Edited Collection: Lost and Othered Children in
Contemporary Cinema
Call for contributions to Starlight and Shadows: Images of Lost and Othered Children in
Contemporary Cinema. [tentative title]
Seeking original articles for an
edited collection about lost and “Othered” children in contemporary cinema (from
1980 to the present). In contrast to traditional portraits of sweetness
and light, there is a large body of cinematic works that provide a counter note
of darkness to the more common notion of the innocent and pure child. These
films depict childhood has as a site of knowingness, despair, sexuality, death,
and even madness. Starlight and Shadows [tentative title]explores this filmic imagining of the dark side of childhood.
Lost children are involuntary
wanderers who are victimized, exploited, abandoned. Children who are “Othered”
are forced to the fringes of childhood, are ostracized, ignored, victims of
colonization, or part of Diasporas. These children navigate their way through
the world living in the shadow of happy families, in murky or threatening environs,
or living a form of placelessness. They must depend on their wits or, in some
cases, on otherworldly influences. They negotiate a darkness that negates the
Romantic view of childhood innocence. Submissions to Starlight and Shadows can include, but are not limited to,
depictions of children negotiating race, gender, class, mental illness, forced
migration, superstitions, peer pressure, crime, or other social and material
conditions in which the film constructs a child character positioned outside the
romantic notion of the child.
Essays that take a child-centric
approach, interrogate the idea of the Western romanticized child, or that draw
upon multi-disciplinary theoretical frameworks including psychology, film studies,
literature, women studies, and queer studies are encouraged. Contributions should be academic in nature and
follow MLA documentation.
Proposals are welcome on, but certainly
not limited to:
Neil Jordan
· In
Dreams
· The
Company of Wolves
Lee Daniels
· Precious
· Monsters
Ball
Stephen Spielberg
· ET
· Hook
· Jurassic
Park
Danny Boyle
· Millions!
· 28
Days
· Slumdog
Millionaire
M. Knight Shyamalan
· Unbreakable
· Wide
Awake
· Signs
· The
Sixth Sense
· The
Village
· The
Last Airbender
Guillermo Del Toro
· Pan’s
Labyrinth
· The
Devil’s Backbone
· Hellboy
Stephen Spielberg
· Empire
of the Sun
· AI
Contributors are to send a 200-500
word abstract, or, if complete, the full essay, a short biography, and complete
contact information to Debbie Olson, [log in to unmask]
Deadline for abstracts is August
1, 2010. Full essays are due no later than December 31, 2010. Publication through Edwin Mellen Press.
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Screen-L is sponsored by the Telecommunication & Film Dept., the
University of Alabama: http://www.tcf.ua.edu
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