ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the ‘nostalgia market’ in audiovisual media in Brazil and argues that this peculiar market is characterized by the sale of objects and narratives that, in one way or another, refer to the past, whether as historical and cultural reference or only as an aesthetic model. The cult of nostalgia for the past pervades society as a whole, including the most common personal practices (such as the desire to store and archive everything and the fear of forgetting). However, it is in the media that it gains greater visibility and social power. The chapter shows how there is an intrinsic relationship among the cultures of memory, nostalgia, and media, and how nostalgia, through the media, builds social identities and subjectivation processes. The argument is made that nostalgia as a media industry strategy is not confined to particular national media systems but crosses borders through global flows. Examples are provided from Brazil, showing how global patterns and resonances are present.
