UNC student groups enjoy reliving the 1990s

Students longing for a time when Tamagotchis and “Rocket Power” were all the rage are not alone in their nostalgia.

In fact, many historians, cartoonists, UNC students and faculty are enthralled by the feeling.

Students are no strangers to this 90s fever: WXYC — UNC’s student-run radio station — hosted its semi-annual ’90s Dance Oct. 10 at Cat’s Cradle, a popular event that junior Cozy Brents, WXYC promotional director and a former writer for The Daily Tar Heel, said consistently has attendance in the hundreds.

“It’s sort of something that we all have a shared experience for,” Brents said.

“Everyone knows about the ‘Fresh Prince of Bel-Air’ so we’ve all come from these crazy different backgrounds and ended up at the different places. But there are these cultural landmarks that we hold onto and that’s probably why we like the ’90s so much.”

In the fall of 2013, the “tbtunc” project was also born. The group aims to promote ’90s culture with events and a social media presence that already includes more than 800 likes on Facebook and about 400 Twitter followers. The project was created in the “New Media Technology and Its Impact on the Future of Advertising, Marketing and PR” course through UNC’s School of Journalism and Mass Communication.

But one student group is thriving on the trend of ’90s nostalgia. Once the group receives recognition from Student Congress, the Carolina Brings Back the ’90s organization will kick off this year for students interested in submerging themselves in the memories of the decade once a month. The group has been meeting informally since 2012.

“The initial inspiration for the club was to create a way for people who grew up in the ’90s to come together and enjoy the things we all grew up with,” said senior Brendan Leonard, founder of Carolina Brings Back the ’90s.

“We wanted a low-key club that would let us just hang out and watch things like ‘Doug’ and ‘The Lion King’ to reminisce on our childhood.”

In the course of two years, the organization has risen to 300 members, with membership increasing primarily through word of mouth.

Historian and UNC associate professor Benjamin Waterhouse said the trend of ’90s reminiscing is generational — and even precedented.

“It’s not unusual in the past 40 or 50 years for people of a certain college age to glamorize what came before and not what came immediately before — which people tend to be very dismissive of, but what came before that,” he said.

“The way you look at the 1990s is similar to the way I looked at the 1970s when I was in college.”

Waterhouse cited the short distance of time and the strong sense of nostalgia as two potential reasons for this generational trend.

“(The ’90s) are far enough in the past that you don’t have any real crystal clear living memories of it. But it’s not so far in the past that it feels terribly old,” he said. “In fact, given the age of most college kids today, in a way you’re not embracing your parent’s youth — which you would be doing if you were thinking about the ’80s — but you’re also not embracing your own lifetime. So you’re embracing a happy medium.”

But Guy Gilchrist, a self-proclaimed Tar Heel fan and the current cartoonist for “Nancy,” a comic series that’s been running since 1933, cites nostalgia as a force that brings readers back to the comic day after day.

“It may not even be about a time — it might be more about a feeling with some people. Because, with some people, I think that memories that we have, especially good memories of our childhood and things — that meant something to us. And of course your nostalgia is totally different than mine,” he said.

Gilchrist said he attempts to channel familiar feelings of nostalgia in his “Nancy” strips.

“It’s that warm security blanket that you had when you were a kid. It’s playing toss with your dad or your big brother or you and your sisters falling all over each other in the waves at the ocean. It’s that first love that you had and what was on the radio,” he said.

“If we remember that it’s all of that stuff, then as a cartoonist, it’s my job to help bring those memories back to you and to be a part of your new memories.”

For now, senior Natalia Perez, president of Carolina Brings Back the ’90s, describes nostalgia as simple: an easier time in life.

“It’s that simpler time. Things weren’t as complicated — when we weren’t applying to grad school, applying to college, writing papers, taking midterms,” she said.

“We were, you know, trying to make sure we colored inside of the lines and make sure that we watched Pokemon in time.”

arts@dailytarheel.com