For the longest time I have been having this strange nostalgia for the time period in which I wasn’t even born in. Knowing that I am most definitely an old soul and have been re-born multiple times in different lives would explain to me while I many times feel quite out of this world and feel my soul yearning with a certain nostalgia.. almost like for a time that doesn’t even exist.. but feeling nostalgic while watching 80s & 90s movies and even obviously romanticizing the life without phones and constant social media is a totally different thing.

Since I was a kid, I was raised watching old Eastern European movies/shows/cartoons, which directly ties to my preference of watching older US-based film. Even though my parents and I, being immigrants from Ukraine, barely knew any English when we just came into the USA, I always knew that my biggest motivation, besides obviously speaking English fluently and understanding people here would be watching movies freely. After all, having no language barrier issues is amazing, wonderful & super helpful. Just to mention, within a year of being in the US I had probably my hurray moment when I became very good at the language and was able to speak it and understand everything said in the movies, of course also with the help of my school back in my country where I studied English for a couple of years, yay!

Now that you have some small context about my background as a language learner, let’s circle back to the topic of the 90s. As a member of Gen Z, I find that I don’t fully relate to all aspects of Gen Z culture as might be expected. While statistics often highlight common behavioral patterns among individuals within this cohort, I believe that these broad generalizations overlook the nuances of personal experience. It’s important to recognize that even within a specific generational group, there can be significant variation in how individuals relate to their cultural surroundings, technological influences, and social norms. My perspective, for example, is influenced by a unique blend of factors that make me feel somewhat distanced from certain Gen Z characteristics, especially when it comes to the rapidly changing digital landscape and the trends that dominate our era.

Definitely our digital generation who uses slang on a daily basis is one of the biggest relatable factors to me – as I am either on my MacBook or phone 24/7, constantly scrolling through the media, texting people, researching, looking at the news, doing my work stuff etc. As much as I try to stay off the phone and read a book for an hour – it still comes down to me either needing to do my online work, a research, or post something on social media. That is a pretty universal aspect of Gen Z that pretty much everyone can relate to.. well, unless you live somewhere in the mountains without any connection to the digital world – kudos to those individuals actually, that sounds like freedom. And oh, like a certainly better vision..

What I don’t relate to Gen Z – wise is definitely strange show/movie culture and many cringeworthy moments of people who can’t really act. Don’t want to come off judgy, but Gen Z can do better acting-wise. And yeah, we are certainly getting there.

In my eyes, nothing this day and age compares to the acting of 70s-90s. I won’t mention anything from before that, just because I want my focus to be a little more narrow and because I am the biggest fan of film industry era during those years, really. There’s something about that era—whether in teen dramas like Can’t Buy Me Love, 10 Things I Hate About You, or Clueless, or in more action-packed films like The Matrix, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, and Leon: The Professional—that feels irreplaceable. The acting, the storytelling, and the energy of those films set them apart in a way that modern productions sometimes miss. In my eyes, there was something timeless about the performances during those years, a level of depth that I don’t always see today.

In particular, the 80s and 90s had an incredible ability to blend drama with humor, high-stakes action with heart. These films didn’t just entertain—they created a lasting cultural impact. And though we’re seeing some improvements in modern cinema, I can’t help but feel nostalgic for the golden age of filmmaking, when the characters seemed more real, the performances more grounded, and the narratives more resonant. That’s why I’m mostly drawn to older films, not just for their cultural value, but for the emotional impact they still have on me.

So, while I’m technically part of Gen Z, I sometimes feel like I belong to a different era entirely. The modern world, with its relentless pace and social media can sometimes feel like a foreign place, while the timeless qualities of older films, the simplicity of life before smartphones and constant connectivity, tug at my soul. It’s a strange blend of nostalgia, almost like being a time traveler—nostalgic for a time I never lived through, yet deeply connected to it in ways I can’t fully explain. And that’s perhaps the beauty of cinema: it allows us to live multiple lives, across different eras, all from the comfort of our own home.

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