Abstract:
By offering a close reading of Jason Reitman’s film Up in the Air (2009), the demands on and
the invisibility of place, home and belonging in the contemporary moment of global mobility
are explored. How do we re-imagine place, home and belonging in the ‘mobility turn’ and,
in particular, mass commercial air travel? By examining the interrelated relationship between
place and non-place, mobility and immobility, home and the homeless, flux and stasis, the
analysis attempts to show the relational and contingent nature of social and geographical
interactions ‘up in the air’. It is proposed that even the most intrepid travellers grow weary of
the road and want to return home.
