Fandom
Come One Come All!
The 5th Annual Carleton University Film Studies Graduate Student Symposium:
Fandom in the Digital and Transmedia Age
March 6-7, 2015
Keynote Presentation: “‘P’ is for Fan Producer: The NicoNico Video Platform, Limited Animation, and the Kagerou Project” by Marc Steinberg.
CALL FOR PAPERS – ACADEMICS ASSEMBLE!
Browncoats (Firefly), Loki’s Army (Avengers), Bronies and Pega-Sisters (My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic), Gleeks (Glee), Potterheads (Harry Potter) and the fan community par excellence, Trekkies (Star Trek), are just a small sampling of some of the nicknames bestowed upon the fans of popular entertainments, demonstrating the strong communal bond of “fandom.” While the words “fan” and “fandom” can evoke the negative connotations of mindless, screaming, obsessive junkies, fandom’s influence on contemporary culture (from film to television, literature and video games) is undeniable.
Fandom in the Digital and Transmedia Age invites graduate students from across disciplines (Film and TV Studies, Video Game studies, English, Gender Studies, etc.) to share their research on fandom and fan cultures around the world. In doing so, this symposium provides an open and interactive forum to consider the ways in which fandom has shaped how audiences both engage with the products of art and entertainment and connect and interact with media industries and each other. We are especially interested in research on fandom in the context of digital technologies (the DVD, the internet, social media, second screen, etc), but we also welcome proposals that look at the historical antecedents of contemporary fan cultures (i.e., film societies, book clubs, Beatlemania, cinephelia, etc.).
Possible topics may include, but are not restricted to:
- The Economy of Fandom
- Transmedia Fandom
- Fandom and Labour (i.e., fan activities as free labour)
- Fandom and Production/Consumption (incl. fan texts/paratexts)
- Fan Activism and Participatory Culture (e.g., Avatar activism)
- Fandom and Celebrity
- Branding Fandom
- Fandom and Authorship (the fan-author relationship / the fan-as-author)
- Gendering Fandom/Gender in Fandom (Gamergate, etc.)
- Racializing Fandom/Race and Ethnicity in Fandom
- Fandom and Community
- Cross-Cultural Fandoms (Animé/Manga, Martial Arts Films, Anne of Green Gables, etc…)
- Non-Western Fan Cultures
Submission Deadline: February 1, 2015
Please submit an abstract of no more than 250 words. Include your name, degree/department, email address, and the title of your presentation in the body of the email.
All proposals (and related questions) should be directed to: ssacfilmsymposium@gmail.com
Symposium Organizers: Derek Daniher and Elizabeth MacLeod