Nostalgia is now a keystone in transnational popular culture – from the Instagram-framed figure of the urban hipster, the lifestyle promises of women’s magazines to the re-boot of the infinitely nostalgic Star Wars franchise. Just as nostalgia haunts media culture, it has also prompted us to look back towards the cultural theory that first began flagging up the nostalgic mode of those cultural products. It has been approximately 40 years since Umberto Eco first travelled in hyperreality and Jean Baudrillard ordered the simulacra; it has been almost 20 years since Morpheus offered Neo the choice between a red or blue pill in The Matrix.

While scholarly interest in these seminal texts has trailed off somewhat, both nostalgia and the hyperreal are urgently relevant in a mediascape populated by ‘fake news’ and ‘alternative facts.’ Now, it seems, is the perfect opportunity to re-visit these modes and concepts.

This one day symposium aims to re-examine the discourse, debates, and products of the hyperreal in the light of contemporary media culture’s nostalgic impulses. The day will include panel presentations and brief workshop discussion sessions. Lunch and a drinks reception will be provided.

Deadline – 22th September 2017

We are seeking papers of approximately 15-20 minutes long that engage with the concepts and cultural products marked by nostalgia and the hyperreal. We are particularly interested in those works that complicate the relationship between hyperrreality, nostalgia, and postmodernism.

We encourage interdisciplinary approaches and welcome discussions of all media forms including;

• videogames
• music
• film
• television
• theatre
• sport
• magazine publishing
• fiction
• fine art

Please send a 150-200 word abstract and a brief bio to Lindsay Steenberg (lsteenberg@brookes.ac.uk) and Leander Reeves (leander.reeves@brookes.ac.uk) by 22th September 2017. We will be in contact with you by the end of September.