In case you may not be aware, there's a little film called "Spider-Man: No Way Home" that's coming out this weekend (or it's already out, depending on when you're reading this), and pretty much the whole world is excited to see it. The main reason? It's because of the come back of beloved takes of the Spider-Man villains from the other Spider-Man live action universe, As well as the possibility of the return of Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield's Spider Men on the big screen, and have some form of a part in the MCU (which may or may not happen at the the time of writing this piece). Now part of me is pretty excited to see the Spider-Men I grew up and falling in love with back on the big screen in a big film like this. But the other part of me is scared, because of the possibly they will only be used for empty nostalgia and fan service that serves nothing to the story at large. This leads me to the topic of this essay. The problem with Nostalgia pandering and Fan service.
To understand what I mean by this, let's go over those terms. Nostalgia Pandering is when a piece of media makes constant reference to a singular moment in the series, and Fan Service is often used to give the fans of the medium of art by giving them what they want. These two terms are the driving the forces of a lot of modern blockbusters, and you see this nearly everywhere, Whatever it might be comic book films, or live action remakes of a beloved animated films, or even sequels to beloved classics that came out 20+ years after the original came out, Hollywood is relying a LOT on that dose of nostalgia and fan service to cry out these films. As their mentality has been "the more we show what people love, the more people will buy." And sure, that definitely helps the films out money wise (because after all, film is a business first and form most), it also negativity affects them quality wise.
See the thing with all of this is by having the film based on the pre-existing properties and using the iconic look and feel as the base line for your film, you're ultimately left with something that's basically "I'm walking down memory lane" and seeing things that you know from past films through constant references and items that makes you go "Hey. I remember that from my childhood.", but with the notion that you're leaving nothing new or interesting. Something that feels like genuine, feels fresh, and feels line with the spirit of what's come before not just through the images and objects we know and love, but through the story, the characters, and the themes. The problem is that Hollywood mainly focus on the former, not the later, and that is what scares me.
The problem with all of the nostalgia pandering and fan service boils downs two major factors. The first is that it shows exactly what we know through either the imagery, the look and feel, or any form of musical cue or catchphrase exchange. You see this in films like "Jurassic World" or the countless live action remakes Disney produced these days ("Petes Dragon", Cinderella" and "The Jungle Book" innocent tho) and they usually provide the same things we have seen before only through a new coat of paint. It's such an easy approach to go by, because it will crank a billion dollars and will get people to talk about because you basically a successful film solely on the nostalgia and love of the pre existing property but offer nothing of real merit in return. It comes off more of "Hey. Remember this thing you love?" "Hey, remember the animated film you love as a kid?" without having any real subtextual reason of why it exists other than to make money and capitalize on people's nostalgia. Pretty much a lot of the time, these film come off as mediocre at best films that offer no real merit of greatness on their own right.
The second factor comes to how it negatively affects the series as large. What I mean by this is that the fan service and nostalgia pandering becomes so apparent and glamorized that it actively damages the story at large. One of the worst examples of this is "Rise of Skywalker", which is my least Star Wars film ever (yes, even worse than "Phantom Menace" and "Attack of the Clones"). One of the main factors is because it's fan service dominated so much of the story that actively recons 95% of what "The Last Jedi" set ups in service of empty fan service. Like (spoilers for "Rise of Skywalker") bringing back Palpatine recons not only "Last Jedi", but the original trilogy as a whole, making his death feel meaningless. Or when Rey is a Palpatine somehow and then in the end she calls her self "Rey Skywalker". Or when the film draws back references to the pervious films whatever it's through its musical score or appearances from other characters. The fan service in ROS is so bad because it ruined not only the film itself, but also what came before because it doesn't care much about the core ideals of Star Wars is and what it can do for different generations alike, it only cares about please to the hard core fans, and it even couldn't that well.
And that's where the danger of the nostalgia pandering and fan service comes into play. Hollywood thinks that's what people want to see in films. Just mindless IPs running around on screen, screaming remember us constantly throughout the run time, please them in the most safe and markable way possible. Unfortunately, that's where the future of modern blockbusters is heading towards and it's really fearful. We can get up so much on nostalgia (which, in some aspects, isn't all bad) and loving these multi dollar film franchises so much that Hollywood can make the most generic and blandest blockbuster imaginable, but as long as they thrown things that people know and like in it, people will go out and see it. And while that might not hurt the film financial wise, it will definitely hurt them artistically. Especially if the film is interfere by the studio to add more fan service and nostalgia pandering in the film, even when it's against the filmmakers intent (I mean just look what happened with "Spider-Man 3" and how the studio pushed Sam Raimi to put Venom in the film, even tho he didn't want him to be in "Spider-Man 3").
