CFP: The Star and Celebrity Confessional Special Themed Issue: Social Semiotics Guest Editor: Sean Redmond Social Semiotics (http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals/titles/10350330.asp) is soliciting papers for a special themed issue on the star and celebrityconfessional. The confessional, taken to be any moment in which a star, celebrity, or fan engages in revelatory acts, has become one of the dominant ways in which fame is circulated and consumed. The celebrity confessional involves 'the combination of reflexivity about the business of being a celebrity, emotional interiority and self criticism',and it is where the fan is 'invited to feel with their feelings' (Littler, 2004: 13/18). Through the confessional text (played out in the biopic, documentary, talk-show interview, self-reflexive song lyric, star blog, and celebrity magazine interview), the celebrity seemingly attempts to speak openly and honestly about where they have come from. Such a confession(s) would include their humble beginnings; the troubles, hardships and corruption they may have faced along their journey to fame; who they really are underneath the fame gown; and how alike they are to the everyday people who watch their films, buy their records, go to their concerts, and watch their soccer or tennis matches. Similarly, the fan/consumer who confesses their desire for, and identification with, the star or celebrity, on line, in diaries, reveal a para-social relationship that is in part devotional, obsessional, but also potentially intimate and fully lived. It is one of the mechanisms 'through which relationships, identity, and social and cultural norms are debated, evaluated, modified and shared' (Turner, 2004:24). In this Special Edition of the journal Social Semiotics, the different manifestations, meanings, and processes of the star and celebrity confessional will be explored. Potential themes/texts/contexts/case studies could include: The confessional interview The confessional song Authenticity and artifice as modes of confessional expression Confession as myth The race/sex/sexuality/class of the confession Confession as intimacy Fan confessionals Confession as transgression and empowerment Confession as a form of group belonging Religious deification and the confession Confession as therapy The commodity confessional text The confessional star or celebrity Confession as damage Confession as obsession The confessional talk of fame Social Semiotics is committed to inter and cross-disciplinary approachesthat are politically and historically engaged, and on publishing papers that reveal something profound about the nature of everyday life. Please send your abstract (500-750 words in length), or completed essay (5,000-7,000 words, Harvard style of referencing), plus a brief biographic statement, as e-mail attachments (in Word ) to the editor: Sean Redmond [log in to unmask] Senior Lecturer in Film Studies, Victoria University of Wellington, Wellington, New Zealand Deadline for abstract submission: February 1st 2007 If your abstract is chosen for final consideration, you will have until October 31st (2007) to complete the first draft. Completed Essays submitted by the February deadline will have a similar period of time for any re-drafting that needs to be done. Queries or questions to [log in to unmask] ---- Online resources for film/TV studies may be found at ScreenSite http://www.ScreenSite.org