The Fan Studies Network

Netflix’s meteoric rise as an online content provider has been well documented and much debated in the popular press and in academic circles. It has been praised as the future of television (Auletta, 2014) and as “the most feared force in Hollywood” (Villarreal & James, 2016), while also decried as the end of “TV’s Golden Age” and blamed for ushering in an era where “TV shows may be briefer, lower-budget and filled with the kind of product-placement ads that audiences hate and advertisers pay for” (Thielman, 2016). Interestingly though, amongst the academic inquiry thus far, much of this research has dealt primarily with the algorithmic culture and nature of Netflix (Hallinan & Striphas, 2016; Gomez-Uribe & Hunt, 2016; Amatriain, 2013), binge watching (Jenner, 2015, 2016; Pittman, & Sheehan, 2015), engagement, (Groshek, & Krongard, 2016; Matrix, 2014); and the future of television, (Auletta, 2014).

The editors seek contributions to this collection that will broaden this discussion greatly, focusing on Netflix in three specific ways:

•      platform – How does the nature of Netflix streaming change our relationship to media? How does Netflix’s interface design impact media consumption? How does Netflix change our media consumption in mobile contexts? What are the cultural implications of Netflix’s business model?

•      content – What kind of content does Netflix privilege? How does the streaming model change serialized programming? What are these effects on narrative? Does Netflix’s streaming model prelude a more diverse offering for consumers interested in “quality TV?” Do representations in Netflix offerings differ from traditional broadcast programming? Is there a “Netflix genre,” shows produced by Netflix can be recognized as such?

•      viewer practices – What kind of viewing practices does Netflix encourage? What is the nature of viewer discourse surrounding binging and other streaming viewing practices? How do fans discuss and build community around Netflix programs? How do fans incorporate social media into their viewing habits? Do users utilize social media as a second screen when discussing their favorite programs?

Submission Process:

Interested authors should submit an initial proposal of 500 words (exc. references) by July 15, 2017. This should be sent as a Word or PDF document to editors Theo Plothe (tplothe@walsh.edu) and Amber M. Buck (ambuck@ua.edu) for consideration.

We invite presentation proposals for the Stardom, Celebrity and Fandom Conference, to be held at Texas Christian University (Fort Worth, Texas) November 10-11, 2017.

The conference organizers are seeking contributions that explore various realities associated with living in the limelight and/or admiring those who do, insightful analyses of individual stars and/or celebrities, and in-depth analyses of intriguing media offerings that examine and represent stardom, celebrity and/or fandom, during any historical era.

Given adequate participant interest and high-quality submissions, we are hoping to publish selected papers (with author’s permission) in a special collection of essays pertaining to the conference theme.

Participants are encouraged to interpret the conference theme quite broadly and innovatively. Possible topics may include (but are certainly not limited to) achieving fame, active vs. passive fan phenomena, addiction and destructive behaviors as coping mechanisms, authenticity, celebrity culture, challenges associated with continual media attention, cult of personality, dynamics of celebrity and stardom, falling from grace, gossip and innuendo, Hollywood’s Golden Age, the illusion of intimacy, instant celebrity status, fandom realities and pleasures, media (over)saturation, micro-celebrity, noteworthy stars and celebrities, scandals, social mobility and the American Dream, stalkers and other obsessive admirers, the studio system, television stardom, and trends in social media.

We encourage submissions from scholars, educators, and students at all levels, and from disciplines including art, communication, cultural studies, film and video studies, history, journalism, LGBTQ studies, media studies, music, political science, popular culture, sociology, television studies, and women’s studies, among others. Individual paper presentations will be limited to 25 minutes in length.

Please e-mail presentation proposals containing (a) a one-page abstract with complete contact information (name, institutional affiliation, e-mail address, and contact telephone number) and (b) a one-paragraph author biography to Professor Kylo-Patrick Hart (k.hart@tcu.edu) on or before Tuesday, August 1, 2017.

Decisions regarding the status of submitted proposals will be made and communicated as quickly as possible following the submission deadline, and certainly no later than August 15, 2017. For specific inquiries prior to submitting a proposal, please contact Dr. Hart at your convenience by e-mail (k.hart@tcu.edu).

This edited collection aims to re-examine horror in an era of remakes, reboots and re-imaginings. There have been many developments in the horror genre and whilst much of it has been reliant on previous material, there are also many shifts and changes such as:

• cross-over of genres (for example, teen romance paired with vampires and werewolves, or horror in space);
• new formats such as Netflix, and cinema no longer being the only place we see horror;
• a resurgence of stories of hauntings and ghosts;
• and the popularity of ‘found footage’.

We wish to focus specifically on horror from 1995 to the present, as after a brief hiatus in the mainstream, the 1990s saw the return of horror to our screens – including our TV screens with, for example, Buffy The Vampire Slayer – and with horror and its characters more knowing than before.

