“Living in a Material World”: The 1980s in Popular Culture
deadline for submissions: July 31, 2026
full name / name of organization:
Call for Papers
“Living in a Material World”: The 1980s in Popular Culture
PopCRN (the Popular Culture Network) will be holding a free virtual symposium exploring the 1980s in popular culture to be held 26-27 November 2026.
The 1980s was the decade of excess, technological innovation, and political upheaval. This conference aims to explore both the popular culture of the 1980s and how the 1980s have been depicted in the popular culture of other eras.
The 1980s was the era of MTV, the personal computer, the fall of the Berlin Wall, the rise of neoliberalism, Live Aid, the Falklands War, the Iran-Contra affair, the assassination of John Lennon, the AIDS crisis, Chernobyl, the end of the Cold War, the birth of hip-hop, Madonna’s Like a Virgin, Michael Jackson’s Thriller, the Walkman, Rubik’s Cubes, shoulder pads, punk, glam metal, synthesizers, VHS tapes, The Breakfast Club, Top Gun, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, Blade Runner, Pac-Man, the Challenger disaster, the rise of video game culture, The Simpsons, The Oprah Winfrey Show, 24-hour news networks, the invention of the World Wide Web, the election of Ronald Reagan, Margaret Thatcher’s Britain, the Tiananmen Square protests, the creation of CNN, the rise of Japanese consumer technology, the Space Shuttle program, the rise of Wall Street culture, yuppies, the DeLorean, New Romanticism, breakdancing, Miami Vice, The Cosby Show, He-Man, Transformers, the emergence of cyberpunk, Ghostbusters, The Goonies, Nintendo, Trivial Pursuit, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, and many more.
We welcome papers from researchers across the academic spectrum and encourage submissions from postgraduate and early career researchers. We also welcome submissions for papers, panels and round tables. Papers from this conference will have the opportunity to be published in an edited book.
To whet your appetite, we have provided some topics below. We will also accept topics beyond this scope:
- "Greed is good." – The financial excess and corporate culture of the 1980s.
- "I want my MTV." – The rise of music television and the visualisation of pop music.
- "Nobody puts Baby in a corner." – Gender, romance, and independence in 1980s film.
- "I pity the fool!" – The rise of wrestling, action heroes, and hyper-masculinity.
- "Do you really want to hurt me?" – LGBTQ+ identities and culture in the 1980s.
- “The dream is alive.”– The Space Shuttle program and its impact on popular imagination.
- "Gotta catch ‘em all!" – Toys, video games, and marketing to children in the 1980s.
- "This is your brain on drugs." – The War on Drugs and moral panics.
- "We’re not gonna take it!" – Punk, rebellion, and counterculture.
- "Tear down this wall!" – The Cold War in popular culture.
- "The computer is personal." – The rise of home computing and digital culture.
- "The more you know." – Education, media, and the spread of information in the 1980s.
- "Life moves pretty fast." – Youth culture and coming-of-age narratives in 1980s cinema.
- "I ain’t afraid of no ghosts!" – Science fiction, horror, and the supernatural in 1980s media.
- "Power dressing." – Fashion, materialism, and aesthetics of the decade.
Please submit by your proposed abstract by 31st July 2026
- Submit here - https://tinyurl.com/2hyksxn8
- Register here - tinyurl.com/mrxeys35
- Queries to popcrn@une.edu.au
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Last updated April 3, 2025
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