Fan studies scholar Casey McCormick has set up a Facebook and a Google group for those interested in creating a Fan Studies Scholarly Interest Group within SCMS (Society for Media and Cinema Studies).
You can join the Facebook group here:
http://www.facebook.com/groups/scmsfanstudies/
and the Google Group here:
https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/scms-fan-studies-sig
and find more info about SCMS here:
http://www.cmstudies.org
or you can tweet Casey for more info at @virtualcasey
The recent popular success of “Downton Abbey” calls for a renewed examination of such earlier BBC/ITV/Masterpiece Theatre serialized period dramas as “Upstairs Downstairs,” “The Pallisers,”and “The Forsyte Saga,” among others that have aired (and have been repeated)since the 1970s. We also want to examine how more recent dramas like “Downton Abbey” engage with these earlier productions in terms of style, thematic content, and programming.
We are seeking essays for a critical anthology that addresses such topics (but are not limited to) as the following:
How the small screen period drama interrogates past and present gender/ class/race relations and notions of historical “authenticity”
Transatlantic reception /interpretations
How these TV serials fulfill and/or disrupt notions of “quality television”
The afterlife of the serialized period drama on video/DVD
The role of fans in shaping the content/reception of these dramas (message boards, role playing, Facebook and other social media sites that connect fans, etc)
The relationship between history, heritage, and the costume drama
Adaptation and the translation from historical novel to the TV miniseries
How history and culture are commodified for popular audiences
The feminization of history via the costume drama
The relationship between these series and wider developments in TV or popular culture more generally
How these programs have engaged with, or been received in relation to, ideas of region and regional difference
How the development of the genre been bound up with technological changes, such as the use of video, widescreen and (more recently) HD
Please submit a 500 word abstract and brief CV by April 15 to the editors,
Julie Anne Taddeo, University of Maryland, USA
taddeo@umd.edu
And
James Leggott, Northumbria University, UK
james.leggott@northumbria.ac.uk
If accepted, the first draft of essays (approx. 7000 words) will be due
Sept. 15, 2013 (guidelines from press will follow).
Please note: Individual authors are responsible for permissions for any images reproduced in their essays.
Diversity in Speculative Fiction
Loncon 3, Call for Papers
72nd World Science Fiction Convention
Thursday 14 to Monday 18 August 2014
London, UK
Guests of Honour:
Iain M. Banks, John Clute, Malcolm Edwards, Chris Foss,
Jeanne Gomoll, Robin Hobb, Bryan Talbot
The academic programme at Loncon 3, the 72nd World Science Fiction Convention, is offering the opportunity for academics from across the globe to share their ideas with their peers and convention attendees. To reflect the history and population of London, the host city, the theme of the academic programme is ‘Diversity’. We will be exploring science fiction, fantasy, horror, and all forms of speculative fiction, whether in novels, comics, television, and movies or in fanworks, art, radio plays, games, advertising, and music.
Proposals are particularly welcome on the works of the Guests of Honour, the city of London as a location and/or fantastic space, and underrepresented areas of research in speculative fiction. Examples of these may include, but are not limited to:
– Representation of alternative sexualities
– Speculative fiction by writers and producers of colour
– Non-English language media and/or fandoms
– The fantastic in unexpected places (greetings cards, pornography, opera, football stadiums)
– Digital comics
– The role of speculative fiction in Live Action Role-Playing
– The fantastic in music videos
– Speculative fiction in advertising
– European horror
Academics at all levels are warmly encouraged, including students and independent scholars.
We welcome proposals for presentations, roundtable discussions, lectures, and workshops/masterclasses.
The deadline for submission is October 1st 2013. Participants will be notified by December 31st 2013. All presenters must be in receipt of convention membership by May 1st 2014. Abstracts will be included in the Academic Programme Book, available to download from the Loncon website. It is anticipated that an edited volume showcasing the variety of topics presented will be published.
To propose a paper, please submit a 300 word abstract. To submit something other than a paper, please get in touch with Emma England, the academic area head, for an informal exchange of ideas.
emma.england (at) loncon3.org
Twitter: @AcademicLoncon3
Registration is now open for a one day conference on ‘The small economies of the “new” music industry’ at the University of Bristol on 25th March.
A draft programme, registration details and other information can be found on the website
http://www.bris.ac.uk/music/events/severnpopnetwork-conf
The programme includes some presentations on fandom and fan funding, so would be interesting for fan scholars. Places are limited, so please register as soon as you can!
Will Brooker, who has written extensively about modern pop culture and fandom, launches a new web comic at midnight on 17th February, featuring a female superhero, Catherine Abigail Daniels, who is very different to female depictions and stereotypes we have seen before in comics. Not only is she a PhD student, but intelligence is her super power. Will Brooker has written the series, and designed and produced it with an almost entirely female creative team. We really recommend you go and take a look at this vibrant and exciting first issue!
Their website, where you can read the comic and see behind the scenes sketches is:
http://www.mysocalledsecretidentity.com/
They also have a Facebook page
(https://www.facebook.com/MySoCalledSecretIdentity)
and Twitter account (@cat_abi_daniels).
