The Pain of Nostalgia: From Clark Griswold to Cousin Eddie, the new meaning of Christmas Vacation and Planes, Trains & Automobiles in the New Gilded Age

from Confess Yourself: Confess Yourself Podcast: The Hidden Truths No One Talks About, Personal Essays · host Katie Madonna Lee

What happens when the comedies that once made us laugh now make us ache? In this essay, I revisit National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation and Planes, Trains and Automobiles — two holiday classics that once celebrated middle-class comfort — and see something different. The decline of stability, the disappearance of family gatherings, and the quiet heartbreak of realizing that Cousin Eddie was never really the joke.

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The Pain of Nostalgia: From Clark Griswold to Cousin Eddie, the new meaning of Christmas Vacation and Planes, Trains & Automobiles in the New Gilded Age

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