Why I Am Excited About Girl Meets World
I’ll admit it, I am very much looking forward to the debut of Girl Meets World on June 27th.
For those of you that don’t know, Girl Meets World is a new Disney Channel television show that revolves around two 7th grade girls, Riley & Maya, as they navigate the challenge of everyday life.
As a 28 year old male, I have very little in common with a 7th grade girl. We both may be prone to occasionally belt out the lyrics to Frozen’s Let it Go, but the similarities end there. And that is probably a good thing.
So why would I be so excited about a show that is clearly geared toward a demographic I don’t belong to?
Nostalgia.
Girl Meets World is a spinoff of one of my all-time favorite TV shows, Boy Meet World, which was a show about a young boy trying to navigate his way through the world.
When that show came out in 1993, I too was a young boy trying to find my way in the world. So it made sense that I could to relate the storylines, the main characters and their joys and struggles.
The show became a must watch for my brothers and I. We grew up with the characters of Cory, Topanga and Mr. Feeny. Not to brag but I can quote roughly 50% of all the episodes…ladies (Actually, that skill is not as useful as you may think).
To this day I will still watch the show anytime I see it on TV.
When I heard they were doing a spinoff I was excited but also a little nervous. I couldn’t wait to see my old pals Cory and Topanga, but what if things were different? What if I didn’t recognize them? What if they had gotten old and boring and were no longer the goofballs that I used to know?
I was afraid my memory of the original show would be tainted if this new show didn’t live up to my lofty expectations.
And then I saw a trailer for the new show and it looked like it was made for 7th grade girls. But you know what…I didn’t care.
Watching the Girl Meets World trailer felt like going to a family reunion and being flooded with memories upon seeing a cousin that moved away 15 years ago. The cousin was now older and looked much different, but the recollections of all our good times came back just as fresh as ever.
I guess this shows the power of nostalgia. It has the ability to evoke memories that are so deeply engrained in our mind that they only grow better with time.
Much like that 40 year old guy who can’t wait to bring up his glory days of varsity football whenever he is with his old high school pals. He longs to relive the time when we caught that laser pass, steamrolled the menacing defender and sprinted 50 yards faster than Usain Bolt to go in for the game winning score. The game footage may show things a little differently, but time and legend have created memories that you just can’t replicate.
So while others may look at Girl Meets World and see storylines that revolve around makeup, BFFs and kissing your first boy, I see something different.
I see an old cousin. And who cares if we don’t have much in common these days. I am only thinking about all the great times we had in the 1990s.
Photo credit: Wikipedia