We are happy for you to compare older material with newer versions, such as the recent Netflix version of The Exorcist (2016) with the original film The Exorcist (1973). The main requirement is that you interrogate whether the portrayal of gender has changed in horror – it may look like something different (more positive?) is happening, but is it?

We hope to encourage diverse perspectives and we welcome early career researchers and new voices to offer a different light on classic material, in sole- or multi-authored chapters.

We’d also like to gently remind potential authors that ‘gender’ doesn’t only apply to women, it applies to men and masculinities, and it encompasses non-binary identities and experiences, as well as issues about ‘race’, ethnicities and class.

The schedule is as follows:

• You send your chapter title, 200 word abstract and brief bio by the end of May 2017.
• The finalised proposal will be sent to the publisher Emerald in early summer.
• Your final first draft chapter (approx 7000 words) should be sent to us by January 31st2018 (reminder/s will be sent).
• We will return any comments/revisions by the end of March 2018, and ask that you send us the final revised chapter by the end of June 2018.
• The completed manuscript will be submitted in July 2018 for publication in early 2019.

Please send your chapter titles, 200 word abstracts and a brief bio to the book editors by the end of May.

If you have any queries, or would like to contribute but need to tweak the schedule, please email us.

Editors:

Dr Samantha Hollands.holland@leedsbeckett.ac.uk

Dr Steven Gerrard  S.D.Gerrard@leedsbeckett.ac.uk

Prof Robert Shail   R.Shail@leedsbeckett.ac.uk

If you are not familiar with the publisher, Emerald are an independent publisher, established by academics in 1967 and committed to retaining their independence.

And for your future reference: All hardback monograph publishing will be available in paperback after 24 months, and all books are available as ebooks. Emerald commission and cover the cost of indexing if authors don’t want to do it themselves; use professional designers for each individual book jacket; and aim to exceed the royalties of other publishers. They have international offices, but pride themselves on not being a ‘corporate machine’.

Inside the World of Harry Potter is a proposed interdisciplinary, multi-contributer volume born of the robust field of Harry Potter Studies and the community of collaborators that exists within the Southwest Popular/American Culture Association.

This proposed volume will cover a range of topics within the works of J.K. Rowling. The Harry Potter series is such a rich text for analysis, particularly of social issues that can be extrapolated to real-world, non-fictional settings. The scholarship being produced surrounding the Harry Potter series is phenomenal.

As such, this call for chapters invites interested scholars to submit papers and/or proposals for publication consideration in this edited volume.

Contributions should use the works of JK Rowling (the Harry Potter series, or companion works such as The Tales of Beedle the Bard, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, or Quidditch Through the Ages) to address a social or political issue, such as race, class, gender, sexual orientation, societal structure, age, muggle vs. wizard relations, technology, religion, and so forth. Work using paratexts, such as Pottermore, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, Potter Puppet Pals, and the like will be accepted as well. All themes will be considered as related to the overall direction of the volume. In addition, work related to fan practices, or application to real-world issues are always welcome.

Proposals from any academic discipline will be considered. Emerging and early career scholars are especially encouraged to submit. Final papers should be no longer than 30 pages, including references, and should be scholarly in nature yet accessible in language and tone.

For consideration, please submit an abstract/proposal of no more than 500 words to Dr. Christopher Bell, University of Colorado Colorado Springs, at cbell3 uccs.edu. Abstracts/proposals should be sent as Word Document attachments, and should include the author(s)’s name, affiliation, title and email contact information. Abstracts/proposals should be submitted no later than May 1, 2017. Final papers will be due September 1, 2017.

Special Issue: Fan Cultures and Cinephilia in Southeast Asian
Transmedia Contexts

Issue Editors: Wikanda Promkhuntong (wikanda.pro@mahidol.ac.th)
and Bertha Chin (bchin@swinburne.edu.my)

Responding to the shifting focus from audiences as consumers to their role
as cultural producers aided by various technological developments, fan studies have gained significant attention as a sub-field in media and film studies in the early 1990s. Despite extensive works that have shed light on fan practices surrounding Western
cultural products, limited accounts have paid attention to transcultural exchanges and fans within a specific regional context. Lori Morimoto and Bertha Chin’s work that put forward a theory of transcultural fandom (2013) points to the need to expand ways
of exploring fandom by engaging with alternative models of fan practices across different geographical contexts. This special issue seeks to extend further the discussion on fandom within a small but vibrant region of Southeast Asia, as well as Southeast Asia
in relation to other parts of the world.

