[ecrea] Bestseller and Blockbuster Culture CfP

Second Call for papers

Bestseller and Blockbuster Culture – Books, Cinema and Television

21-22 March 2013, Aalborg, Denmark

Bestsellers are on exclusive display in local supermarkets; in bookshops 
conspicuous screens and posters promote the weekly bestsellers, and in 
the digital world, a vast amount of websites, from encyclopaedias to 
newspapers and weblogs, are ranking their contributions according to 
their number of readers and/or responses. The bestseller and blockbuster 
lists and the TV ratings make up a barometer of shifting issues and 
attitudes of the surrounding society. Simultaneously, some popular 
genres appear to be constantly present, as is indeed the case for crime 
fiction and thrillers, but also biographies or biopics as well as 
historical fiction.

In spite of the influence of postmodernist theory and practice, the 
bestseller concept is often associated with literature of inferior 
quality, whereas the minority taste literature with its modest market 
shares is regarded a priori as 'high literature'. In cinema, a similar 
contrast is found between blockbuster movies and art cinema. In 
television, the concepts of 'quality television' and 'art television' 
have developed in contrast to e.g. 'trash television'. However, the 
domains of literature, film and TV reveal a multitude of examples of 
works combining quality and popularity, thus confirming the inadequacy 
of the common polarization. This is why a close investigation into the 
mechanisms and functions of the bestseller and blockbuster culture is 
needed, including its relations to crucial aesthetic concepts such as 
classics, canon and quality.

We welcome papers within (but not restricted to) the following research 
areas:

1. Bestseller and Blockbuster in Historical and Conceptualizing Perspectives

* Concepts of bestseller and/or blockbuster
* Highbrow, lowbrow, and middlebrow: cultural hierarchies in history
* Cultures of popular reading through history
* Bestsellers in history
* From Hollywood to Bollywood and Hong Kong Movies
* Corresponding concepts for television serials

2. Present and Future of Bestsellers and Blockbusters

* The book market today and in the future
* Trends in bestsellers of the present
* Cultural hierarchies of today
* E-books, e-literature and audiobooks
* Trends in current television serials or movies
* Telling stories on several platforms in media convergent cultures
* Bestsellers/blockbusters cross media
* Multimedial storytelling

3. The Quality Concept

* Bestsellers/blockbusters as trash and/or quality culture?
* Genre and style in bestsellers/blockbusters
* How can "Art Cinema" and "Art Television" be popular television?
* Bestsellers and standards of quality
* Production values and reception qualities

4. The production of bestsellers and blockbusters

* Planning a bestseller and a blockbuster
* International co-productions
* Bestseller and blockbuster celebrities
* The author as celebrity
* Adaptations: from bestseller to blockbuster or popular TV serials
* International, transcultural adaptions
* The tie in effect
* Spin off and merchandise cultures: marketing, bestseller tourism, 
computer games and cross media productions

Confirmed keynote speakers/panel participants and titles

Jim Collins, University of Notre Dame: "Fifty Shades of Seriality and 
Ereader Games"

Margaret Mackey, University of Alberta: "Bestsellers, Blockbusters, and 
the Ever-Expanding Multiverse of Spin-Offs"

Constantine Verevis, Monash University, Melbourne: "Blockbuster Remakes"

Lothar Mikos, Hochschule von film und Fernsehen, Babelsberg: 
"Transnational co-productions in film and television"

Ole Søndberg, Yellowbird: "Yellow Bird's ways of turning bestsellers 
into blockbusters – international co-operations and co-productions"

Organizers

The conference is organized by an interdisciplinary, cross institutional 
committee of Danish researchers, specializing in this area: Gunhild 
Agger, D Phil, Professor, Department of Culture and Global Studies, 
Aalborg University, Anne Marit Waade, PhD, Associate Professor, 
Department of Aesthetics and Communication - Media Science, Aarhus 
University, Rasmus Grøn, PhD, Associate Professor, Department of 
Communication and Psychology, Aalborg University, Hans Jørn Nielsen, 
PhD, Associate Professor, The Royal School of Library and Information 
Science. – Please contact Gunhild Agger

--

Gunhild Agger

Professor, D PHIL

Dep. of Culture and Global Studies

Aalborg University

Kroghstræde 3

DK-9220 Aalborg Øst

Tlf. 9940 9029



www.krimiforsk.aau.dk

www.cgs.aau.dk






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