# How long before '90s nostalgia hits the scene?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-before-90s-nostalgia-hits-the-scene/589315>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [July 17, 2011, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-before-90s-nostalgia-hits-the-scene/589315 "2011-07-17T03:01:25Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 6

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**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\
**Post date:** [July 28, 2011, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-before-90s-nostalgia-hits-the-scene/589315/101 "2011-07-28T17:15:28Z")

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> [@FordTaurusSHO94](#):
>
> Bicycles also had great pain jobs in the 90’s.

That makes for a mental picture I prefer not to picture.

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**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\
**Post date:** [August 11, 2011, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-before-90s-nostalgia-hits-the-scene/589315/102 "2011-08-11T13:30:11Z")

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Here’s something else I remember from the '90s: Perhaps it was only an emotional adjustment to the early Information Age, but [Gnosticism](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/UsefulNotes/Gnosticism) – the idea that there are hidden forces at work, human or supernatural – became even more prominent in popular culture.

> [@](#):
>
> Many recent works, especially those of a post-modernist bent, reflect Gnostic influences (whether unconsciously or intentional). Characteristic, though not always, of the Gnostic worldview are vast (and often contradictory) cosmologies, uncertainty, unreliable narrators, and the value of personal interpretation. Protagonists slowly come to the realization that the world is not quite what it seems - they are privy to secret, inside information about reality. Due to the reliance on personal revelation implicit in Gnosticism, it is not surprising when multiple narratives tell the same story without quite lining up. Reason is presented as but one tool that humans can use to understand the world, but logical reasoning is not the whole truth. Examples may range from containing some elements/influences to outright endorsement/promotion.

Modern expressions of gnosticism in this sense go back at least to [_Illuminatus!,_](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Illuminatus!) but in the 1990s it really came into its own. See [_The X-Files,_](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_X-Files) [_VR.5,_](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VR5) [_Wild Palms,_](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wild_Palms) [_Millennium._](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Millennium_(TV_series))

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