Though the
Greek roots of the word suggest a longing to return home, the word nostalgia often refers to a
sentimental longing for a
past one may never have
experienced, or that in all
probability never existed.
Artists who use visual representations of mass-produced products (advertising logos, for example), and politicians who evoke an image of, for example, the American dream in the past (perhaps, unwittingly, even an image created by advertising industry), create nostalgia: the image itself may have enough power to implicate everyone in a shared experience of the past, and thus turn the modern world into a small, close-knit society. And if these images date back to our childhood or adolescence, we may associate them with that time of life when we had fewer responsibilities, less experience of the complexities of life, and less cynicism.