*CFP* "SUPERHEROES: A COMPANION", BOOK CHAPTER

As media texts show us superheroes from around the world(s), demonstrating extraordinary abilities and living a life shaped by a moral code, how we define their iconic features and cultural impact has been the focus of much scholarly debate.

Superheroes have proliferated and multiplied in the 21st Century, coming to prominence in film, television, and video game industries the same way that their popular narratives had begun to flourish in the comic book industry some eighty years before. Yet, while all of these stories and characters are tethered to these early years of the genre, through iterative retellings, reboots, and cultural readjustments, superheroes have consistently found renewed life in modern and contemporary re-imaginings.

Seen through examples, such as the synergy of “Batmania”, the convergence culture of the MCU, the conglomerate hierarchies that facilitate the Arkham games, or the multi-verse publications that enable spaces for a female Thor or an Afro-Latino Spider-man, superheroes continue to evolve through the conditions of their production and the cultural discourses that they engender. 

*CFP* "EXPLORING MOTHERLY INSTINCTS: REPRESENTATION OF MOTHERS IN INDIAN CINEMA", ISSUE 63, CAFÉ DISSENSUS MAGAZINE

The figure of the mother has always been glorified and depicted in black and white without shades of grey. However, time and again filmmakers and academic thinkers have strived to push this conventional depiction to accommodate various layers associated with the concept of motherhood, as they have sought to challenge the simplistic representation of mothers in popular media. It is important to explore the maternal world further in this highly digitized, globalized and gender-neutral environment. This proposed issue of Café Dissensus aims to curate a collection of essays on the representation of mothers in films that go beyond the stereotypical portrayal of motherhood as epitomized in the figures of Nirupa Roy and Rakhee Gulzar in conventional Bollywood style, showing unconditional love toward her offspring. The proposed issue welcomes submissions on the following themes (though not limited to them):

• Queerness and motherhood 
• Good vs. bad mothers 
• Evolution of the representation of mothers in cinema 
• Modern women and motherhood 
• Reimagining the domestic space 
• Masculinity and motherhood 

*CFP* "CHILLING ADVENTURES OF SABRINA", EDITED COLLECTION

In the world of teen drama (or YA drama, as some prefer), there are a number of ways to represent adolescence and its attendant horrors, and we’ve seen a great deal of fantasy-based approaches; beginning with Buffy, some establish that high school is actual hell. But few series come close to Chilling Adventures of Sabrina’s devotion to that idea. The Netflix series (2018-20), based on the Archie Comics spin-off and featuring a much darker version of Sabrina Spellman, may be difficult for audiences to reconcile with ABC’s Sabrina the Teenage Witch, the previous adaptation. While one is a teen sitcom in which Sabrina’s powers get her into wacky situations, and she is supported by a talking Salem the cat, the other might feel closer to The Craft. However different this version of Greendale is from what we may be used to, it certainly offers much to explore.

We invite proposals for a forthcoming collection of essays on Chilling Adventures of Sabrina and welcome those that engage with industry perspectives, textual approaches, audience studies, and issues of critical reception. We anticipate a broad audience for this collection, which includes scholars as well as students of the humanities at both graduate and undergraduate levels. As such, submissions from contributors at various levels and from diverse fields are encouraged. 

*CFP* "ESSAYS ON POLICE AND POLICING IN 21ST CENTURY FILM AND TELEVISION", BOOK COLLECTION

The Black Lives Matter movement, the trial and conviction of Derek Chauvin, calls to defund the police, the prominence in the media of killer police such as Joseph James DeAngelo are recent manifestations of intense and even unprecedented levels of media attention on policing at interlocking points of race, inequality, social justice and political agendas.  Equally, exciting cross-disciplinary engagement between fields of justice studies, criminology, cultural studies and popular culture are increasingly opening up.

Police have been the inspiration for and focus of countless film and television stories, a long-standing dramatic strain that is a fictional backdrop to the intense recent public scrutiny, and at times rejection of policing. Perceptions of the police are shaped by these long standing narrative forms of film and television that can also convey other shapers of perception, from bodycam footage to mobile phone recordings. At this point of exceptional pressure on police conduct and the uncertain paths that policing will take in the 21st century, this collection is intended to be a topical opportunity to examine the themes of how police and policing are perceived and portrayed and these points are intended as the focal point for each contribution. We are assembling a special collection of essays that consider addressing the intersection of police and policing with film and television in the 21st century. 

*CFP* CALL FOR MEDIA REVIEWERS AND PAPERS, MIDDLE WEST REVIEW

Middle West Review (MWR) is a peer-reviewed, interdisciplinary journal that examines the American Midwest. The journal is published biannually by the University of Nebraska Press.