Issue 1 will be online permanently for free, in full colour, on its dedicated website, including sketches, designs and behind-the-scenes notes. Subsequent issues will be funded by donations through the site (suggested $5 minimum, with original art and other rewards for larger gifts). The money pays for the artists’ fees and a proportion is then donated to a women’s charity — for issue 2, they are funding
http://www.awayout.co.uk‘.
George Washington University have just announced this new course:
Fan Pilgrimages & Media Tourism (UW2020W)
What?
Tourists have a bad reputation. We are encouraged to look at their experience as necessarily inauthentic, doomed to superficiality at best, and at worst as an ongoing opportunity to insult other cultures. Fans of popular culture also have a bad reputation. Even though the media assures us that we are in the middle of a “Geek Revolution,” that same media is also quick to characterize fans as over invested, sometimes creepy, but more often just sad people who still need to “get a life”.
What then do we make of tourist/fans?
In this course we will examine the growing phenomenon of fan pilgrimage (growing in the sense that the tourism industry is now catering specifically to this market). We will consider fan pilgrims themselves – why do they go and what do they gain from the experience? Does fan pilgrimage, with its religious connotations, accurately capture that experience? How does fan pilgrimage differ from media tourism? We will also consider how key sites are presented to the public. How are they curated? What sorts of narratives are constructed? What constitutes an “authentic” experience for the fan tourist?
Our presence on-site will raise some fundamental questions about the research process and how we construct meaning around these sites. A research librarian will accompany us for a portion of the course, allowing for expanded discussion of on-site research methods.
Although based in London, the course will include group trips to Cardiff (Doctor Who) and Liverpool (The Beatles), with optional days out (sites to be determined). In London will we go on the Warner Brothers Studio tour of the Harry Potter sets as well as a tour of sites of filming in London. We will also go on a Sherlock Holmes walking tour of sites significant in both the short stories and recent films/television productions.
Students will have weekends free to visit other sites of their choosing in London and throughout the UK. These sites can range from the homes of literary figures to rock stars, libraries to cemeteries to football stadiums, theatres to churches to concert venues – in short any places that hold significance to the student based on their own fannish interests. This research will form the basis of students’ final papers.
Who?
This course is open to both undergraduates and graduate students. No previous knowledge of fan studies is needed for undergraduates.
Application Deadline: March 1, 2013
On-Line Dates: June 3-6, 2013
Overseas Dates: June 9-July 5, 2013
For more information on this course please go to the George Washington University Study Abroad Office
Or contact Katherine Larsen
klarsen@gwu.edu
The Media and Cinema Studies program and the Cinema and Interactive Media school at DePaul University are hosting a one-day celebratory colloquium for the 50th Anniversary of Doctor Who on Saturday, May 04, from 9-6. This event will feature roundtable discussions of scholars and fans to speak about the impact of the show in various arenas as well as screenings that span the half-century history of Doctor Who. The emphasis of the colloquium will be the cultural importance of Doctor Who.
The audience for this event is both graduate and undergraduate students, both fans and scholars, and the focus should be on informed and enlightening discussion rather than formal academic papers. “The Celebration of Doctor Who” will take place on DePaul’s Loop campus.
If you’re interested in speaking on a round table, please send a 250 word abstract of your topic and a CV or resume to Paul Booth (pbooth@depaul.edu) by Mar 15. Also please email Dr. Booth with any questions. We hope that you will be able to join in the discussion and celebration!
For more information, please contact Paul Booth at pbooth@depaul.edu
This conference offers a serious opportunity to bring together academics, enthusiasts, creative practitioners and popular writers in a shared discussion about the cultural legacy of Sherlock Holmes. The Strand Magazine and the Sherlock Holmes stories contribute one of the most enduring paradigms for the production and consumption of popular culture in the twentieth- and the twenty-first centuries. The stories precipitated a burgeoning fan culture including various kinds of participation, wiki and crowd-sourcing, fan-fiction, virtual realities and role-play gaming. All of these had existed before but they were solidified, magnified and united by Sherlockians and Holmesians in entirely new ways and on scales never seen before. All popular culture phenomena that followed (from Lord of the Rings to Twilight via Star Trek) shared its viral pattern. This conference aims to unpick the historical intricacies of Holmesian fandom as well as offering a wide variety of perspectives upon its newest manifestations. This conference invites adaptors of and scholars on Holmes, late-Victorian writing, and popular culture internationally to contribute to this scholarly conversation. Our aims are to celebrate Conan Doyle’s achievement, to explore the reasons behind Holmes’ enduring popularity across different cultures and geographical spaces, and to investigate new directions in Holmes’ afterlife. This conference will precede Holmes’ 160th birthday in 2014 and launch a new volume of essays on Holmes co-edited by Dr. Jonathan Cranfield and Tom Ue, and form part of the larger celebrations in London and internationally. Location:
Senate House, London
Dates: 21 and 22 June 2013
Possible Topics:
Holmes and Detective Fiction
Holmes and Science
Becoming Holmes
Holmes and Gender
Holmes’ Costume
Holmes in Retirement
Holmes and His Boswell
Holmes and Steampunk
Holmes and Philosophy
Holmes and Moriarty
Holmes computer games
Holmes/Victoriana in the graphic novel (From Hell, Grandeville…)
Post-2000 film and television adaptation
Fan letters addressed to Holmes
Submit proposals of 350 words and biographies of 150 words by email to BOTH Jonathan at J.L.Cranfield@ljmu.ac.uk AND Tom at ue_tom@hotmail.com by 15 January 2013.
