[ecrea] CFP: The "Third" Golden Age of Television Fiction

>CFP submitted on behalf of Tuna Erdem, (tunaerdem /at/ independentscholars.org)
>
>It Has Happened Before It Will Happen Again:
>The Third Golden Age of Television Fiction
>
>
>8-10 October, Istanbul
>
>Key Note Speaker: Kim Akass (Manchester Metropolitan University)
>
>
>In 1996 Robert J. Thompson wrote the vastly 
>influential Televisions Second Golden Age: From Hill
>Street Blues to ER defining the controversial 
>term quality television. As Thompson himself has
>stated, a decade after this publication, what 
>was then exceptional and innovative has now become
>the norm, which suggest we might have entered 
>yet another golden age. However instead of trying
>to demarcate each and every new wave of golden 
>age, it might be best to claim, like the Cylons in
>Battlestar Galactica, that it has happened before and it will happen again.
>
>Despite the spreading of quality across the 
>board, however, textual analysis in television studies
>is still in its infancy. This conference aims to 
>contribute to the growing field of the textual analysis
>of television series and solicits papers that 
>analyse any aspect of the texts of such shows as
>Battlestar Galactica, Lost, Heroes, Desperate 
>Housewives, Nip/Tuck, The L Word, Veronica Mars,
>Dexter, Torchwood, etc. This list of shows is 
>meant to be inspirational rather than conclusive and
>papers on television series not listed above will also be welcome.
>
>This is an interdisciplinary conference 
>therefore papers are welcome from disciplines that include
>but are not limited to film studies, cultural 
>studies, womans studies, queer studies, media studies,
>philosophy, sociology, political science, 
>international relationships, literature, psychoanalysis etc.
>
>Proposals are invited for 20-minute 
>presentations. Panel proposals for up to three speakers are
>also welcome. Please upload your abstracts, no 
>longer than 350 words, by using the submit
>button on the web site www.independentscholars.org
>
>Deadline for abstracts: 6th of June
>For inquiries, email Tuna Erdem on (tunaerdem /at/ independentscholars.org)
>
>
>
>Possible streams or food for thought:
>
>
>- Genre and quality television:
>
>Is quality television a generic description 
>rather than a critical evaluation? If so what is the
>characteristics of this genre? Does this genre have a defining iconography?
>
>Is soap opera the genre of television series? 
>Could it be claimed that no matter what other genre
>a series might belong to it always carries some 
>aspect of the soap opera? What aspects of the
>soap opera are to be found in series like 
>Veronica Mars, Desperate Housewives, Nip/Tuck, Lost,
>Battlestar Galactica and Heroes? What does it 
>mean to juxtapose soap opera with the term
>quality?
>
>What genre does Lost belong to? Is it science 
>fiction, is it fantasy, is it horror? Is it possible to
>decide on its genre before it ends and if not 
>how is it that the end defines the genre?
>
>
>- Remakes and spin-offs
>
>If quality comes in cycles and the golden age 
>returns periodically then, the text of Battlestar
>Galactica, a remake that was aired 25 years 
>after its original, must contain clues to the differences
>between different eras of television 
>fiction.  What does a comparative study of the original and the
>remake tell us about the shifts in the industry? 
>Is, for instance, the fact of Starbuck becoming a
>woman indicative of the change in gender representation?
>
>Likewise what can a spin-off like Torchwood 
>compared with its ancestor, the television
>phenomenon that was on air for 20 years, that is 
>Dr.Who, could become a goldmine of facts on
>the various golden ages of television fiction.
>
>
>- Fan as author
>
>How does fandom affect series in terms of plot, 
>character arcs and new characters? Do fans have
>the power to kill the characters they dont 
>like? Do they share the power of the love god Eros in
>creating romantic couples to their liking? How 
>much is the fan, author of the television series?
>
>
>- The father problem in contemporary television fiction
>
>One of the recurring themes in contemporary 
>quality series is the relation between fathers and
>their children and any paper on this topic is 
>especially welcome. Here is a list that might be of use
>for this purpose:
>
>Lost is filled with characters that have serious 
>problems with their fathers: Kate, Ben, John and
>even Jack can be considered guilty of patricide; 
>Jin and Desmond both have tyrants for father-in-
>laws; Claire and Hurly share the problem of disappearing fathers.
>
>  Battlestar Galactica resolves around the 
> dynamics between Adama and his son Lee.
>
>Veronica Mars revolves around the mystery of 
>whether Veronicas father is her biological father
>and contains child-beating-murderer father 
>characters who also happen to engage in statutory
>rape.
>
>The two main characters of Nip Tuck, Christian 
>and Sean, are both fathers to the character Matt
>who ends up having a relationship with the woman 
>that both his fathers have loved.
>
>In The L word Shane has a disappearing father 
>that creates more problems when he reappears
>then when he is gone, while the severely 
>opinionated father of Beth and Kit dies on-screen.
>
>Heroes starts with the death of Chandra Suresh, 
>an event that force his son Mohinder to complete
>his quest, although he is extremely ambivalent 
>about it. The Petrelli brothers, on the other hand,
>are about to testify against their father when 
>he commits suicide, while, Claire Bennets father
>Noah Bennet, is the enigmatic centre of the entire series.

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Nico Carpentier (Phd)
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Vrije Universiteit Brussel - Free University of Brussels
Centre for Studies on Media and Culture (CeMeSO)
Pleinlaan 2 - B-1050 Brussels - Belgium
T: ++ 32 (0)2-629.18.56
F: ++ 32 (0)2-629.36.84
Office: 5B.401a
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&
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