Yesterday I went to Disneyland. I went there once as a kid and absolutely loved it. I don’t remember much about the trip outside of learning the language of the natives on the Indiana Jones ride, and my little sisters obsession with Mary Poppins (I thought it was the stupidest thing ever and I let her know it, she was like 4, I was a bad older brother). (I also just had to use spell check to spell stupidest, I feel stupid) Now that I’m older and live LA, I go there all the time, and I still love it just as much (albeit in a different sense) just as much as I did when I was little. This love for Disneyland that I’ve had since I was little got me thinking about how there are things that I loved as a kid that I still love today, and there are other things I couldn’t care less about. For me, there are three categories in this department. The first is things that loved as a kid, and I still love them, like Disneyland, Spiderman, and Zelda. The second category is things that I loved as a kid, that I appreciate the fact that I loved them and hold some sentimental value, but I don’t have a current desire to enjoy them, such as Peter Pan and Power Rangers. The final is composed of things that I loved as a kid, and I could really care less about now that I’m an adult (or something like an adult) such as The Lion King Soundtrack and the Salinas Peppers (which were a summer league baseball team for local college athletes).
This got me thinking about what makes something have lasting power through the process of aging. And what makes one have a sentimental value for something, and what doesn’t hold value. Is it the weirdness of the human brain or is it the way the subject itself was constructed. I think it’s a bit of both. Disney does great because they make things that are appealing to both children and adults, therefore, adults can still find them appealing even though they are designed for kids. Things like the Power Rangers and the Ninja Turtles have the ability to hold sentimental value because they appeal so well to kids, and such a passion is built up, that they will always hold a place in hearts of those who loved them when they were young. Finally, the things that lose value, and don’t gain it sentimentally, do so because they just do ok on both ends. Kids never have a deep passion for them (I used to play Power Rangers at Peppers games for instance), so you never truly love them, and adults have so many cool things to enjoy, that ok just doesn’t cut it. I have no idea if this theory holds any real scientific water, but it is a thought.
