The University of Southern Indiana College of Liberal Arts will host its first Faculty Colloquium presentation of the Spring Semester, “The New Cold War in US Film: From Rocky to Creed and Comrade Detective,†presented by Dr. Oana Popescu-Sandu, Associate Professor of English, at 3 p.m. Friday, January 20 in Kleymeyer Hall, located in the lower level of the Liberal Arts Center.
This presentation analyzes nostalgia in “new Cold War†storylines in recent U.S. film and TV. The Cold War and Soviet/Russian adversaries have been a staple in American film before and after 1990, often as a sign of nostalgia for the U.S. ideological superiority during the second half of the 20th century. Such films often relate to U.S. forms of nostalgia that date to the 1950s and emerged in reaction to the rise of the nation to superpower status; they engage with narratives of American exceptionalism. Can nostalgic narratives be reengaged in multidirectional, multinational and multigenerational ways to avoid ideological rigidity and push for forward-thinking dialogue?
Popescu-Sandu’s presentation is part of the Spring 2023 Liberal Arts Faculty Colloquium. Each Fall and Spring Semester, USI faculty members from the College of Liberal Arts present individual, free public lectures featuring their current research. To see the current lineup of speakers for this semester, visit USI.edu/lafc
