Archive for January 2023

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[Commlist] The Superhero Project VII - The MCU @ 15

Fri Jan 06 21:44:00 GMT 2023





*CALL FOR PRESENTATIONS*

*The Superhero Project: 7^th Global Meeting***

**

*“FIFTEEN YEARS OF THE *

*MARVEL CINEMATIC UNIVERSE” *

**

Friday 25^th to Sunday 27^th August , 2023.

Bader College, Herstmonceux Castle, East Sussex, UK

________________________________________

//

/“That's how Dad did it, that's how America does it…and it's worked out pretty well so far…”  - *Iron Man* (Favreau, 2008)/

//

In the 2000’s, Marvel had firmly re-established itself on screen – via various film studios – with the /X-Men/ (2000-2006) and /Spider-Man/ (2002-2007) trilogies, two /Fantastic Four/ entries (2005 and 2007) and Ang Lee’s /Hulk/ (2003). These films kickstarted a renaissance of superhero cinema, showcasing sustained digital-based comic book spectacle that, in only the prior decade, seemed impossible.

However, the release of /Iron Man/ in 2008 began what would be a supremely ambitious process of consolidating Marvel’s iconic stable of superhero characters into a shared universe via the Disney-owned Marvel Studios. *The Marvel Cinematic Universe* (MCU) has become the shining and formidable front line of global representation of the superhero genre, a grand feat of interconnected storytelling across multiple media.

As 2023 opens, the MCU comprises an astonishing thirty films across four “phases”, sixteen television shows and an array of short films, web series, video games and theme park attractions. Such is the rate of development, it is reported that new MCU content will be released approximately every six weeks through to mid-2025.

A spectacular evocation of the superhero genre as a modern mythology, The MCU’s impact on the contemporary superhero landscape has been truly seismic. Guided by a strong fealty to the style and tone of the source comics, the franchise has generated an array of portrayals widely regarded to be as quintessential as Christopher Reeve’s Superman in 1978. Historically, the MCU provided the first blockbuster superhero team film with 2012’s /Avengers Assemble/.

Alongside showcases of titanic spectacle (/Avengers/: /Endgame/), the MCU has successfully infused superhero cinema with comedy (/Guardians of The Galaxy/, /Thor: Ragnarok/, /Ant-Man/), genre hybridity (/Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Black Widow),/ cultural diversity (/Black Panther, Shang-Chi/) and, most strikingly, integration of pre-MCU Marvel films (/Spider-Man: No Way Home, Deadpool 3/).

On television, the Netflix series /Daredevil/, /Jessica Jones/, /The Punisher/ and /Luke Cage/ provided a rich infusion of the adult tone that has defined the superhero genre in recent decades, alongside nuanced narratives that reflected contemporary social issues, fulsomely echoed in the recent Disney+ series.

As the MCU enters Phase Five, questions abound regarding the franchise’s ability to recalibrate and progress after the MCU’s inaugural 23-film /Infinity Saga. A/s a prodigious generator of mainstream corporate entertainment content, has the MCU simply become too big and too demanding of its devoted audiences? Moreover, has the MCU’s de facto representation of the superhero as a globally dominant screen action hero in the 21^st century fundamentally altered what a superhero is?

For its seventh edition, /The Superhero Project/ invites inter-disciplinary discussion on The MCU’s first fifteen years, encompassing all of its media outputs. Indicative themes for discussion in the context of superhero discourse may include but are not limited to:

  * Adaptation
  * Fan cultures
  * The MCU as Transmedia
  * The MCU as Contemporary Mythology
  * The MCU and Disneyfication
  * Intertextuality
  * Multiversal Storytelling
  * Diversity & Inclusion
  * Feminism
  * Postmodernity
  * The MCU and the Globalised Superhero
  * The MCU as ground for Culture Wars
  * Identity
  * Representations of Mental Illness / Disability
  * Sexuality, Gender & Ethnicity
  * Audiences (Relationship with / Demands Upon)
  * The MCU and The Hollywood Star System
  * Representations of Violence
  * Symbiosis with Comics Source Material

*WHAT TO SEND*:

300 word abstracts should be submitted by *Tuesday 28^th February, 2023* 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 VII 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^13^th , 2023*.

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. If you have any questions, the Organising Chairs will be only too happy to assist.

*Organising Chairs*:

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

Dr 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 VII*: August 25-27, 2023, Herstmonceux Castle, Sussex, UK.

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