Nostalgic and Creative Play with the Aesthetics of the Past: A Comparative Study of Three Main Retro-Events

As a means to reactivate the symbolic characteristics of a preferred and hence selected era, the so-called retro-events serve as an exclusive timeframe and platform for retrophilic individuals and groups celebrating past decades. In order to highlight the different ways of engagement with past periods, Susan Baumert interprets three major events of the nostalgic subculture in a comparative approach: She analyses the relationship between the original event and their contemporary versions in the shape of a revival, while reflecting on event theories, as well as focusing on different multi-sensual stimuli constituting these events. Finally, Susan Baumert questions the playful homage on former lifestyles of the 1920s until 1940s, including a critique on the eclectic and affirmative dealing with a reinterpreted past.