I don’t
know about you, but I find Tom Hanks’ voice extremely comforting. In the instant
it takes me to recognize his crisp tenor, I am washed over by absolute relief
and tranquility, no matter what I happen to be doing at the time. The reason
for this, the reason I adore every movie Tom Hanks I have ever seen, is Toy Story. Released in 1995, Pixar’s
premiere production, Toy Story, was
the first movie I can vividly recollect watching as a child. And boy did I
watch it, over and over and over again. As you probably know, Tom Hanks played
the voice of Toy Story’s main
character, Woody. So it’s no surprise I
find solace in hearing him speak. I associate the sound of his voice- Woody’s
voice- with the happy, relaxed moments of my childhood that I spent in front of
the television, or playing with all my Toy
Story-inspired toys, or putting on my Toy
Story t-shirts, or coloring in my Toy
Story coloring books, or putting together my Toy Story puzzles…
A few
years ago when my mom was cleaning out our basement, she gathered up all my old
VHS movies (the ones housed in those thick plastic cases that opened like books)
and put them in a crate to be given to the young daughter of a family friend.
Of course, my mom didn’t tell me what she planned on doing with the movies until
I asked. Though it may sound selfish and greedy, I refused to let her give them
away. I mean, there in that crate was my childhood, in its simplest form: Toy Story, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Mulan, A Bug’s Life, Mary Poppins, Matilda. And I felt like it was slipping through my
fingers... I had to save it, I just had to. In response, my mom told me that if I
wanted to keep my “beloved” movies, I would have to store them upstairs in my
own closet. Before she could change her mind, I rushed up to my room with the
crate and made space in my tiny closet for it, the vessel of my childhood.
No
doubt, each one of us carries some sense of nostalgia for at least one object,
event, or person that was important to us in our pasts. Whatever it may be, marketers
will attempt to tap into our desire for it. They know just how far we will go
to preserve our memories, and so they portray their products in such a way that
they seem to have a special ability to transport us back through time. After
all, the past is much more ideal than the dreary present or the scary future,
isn’t it? The past is fixed, complete; but the future… who knows? Who wouldn’t
want to relive the happiest moment in their life? Markets will make you believe
you can relive those glory days through their products.
This technique
works especially well in is the film industry. For example, if you were to peruse the Box Office
Mojo’s list of the top grossing movies of all-time, you would find titles such
as Titanic, The Avengers, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2,
Transformers: Dark of the Moon, The Dark Knight Rises, Toy Story 3, Star Wars: Episode I, and Alice
in Wonderland. All of these films have something to do with peoples’
pasts. If you read comic books as a
child, you probably went to see The Avengers,
The Dark Knight Rises, or any of the
other half dozen superhero movies released in the last two years. If you played
with Transformers in the 80s, you probably went to see the film adaptation. If
you read the Harry Potter book series and/or saw the seven previous movie
installments over a decade of your childhood, you probably didn’t miss seeing the
finale, Deathly Hallows Part 2. If Star Wars blew your mind in the 70s, you
probably couldn’t wait to see the prequels twenty years later.
In
2010, Pixar released Toy Story 3, fifteen
years after the original Toy Story. The
whole idea of this film is pure marketing genius. Not only is the plot line based
entirely on nostalgia (boy leaves for college, must decide what to do with the
toys he grew up with), but is a children’s film with a target audience of young
adults hungering for the opportunity to recapture the Toy Story magic of their youth, just as they are thrust into the “real
world”. Can you say “blockbuster”? Cha-ching.
As much
as we enjoy recalling our pasts, as much as we think the future cannot get any
better, there is still hope to be found in what lies ahead. Isaiah 43:18-19
says, “Remember not the former things, nor consider the things of old. Behold,
I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will
make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.” We can rest assured knowing
that God is in control of all time, directing it in the ways he sees fit. Ecclesiastes
Chapter 3 tells us that there is a season and a time to every purpose under
heaven. And above all, believers have the second coming of Christ to look forward
to: “In the future you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the
Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven” (Matthew 26:64). How much more
exciting could the future be than that?
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