*CFP* THE OXFORD HANDBOOK OF CHILDREN'S FILM, OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS

Edited by Noel Brown (Liverpool Hope University, UK)

 

I am seeking proposals for chapters for possible inclusion in the forthcoming Oxford Handbook of Children’s Film, under contract with Oxford University Press. Oxford Handbooks are intended to offer authoritative and up-to-date surveys of original research in a particular subject area, with essays giving critical examinations of the progress and direction of debates, as well as a foundation for future research.  

In recent years, the study of films for children has emerged as a vibrant and diverse field of critical enquiry. This volume in the Oxford Handbook series will reflect both the plurality of the format and the methodological diversity evident in current and recent scholarship, and serve as an authoritative introduction to children’s film. It will address themes, issues and topics from across the international history of children’s cinema from the early twentieth century to the present, aiming to reveal larger patterns, continuities and changes in the form, and reflect the ways in which children’s film content and reception have been shaped by major socio-historical events.

The Handbook will be interdisciplinary in scope and I am open to contributions from across a range of theoretical or methodological approaches, including film studies, children’s literary and cultural studies, children’s education, cultural history, and animation studies. Although I envisage that many of the chapters will focus on feature-length fiction films, I am receptive to proposals that seek to examine shorts and non-fiction films.

Possible topics might include (but are not limited to):

• The genre and form of children’s film 
• Historical changes and continuities 
• Early traditions of children’s cinema 
• The relationship between children’s cinema and the state
• Children’s propaganda films 
• Children’s film and national identity 
• Children’s film programming 
• The boundaries of children’s cinema 
• Performance and stardom 
• Racial/sexual politics 
• Fandom and/or paratexts 
• Children’s film and transmedia 
• Family audiences 
• Adaptation 
• The reception of children’s film among young people 
• Adults’ relationships with children’s film

Please send abstracts of 300–400 words, and a biography of 50–80 words, to Noel Brown at brownn@hope.ac.uk by 31 July 2018. Please give the subject header as ‘Oxford Handbook proposal’. Notifications of acceptance will be sent no later than 31 August 2018. Chapters of 8,000 to 10,000 words will be due by 31 May 2019.