“There we were, now here we are”: nostos and algos of Oasis’ (1990s) imaginary in contemporary society and mediascape

Within the theoretical frameworks of the sociology of imaginary (Durand, 1994; Grassi, 2006; 2012; Marzo & Mori, 2019) and nostalgia, concerning cultural theories (Jankélévitch, 1974; Boym, 2001; Morreale, 2009; Affuso, 2012) and the link with media and media narratives (Niemeyer, 2014), this paper aims to focus on the affirmation of the imaginary in which the Manchester band Oasis helped to shape in the 1990s (through lyrics, music videos, and outfits), alongside other bands. The paper will also examine how, through mechanisms involving nostalgia, this imaginary echoes in contemporary society and the current mediascape for fans. The narrative and metaphoric construction surrounding Oasis has taken shape as a symbolic space in which memory, generational identity and forms of nostalgia intertwine, giving rise to new forms of belonging and cultural and media consumption. Starting from a content analysis of audiovisual products and interviews with Italian fans of the band, we can say that: a) the concept of Nostalgia for Oasis assumes the form of algos, or nostalgia for a different time (Boym, 2001), a past that cannot be returned to (Prete, 1992), and is also linked to personal life events; b) nostalgia, closely related to passion (Bolin, 2015), takes the form of nostos and becomes generational nostalgia, which can be traced back to the media representations in which the band is present, which become repositories of collective memory; c) nostalgia turns into retromania (Reynolds, 2011; Pomarico, 2023) when the imaginary of those years is recreated, even partially, through objects and simulacra (Baudrillard, 1981).