CMCL majors: if you are interested in this, you should contact a CMCL faculty member.
CALL FOR PAPERS
For issue 2.4 (2011) of Film Matters—a special edition edited by Grinnell College undergraduates—we are calling for undergraduate students to submit papers on the study and issues concerning film genre. Compared to the auteurist approach in film criticism, genre studies allows us to look at the significance of groups of films to—as Thomas Shatz argues--provide the most effective means for understanding, analyzing, and appreciating popular cinema. Such an approach sees moviemaking as a dynamic process of exchange between the film industry and its audiences, allowing us to think about a movie not just as an aesthetic object, but also as a consumer item shaped by the shifting demands of the mass market. While some of the founding essays on genre films condemn them as nothing more than conservative ploys by the mainstream to uphold the status quo, others show how films can use the tools of genre to a subversive end. Even the very taxonomy of genres and their permeability are still issues of debate within the field. Genre studies has primarily focused on Hollywood productions leaving unanswered questions about the international influences that permeate American film. Issues of transnational cinema and the development of genre mark another rarely explored territory. For this reason, we are especially interested in papers that focus on national/transnational cinema and its use of genre.
Possible topics:
Genre and transnational cinema
Genre and issues of sexuality/queer theory
Comparative genre studies
A single text as representative of a genre
New genres, dead genres, hybrid genres
Genre theory
History of genre
Representations of race and ethnicity in genre
Examples of genre subversion
Calls for papers are open to any undergraduate student, currently enrolled at an institution of higher learning worldwide and working towards a bachelor’s degree in any field. Recent graduates are also eligible, providing they submit to a call the deadline for which occurs within six months from their graduation date. Any original piece of written scholarship, involving film criticism, history, or theory will be considered for publication. By submitting a paper for a call, authors are certifying that: (1) they are undergraduate students, currently enrolled at an institution of higher learning and working towards a bachelor’s degree (or they are recent graduates of six months or less from the date of the call deadline); and (2) their submitted essays are original pieces of written scholarship, authored solely by them, and have not been published in any form, in any publication, heretofore.
Submissions should be written in English and range from 2500 to 4000 words in length, with 3000 words being the ideal target. They should be scholarly in nature, with references to research formatted according to MLA guidelines (7th edition). Furthermore, they should make a well-supported argument and not simply report. Please limit your submissions to one per author, per call.
After a prescreening, submissions will undergo a blind peer review process, typical of scholarly journals. Referee comments will be returned to those authors who progress beyond the prescreening; unfortunately, due to the high number of submissions, the editorial board is unable to provide comments to those papers that do not make it past this point. Authors of accepted papers will be expected to work closely with the FM editorial board to revise their pieces prior to publication. Please include a cover sheet, which includes the author’s name, title of essay, institutional affiliation, and contact information; all other identifying information should be removed from the body of the text, in order to aid the blind peer review process.
Please email submissions (as Microsoft Word email attachments) and questions to: FilmMattersGenre@gmail.com
Submissions should be received by April 10th, 2011.