MWR is seeking scholars to review media texts that engage with midwestern identity, history, and culture. From popular films and television series to online exhibitions and digital archives, MWR spotlights Midwest-oriented media texts in each issue. We welcome reviews of texts from our list below, as well as texts that are not currently on the list (including films and television series from across the histories of both mediums).

We accept rolling submissions of media reviews, review essays, and scholarly articles:

• Media reviews should be 900-1,500 words. 
• Review essays should be 2,000-3,000 words. These pieces may address multiple texts or more thoroughly consider a single film, television series, or other media object. 
• Scholarly articles should be 3,500-10,000 words. As an interdisciplinary journal, we invite submissions that utilize methodologies from a variety of fields, including film, television, media, and literary studies.

*CFP* "(DE)CONSTRUCTING ITALIANS: GLOBAL PRODUCTION AND RECEPTION OF ITALIAN CHARACTERS", INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE

(De)Constructing Italians: Global Production and Reception of Italian Characters

International Conference

Milan, December 2-3 2021

 

 

The conference will develop along two key dimensions. The first one, mostly narratological, will investigate the dynamics of the character in relation to the specificities of the texts and the relationships they establish with their user. The second dimension, chiefly socio-anthropological, psychological and economic, will focus on the relationships of characters with broader social and cultural processes.

Authors interested in contributing to the conference are invited to send an abstract (maximum 250 words, excluding bibliography), in Italian or English, to convegno.decoitalians@unicatt.it.

 

*CFP* "SCREENING LOSS: AN EXPLORATION OF GRIEF IN CONTEMPORARY HORROR CINEMA", BOOK CHAPTER

Horror films have long held a place in cinematic history as an expression of the monstrous, the un-nameable, and the unknown. They are a powerful point of catharsis in which viewers see their deepest fears played out onscreen, whether the threat is fully embodied or less concretely defined. As a result, grief and loss have always figured heavily in this genre.   

This collection addresses horror films’ treatment of loss, specifically grief and how grief shapes, magnifies, and escalates the horrific. Selected films should be from the last twenty years. This contemporary approach will lend the collection a sense of urgency. Moreover, in addition to conventional horror films like Kevin Kölsch and Dennis Widmyer’s remake of Pet Sematary (on which we would prize a chapter), we highly support explorations of less frequently examined films that contain a high degree of complexity in content and aesthetics. A24 films are the perfect example of this. Additionally, examinations of genre-defying films such as David Lowery’s A Ghost Story and Ari Aster’s Hereditary are especially encouraged.   

We value inclusivity and welcome abstracts that focus on international films as well as those who are historically underrepresented.   

*CFP* "BEYOND THE WHITE HOUSE: THE FIRST LADY IN FILM, FICTION, AND CULTURE", EDITED COLLECTION

This edited collection seeks to explore the representation of the First Lady in a range of different texts and media. The collection aims to examine the President’s wife in a purely cultural context by investigating the ways in which she has been represented, embodied, characterised and commemorated in film, fiction, memoir, photography and portraiture, television, theatre, education, museum studies, fashion, and social media. Beyond the White House is an original work that makes use of cultural interpretation to reconfigure the figure of the First Lady as a culturally authoritative individual possessing the ability to sway, change, inspire, and manipulate public attention and opinion. Moving away from biographies and histories, this is the first volume of its kind to consider the representation of the First Lady figure through the prism of popular culture - and therefore consider her impact upon ‘cultural politics’ - and the first to regard her as a strategically important socio-cultural figure.

Removed from the patriarchal hierarchy of White House politics and expectations, the First Lady emerges as a force of her own; she subtly carves out cultural agency and gender identity despite her (in)visibility in the public eye. Simply by being the ‘First Lady of the United States’ she possesses what MaryAnne Borrelli has labelled the “performance of descriptive representation” (Women and the White House: 229). The relationship between the woman and the office is paramount; the existence of the title ‘First Lady’ permits popular culture to tolerate or reject not only political and cultural manoeuvring, but also issues of gender, race, self, location, fashion, identity, satire, memory, authority, and even pedagogy. The office of the First Lady is what the woman makes it, and Beyond the White House she has become a commanding cultural icon.

*CFP* "EL CINE DE LUIS GARCÍA BERLANGA (1921-2010)", Nº 25-2022, REVISTA FOTOCINEMA

El año 2021 se conmemoró el centenario del nacimiento del director Luis García Berlanga, uno de los cineastas españoles más internacionales e influyentes de nuestra cinematografía. Su universo fílmico, único y singular, ha traspasado la ficción para proyectarse en la realidad que está más allá de la pantalla, como reconoció la Real Academia Española (RAE) al incluir en el diccionario el término “berlanguiano”.

