[ecrea] CFP - Tights and Tiaras: Female Superheroes and Media Cultures

* *

*TIGHTS AND TIARAS: FEMALE SUPERHEROES AND MEDIA CULTURES*

*EXTENDED CALL FOR PAPERS*

* *

*12-13 August 2011*

*Monash** University, Melbourne, Australia*

*/Sponsored by/**: The Centre for the Book, Monash University//*

In 2010, the 600th issue of /Wonder Woman/ celebrated the Amazonian 
superhero’s longevity in print media. To mark the occasion, the issue 
reinvented the superhero’s iconic costume to make it less revealing, 
introducing dark trousers and a blue, starred jacket. This shift to more 
practical, less sexualised wear arguably reflects changing attitudes 
about gender and the growing female presence in the comics industry. 
Nonetheless, the change prompted some controversy online amongst fan 
communities, again highlighting the problematic history of the 
representation of women as powerful figures.

‘Tights and Tiaras: Female Superheroes and Media Cultures’ is a one and 
a half day interrogation of the construct of the ‘superhero’ as female 
and more generally of the representation of powerful female figures in 
fantasy and science fiction. Looking at a range of print and visual 
media, papers will explore the range of female characters in superhero 
narratives, the material history of the female superhero, and how visual 
and textual constructs of female heroes - and anti-heroes - have been 
re-imagined, re-invented and re-packaged over time.

Keynote Speaker: Karen Healey

Karen Healey is the writer of the popular archived feminist comics blog 
Girls Read Comics (And They're Pissed). She is currently an acclaimed 
author of young adult fiction and is completing a dissertation on 
superhero comics as fan-created texts at the University of Melbourne.

*Possible topics include:*

● The representation of female superheroes in print and visual media – 
in comics, comix, graphic novels, novels, short stories, fan fiction, 
film, television, and other media forms

● Distribution of narratives and images of female superheroes across 
multiple genres and media platforms

● The female hero quest

● Deconstructing the superhero trope – studies in feminism, patriotism, 
politics, race, satire, comedy, and so on

● Constructs of the female supervillain

● Superhero fashions, including costumes, cosplay and sartorial signifiers

● Female collaboration in comics

● Female comics artists: historical and contemporary

● Female comics audiences and fan communities

● Analysis of the institutional, commercial and licensing histories of 
female superhero properties

● The construction of powerful women in fantasy and science fiction genres

Please submit abstracts of no more than 250 words, accompanied by a 
brief bio, by emailed attachment to (tightsandtiaras /at/ monash.edu). The 
extended deadline for abstracts is *26 April, 2011*.

Conference website: 
http://arts.monash.edu.au/ecps/conferences/tights-and-tiaras/

Conference email: (tightsandtiaras /at/ monash.edu)

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Dr Simone Murray

Senior Lecturer in Communications and Media Studies

& Director, The Centre for the Book

School of English, Communications & Performance Studies

Monash University

Menzies building (#11), Room W709

Clayton VIC 3800, AUSTRALIA

Email: (Simone.Murray /at/ monash.edu)

Tel. +61 (0)3 9905 2220

Fax. +61 (0)3 9905 2135

http://www.arts.monash.edu.au/ecps/people/simone-murray/

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