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"Retro" is a contemporary term used to describe things from a bygone era. It is often used in a positive sense, referring to quirky or attractive products that are no longer available. For example, "Retro fashion" or "Retro Chic" may consist of outdated styles, such as tie-dyed shirts from the 1970s, or poodle skirts from the 1950s. A love of retro objects (things from the past) is called retrophilia .

Retro, both in popular and in legitimized culture, can be seen as an uncritical exaltation of the past, used as a weapon against contemporary cultural forms. Retro is uncritical because it sees itself as a return to a lost authenticity, to basic values which somehow have been corrupted by later evolutions.

A critical attitude towards both the legitimate and the non-legitimate would then be what is called camp. Camp is an ironical attitude, an explicit re-introduction of non-dominant forms. It claims legitimacy, but instead of aiming at timelessness, it wants to live only a short life. It does not want to present basic values, but precisely to confront culture with its waste, to show how any norm is historical.

Source

Jim Collins, 1989: Uncommon Cultures. Popular Culture and Post-Modernism, Mew York/London: Routledge.

Umberto Eco, 1986: Travels in Hyperreality, New York: Harcourt.

Umberto Eco, 1988 (1964, 1978): The Structure of Bad Taste, Amsterdam: Bert Bakker.

Clem Robyns, 1991: "Beyond the first dimension: recent tendencies in popular culture studies", in Joris Vlasselaers (Ed.) The Prince and the Frog, Leuven: ALW, 14-32.

Andrew Ross, 1989: No Respect. Intellectuals and Popular Culture, New York/London: Routledge.

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Topics: Retronym, Retrovirus, Retroreflector, Retro futurism...

RetronymA retronym is a new word or phrase coined for an old object or concept whose original name became used for something else, or was no longer unique. Retronym" is a neologism coined by Frank Mankiewicz and popularized by William Safire in 1980 in the New Yo	RetrovirusAlpharetrovirus Betaretrovirus Gammaretrovirus Deltaretrovirus Epsilonretrovirus Lentivirus Spumavirus A retrovirus is a virus which has a genome consisting of RNA. It relies on reverse transcriptase to perform a kind of reverse transcription of its genom	RetroreflectorA retroreflector is a device that sends light or other radiation back where it came from regardless of the angle of incidence, unlike a mirror, which does that only if the mirror is exactly perpendicular to the light beam. This effect can be commonly obta
RetroRetro is a contemporary term used to describe things from a bygone era. It is often used in a positive sense, referring to quirky or attractive products that are no longer available. For example, "Retro fashion" or "Retro Chic" may consist of outdated sty	Retro-futurismRetro-futurism describes the return to the to fanciful depictions of the future produced many years ago called futurology. These may be based on a lack of scientific knowledge and a great deal of imagination and speculation. A great deal of attention is d	Retro-engineeringRetro-engineering can refer to either: customisation, adaptation or retrofitting of a product or device that was not intended to be modified reverse engineering end user retro-engineering.
Retroactive	Retro (New Order album)	Retrograde ejaculation
Retrocognition	Retroflex consonant	Retroflex approximant
Retroflex flap	Retroflex nasal	Retro (KMFDM album)

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