Existing literature on cultural studies have begun to explore
how fans in different Southeast Asian countries have embraced and appropriated popular cultures, particularly pop music and television series from Japan and South Korea. Meanwhile, festival films from Southeast Asia have been discussed as part of the renewed
attention on global cinema and cinephilia studies. To address various practices within the increasingly transmedia cultures in the region, this special issue highlights the crossover between fans, cinephiles and other committed audience groups. Therefore,
we welcome a wide range of papers that seek to explore fans of various cultural products within the Southeast Asian context (i.e. film, music, television drama, video-game, animation and other transmedia content) and fans of different personalities (i.e. film
director, producer, star, idol, celebrity). Possible papers can focus on fan activities, as well as textual, aesthetics and performative aspects of fans/cinephiles.

Possible topics include (but are not limited to):

• Fan vids/mashups/tributes/video essays and transformative works
  in relation to Southeast Asian transmedia context
• Fan re-enactments and performances in Southeast Asian context
• Fan meet-ups, fan clubs, cons and festivals in Southeast Asia
• Fan tourism/cinephile pilgrimage in Southeast Asia
• Crowd and fan funding in Southeast Asia context
• Fan subtitling and other activities as part of distribution
  networks in Southeast Asia
• The relationship between fans and producers/filmmakers/stars/idols
  within Southeast Asia
• Anti-fans and conflicts within Southeast Asian transmedia cultures
• Fan activism in Southeast Asian context

Submission details
can be found at
http://www.plarideljournal.org/information-for-authors/

Submissions are to be e-mailed to the Issue Editors and the
Managing Editor in MS Word format without any identifying information such as author(s) name and institutional affiliations. Authors should also submit a separate title page with the manuscript title, author name(s), institutional affiliation and contact information
for the corresponding author.

Deadline: 05 May 2017

​The University of Hull is pleased to announce the Queer/ing Animation Symposium!

When: 26 July, 2017

Keynote Speaker: Nichola Dobson from the University of Edinburgh will be presenting the keynote speech, discussing her biographical work on animation master Norman McLaren and the impact his sexuality had on his life and work.

Official Call for Papers:

In his article “No Place Like Home: The Transgendered Narrative of Leslie Feinberg’s Stone Butch Blues,” Jay Prosser states that “queerness effects an opening of the borders between genders, disturbs the discrete categories of lesbian, gay, man, woman – undoing their identity narratives – and, as a result, enables the formation of new political, cultural, and social coalitions” (486).  In Prosser’s view, “queer” is a call for plasticity, for flexibility, within society’s heteronormative understand of gender and sexuality.  Those who identify as “queer” frequently use their identities to criticize and disrupt these notions, demanding acknowledgement when society ignores them, representation when they and other LGBT+ individuals are erased.
Animation operates in a similar way: its plasticity allows the medium to move freely between the realism of Walt Disney to the absurdity of Jan Švenkmajer, constantly searching for new possibilities of expression.  Paul Wells explains, ‘the animated film has the capacity to redefine orthodoxies of live-action narrative and images, and address the human condition with as much authority and insight as any live-action film’ (1993: 4).  In other words, animation’s elasticity opens a realm where ideas of normalcy are disrupted and hidden potentials are revealed much in the same way that queer theory disrupts common understandings of gender and sexuality to explore other options in regards to embodiment and expression.
How, then, can concepts of queerness be applied to animation?  If queer and LGBT+ individuals are frequently erased, where can they be found in animated films and animation history?  This conference seeks to answer these questions and more.  Applicants are invited to submit papers on the following topics:

• Queer animators (i.e. erasure of queer identity, impact sexuality or identity has on their work)
• Studios’ relationship with queer communities (ex. treatment of queer employees, interaction with queer fans, marketing practices aimed specifically at the queer community)
• Queer representation within animation (ex. positive representation, gaps in representation, possible examples of queerbaiting)
• Animation as a tool for queer activism
• Applications of queer theory to animation as a medium
• Queer fan communities and their relationship to a particular animated text (ex. queer interpretations of a character, slash and femslash communities)

Please send a 250-word abstract and a 100 word bio to Kodi Maier atqueeringanimation@outlook.com

The deadline for abstracts is 14 April 2017.

September 2nd and 3rd 2017

The Institute of the Humanities and the Gendered Subjects Research Group at Northumbria University, Newcastle Upon Tyne, UK

Keynote speaker: Prof. Jack Halberstam (University of Southern California)

We invite submissions which tackle diverse aspects of queer representation, and that question the extent to which the new influx of queer on-screen visibility works at once both to liberate
and obfuscate certain queer identities and cultures. How, for example, should we perceive representations of the legalization of gay marriage in numerous countries, while taking into account that these changes in law also mark the entrance of queer individuals
into reproductive and familial time? In England and Wales, 2017 marks the 50th anniversary of the Sexual Offences Act, which decriminalized private homosexual acts between male individuals aged 21 or over. As such, this anniversary comes at what is arguably
a troubling time; one where right-wing nationalism spreads across the US and Europe and ‘homonationalism’ (Puar, 2007) allows for the appropriation of queer and feminist discourses so as to legitimize xenophobia and contemporary colonialism.

