Not sure if this title is the best way to summarize what I'm about to describe but I can't seem to think of a better alternative and saying "traditional vs modern" has implications that don't relate to the subject.
Does anyone else ever get the feeling that you would love to live in a new, revolutionary world? "New" meaning wildly different, changed, reformed in terms of human consciousness. For example, I sometimes get ideas of worlds where sentient beings have moved past the need of identifying with any form of gender. It's hard to describe but when I imagine this world, I imagine it in funky colors with almost a retro pixel art aesthetic. Obviously existence wouldn't ever actually look like this but I feel like the way my brain visualizes this reality reflects how I'd view it as a sort of evolution of human form, the mix of colors probably representing the heaps of possibilities I imagine this new world would offer society.
My weird self-pseudo-psychoanalysis aside, this vision of the world I sometimes get is contrasted with my love of old aesthetics. The best example I can think of is my love for the 4:3 aspect ratio. It is often used in film to specifically target some sort of sensor in your brain that relates to the past, even if you haven't even necessarily interacted with said past. I love retro video game aesthetics and old buildings made from stone in a very specific Mediterranean style. I have a fondness for history in general.
This leads me to my actual issue. How can these two schools of thought coexist inside me? They seem incompatible, at least to me. Can anyone relate to this? If yes, does it bother you or do you believe these concepts are contradictory? An ideal world should theoretically move forward while acknowledging the mistakes and lessons of the past, but I find myself often fetishising the old. It's not necessarily a bad thing but it's giving me trouble when deciding what kind of message I want to send through any art I decide to one day create.