[ecrea] Bad Objects: The Velvet Light Trap Issue #85 CFP

The Velvet Light Trap is proud to present the CFP for our 85th issue: 
Bad Objects!

The concept of a “bad object” has long been a moving target in media 
studies. Although the term is rarely defined with any specificity, a 
“bad object” is typically a text that is used in critical analysis with 
the implicit or explicit acknowledgement of its perceived violations of 
“good” taste. Excess, camp, escapism, the abject, and negotiations of 
the margins of mainstream culture often mark these objects. The concept 
is important in feminist and psychoanalytic theories, as well as in 
genre studies, in which it is mobilized to justify the examination of 
B-horror, exploitation film, or pornography, for example. The term has 
helped challenge hierarchies of medium specificity. For example, Michele 
Hilmes has written that television was treated as a “bad object” of 
media studies, a sentiment echoed by many other scholars. These uses of 
the term reflect the fact that age, class, gender, and race have often 
been motivating factors in the construction of evaluative canons.

Yet the applications of this term have rapidly diversified in the past 
decade. With the increase in scholarship on new media, social media, 
video games, and global flows, together with greater attention to 
diverse identities behind/on/in front of the screen, the conversation on 
taste cultures has shifted significantly. This issue seeks to expand or 
question the boundaries and applications of the “bad object” as an 
analytical framework. We welcome pieces that challenge the foundations 
of this divide. How can we re-calibrate these and other approaches to 
address purported bad objects within our contemporary media landscape? 
Can we approach bad objects beyond the text itself in issues of 
production cultures, distribution, and consumption?

This issue welcomes submissions that push beyond the binaries of "good" 
and "bad," "serious" and "ephemeral," and “high” and “low” culture, 
exploring some of the following themes:

  * Malleability of cultural hierarchies through time and place
  * Consumption of bad objects (hate-watching, “so bad it’s good,”
    cringe-pop, etc.)
  * Teaching with bad objects
  * Discourse as bad objects (trade press, fake news, toxic fandoms, etc.)
  * Perceptions of formats and genres as bad objects
  * Diversity of reception contexts (mainstream, cult, fan, subversive,
    revolutionary, and so on)
  * Definitions of “bad” in relation to queer media, gender, race,
    class, and ability
  * Distribution, exhibition, and transnational flow of bad objects
  * New takes on paracinema, trash, kitsch, and camp
  * Afterlife of bad objects (recirculation, remixing, preservation)
Submission Guidelines
Submissions should be between 6,000 and 7,500 words, formatted in 
Chicago Style. Please submit an electronic copy of the paper, along with 
a separate one-page abstract, both saved as a Microsoft Word file. 
Remove any identifying information so that the submission is suitable 
for anonymous review. Quotations not in English should be accompanied by 
translations. Send electronic manuscripts and/or any questions to 
(vltcfp /at/ gmail.com) <mailto:(vltcfp /at/ gmail.com)> by January 25.

About the Journal
TVLT is a scholarly, peer-reviewed journal of film, television, and new 
media. The journal draws on a variety of theoretical and 
historiographical approaches from the humanities and social sciences and 
welcomes any effort that will help foster the ongoing processes of 
evaluation and negotiation in media history and criticism. While TVLT 
maintains its traditional commitment to the study of American film, it 
also expands its scope to television and other media, to adjacent 
institutions, and to other nations' media. The journal encourages both 
approaches and objects of study that have been neglected or excluded in 
past scholarship.

Graduate students at the University of Wisconsin at Madison and the 
University of Texas at Austin coordinate issues in alternation, and each 
issue is devoted to a particular theme. TVLT's Editorial Advisory Board 
includes such notable scholars as Hector Amaya, Ben Aslinger, Caetlin 
Benson-Allott, Aymar Jean Christian, Lisa Dombrowski, Dan Herbert, Lucas 
Hildebrand, Deborah Jaramillo, Roberta Pearson, Debra Ramsay, Bob Rehak, 
and Avi Santo. TVLT's graduate student editors are assisted by their 
local faculty advisors: Mary Beltrán, Ben Brewster, Jonathan Gray, Lea 
Jacobs, Derek Johnson, Shanti Kumar, Charles Ramírez Berg, Thomas 
Schatz, and Janet Staiger.


---------------
The COMMLIST
---------------
This mailing list is a free service offered by Nico Carpentier. Please
use it responsibly and wisely.
--
To subscribe or unsubscribe, please visit http://commlist.org/
--
Before sending a posting request, please always read the guidelines at
http://commlist.org/
--
To contact the mailing list manager:
Email: (nico.carpentier /at/ vub.ac.be)
URL: http://nicocarpentier.net
---------------