Recorded talks: Retro Nostalgia
Stories & Ideas

Tue 17 Oct 2017

Recorded talks: Retro Nostalgia

Film Internet culture Talk Television

Is the recent trend in 80s retro films and TV symbolic of a nostalgia for a simpler era?

The 80s was a decade renowned for its excess - think money, drugs, eyeshadow and lycra. From Stranger Things and Glow to Spielberg’s upcoming Ready Player One, we look at contemporary TV and films that transport us back to the decade defined by ET, The Goonies, big hair, pastels and 12-sided dice.

But what does this recent trend in 80s retro nostalgia tell us about ourselves? Are we nostalgic for a simpler pre-Trump age?

These are just some of the questions filmmaker Glendyn Ivin, academic Dr Lauren Rosewarne and critic Mel Campbell attempted to ask in a neon-coloured, synth-scored exploration of our yearning for 80s small town America.