Illusions of Control: Aesthetics, Nostalgia, and Meme Culture w/ Grafton Tanner

The Digital Void Podcast

English - August 17, 2022 11:00 - 53 minutes - 72.8 MB
Technology Society & Culture technology society culture politics internet memes Homepage Download Google Podcasts Overcast Castro Pocket Casts RSS feed

Previous Episode: We Need to Talk About Meme Culture

Next Episode: How to Talk with an Artificial Intelligence w/ Reed Berkowitz

How can nostalgia inspire memes that motivate and mobilize communities?

Last week, Jamie and Josh discussed how the term “meme culture” is in jeopardy of being co-opted by extremists. This week, they welcome back Grafton Tanner to take a deeper dive into the topic.

What is vaporwave, and what characteristics of its aesthetic that afford itself to be used by these communities? How do aesthetics and fandoms intertwine? How can corporations grapple with feelings of nostalgia in intensely devoted fandoms?

About Grafton Tanner:

Grafton Tanner is the author of The Hours Have Lost Their Clock: The Politics of Nostalgia (Repeater Books, 2021), The Circle of the Snake: Nostalgia and Utopia in the Age of Big Tech (Zer0 Books, 2020), and Babbling Corpse: Vaporwave and the Commodification of Ghosts (Zer0 Books, 2016).

Follow Grafton Tanner:

Twitter | Website

Show Notes:

Babbling Corpse - Vaporwave and the Commodification of Ghosts - Grafton Tanner

Muzak

Synthwave

DawnFM

Chord Progression of Boys of Summer

Persistent Storytelling - Kathleen Kennedy

Outrun

TradCath

Fauxtomation - Astra Taylor