Desde su primera película, Esa pareja feliz (1951), codirigida con Juan Antonio Bardem, hasta la última, París-Tombuctú (1999), pasando por otros títulos significativos como Calabuch (1956), ¡Vivan los novios! (1969), su trilogía Nacional (1978, 1980, y 1982), La vaquilla (1985) o Todos a la cárcel (1993), Berlanga ha reflejado medio siglo de la intrahistoria de España con ironía y cierto jolgorio festivo. La mirada de este director, acompañada en gran parte por la pluma del guionista Rafael Azcona, ha retratado de manera sarcástica, pero a la vez conmovedora, la idiosincrasia de la realidad española. En el cine de Berlanga la trama, con situaciones esperpénticas, absurdas, caóticas, carnavalescas, reflejadas con un tono de humor negro, satírico y festivo, se despliega en planos secuencia corales donde los múltiples y variados personajes se mueven de un espacio a otro, mientras hablan y hablan. Personajes miserables, pero entrañables. Personajes atrapados en el “arco berlanguiano”, en esa estructura dramática que impide que puedan llevar a cabo sus sueños, alcanzar sus metas, y que hace de las películas de Berlanga crónicas de un fracaso, como el propio director decía.

*CFP* "REIMAGINING THE VICTIM IN POST-1970S HORROR MEDIA", BOOK CHAPTER

While the analysis of the horror genre, particularly its contemporary articulations, uncovers a myriad of different topics (new (and old) theoretical paradigms, alternative interpretations of familiar narratives and tentative readings of new ones, as well as the progressive expansion and relocation of the genre within a larger trans and interdisciplinary context), some of its basic premises remain inadequately explored. One such issue, or concept, is the notion of the victim, and its position, as well as function/purpose, within the larger framework of the genre. While being an unavoidable part of the genre narrative from its earliest endeavors, the ambition of the victim is to embody, articulate, and finally project all the fears and anxieties (introduced by the narrator/author) towards its target audience. 

The audience in turn catalyzes and identifies with the projected trauma, while simultaneously enjoying the suspension of disbelief. This dynamic, although simplistic in its nature, functions as an extremely prolific interpretative context confirmed through decades of highly focused research. However, the developed binary system bonding the readers/viewers with the imaginary, but nevertheless doomed victim remains, although logical, a rather “unfair” one, with the analytical focus being placed on the thoughts, experiences, and reactions of the viewers. The (fictitious) victims consequently retain a symbolically blank role, prone to inscriptions of meaning in accordance with a more generalized or overarching narrative.

*CFP* "MUSLIMS IN INDIAN CINEMA", EDITED VOLUME

Critical articles on the representation of Muslims/Islam in Indian films are invited from research scholars/faculty members for the upcoming volume "Muslims in Indian Cinema" to be edited by Md Sarfaraj Nawab and Asrin Khatun.

Cinema is one of the most popular mediums to connect a huge audience under the same roof. In India, folks have a secured emotion, love and dedication for movie-going. Beside entertainment, films have catered to the sense of a connectedness between people across states in India. Presentation of myriad cultures has always been an important motif in Indian cinema considering the diverse nature of lifestyles, faiths or existence of the people. And the consumption of an alien culture by a comparatively large concourse can possibly be imagined only through the silver-screen. Thus, cinema in India plays an important role in the presentation of certain culture, sect or faith. People feed on such presentations and shape their views about the subject. By keeping all these factors in mind, it is important now to address the Muslim Question in Indian cinema in such a time as this when a new and changing notion of India is on the rise. Where do we present the Muslims in the New India vis-à-vis their presence in the past? This book aspires to map and measure the identity of the Muslims as exuded in Indian cinema over the decades. It further seeks to trace the changes in the representation of Muslim identity with time. Well researched articles on movies are invited which might explore following themes/images of the Muslim:

*CFP* "THE PROGRESSIVE AGE OF THE SUPERHERO", THE SUPERHERO PROJECT: 5TH GLOBAL MEETING

The Superhero Project: 5th Global Meeting

Friday 10th to Sunday 12th September 2021

Die Wolfsburg, Mülheim an der Ruhr, Essen, Germany

 

“This should be agony. I should be a mass of aching muscle - broken, spent, unable to move. And, were I an older man, I surely would... But I am a man of thirty - of twenty - again. The rain on my chest is a baptism… I’m born again.”

