgment and then corrected....