Weird Fictions Research Group invites you to a workshop by
Nicholas C. Laudadio
(University of North Carolina Wilmington)

Oscillations: On Electronic Music and Science Fiction

This event is a part of the Weird Music series organized by the Weird Fictions Research Group members and their invited guests.

Wednesday, May 18, 2022
at 5:30 p.m.

You can get 2 OZN points for participating in this event.
Check how to collect OZN points online here.

Where?

This lecture will be streamed online. To attend, click the button below or enter https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86482351364 into your browser, and join the meeting.

What?

In this presentation, I will be considering a relatively straightforward question–what is science fiction music and what makes it science fictional in the first place? The focus of the discussion will center largely on postwar popular music in English, establishing a very basic taxonomy of the subgenre while also addressing some of the broader questions such a discursive confluence might suggest. In addition to paying particular attention to music and musicians who contribute to the world of sf music, I will also take into account the role that the various technologies of musical production and reproduction have played in constructing the ‘sound of the future’ with the musical machinery of the present moment.

Who?

Nicholas C. Laudadio is an associate professor of English at the University of North Carolina Wilmington where he teaches classes in critical/cultural theory, science fiction/horror, and pop music/culture studies. He has published in Science Fiction Studies, Extrapolation, Science Fiction Film and Television, Foundation, Journal of the Fantastic in the Arts, and Journal of Popular Music Studies. He co-edited the Handbook of Disaster Pedagogy for Higher Education (Rowman and Littlefield, 2022) and is currently finishing The In Sound from Way Out: Electronic Music and Science Fiction and co-authoring Way-Out Music for Way-Out Kids: Experimental Children’s Music with Meghan M. Sweeney.

Year 2024/2025

February 25: Immortality in Televised Media – The Negative Sides of Being a (Super?)human

February 17, 2025

Join us for the second Weird TV lecture in 2025! Immortality as a concept has existed since ancient times, but unlike then, the term nowadays is rarely connected to chasing eternal youth or extending one’s life indefinitely. The concept of immortality in contemporary popular culture, propagated often through TV shows for children and adolescents alike, is usually connected with superheroes and the supernatural in general. Portrayed mostly as invincibility or ability to sustain damage that would otherwise kill a regular human, the focus is put on the physical sides of this concept, rarely on the mental side of being immortal. Death, after all, awaits everyone in the end, it is ingrained into human culture. As a species, we are drawn as much to creating, as we are to destroying, including ourselves.

Year 2024/2025

February 18: Solidarity in Struggle – A Conversation with Sarah Schulman

February 13, 2025

We invite you to a meeting with the author of “The Fantasy and Necessity of Solidarity,” Sarah Schulman, hosted by MA student at the ASC Julia Wajdziak. Together, we will look at the role of solidarity in contemporary activism, the challenges it faces, and the opportunities it creates for transnational alliances.

News

Office hours of Dr. Gajda-Łaszewska during the exam session

January 28, 2025

Office hours during the exam session: Thursday, 30 January 2025, 12:30-14:00; Friday, 07 February 2025, 10:30-12:00. Online office hours remain the same.  No office hours in the week of 10-15 February 2025.

News

Dołącz do Akademii Młodych Polskich Innowatorów i wygraj płatny staż!

January 23, 2025

Chcesz wziąć udział w stażu w amerykańskiej firmie? Masz 18–26 lat? Interesujesz się przedsiębiorczością, mediami lub sprawami publicznymi? Chcesz zdobyć wiedzę i doświadczenie od ekspertów z USA i Polski, a także pracować nad innowacyjnym projektem, który odpowie na aktualne wyzwania gospodarcze i społeczne dla Polski? Jesteś z Warszawy lub jesteś gotowy/a dojeżdżać do stolicy na warsztaty i staż? Jeżeli na powyższe pytania odpowiedź brzmi TAK!, to dołącz do programu „Pathfinders of Tomorrow: Akademia Młodych Polskich Innowatorów”, który łączy młodych liderów z praktykami, by wspólnie tworzyć nowatorskie rozwiązania.

Year 2024/2025

January 23: „I’m weird. I’m a weirdo.” The Allure of Unhinged Teen Television Drama Series Riverdale (2017-2023)

January 23, 2025

Join us for the second Weird TV lecture in 2025! Teen TV programming by The CW Television Network in the last 20 years has been a wildly successful blend of soap opera, generational saga, crime, the paranormal, and erotica. This paper argues that the drama series Riverdale (2017-2023) is the last show of this kind due to its week-to-week broadcasting format, as well as its convoluted, absurd, weird, and addictive storytelling. In the span of 6 years and 7 seasons, Riverdale explored various themes and topics: serial killers, occultism, time traveling, parallel universes, superpowers, folk tales, witchcraft, and many, many more. On a purely visual level, the show does take its inspiration from the grand tradition of horror/thriller genre storytelling, BUT is it camp, pastiche, or pure kitsch? This paper attempts to situate Riverdale within a broader context of both cult cinema/TV, and teen film studies. Finally, Riverdale’s weirdness and ridiculousness would be nothing without the show’s internet discourse, fandom, and critical reception, which are part of this analysis.