[Commlist] CFP: The superhero project - 6th Global Meeting

*CALL FOR PRESENTATIONS*

*The Superhero Project: 6^th Global Meeting***

**

*“THE FRAGMENTED SUPERHERO”*

Friday 9^th to Sunday 11^th September, 2022.

Hotel Moers Van Der Valk (Moers, Germany)

________________________________________

//

/“Who are you in this vast multiverse, Mr. Strange…?” – /The Ancient 
One*/, Doctor Strange (2018)/*//

The superhero genre has evolved far, far beyond its origins in the late 
1930’s within American comics as disposable entertainment for young 
children. Eighty-four years after the debut of Superman in /Action 
Comics #1/, the superhero today represents one of the dominant 
discourses of global popular culture, embodied via thousands of 
characters worldwide negotiated in and through all types of media.

Alongside successive incursions into multiple media over the last eight 
decades – notably cinema, where Christopher Reeve’s Superman (1978-1987) 
or Robert Downey Jr’s Iron Man (2008-19) are seen to have provided 
“quintessential” portrayals of their respective characters – the 
superhero has also negotiated significant expansions of their audience 
via exposure to multiple generations and an increasingly broad age range 
of target groups.

With the genre’s evolution and diversification having significantly 
accelerated since the turn of the millennium, generating a vast 
diversity of creative expressions, the superhero discourse has to 
contend not only with highly different and often conflicting 
expectations directing the character’s various portrayals but also 
stringent demands regarding their alignment with real world issues. 
Consequently, this has resulted in an increasing fragmentation within 
the genre.

While the superhero genre has negotiated fragmentation throughout its 
history, the genre’s current status as a dominant example of global 
popular culture has exacerbated these tendencies and processes. This in 
turn has allowed the discourse to adapt meaningfully to a globalized 
postmodern world that is itself characterized by continuous processes of 
economic, social, technological, communal as well as individual 
fragmentation.

Identity can be seen as a core arena for such fragmentation within the 
superhero genre, given the centrifugal tensions between the superhero’s 
crime-fighting persona and their civilian alter-ego that provide the 
basis of teeming narratives.  Fragmentation provides the basis – and can 
be employed as an analytical framework for – the investigation of 
individual identities such as Batman and The Joker in /White Knight/ 
(2017-18) or the array of intertextual versions of a single character, 
as seen in the Spider-Man series /Spider-Geddon/ (2018). Yet, this can 
also extend into political and communal identities (/Captain America: 
Civil War/), gender identities (Loki, Captain Marvel), race and 
ethnicity (the Miles Morales incarnation of Spider-Man, Falcon), 
Capitalism and Technocracy (Bruce Wayne and Tony Stark) and family 
(Superman, Black Widow).

Fragmentation is also a direct consequence of the superhero genre’s 
formidable transmedial presence. Serialised superhero narratives now 
occupy such a wide array of media platforms, the characters and story 
worlds are spread far and wide intertextually, leading to a mosaic 
presence and distinct facets via medium, be it comics, video games, 
social media etc. The recent cinematic release of /Spider-Man: No Way 
Home /and forthcoming releases of /The Flash/ and /Dr Strange In The 
Multiverse of Madness/ indicate a rise in combining fragmented story worlds.

For its sixth edition, /The Superhero Project/ invites 
inter-disciplinary discussion on the theme of “*The Fragmented 
Superhero*”. From a broad understanding of the concept of fragmentation, 
indicative themes for discussion in the context of the superhero 
discourse across all media and prior decades may include but are not 
limited to:

  * Processes and effects of fragmentation in/and Identity
  * Disguise as a means and an expression of fragmentation
  * Fragmentation in the Context of Sexuality, Gender and Ethnicity
  * Fragmentation and Adaptation
  * Fragmentation as / and Deconstruction
  * Fragmentation and Globalisation
  * Fragmentation and Patriotism
  * Fragmentation and Postmodernity
  * Social Responsibility / Cultural Diagnosis through Processes of
    Fragmentation (individual, social, genre, etc.)
  * Processes and effects of fragmentation in the context of Diversity
    and Inclusion
  * Fragmentation and / in Fan Cultures and Audiences
  * Fragmentation in / through Cross- and Transmedia
  * Fragmentation and Mythology
  * Fragmentation via Intertextuality

*What to Send*:

300 word abstracts should be submitted by *Monday 28^th February, 2022* 
to the following e-mail addresses: 
(d.graydon /at/ herts.ac.uk)<mailto:(d.graydon /at/ herts.ac.uk)>and 
(torsten.caeners /at/ uni-due.de)<mailto:(torsten.caeners /at/ uni-due.de)>.

E-mails should be entitled: *_SUPER VI Abstract Submission_*.

Abstracts should be submitted simultaneously to both Organising Chairs; 
abstracts should be in MS Word formats with the following information 
and in this order: a) author(s), b) affiliation as you would like it to 
appear in programme, c) email address, d) title of proposal, e) body of 
proposal, f) up to 10 keywords.

Accepted proposals will be notified by *Monday March^14^th , 2022*.

We acknowledge receipt and answer to all proposals submitted. If you do 
not receive a reply from us in a week you should assume we did not 
receive your proposal, If this is the case, please do resend to both 
e-mail addresses. We believe it is a mark of personal courtesy and 
professional respect to your colleagues that all delegates should attend 
for the full duration of The Superhero Project: 6th Global Meeting. If 
you have any questions, the Organising Chairs will be only to happy to 
assist.

*Organising Chairs*:

Danny Graydon (University of Hertfordshire): 
(d.graydon /at/ herts.ac.uk)<mailto:(d.graydon /at/ herts.ac.uk)>

Torsten Caeners (University of Duisburg-Essen): 
(torsten.caeners /at/ uni-due.de)<mailto:(torsten.caeners /at/ uni-due.de)>

*Danny Graydon*, FHEA

Senior Lecturer, Screen (Digital Animation) | CCS / Context Lead, BA 
(Hons) Animation

Collaborative Partnership Leader, Escola Britanica des Artes Criativas 
(EBAC), Sao Paulo, Brazil

School of Creative Arts | University of Hertfordshire | College Lane | 
Hatfield | AL10 9AB

Office: AB170 | Tel: +44 (0)1707 284 000 | Email: (d.graydon /at/ herts.ac.uk) 
<mailto:(d.graydon /at/ herts.ac.uk)>__| Internal Ext: 5336

*THE SUPERHERO PROJECT VI*: 9^th - 11^th September, 2022 (Moers, Germany)

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