[Commlist] Call for Papers: ‘Popular Music and Identity in Cinema’

Call for Papers: Film International: Journal of World Cinema

Special Issue: ‘Popular Music and Identity in Cinema’

View the full call here>>

https://www.intellectbooks.com/film-international-journal-of-world-cinema#call-for-papers 
<https://www.intellectbooks.com/film-international-journal-of-world-cinema#call-for-papers>

Popular music plays a variety of roles in the cinema, both on film 
itself and in the creative and technical processes taking place behind 
the camera and in post-production. As cinema studies and musicology 
recognize, music of all kinds is inextricably linked with the creation, 
communication and representation of identity. These connections might be 
especially immediate and powerful in relation to popular and vernacular 
musics, which are often positioned as the authentic music of ‘the 
people’ – a notion that can sit uneasily alongside the place of both 
film and music in commercial, industrial and increasingly 
internationalized contexts and marketplaces. Drawing on lyrical and 
sonic features, genre associations and socio-cultural context, cinematic 
popular music serves not only as a backdrop to narrative action, but can 
be a critical tool in characterization, cultural representation and 
marketing. Popular music not only helps to define who characters are but 
also allows filmmakers and audiences to engage with the construction, 
negotiation and resistance of identity on both local and global stages.

This themed issue of Film Internationalwelcomes submissions in the range 
of 6000–8000 words that explore the relationships between popular music 
– broadly conceived – and the representation and communication of 
identity in cinema. We are especially keen to receive comparative 
approaches that address diverse films, markets and/or communities of 
practice or reception. Essays should engage with recent scholarship in a 
way that contributes an original position within the discourse. 
Submissions should be received no later than 1 February 2026.

Initial inquiries about topic ideas can be made to this themed issue’s 
co-editors, Catherine Haworth at (C.M.Haworth /at/ hud.ac.uk) 
<mailto:(C.M.Haworth /at/ hud.ac.uk)> and David Melbye at (dwmelbye /at/ gmail.com) 
<mailto:(dwmelbye /at/ gmail.com)>. Please note that encouraged topics and/or 
abstracts do not guarantee publication in the issue. This will also 
depend on a double-anonymized peer review of completed essays.

Topics that contributors may wish to address include, but are not 
limited to:

  *

    Popular music, film and categories of identity (gender, race,
    ethnicity, sexuality, class, age etc.)

  *

    Popular music, difference and otherness in film

  *

    Popular music, film and counterculture

  *

    Queer, resistant and/or transformative approaches to commercial
    musics in cinema

  *

    Popular music and localisation practices

  *

    Popular music, economics and marketing in film

  *

    Popular music, identity and the broader soundtrack or soundscape
    (dialogue, SFX, mixing, music editing etc.)

  *

    Identity and popular musical performance on film (both within and
    outside the musical genre)

  *

    Reference to popular musical styles in pre-composed, original and/or
    library music

  *

    Identity and agency in popular music-related production processes
    and personnel

  *

    Cinematic identities and popular musical scenes, subcultures, genres
    or styles

  *

    Musical eclecticism and transnational approaches

  *

    Fan and/or star identities in relation to cinematic popular music.

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