Call for papers
Severn Pop Network inaugural conference
The small economies of the ‘new’ music industry
University of Bristol
25th March 2013
The music industry is in a well-publicised state of upheaval. The emergence of digital reproductive technologies (such as CD burners and MP3s), of digital distribution and consumption technologies (such as the iPod, iTunes and Spotify), and of new social media (such as Myspace and Facebook) have radically disturbed established systems of production and consumption. The benefits of these changes have fallen unequally and most cultural commentary has focused on the problems caused to the global record industry. However, one of the distinctive features of the music industry is the continuity between localised ‘para-industrial acts’ and mainstream commercial practices. The importance of geographic and genre-based scenes means that small music economies have a greater significance for the structural organisation of the music industry than in other cultural industries: ‘in the music industry… the small is as significant as the big’ (Frith, 2000).
This conference focuses on the small-scale commercial practices developing in the ‘new’ music industry, paying particular attention to local economies and ‘direct’ interactions between musicians and fans. While research exists on how declining record sales may be affecting the major industry, how (if at all) are they impacting musicians at a more local level? Is declining record income relevant or is it being offset by falling costs of recording and distribution? Are the disintermediating technologies of the internet offering greater opportunities for ‘monetising’ musical activities? How are musicians, managers, labels, promoters and fans adapting to the new circumstances? How are the relationships between these key players changing?
We invite papers on any aspect of the ‘new’ music industry outside/beyond the major-dominated mainstream. Possible topics include:
Fan funding and crowd sourcing (such as Amanda Palmer’s Kickstarter campaign)
The ‘monetisation’ of fan engagement
Initiatives to create local economy/scene infrastructure
The effects of changing regulation (including copyright) on local music economies
The emergence of new cultural/economic intermediaries (such as Bandcamp)
The role of recorded music in local music economies
New business models (such as Netlabels)
Promotion in the online music industry.
Please send proposals, of up to 250 words, for 20 minute papers, and a short author bio, to SevernPop@gmail.com. The deadline for submissions is 18 January and authors will be notified of the outcome by 30 January.
***
The Severn Pop Network is an academic network of scholars interested in popular music and based at several universities spanning the river Severn. We meet approximately four times each year for paper presentations and reading group discussions. If you would like to get involved, please contact SevernPop@gmail.com
TV Fangdom: A Conference on Television Vampires
7-8 June 2013
The University of Northampton
Vampires have always made charismatic characters and with the rise of the VILF and the fangbanger they are more popular than ever. This conference aims to explore the vampire particularly in relation to its presence on television. From Barnabas Collins to the Count von Count, from Mona the Vampire to True Blood’s Pam, vampires appear everywhere on television schedules and in television history, whether in serials, made-for-TV movies, adaptations of gothic novels, adverts or children’s TV. How has the vampire mythos been tailored for TV? Does the vampire’s appearance on a domestic medium like television blunt its fangs and tame its hypersexuality? What kind of audience have TV vampires attracted and how has their popularity been exploited? In what ways has the vampire been remade for different eras of television, different TV genres, or different national contexts?
Keynote and featured speakers:
• Brigid Cherry, editor of True Blood: Investigating Vampires and Southern Gothic and author of Horror (Routledge Film Guidebook)
• Marcus Recht, author of Der Sympatische Vampir
• Catherine Spooner, author of Contemporary Gothic
Proposals are invited on (but not limited to) the following topics:
• TV’s development and appropriation of the reluctant vampire
• Vampire hunters on TV
• The vampire as allegory
• Issues of gender and sexuality
• Narrative and structure
• Different formats (miniseries, animation, made-for-TV movie)
• Adaptation
• Visual style
• Sound and music
• Special effects
• Scheduling
• Marketing and advertising
• New media, ancillary materials and extended narratives
• Intersection with other media (novels, films, comics, video games, music)
• Audience and consumption (including fandom)
• Genre hybridity
• The vampire and children’s television
• Inter/national variants
• Translation and dubbing
We will be particularly interested in proposals on older TV shows, on those that have rarely been considered as vampire fictions, and on analysis of international vampire TV. The conference organisers welcome contributions from scholars within and outside universities, including research students, and perspectives are invited from different disciplines.
Please send proposals (250 words) for 20 minute papers plus a brief biography (100 words) to all three organisers by 16th December 2012.
s.abbott@roehampton.ac.uk
lorna.jowett@northampton.ac.uk
mike.starr@northampton.ac.uk
Conference Website: http://tvfangdom.wordpress.com/
The Fan Studies Network 