*/_Call for Papers~ Watching Teen TV: Text and Culture_/* Editors: Sharon Marie Ross and Louisa Stein /Watching Teen TV/ explores the phenomenon of “teen TV” in the United States, examining the meanings and manifestations of this category from a variety of perspectives (academic, cultural and social, industrial, and historical). What is “Teen TV” and how has it contributed to understandings of being a teen in the United States? “Teen TV” is an intriguing concept to explore today, particularly given the sustained and apparently always growing importance of the teen market to advertisers relying on television to reach that market. The questions that arise when considering Teen TV are many, yet few books have examined this aspect of television in the U.S. from a comprehensive perspective. Further, programs aimed at teens and/or featuring teen characters exist in a rapidly changing cultural and industrial environment. Today, entire networks are a part of this picture, as well as forms of media that extend beyond television proper (the Internet, cell phones, movies, music, magazines…); “classic” shows featuring visions of teenagers from the past are part of current teen lexicon—and current teen characters resonate with viewers in their thirties and forties. These are but a few of the themes and topics Watching Teen TV seeks to examine. In this anthology, the editors welcome a range of articles that pose as many questions as they seek to answer, with the hopes of beginning a rich discussion about Teen TV—whatever that might be. We invite contributions that authors think would fit into the scope of this book. We propose the following three sections (with suggested themes and topics) as a means of helping prospective contributors as they develop abstracts, but we encourage authors to submit abstracts that they feel fit the purpose of the anthology overall: SECTION 1: CONTEXTS~ Industry, Production, Society/Culture, History * construction of/conception of teen TV audience * variations in address: multigenerational market, family market, specific teen market, specific adult market, "adult" content directed at teen market * teen audience in relation to children's audience/children's TV * pre-teen audience, tweens * network identity investment in teen audience--WB, UPN, Nick, The N * connections between the dynamics of teen TV and other media (e.g., Harry Potter phenomenon, video games, teen web culture, etc.) * relationship between Teen TV and teen film re: production, content, reception, history * teen TV changing in shifting multimedia context (cable, cell phones, Internet, DVD, etc) * Teen TV and music culture—MTV, TRL, also featured music in programs like /Buffy/, /The OC/, /Smallville/, etc. * crossover trends (film with TV, magazines featuring TV stars, singers on TV…) * changes in advertising--integrated advertising vs. commercial spots, commercial discourse among fans * redefinition of "quality" teen TV; relationship between Teen TV, “Cult” TV, and “Quality” TV * teens and cultural production, girl culture and cultural production * girl culture/boy culture as market * U.S. shows marketed globally, non-U.S. shows marketed in the States * marketing to teen audience through new media technologies SECTION 2: RECEPTION & FANDOM * teen TV audience activism/campaigns, attempted communication with networks * producers interacting with fans, addressing fans in text and metatext * fan communities * fan art, fiction, reviews and analyses * queer reading and slash * fan political readings and political critiques * reception of U.S. teen TV abroad * reception of non-U.S. programming in the States * Teen TV fan communities within context of broader online fandom communities * star reception, star followings * fan use of new media technologies and interface SECTION THREE: FORMAL ANALYSES~ Representation, Ideology, Narrative Structure, Genre * seriality versus episodic teen TV * genre combination and revision in teen TV, incorporation of disparate genres (such as fantasy, noir, etc.) * specific genres such as animation and reality * formal play and innovation in programs (such as /Twin Peaks/ and /Veronica Mars/) * representation of teens in “quality” cable programming (such as /The Sopranos/, /Queer as Folk/, /Six Feet Under/) * representations of gender, sexuality, race, class, * representations of politics (e.g., /The Daily Show, Live 8/) * representations of friendship and other social bondings (parents/missing parents, siblings, peers, mentors) * representations of institutions (such as family, church and religion, work, school, sports, youth subcultures) * representations of developmental “issues” (such as adolescence and teen bodies, adolescence as wider cultural theme, sexuality, sex, education, femininity, feminism, masculinity, queerness) * representations of culture proper (youth popular culture—music, TV, film; mass culture, technology and the Internet) Please send a 350-400 word abstract with an abbreviated CV to: Sharon Ross [log in to unmask] <mailto:[log in to unmask]> AND Louisa Stein [log in to unmask] <http://by11fd.bay11.hotmail.msn.com/cgi-bin/compose?mailto=1&msg=MSG1123799248.10&start=7144473&len=10922&src=&type=x&[log in to unmask]&cc=&bcc=&subject=&body=&curmbox=F000000001&a=2ec08a32820d3a4dc5479f228c43567dc9fd3ed4608c0c21a3a14ba85b584798> by November 1^st , 2005. We plan on responding to all proposals by mid-December and asking for drafts of a 20-25 page article (including endnotes) by April 1^st , 2006. Please feel free to contact either Sharon or Louisa by email if you have any questions. ---- Online resources for film/TV studies may be found at ScreenSite http://www.ScreenSite.org