[ecrea] CFP: Conference on Romantic Comedy in Film and Television, DMU and UEA, 2 - 3 March 2011

> CALL FOR
> PAPERS:
>
> Romcom Actually: A Two Day International Conference on Romantic Comedy in
> Film and Television
>
> Hosted jointly by the Cinema and Television History (CATH) Research
> Centre, De Montfort University and the School of Film and Television
> Studies, University of East Anglia
>
> Wednesday 2nd – Thursday 3rd March 2011 at the Faculty of Humanities, De
> Montfort University, Leicester, UK
>
> Plenary speakers:
>
> Peter Evans (Queen Mary, University of London)
> Tamar Jeffers McDonald (University of Kent)
>
>
> Proposals are invited for papers on all aspects of romantic comedy, a key
> screen genre from the days of early sound cinema to present day chick
> flicks and TV series like Sex and the City.
>
> Simultaneously scrutinising the present state of the genre and delving
> into its illustrious past, this conference seeks to reveal why, in the
> words of Richard Curtis, ‘love actually is all around’ in film and
> television worldwide.
>
> Please send a 200 word abstract for a 20 minute paper, and a brief
> biographical statement, to Ian Hunter ((iqhunter /at/ dmu.ac.uk)) and Melanie
> Williams ((Melanie.Williams /at/ uea.ac.uk)).
>
> Deadline for proposals: 1 December 2010
>
> Topics of interest may include but are not limited to:
>
> •       Historical development of the
> romcom and its cycles and sub-genres
> •       National variations in romcom
> •       Medium specificities of cinema and
> television romcom
> •       Romcom auteurs, from Ernst Lubitsch
> and Woody Allen to Nancy Meyers and Nora Ephron
> •       Critical reception
> •       Fan cultures
> •       Marketing the romcom
> •       Questions of race, sexuality, age,
> gender and class.
> •       Formal analysis of conventions and
> motifs such as the ‘meet cute’
> •       Stars and performance
> •       Generic hybridity (e.g.
> zom-coms)
> •       Intertextuality and remakes
> •       Music
> •       Romcoms in adaptation
> •       Romcoms and chick-lit
>
>
> Dr Ian Hunter
> Dr Melanie Williams