[ecrea] CFP Exoticism in Contemporary Transnational Cinema: Music and Spectacle

*Call for Papers*

*Exoticism in Contemporary Transnational Cinema: Music and Spectacle*

*Humanities and Arts Research Institute, Royal Holloway, University of 
London *
*
*
*16 June 2017*
*Senate House and 11 Bedford Square, London*

 From the travelogues of early cinema over ethnographic documentaries 
to contemporary transnational and world cinema, film has always played a 
pivotal role in mediating visions of cultural Otherness. By projecting 
alluring images of far-away exotic landscapes, peoples and their local 
traditions, contemporary exotic cinema seems to invite a sympathetic 
identification with the Other and has the capacity to promote a sense of 
cosmopolitan connectivity. However, this is not how exoticism is 
generally perceived. Due to its colonial legacy and Eurocentric origins, 
it is a highly contested discourse on cultural difference that continues 
to spark heated public debates, as testified by the controversies 
surrounding films like /Slumdog Millionnaire/ (Danny Boyle, 2009) and 
/Water/ (Deepa Mehta, 2005). On the other hand, Hou Hsiao-Hsien’s 
visually opulent /The Assassin/ (2015) and Ciro Guerra’s Amazonian 
adventure drama /Embrace of the Serpent/ (2015) have won critical 
acclaim despite their overt exoticism.

This interdisciplinary conference, organised by Royal Holloway’s 
Humanities and Arts Research Institute, aims to reassess the exotic in 
contemporary transnational cinema. It asks how the collapsed distances 
of globalisation and the transnational flows of media and people have 
affected exoticism, which is no longer exclusively the projection of 
Orientalist fantasies of the Other from one centre, the West, but which 
emanates from multiple localities and is multi-directional in 
perspective. Bollywood’s song and dance sequences, performed against the 
backdrop of the Swiss Alps and other spectacular foreign settings, the 
cocktail of exotic locations from around the world that add local colour 
to James Bond movies and the transnational revival of the Chinese wuxia 
genre all capitalise on the spectacle of the exotic in a bid for box 
office success. Music, as a multi-layered semiotic device, has been used 
abundantly to evoke the Other in background scores as well as in song 
sequences in musical films. Unfamiliar sounds may also be used for the 
purposes of aural spectacle, feeding demand for newness in rapidly 
changing capitalist entertainment industries. In addition, its 
flexibility allows for Other sounds to be interwoven with familiar idioms.

Bringing together researchers with special interest and expertise in 
contemporary transnational and world cinema, film music and 
ethnomusicologists, this conference will explore how contemporary 
transnational cinemas imagine the exotic, paying particular attention to 
the role of sound, music and spectacle. Topics for papers may include 
but are not limited to:

·The visual - or aural - spectacle of the exotic

·The sound of the exotic

·Exoticism and film genre

·Exotic stardom

·Self-exoticisation and auto-ethnography

·Indigeneity and exoticism

·Consuming the exotic

·Exoticism and (visual) pleasure

·Poverty porn and other contested forms of exoticism

·Exoticising nature and wildlife

·Exoticism, (imperial) nostalgia films and heritage cinema

·Exotic musical sources, copyright and ownership

·Performers of and resources for exotic music in transnational film 
industries

·The reception of transnational exotic film and film music

·The political economy of the exotic in transnational film and film music

*Confirmed Keynotes speakers: *

Professor Rachel Dwyer, Professor of Indian Cultures and Cinema, School 
of Oriental and African Studies, University of London

Dr Song Hwee Lim, Associate Professor and Director of the Centre for 
Cultural Studies, The Chinese University of Hong Kong

Dr Laudan Nooshin, Reader in Ethnomusicology, City University of London

*Submission of abstracts: *

Please submit the title of your proposed paper, a 350-word**abstract 
together with a short biographical note, contact details and 
institutional affiliation (where appropriate) to: 
(ExoticismConference /at/ rhul.ac.uk) <mailto:(ExoticismConference /at/ rhul.ac.uk)>

*Submission deadline: 15 March 2017*

You will be notified by 15 April 2017 whether or not your proposal has 
been accepted.

The conference registration fee will be around £30 and include lunch, 
teas and coffees.

*Conference committee:*

Professor Daniela Berghahn, Department of Media Arts and Director of the 
Humanities and Arts Research Institute, Royal Holloway, University of London

Professor Anna Morcom, Department of Music, Royal Holloway, University 
of London

Katie Young, PhD student, Department of Music, Royal Holloway, 
University of London


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