[Commlist] CfP French screen comedy Study Day

*/French Screen Studies/**and BAFTSS French and Francophone Cinema SIG 
Study Day*

*Screen Comedy from the Coming of Sound to the SVOD era*

**

***Saturday 14 October 2023*

*University of Warwick, UK*

**

*Call for Papers*

Comedy notoriously has been the mainstay of French cinema, from the very 
beginning. And yet, apart from a few star auteurs (Max Linder, Sacha 
Guitry, Marcel Pagnol, Jacques Tati, Pierre Étaix), a few isolated 
blockbusters (/Intouchables/) and emergent international sub-genres such 
as the rom-com, action comedy or televisual stand-up, the genre has been 
under-examined and under-theorised. There are many reasons for this: the 
prolific and multifarious nature of French and Francophone comedy 
discourages a holistic view; the ‘inexportability’ of certain types of 
humour, combined with lack of international distribution, have produced 
a very partial view of Francophone comic genres and sub-genres 
internationally; additionally, the lack of cultural legitimacy of comedy 
contributes to a lack of recognition, even among French scholars, with a 
few exceptions. With the advent of streaming platforms, however, comedy 
is gaining new importance as an international genre. As Nygaard and 
Lagerwey (2020) put it, ‘with the constantly increasing niche-ification 
of audiences, comedy has become an exportable product’.

In this rapidly-evolving context,/French Screen Studies/wishes to launch 
a two-pronged investigation into French and Francophone screen comedy, 
looking back to the history of a rich and yet largely unexplored 
tradition, and forward to the new post-national audio-visual landscape 
in which French-language material is acquiring new visibility. In the 
first instance, we wish to organise a study day to map out some lines of 
enquiry, with a view to publishing a special issue in/French Screen 
Studies./We wish to encourage a variety of approaches, encompassing 
comic aesthetics, performance styles, stardom and the way in which 
comedy functions as a barometer of social change. We welcome 
contributions from experienced scholars, early career colleagues and 
graduate students alike.//

//

**

*Papers may address (but are not limited to) the following:*

*20^th Century*

‘Filmed theatre’ (outside Pagnol)

Military vaudeville (/comique troupier/); musical 
comedies,/Vaudeville/and operettas

‘Comedian comedy’ stars

Comic pairings (Poiret & Serreau; Richard & Depardieu; Bourvil & De Funès)

Film series (/Les Gendarmes, Les Bronzés, Les Ripoux, La Septième 
compagnie/,/Les Tuche/)

Parodic thrillers of the 1960s

/Café-théâtre/comics and their films

Jewish diaspora comedies

Comedies about the German Occupation

Cult films and blockbusters:/Les Barbouzes; La Grande vadrouille; Le 
Père Noël est une ordure; Papy fait de la résistance; La Cage aux 
folles; Trois hommes et un couffin; Les Visiteurs /;/Le Dîner de//cons 
/;/Bienvenue chez les Ch’tis ; Intouchables/…

**

*21^st Century*

‘Ethnic’ comedies

Rom-coms; family comedies

Satire; black and cult humour

The impact of stand-up comedy

Internet comic celebrities (Cyprien, Norman…)

Comic hybrid genres (action comedy, horror comedy,/banlieue/comedy…)

Post-national French ‘quality’ comedy on SVOD platforms

*Proposals*: please send a 250-word proposal in English or French by 15 
May 2023, together with a short bio, 
(toM.G.M.Harrod /at/ warwick.ac)(.ukandginette.vincendeau /at/ kcl.ac.uk).

*Funding*: a number of bursaries of up to £200 will be available for 
unsalaried/early career researchers and PG students.

*Delivery of papers*: it is hoped the majority of participants will 
attend in person but online access may be possible.


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