Call for Papers (Please circulate widely)
Ephemeral Cinema, Invisible Media: Sound and Image at the Edge of
Awareness
Spectator, Volume 26, No. 2 (Spring 2006)
This issue of Spectator will explore media that hover at the
intersection of the fleeting and the disposable. We are soliciting
articles, essays, interviews, ethnographies (textual and visual), and
short reviews that examine from historical, political, economic, and
cultural perspectives trash and exploitation cinema, youth and minority
media production, art film and video, ultra low budget production,
ambient media and other production forms that are for the most part
ignored or excluded from the ecology of mainstream and academic media
discourse. In short, this issue will focus on media that are either
rendered invisible by virtue of their difference from Hollywood movies
and network-cable television or are momentarily seen by viewers and
then for the most part forgotten.
Furthermore many of these discarded cultural forms have been recently
“discovered” or rediscovered by scholars and critics and are now moving
toward institutional consecration. How these media respond to this
increasing legitimization and the implication this has for dominant
media forms is also open for examination.
Of course, there is a considerable amount of writing over the past two
hundred years that has celebrated the discarded and the degraded as a
shadow to that which is considered ennobled or transcendent. It has
been pointed out by commentators, Foucault and Derrida most famously,
that this shadow is intrinsically linked to the success of that which
dominates. This discourse of shadow and light – at issue a politics of
absence and presence – will serve as a point of departure from which to
acknowledge and analyze media that are either ignored for reasons of
aesthetic elitism and “good taste” or for reasons of invisibility due
to ubiquity. In addition, many of these shadow media forms have
constituent groups – fans, bank managers, teenagers – that consume and
produce them and these specific cultural groupings may be explored as
well.
Manuscripts submitted for consideration should look toward
understanding why some media forms strike the eye and why some merely
glance aside.
Deadline for Submission: December 1, 2005
Spectator is a biannual publication of the Division of Critical Studies
at the School of Cinema-Television, University of Southern California.
Manuscripts that address the above topic are now invited for
submission:
Topics may include, but are not limited to, any of the following:
Histories of the Ephemeral and the Invisible
Ethnographies of the Ephemeral and the Invisible
Cultures of Trash, Camp, Cult, and Exploitation
Auteurs of the Ephemeral (Derek Jarman, Andy Warhol, Doris Wishman and
many others)
Trash Genres
Snapshots and Memory
Home Movies & Baby Pictures
Comic Books and Strips (Smiling Jack, Brenda Starr, Blackhawk, Sugar
and Spice, etc.)
Public Screens: Bank Machines, Sports Bars, Information Kiosks
Ambient Sound and Image
Recycled Media
Indigenous Media
Community and Public Access Television
Movies by Kids, Tots, and Teens
Napkin Doodles
Lost Websites, Movies, and TV
Misremembered Media
Scratched 78rpm Records
Answering Machine Messages
Manuscripts to be considered for publication should be sent to:
Dan Leopard, Editor
Spectator
1222 Hi Point Street
Los Angeles, CA 90035-2612
Attn: Spectator Submission
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One hard copy manuscript should be submitted as well as a copy on disk.
Submissions can also be e-mailed directly. Manuscripts should include
the title of the contribution and the name of the author (or authors),
as well as the postal address, e-mail address, and phone numbers for
the author who will work with the editor on any revisions. All pages
should be numbered consecutively. Contributions should be no more than
5,000 words in length. Submissions should also include an abstract and
a brief biographic description of the author. Rejected manuscripts will
not be returned.
Articles submitted to Spectator should not be under consideration by
any other journal.
Reviews are welcome and may vary in length from 300 to 1,000 words. For
book reviews, please include the full title of the book, retail price,
and ISBN at the beginning of the review. For media reviews, please
include full title, creative credits, and release date at the beginning
of the review.
Electronic Submissions and Formatting. Authors should send copies of
their work via e-mail as electronic attachments. Please keep backup
files of all materials. Files should be in Microsoft Word formatted for
PC or Mac depending on the author's preference. Endnotes should conform
to the Chicago Manual of Style.
Upon acceptance, a format guideline will be forwarded to all
contributors as to image and text requirements.
Current Board for Spectator
Founding Editor
Marsha Kinder
Managing Editor
William Whittington
Issue Editor
Dan Leopard
Subscription Information
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School of Cinema-Television
Division of Critical Studies
Lucas Building, Room 405
Los Angeles, CA 90089-2211
Attn: Spectator Subscription
Tel: (213) 740-3334
Fax: (213) 740-9471
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