[ecrea] CFP: The Cult of Personality: Constructing and Defining the Cult Film Star

> The Cult of Personality: Constructing and Defining the Cult Film Star
>
> Edited by Kate Egan and Sarah Thomas (Aberystwyth University, UK)
>
>
>
> Proposals are invited for contributions to an edited collection on 
> cult film stars. The term 'cult film star' has been employed, and 
> used as a common-sense term, in publicity and popular journalistic 
> writing for at least the last twenty-five years (for instance, in 
> Danny Peary's 1991 reference book, Cult Movie Stars).  However, what 
> makes cult film stars or actors distinct or different from other 
> film stars has rarely been addressed, with the cult star label often 
> being attributed to particular stars or actors in a rather arbitrary 
> or random way. This edited collection aims to contribute to two key 
> areas of debate and enquiry within film studies - star studies and 
> cult film studies - by bringing together contributions focused on 
> case studies of particular film stars/actors who have been 
> considered to have a particular 'cult' appeal (whether actors or 
> stars associated with Hollywood filmmaking, independent filmmaking 
> or cinemas beyond Hollywood). The question that should unite all 
> contributions to the book is: what are the industrial, 
> performance-related, formal/aesthetic, cultural or discursive 
> processes that inform the naming of particular film actors as 'cult 
> actors' or 'cult stars'? Consequently, we are happy to receive 
> contributions that employ methods associated with: textual analysis, 
> analysis of star performance, star labour, historical reception 
> studies and/or audience research.
>
>
>
> Questions that could be addressed in contributions may include, but 
> are not limited to:
>
> 1.       What role do particular stars or actors play in films that 
> have been designated as cult?  How do particular stars or actors 
> relate to qualities that have been identified as important to many 
> cult films, such as generic hybridity, self-consciousness, 
> reflexivity, and excessiveness?
>
> 2.       How are cult stars constructed and defined as alternative 
> examples of stardom?  Is the status of particular stars/actors as 
> 'cult' related to their marginal status as 'other' or with other 
> associations of 'difference' (for example, in relation to 
> employment, race, nationality, sexuality)?
>
> 3.       How does the status of particular stars/actors as 'cult' 
> relate to issues of cultural capital or tie-ins (for example, the 
> advertising of particular kinds of products)?
>
> 4.       How are particular stars/actors employed in films to 
> signify difference or off-beatness or other such qualities (for 
> example, through cameos or supporting roles)?
>
> 5.       Does the status of particular stars/actors as 'cult' relate 
> to their association with particular genres or modes of filmmaking 
> (for example, horror, art cinema or independent American cinema)?
>
> 6.       Do cult stars or actors employ particular performance 
> styles that set them apart from more conventional performances, such 
> as self-conscious, non-naturalistic or overplayed styles?
>
> 7.       Are certain cult stars or actors designated as such because 
> of the cult status of a character they have played?
>
> 8.       Does the designation of particular stars/actors as 'cult 
> stars' occur retrospectively (i.e. after their death, or through the 
> rediscovery of particular stars via film festivals, the internet or 
> DVD re-releases)?
>
> 9.       Is there an alternative star system associated with, for 
> instance, straight to DVD releases or films distributed via the internet?
>
> 10.   Is the status of someone as a cult star or actor related to 
> his/her associations with other mediums outside of the cinema (for 
> example, radio or the music industry)?
>
>
>
> Please send proposals (of between 300-350 words) to Dr Kate Egan 
> (<mailto:(kte /at/ aber.ac.uk)>(kte /at/ aber.ac.uk)) and Dr Sarah Thomas 
> (<mailto:(skt /at/ aber.ac.uk)>(skt /at/ aber.ac.uk)) by Friday 29th January 2010.

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