One of the most iconic objects of popular culture in the nineties are the cassette tapes, where some generations dedicated themselves to recording their favorite songs at home. The art of the cassette tape, labeled "Various" or "Mix," also involved decorating the small piece of cardboard that identified the plastic box. The track listing was written on it, and sometimes dedications were added. The cassette tape is part of the collective emotional memory because, especially for the so-called generation X, it became a symbolic gift that, in addition to being practical, was useful in the game of seduction. The song selection often served to send subtle messages to the recipient of the tape and to express feelings they didn't dare verbalize.
Movistar+ has just released a miniseries that uses this tradition to build a romantic drama around it. Mix Tape is the name given to these homemade cassette tapes in English and is the title of the series. The main couple are Alison and Daniel. They met as teenagers in 1989 at a Sheffield high school and fell in love during the process of exchanging tapes that they left in each other's backpacks or book lockers. The songs became love letters. Thirty-five years later, he has become a renowned music critic and she has become a bestselling novelist living in Sydney.
Based on a novel by Jane Sanderson, Mix Tape uses the musical landscape of the nineties as an emotional catalyst to seduce the viewer. Joy Division, New Order, Nick Drake, Cure, Velvet Underground, Pulp, Jesus and Mary Chain, and Stone Roses are the soundscape that surrounds a teenage love story in a somewhat tragic context that will have repercussions in the present. Technology has transformed the way we listen to music, and there are new ways to share and communicate it. But the lyrics remain poems full of messages and intentions. Mix Tape It uses music as a memory device and connects the past and the present. The evocative power of songs serves to stir up everything that seemed hidden. The series exploits nostalgia through a magnificent setting from the late 1980s and early 2000s. The script uses classic narrative patterns of first love to travel to the present day with the strategy of "What would have happened if...?" It delves into a story full of small moments that radically determined the protagonists' lives and moved them in opposite directions.
It's a romantic drama that doesn't require much commitment because it's only four episodes. It can draw you in to activate memories of youth and peer into the vertigo of everything that could have been different in their lives. And be alert because you might also be tempted to send a song to someone you haven't seen in 35 years.
