Finally, it is worth pointing out that far from being simply nostalgic, the film foregrounds nostalgia as an emotional factor in its characters' lives. At the very beginning of the film, Milner laments the passing of the good old days, when he was able to pick up girls in no time at all and life was generally better. Curt agrees with this view. Later on, Milner tells Carol that rock'n'roll, the only true music for him, has gone down ever since Buddy Holly died, and he objects to more recent popular music styles ("that surfin' shit", in his words) which are favored by the younger crowd. Milner is keenly aware that life is constantly changing, and by the end of the film we know that he knows that it is dangerous to cling to the past.
In fact, I would argue that American Graffiti is not so much nostalgic about the good old days, as it is emphatic about the fact of change. As Steve says at the very beginning of the film: "You can't stay seventeen forever!" Indeed, in a 1974 interview, Lucas had this to say about the film's alleged nostalgia: "Originally I didn�t think about it as nostalgia� The film is about teenagers; about teenagers moving forward and making decisions about what they want to do in life. But it's also about the fact that you can't live in the past, which is part of that same idea. You have to move forward, things can't stay the same; essentially that's the point of the film. No matter how much you want things to be the same, they won't and can't; everything is always changing, and you have to accept change."
In addition to dealing with the necessity to make decisions about which direction life's changes should take, American Graffiti also highlights the need to be aware of one's feelings, and to be honest with oneself, when making such decisions. This is, I think, what Steve, Curt, Terry and Milner, in very different ways, ultimately learn during the night depicted in American Graffiti, and they do so through their interaction with Laurie, the mystery woman, Debbie and Carol.
While the film thus is not necessarily nostalgic for "the fifties", I do think that it plays heavily on nostalgic longing in all of us. But this is a longing for the time which precedes the most important decisions we have to make in our lives (about leaving home, making a romantic commitment, choosing a career). In American Graffiti, Steve and Curt have to decide whether they stay or leave, and once this decision is made there might be no going back; certain opportunities will open up, whereas others may close down forever. But during the night before they make their decision, everything is still possible. I think that we all feel nostalgic for that moment of endless possibility, before the decisions that we make fix our lives in place, for better and for worse. American Graffiti invites us to revisit and revel in that moment before our lives get fixed.
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