The Dark Knight Returns (1986)

Thirty-five years ago, DC Comics published The Dark Knight Returns, bestowing the superhero genre with one of the most singularly revolutionary and influential works in its history. Written and drawn by firebrand artist Frank Miller, this operatic and determinedly hard-edged Batman tale – replete with a startling, pointedly cynical Establishment vision of Superman – triggered not only seismic change within the comics industry but also ushered in the era of so-called “grim and gritty” superheroes. The pervasive influence of this continues to this day in presentations of the superhero across all media.

*CFP* "EL CINE DE LUIS BERLANGA", Nº 25-2022, REVISTA FOTOCINEMA

El año 2021 se conmemoró el centenario del nacimiento del director Luis García Berlanga, uno de los cineastas españoles más internacionales e influyentes de nuestra cinematografía. Su universo fílmico, único y singular, ha traspasado la ficción para proyectarse en la realidad que está más allá de la pantalla, como reconoció la Real Academia Española (RAE) al incluir en el diccionario el término “berlanguiano”.

Desde su primera película, Esa pareja feliz (1951), codirigida con Juan Antonio Bardem, hasta la última, París-Tombuctú (1999), pasando por otros títulos significativos como Calabuch (1956), ¡Vivan los novios! (1969), su trilogía Nacional (1978, 1980, y 1982), La vaquilla (1985) o Todos a la cárcel (1993), Berlanga ha reflejado medio siglo de la intrahistoria de España con ironía y cierto jolgorio festivo. La mirada de este director, acompañada en gran parte por la pluma del guionista Rafael Azcona, ha retratado de manera sarcástica, pero a la vez conmovedora, la idiosincrasia de la realidad española. En el cine de Berlanga la trama, con situaciones esperpénticas, absurdas, caóticas, carnavalescas, reflejadas con un tono de humor negro, satírico y festivo, se despliega en planos secuencia corales donde los múltiples y variados personajes se mueven de un espacio a otro, mientras hablan y hablan. Personajes miserables, pero entrañables. Personajes atrapados en el “arco berlanguiano”, en esa estructura dramática que impide que puedan llevar a cabo sus sueños, alcanzar sus metas, y que hace de las películas de Berlanga crónicas de un fracaso, como el propio director decía.

*CFP* "REVISITING THE WARRIOR PRINCESS AND HER LEGACY: XENA 20 YEARS ON", VIRTUAL CONFERENCE

Revisiting the Warrior Princess and her legacy: Xena, 20 years on

18th and 19th June 2021

Virtual Conference

 

On 18th June 2021 it will be twenty years since the controversial final episode of ground-breaking television series Xena: Warrior Princess, ‘A Friend in Need Part II’ aired. Although the series was first conceived as a spin-off from a series featuring a male hero, Hercules The Legendary Journeys, Xena's popularity surpassed that of Hercules, and ran for six seasons from 1995-2001. Xena paved the way for subsequent action heroines, from Buffy in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, who reached our television screens in 1997, to the re-envisioned Wonder Woman in the recent blockbuster films. The (initially subtextual) relationship between Xena and Gabrielle also influenced the depiction of LGBT relationships in popular culture. Xena garnered a large fan base and spawned an interest in the ancient world for a generation of young viewers.

*CFP* "GRACE JONES: POST-COLONIAL. COSMOPOLITAN. ICON", ANTHOLOGY CHAPTERS

Iconic Grace Jones - supermodel, songwriter, singer, record producer, actress and author - theatrically embodies intersectional identity politics. Long before Kimberlé Crenshaw coined the word intersectionality in 1989, Jones was performing a disruptive post-colonial politics that still engenders controversy around gender, sonicity sexuality, race and class. Coming of age in the early years of Jamaican Independence, Jones contested the limiting definitions of working-class black female identity in an essentially neo-colonial society. 

 

Raised in a Fundamentalist Christian home, Jones also broke the repressive religious bonds that constrained her. Assuming the persona of androgynous sex symbol, Jones epitomises liberation from multiple oppressions. 

 

This anthology aims to explore Grace Jones’s stellar, multimodal performance of identity in fashion, music and film, with particular focus on the transgressive and the post-colonial.

 

Grace Jones’s avant-garde work has been wide-ranging and distinctive, and we welcome a variety of approaches.

*CFP* "ENCYCLOPEDIA OF LGBTQIA+ PORTRAYALS IN AMERICAN FILM", EDITED VOLUME

This volume addresses the topic of LGBTQIA+ portrayals within American film. Covering over two-hundred film entries from the last (approximately) fifty years, the breadth and depth of this volume will generate some highly significant material for both academics and general audiences alike. Likewise, with LGBTQIA+ issues at the forefront of many political conversations, The Encyclopedia of LGBTQIA+ Portrayals in American Film is a timely companion to the ever-growing field of critical film studies.