Now this is not to say that ALL nostalgia pandering and fan service is all bad tho. When it's done right, it can be used to great affect on the film as a whole and one of the best examples I think when it's utilized well is "The Last Jedi". Yeah. I never would expect to talk about two Disney Star Wars films in the same essay. But I think 'The Last Jedi" and "Rise of Skywalker" are great examples of when fan service is done right and when it's done poorly, and the former mostly does it correctly.
What makes "The Last Jedi" works so well with its fan service and nostalgia pandering is that Rian Johnson took everything we know and loved about Star Wars and retexualize them in ways that are compelling, multilayered, and personally impactful. From the way it depicts Luke Skywalker not a old wise and badass jedi, but rather a broken flawed man who has the weight of his failures on his shoulder, to the teachings of how the force is source of energy that connects people across different spectrums and how the legacy of the Jedi was failure, hypocrisy, and lies, to even showing that the roles and ideals we are expected to be or searching for that thing that will gives the answers we want won't be the ones we need, the film takes the whole concept of traditional and empty nostalgia pandering and spat on its face. Instead, it takes the fan service and incorporate them to the advantages of the films story, character, and thematic depth in how we shouldn't rely on our trouble pasts to defend us who we are and instead we should use it to grow us into better and wiser people than who we were before hand. As well being a spark of hope for the generation that follows us. That's the main idea "Last Jedi" wants to drive home on, and while there are Star Wars fans who didn't really like the approach it went with, I think it's handled brilliantly. Rian Johnson understands that the series can't rely on fan service 100% of the time and needs to grow beyond of what we know and embrace something new out of it and I love it.
To point some other examples of how nostalgia pandering and fan service is handled very well include "Toy Story 4", which takes the core theme of the previous films (that being of being there for someone when they need you, no matter if you're a toy or a person) and destruct it into a way that adds to Woody's character arc of making the decision is that's best for him, while sticking to the core ideas of the series in a way that still feels fresh, unique and impactful. Even (spoilers for "Toy Story 4" in case if you haven't seen it) when the film ends with the iconic line "To Infinity and Beyond" at the end where Woody and Buzz are parting their ways, but the connection will always be with them through that lie is such a perfect note to end the film on. "Trainspotting 2" is another great example of how you incorporate nostalgia into a film, as the nostalgic callbacks are essential to the story as a whole, and it's utilized to the dive deeper into the character's lives and relationships they have with one another and how it changed since the first film. Even using the famous "Choose Life" monologue from the first film and update to reflect both the modern culture of today and the disappointment of one could have when looking back on the choices they make and how it affects them. I could provide more examples of when fan service and nostalgia pandering has their place in art, but you get the picture.
To sum this essay up, I think the constant fan service and nostalgia pandering in mainstream films is a very big concern in Hollywood and is actively damaging to the state we create them. Whatever it be constantly using iconic IPs and the memories we have associated with it, or using it in a negative light that actively damages the story at large, it's a trend in Hollywood that hurting in the artistic approach in making films. Films that can tell unique stories, make something personal, something impactful. Instead keep the same run of the mill blockbusters to popular IPs with little to no thought in putting effort in making the fan and nostalgia service mean something. I mean to quote Mr. Incredible,"It's psychotic! They keep creating new ways to celebrate mediocrity, but if someone is genuinely exceptional...", I mean that speaks for itself.
Fan Service and Nostalgia Pandering can easy to throw in and expect the audience to love it no matter what. But if someone is willing to make something they know and love and use it as the basis to tell a compelling story with characters that we care about, themes that are relevant to us as a viewer, and filmmaking on the top of its game, then it can leave a great impact more than being another film you watch and forget about it in two weeks. At the time of writing this, I haven't seen "No Way Home" and I don't know how it will handled its fan service. But I hope that's utilized in not just a trip down memory lane type of fan service, but the type that explores the story, characters, and themes in a very impactful and meaningful way.
One can only hope.
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