CALL FOR PAPERS
CFP: Queer Sinners and Saints
An area of multiple panels for the 2016 Film & History Conference:
Gods and Heretics: Figures of Power and Subversion in Film and Television
October 26-October 30, 2016
The Milwaukee Hilton
Milwaukee, WI (USA)

DEADLINE for abstracts: June 1, 2016

AREA: Queer Sinners and Saints

The resurrection of discourses on morality, coupled with increasing legal and social acceptance for LGBT identities, makes this a ripe time to investigate how queerness, especially queer film and television, are understood in contemporary society.  This area seeks to investigate godly and heretical queerness not only in representation, but also in industrial practices, production, and reception.  

As queer characters increasingly figure in mainstream narratives, how has queerness evolved? What aspects of LGBT characters are promoted or repressed? Who's in and who's out? And how did queerness in the past find expression? Was the queer always the sinner, the heretic? Moving beyond reductive moral examinations of homosexuality, this area seeks to investigate the power and subversion of the queer figure, both on screen and off in the film and television industry.   

Queer Sinners and Saints invites abstracts for 20-minute papers on aspects of queer film and television pertaining to the conference theme “Gods and Heretics.”  Possible topics for papers:

•	Hagiographies of queer media celebrities, how celebrities use their fame to support or challenge LGBT causes vilification of “bad” queer celebrities
•	Audience responses to godly or heretical queer characters, film, or television series
•	Complex morality within queer stories or queer industry practices
•	Canonization and canon formation within queer film and television, inclusion/exclusion of particular films and television series on course syllabi and in research 
•	The rise, fall, and/or resurrection of queer media, such as film festivals, television networks, production companies

Proposals for complete panels (three related presentations) are also welcome, but they must include an abstract and contact information, including an e-mail address, for each presenter. For updates and registration information about the upcoming meeting, see the Film & History website (www.filmandhistory.org).

Please e-mail your 200-word proposal by 1 June 2016 to the area chair:
Bridget Kies
University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
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