As we anticipate completing this project and submitting it for publication in early 2022, we will be encouraging a relatively quick turn-around. In this way, the first deadline for contributor submissions will be 1 April 2021 (though we encourage pieces to be submitted as they are completed).

We currently have a contract in-hand from Roman & Littlefield.

*CFP* "LIBRARIES, ARCHIVES, AND LIBRARIANS IN GRAPHIC NOVELS, COMIC STRIPS AND SEQUENTIAL ART", EDITED BOOK

The editors of a new collection of articles/essays are seeking essays about the portrayal of libraries, archives and librarians in graphic novels, comic strips, and sequential art/comics. The librarian and the library have a long and varied history in sequential art. Steven M. Bergson’s popular website Librarians in Comic Books is a useful reference source and a place to start as is the essay Let’s Talk Comics: Librarians by Megan Halsband. There are also other websites which discuss librarians in comics and provide a place for scholars to start.

Going as far back as the Atlantean age the librarian is seen as a seeker of knowledge for its own sake. For example, in Kull # 6 (1972) the librarian is trying to convince King Kull that of importance of gaining more knowledge for the journey they about to undertake. Kull is unconvinced, however. In the graphic novel Avengers No Road Home (2019), Hercules utters “Save the Librarian” which indicates just how important librarians are as gatekeepers of knowledge even for Greek Gods. These are just a few examples scholars can find in sequential art that illustrate librarians as characters who take their roles as preservers of knowledge seriously. We will accept essays related to sequential art television shows and movies e.g., Batgirl in the third season of Batman (1966); Stan Lee being a librarian in The Amazing Spider-Man (2012) movie.

*CFP* CALL FOR ARTICLES, VOL. 4, INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF JAMES BOND STUDIES

The International Journal of James Bond Studies is an academic peer-reviewed journal dedicated to publishing interdisciplinary scholarship on all aspects of Ian Fleming’s James Bond franchise. 

The journal aims to develop contemporary critical readings of Ian Fleming’s James Bond across literary, filmic, and cultural history, and offers broader criticism of the popular appeal of Fleming’s creation and its relation to the spy genre. 

The journal will appeal to scholars, academics, and cultural critics whose work focuses on Ian Fleming and James Bond, as well as to fans of the James Bond franchise who wish to supplement their knowledge in this area.

Possible topics include, but are not limited to:

*CFP* "BAD MOTHERS", A GLOBAL INCLUSIVE INTERDISCIPLINARY CONFERENCE

Bad Mothers

A Global Inclusive Interdisciplinary Conference

Sunday 14th March 2021 - Monday 15th March 2021

Lisbon, Portugal

As givers of life, mothers occupy an essential role in ensuring the ongoing survival of the human race. The bond between mother and child is commonly revered in societies as primal and sacred. Perhaps it is because of the importance of child-bearing and child-rearing that so much critical attention has been given to how mothers should and should not behave. Entertainment and news media outlets, parenting manuals and social media are among the main sources of role models to which mothers might aspire as well as cautionary tales of women whose conduct has earned them the label of bad mothers. But just what does it mean to be a bad mother? While mothers who kill or cause harm to their children are obvious examples, how should we regard a mother whose neglect for her child is due to having to work multiple jobs to support her family? What about the mother whose loving indulgence of her child's every wish causes the child to develop a detrimental sense of entitlement? These grey areas signify the complexities of motherhood itself, as well as the challenges associated with evaluating a mother's goodness or badness.

*CFP* "MONSTERS & THE MONSTROUS", OPEN TOPIC, NORTHEAST POPULAR CULTURE/AMERICAN CULTURE ASSOCIATION (NEPCA) VIRTUAL CONFERENCE

Northeast Popular Culture/American Culture Association (NEPCA)

Monsters & the Monstrous, Open Topic

October, 23-24

Virtual Conference

Area Chair: Michael A. Torregrossa (Independent Scholar) (Popular.Preternaturaliana@gmail.com)

 

The Northeast Alliance for Scholarship on the Fantastic and the Monsters & the Monstrous Area invite paper proposals for the 2020 conference of the Northeast Popular Culture/American Culture Association (NEPCA) to convene at Southern New Hampshire University in Manchester, New Hampshire, from Friday, 23 October, to Saturday, October 24.

Please note: This year’s conference will be entirely virtual.