CALL FOR PROPOSALS: Behind the Screen and Off the Stage: Film and Television Representations of American Entertainment Two-Day Virtual Conference 12 and 13 November 2021 London Metropolitan University Conference Convenor: Dr Karen McNally, author of The Stardom Film: Creating the Hollywood Fairy Tale (Wallflower–Columbia University Press, 2020) Keynote Speaker: Professor Steven Cohan, Dean’s Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Film and Screen Studies, Syracuse University and author of Hollywood by Hollywood: The Backstudio Picture and the Mystique of Making Movies (OUP, 2019) and Sunset Boulevard (BFI–Bloomsbury, forthcoming 2022) Movies and television shows set in the world of American entertainment have been a central feature of the big and small screens since the early days of Hollywood. From the backstage musical to the star biopic, and from the rise-and-fall narrative to critiques of the business of show, screen narratives have repeatedly sought to dramatize life behind the scenes of American entertainment. Their persistent allure is illustrated in film and television history ranging from Show People (1928) to All About Eve (1950), and from Valley of the Dolls (1967) to Fosse/Verdon (2019) and Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom (2020). The ten Oscar nominations announced for David Fincher’s 2020 film Mank only reinforce the appeal of the genre for audiences, directors and the film and television industries as reflections on entertainment history in the digital age. Narratives that take the audience behind the screen and off the stage combine the exposure of the practices and strategies of the entertainment industries and the production of American culture with the dramatization of the experiences of their personnel and the mythologizing of both. They traverse every genre of film and television, and tell stories of fictional and real-life characters, as well as many who occupy a position in between. These films and television shows illuminate moments of crisis and opportunity in the entertainment industries, and raise broader issues about what defines American entertainment and the nation’s culture and why. This two-day virtual conference seeks to explore the history and significance of these self-reflective films and television shows, considering a wide variety of approaches to their production and reception and to their representation of American entertainment behind the screen and off the stage. The conference will be scheduled as an afternoon and evening event on both days to accommodate international contributors and attendees. Topics may include but are not limited to: - On-screen use of behind-the-scenes spaces, e.g. backlot, dressing room, recording studio, rehearsal hall, office - Representations of entertainment traditions beyond the cinema or stage, such as the circus, fairs, nightclubs and casinos - Stardom (off the screen and stage, stars playing themselves or other stars, the star system) - Differing representations of American entertainment in international film and television - The American entertainer overseas - American entertainment on-the-road or out-of-town - The mythology of entertainment - Representing entertainment through gender, race, class or sexuality - Narrative use of industry events - The rise-and-fall narrative - Documentaries about American entertainment - The depiction of vaudeville and burlesque - The business of American entertainment - Non-star figures, e.g. the understudy, producer, director, composer - Transitional moments in film and television history - Biographic choices and inventions in the entertainment biopic Proposals for both individual papers and panels are invited. Abstracts for individual papers of 20 minutes should be a maximum of 300 words. Proposals for panels of three papers should include individual paper proposals and a 100 word overview of the panel topic. Please include a short author biog or biogs with your proposal. The deadline for submission of proposals is: Friday 11 June 2021. Please send proposals and any questions to the conference convenor, Dr Karen McNally, at the following email address: [log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>. From: Film and TV Studies Discussion List <[log in to unmask]> on behalf of SCREEN-L automatic digest system <[log in to unmask]> Reply-To: Film and TV Studies Discussion List <[log in to unmask]> Date: Wednesday, April 14, 2021 at 1:00 AM To: "[log in to unmask]" <[log in to unmask]> Subject: SCREEN-L Digest - 11 Apr 2021 to 13 Apr 2021 (#2021-30) There are 2 messages totaling 136 lines in this issue. Topics of the day: 1. New books: Resonant Matter; Transmedia Directors; and Dangerous Mediations 2. IAMHIST Blog ---- For past messages, visit the Screen-L Archives: https://listserv.ua.edu/archives/screen-l.html ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 12 Apr 2021 15:09:51 -0700 From: Carol Vernallis <[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>> Subject: New books: Resonant Matter; Transmedia Directors; and Dangerous Mediations Carol Vernallis, Holly Rogers and Lisa Perrott are happy to announce the third book in our Bloomsbury series, *New Approaches to Sound, Music and Media <https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/series/new-approaches-to-sound-music-and-media/>*<https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/series/new-approaches-to-sound-music-and-media/%3e*> . ( https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/series/new-approaches-to-sound-music-and-media/ ) In* Resonant Matter <https://www.amazon.com/Resonant-Matter-Promise-Hospitality-Approaches/dp/150134367X>, *Lutz