i don't seem to be able to reply on the other thread... i'd write my reply and then it wouldn't come up... also, the thread is taking ages to load, so i thought for everyone's benefit i'd restart it here...
i think what path is getting at is the (recent?) phenomenon of replacing any sort of meaningful interaction between people with a glut of reference-points and cultural detritus. people who could and should be getting to know one another and learning about who they are, are instead spending their time having conversations which revolve around quotes from the simpsons, friends, frasier, buffy, news at ten, and whatever else has cultural currency. the quality of people's mutual interaction is what suffers - they are willing to have their cultural lives replaced, usurped even, by drip-feed tv 'culture'. the point about referencing is that people who do this are also prone to retro-referencing; i leave it up to the board to decide why, after exhausting their supply of tv culture, these people simply dig further in, rather than try to engage with eachother.
i sat down and watched 'i love 1983', and i thought the 'knight rider' clips were fantastic. but when retro-referencing replaces interaction, rather than being an aid to it, it becomes useless, mind-numbing clutter.
the whole point about retro-referencing is that it makes you part of a club; you get to reminisce with a certain select group about something that doesn't have currency in a wider context. but when everyone is in the gang, there's no point in the gang existing... when retro is simply another way for people to get their faces on television (eg 'i love 1983', again), it's no longer a bonding act but becomes instead an alienating act.
which leads me to speculate... maybe, twenty years from now, there will be retro-referencing about all those hideous retro-referencing programmes that they had in 2000/2001. remember them? with b-list telly presenters doing anything to get their 15 minutes of fame? ha! those were the days.
i think what path is getting at is the (recent?) phenomenon of replacing any sort of meaningful interaction between people with a glut of reference-points and cultural detritus. people who could and should be getting to know one another and learning about who they are, are instead spending their time having conversations which revolve around quotes from the simpsons, friends, frasier, buffy, news at ten, and whatever else has cultural currency. the quality of people's mutual interaction is what suffers - they are willing to have their cultural lives replaced, usurped even, by drip-feed tv 'culture'. the point about referencing is that people who do this are also prone to retro-referencing; i leave it up to the board to decide why, after exhausting their supply of tv culture, these people simply dig further in, rather than try to engage with eachother.
i sat down and watched 'i love 1983', and i thought the 'knight rider' clips were fantastic. but when retro-referencing replaces interaction, rather than being an aid to it, it becomes useless, mind-numbing clutter.
the whole point about retro-referencing is that it makes you part of a club; you get to reminisce with a certain select group about something that doesn't have currency in a wider context. but when everyone is in the gang, there's no point in the gang existing... when retro is simply another way for people to get their faces on television (eg 'i love 1983', again), it's no longer a bonding act but becomes instead an alienating act.
which leads me to speculate... maybe, twenty years from now, there will be retro-referencing about all those hideous retro-referencing programmes that they had in 2000/2001. remember them? with b-list telly presenters doing anything to get their 15 minutes of fame? ha! those were the days.
