*CALL FOR PAPERS*
DEADLINE FOR SUBMISSIONS EXTENDED UNTIL 14TH APRIL 2010
The Biographical Narrative in 21st Century Film and Television
POSTGRADUATE SEMINAR SERIES
THURSDAY 27TH MAY & THURSDAY 3RD JUNE 2010
This seminar series welcomes proposals for papers from postgraduate students
that consider the biographical narrative, the ‘Biopic’, in cinema and
television of the last decade.
Despite its status as one of the most commercially and critically successful
film and television genres of the 21st Century the Biopic, and its recent
resurgence, has received relatively little scholarly attention; Carolyn
Anderson and John Lupo in the introduction to the ‘Journal of Popular Film
and Television’s special issue on Biopics describe the form as an
‘overlooked, underappreciated genre whose [...] manifestations deserve new
and rigorous scrutiny.’ This seminar series aims address the need for a
reconsideration of the Biopic and its place in contemporary popular culture.
Submissions of abstracts of 250-300 words for papers of 20 minutes in length
are invited.
Possible topics for papers include, but are by no means limited to:
* Biopics and national/international histories
* Biopics and the question of ‘authenticity’
* Biopics and celebrity
* Biographical films and nostalgia
* Biopics and their representations of race, gender, sexuality.
* Postmodern, ironic Biopics and the role of the biographical film in
contemporary US Independent cinema.
* Biopics and the ‘auteur’
* Star personas and the portrayal of the biographical subject
* The biographical television series and the place of the Biopic in
contemporary television programming.
* Biographical documentaries
* The biographical narrative in European and World cinemas.
Please submit abstracts by 14th April 2010 to Victoria Kearley,
vlk204@soton.ac.uk
