Let Me Keep Remembering

Re: the fight for Georgie Pie

Yes, to answer the constant pounding of the question I remember Georgie Pie. That is no reason for the revival of its corpse.

I find it fascinating how a simple question can provoke not only a movement but achieve an objective that was never intended. As a part of a youth that is now entering it's 20s and beginning to realise 'we' are not so young anymore, I have witnessed a tidal wave of 'do you remember...?'s from friends and acquaintances. A marker of how we have moved on from our childhood years.

The "Bring Back Georgie Pie" campaign was never a truly a campaign, but a brilliant example of merchandisers hitting a phenomonenal market just before its peak. The slogan we now see brandished on badges, t-shirts, mugs, etc. was meant to be taken no more seriously than the "I Heart Newtown" merchandise is a campaign to make David Bowie play in the Newtown community centre. Rather, this is an identity issue, a tag of belonging, a slice of nostalgia cake for twenty-somethings like myself who are beginning to realise they are not going to be young forever.



Yes, I remember Georgie Pie, I also remember Captain Planet, HotBodz, Eek! The Cat, Squirt TV, and Telethons, and I am quite happy never to see them again. Without pretending to be an expert on the subject, we can assume that Georgie Pie failed for a reason: it sold pies for $1. And the pies were of $1 quality. It easy to think a decade into the future that the Mince and Cheese pies tasted like they had mince from the finest hand raised cows, and cheese churned from the breasts of Venus but, alas, they did not. They tasted like $1 pies.

I have no doubt that should the chain return soon we will witness an initial boom of support and it do quite well to begin with. But the hype will slow down, the nostalgia will diminish, and what then for the fate of dear old Georgie Pie? Get overtaken by McDonalds again? We shall see.

In an age where Michelle Obama is being pumelled in American media as elitist and irresponsible for growing an entirely organic garden, surely there are causes worth fighting for and resurrecting more than a fast food chain. Let's let nostalgia lie in the past, where it is nurtured and beloved.

- C. Gilbert