Koepnick considers contemporary sound and installation art as a unique laboratory of hospitality amid inhospitable times. Inspired by Ragnar Kjartansson's nine-channel video installation *The Visitors *(2012), the book explores resonance-the ability of objects to be affected by the vibrations of other objects-as a model of art's fleeting promise to make us coexist with things strange and other. In a series of nuanced readings, Koepnick follows the echoes of distant, unexpected, and unheard sounds in twenty-first century art to reflect on the attachments we pursue to sustain our lives and the walls we need to tear down to secure possible futures. The book's nine chapters approach *The Visitors *from ever-different conceptual angles while bringing it into dialogue with the work of other artists and musicians such as Lawrence Abu Hamdan, Guillermo Galindo, Mischa Kuball, Philipp Lachenmann, Alvien Lucier, Teresa Margolles, Carsten Nicolai, Camille Norment, Susan Philipsz, David Rothenberg, Juliana Snapper, and Tanya Tagaq. With this book, Koepnick situates resonance as a vital concept of contemporary art criticism and sound studies. His analysis encourages us not only to expand our understanding of the role of sound in art, of sound art, but to attune our critical encounter with art to art's own resonant thinking. +++ We’d like to share that Bloomsbury is offering 10-20% off book titles. Please feel free to send Holly, Lisa, or me proposals for manuscripts and collected volumes. Below are descriptions of the first two books in our series. We hope you’ll check them out. *Transmedia Directors: Artistry, Industry and New Audiovisual Aesthetics* <https://www.amazon.com/Transmedia-Directors-Music-Sound-Approaches/dp/1501339273/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=Transmedia+Directors%3A+Artistry%2C+Industry+and+New+Audiovisual+Aesthetics&qid=1618265106&s=books&sr=1-1>, edited by Carol, Holly and Lisa, focuses on artist-practitioners who work across media, platforms and disciplines, including film, television, music video, commercials and the internet. Working in the age of media convergence, today's impresarios project a distinctive style that points toward a new contemporary aesthetics. The media they engage with enrich their practices – through film and television (with its potential for world-building and sense of the past and future), music video (with its audiovisual aesthetics and rhythm), commercials (with their ability to project a message quickly) and the internet (with its refreshed concepts of audience and participation), to larger forms like restaurants and amusement parks (with their materiality alongside today's digital aesthetics). These directors encourage us to reassess concepts of authorship, assemblage, transmedia, audiovisual aesthetics and world-building. Transmedia Directors weaves together insights about artist-practitioners' collaborative processes as well as strategies for composition, representation, subversion and resistance. Directors and practitioners discussed include Wes Anderson, Michael Bay, Sofia Coppola, David Fincher, Barry Jenkins, Bong Joon-ho, David Lynch and Lars von Trier; musicians and music-video/film directors David Bowie, Jess Cope, Dave Meyers, Emil Nava, Sigur Rós, and Floria Sigismondi; and Instagram impresario Jay Versace. In *Dangerous Mediations: Pop Music in a Philippine Prison Video* <https://www.amazon.com/Dangerous-Mediations-Philippine-Prison-Approaches/dp/1501331531>, Áine Mangaoang explores the 2007 event when an unlikely troupe of 1500 Filipino prisoners became Internet celebrities for their YouTube video of Michael Jackson's ground-breaking hit 'Thriller.' Taking this spectacular dance as a point of departure, Dangerous Mediations explores the disquieting development of prisoners performing punishment to a global, online audience. Combining analysis of this YouTube video with first-hand experiences from fieldwork in the Philippine prison, Áine Mangaoang investigates a wide range of interlocking contexts surrounding this user-generated text to reveal how places of punishment can be transformed into spaces of spectacular entertainment, leisure, and penal tourism. ---- Screen-L is sponsored by the College of Communication and Information Sciences, the University of Alabama: https://cis.ua.edu ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 13 Apr 2021 08:49:15 +0000 From: "Llewella Chapman (HIS - Visitor)" <[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>> Subject: IAMHIST Blog Dear all, This week in the IAMHIST Blog, Kat Pearson (University of Warwick) writes on collections held by the Media Archive for Central England (MACE) in relation to her PhD: Kat is researching television programming and UK Cities of Culture. Her blog piece contributes to the series 'A Day at the Archives...': A Day at the Archives… Media Archive for Central England (MACE) | (iamhist.net)<http://iamhist.net/2021/04/media-archive-central-england-mace/> Should anyone wish to contribute to this series, or 'Detectives in the Archives<http://iamhist.net/category/iamhist-blog/iamhist-blog-detectives-in-the-archive/><http://iamhist.net/category/iamhist-blog/iamhist-blog-detectives-in-the-archive/%3e>', please do contact me. Best wishes, Llewella ---- Online resources for film/TV studies may be found at ScreenSite https://screensite.org/ ------------------------------ End of SCREEN-L Digest - 11 Apr 2021 to 13 Apr 2021 (#2021-30) ************************************************************** ---- For past messages, visit the Screen-L Archives: https://listserv.ua.edu/archives/screen-l.html