We encourage submissions dealing with queer representation in any on-screen form (ranging from the established forms of film and TV to gaming, music videos, advertisement,
web-series, and social media, amongst others) in what can be broadly defined as a contemporary context, promoting both explorations of the historical development of queer visibility and of its recent media examples. Additionally, we welcome further explorations
of what it means to be ‘queer’ on screen, to gaze queerly, and the value of queerness as not only a political but aesthetic term. Topics may include yet are not limited to:

● Queer intersectionality on contemporary screens
● Queer temporalities and geographies
● Specific regional, national or transnational contexts of queer representation
● The relationship between various media platforms and queer visibility
● Representations of queer activism and the (re)framing of activist debates
● The queer body and its relationship to the neoliberal context
● Adaptations and appropriations that queer canonical authors and texts
● Queering notions of success and failure in neoliberalism
● Homonationalism and its role in representation
● Queer anarchism. Queerness as a vehicle for change. Queer utopias and potentialities.

Organizers: Anamarija Horvat (anamarija.horvat@northumbria.ac.uk) &
Inmaculada N. Sánchez-García (inmaculada.garcia@northumbria.ac.uk)

Please send 300-word abstracts for 20-minute presentations and a biographical note to queerscreens2017@gmail.com by May 1st 2017.

For further information check our website: https://queerscreens2017.wixsite.com/conference

Follow us on:

https://twitter.com/queerscreens17

https://www.facebook.com/queerscreens17/

​

Liverpool Hope University, June 21st-22nd2017

The Popular Culture Research Group at Liverpool Hope University is delighted to announce its seventh annual international conference, ‘Theorising the Popular’. Building on the success of previous years, the 2017 conference aims to highlight the intellectual originality, depth and breadth of ‘popular’ disciplines, as well as their academic relationship with and within ‘traditional’ subjects. One of its chief goals will be to generate debate that challenges academic hierarchies and cuts across disciplinary barriers.

The conference invites submissions from a broad range of disciplines, and is particularly interested in new ways of researching ‘popular’ forms of communication and culture. In addition to papers from established and early career academics, we encourage proposals from postgraduate taught and research students.

Possible topics include, but are not limited to:

• Film and Television
• Media and Communications
• Politics and Populism
• Literature (Fiction and Non-Fiction)
• Music
• Drama and Performance
• Fan Cultures
• Sport
• Celebrity
• Social Media
• Gender: Feminism/Femininities/Masculinities/Queering/Sexualities/Representations of the Body
• Language/Linguistics

The conference will be held at Liverpool Hope’s main campus, Hope Park. Situated in a pleasant suburb of Liverpool, just four miles from the city centre, Hope Park offers superb facilities in beautiful surroundings.

Papers should be 20 minutes in length. Please send abstracts of 300 words to Dr Jacqui Miller and Dr Joshua Gulam (ttpconference@hope.ac.uk) by March 17th2017. The abstract should include your name, email address, affiliation, as well as the title of your paper.

Successful abstracts will be notified by April 3rd 2017.

Conference fees: £100 for both days, including lunch and all refreshments (£80 for students and unwaged). 

Contact Info: 

Dr Joshua Gulam (Liverpool Hope University) and Dr Jacqui Miller (Liverpool Hope University)

Contact Email: 

ttpconference@hope.ac.uk

08.11.2017-10.11.2017
Neuchâtel, Switzerland

In November 2017, the Universities of Neuchâtel, Zurich and Bern in
Switzerland will host the first international conference to focus
specifically on visual communication in/about new media. In this regard, we invite the submission of abstracts for scholarly presentations in any of four overlapping thematic areas.

1. Social interaction
Here, we envisage presentations that focus on the communicative uses of visual resources in the context of new media; for example: orthography and typography, graphematic design, the use of emojis (pictograms, emoticons, smilies), and/or the social-interactional uses of video, GIFs and non-moving images.

2. Meta-discourse
Here, we envisage presentations that focus on people’s talk or writing about visual practices; for example: journalistic commentary about visual practices in new media (the use of emojis, for instance) or communicators’ discussions about their own or others’ visual practices in new media spaces.

3. Visual ideologies
Here, we envisage presentations that focus on the visual depiction of new media in, for example, the context of commercial advertising, print or broadcast news, cinema and television narratives and/or public policy and educational settings.

4. Industrial design
Here, we envisage presentations that focus on perspectives related to, for example, the visual-material design of technologies and apps, as well as the look or layout of screen interfaces, especially insofar as they concern the communicative (as opposed to technical) affordances of new media.

Kontaktperson: Etienne Morel / Christina Siever / Vanessa Jaroski
Email: contact.vinm2017@unine.ch