[ecrea] Popular Media Cultures Symposium

*The Centre for Cultural and Creative Research*

*at the*

*University of Portsmouth*

*presents*

* *

*Popular Media Cultures: Writing in the Margins and Reading Between the 
Lines*

* *

*A Symposium to be held at the*

*Odeon Cinema, Covent Garden, London*

*Saturday 19^th May 2012*

* *

*Keynote Address by:*

* *

Prof. Henry Jenkins

Provost’s Professor of Communication, Journalism and Cinematic Arts, 
University of Southern California.

Author of /Textual Poachers /(Routledge, 1992), /The WOW Climax /(NYU 
Press, 2006), /Fans, Bloggers and Gamers /(NYU Press, 2006), and 
/Convergence Culture/ (NYU Press, 2006).

* *

*Focus*

* *

The first steps toward a wider consideration of popular media cultures 
surrounding film, television and the Internet, and the relationship 
between fans and their object of fandom, is to acknowledge the prominent 
position of what Jonathan Gray calls media /paratexts/ as opposed to the 
centrality of specific films or television series as the /text/. Indeed, 
we are now accustomed in fan studies to state that the productivity of 
fans and their related fan practices represent an appropriate and worthy 
text to study just as much as the media text to which they are related 
or inspired by. So, rather than studying /Star Trek /as cult text, we 
might study fan produced videos on YouTube as important texts of fan 
activity that carry inherent meaning and significance in and of 
themselves. Or, for example, /Star Wars /carries with it meaning within 
and outside the narrative – from an analysis of its mythic story 
structure using the work of Joseph Campbell to studies of its fans who 
actively engage in their own meaning making by dressing up, making 
videos and writing fan fiction. However, the peripheral texts – those 
associated with the commercialization of the franchise such as the 
lunchboxes, toys, video games, and websites – are as much part of the 
meaning making process that they become texts to study in their own right.

/Popular Media Cultures /seeks to explore the relationship between 
audiences and media texts, their paratexts and interconnected ephemera, 
and the related cultural practices that add to and expand the narrative 
worlds with which fans engage. How audiences make meaning out of 
established media texts will be discussed in connection with the new 
texts produced by fans. The symposium will focus on the cultural work 
done by media audiences, how they engage with new technologies and how 
convergence culture impacts on the strategies and activities of popular 
media fans. If, Ken Gelder argues, “Subcultures are brought into being 
through narration and narrative: told by the participants themselves, as 
well as by those who document them, monitor them, ‘label’ them, outlaw 
them, and so on,” then this symposium will pay attention to what media 
audiences add to a text, what gets written in the margins of a text and 
what new meanings fans read between the lines. This symposium will bring 
together leading academics in the fields of film, television, fan and 
cultural studies to open up and take further the debates surrounding 
popular media, its producers, its audiences, and the cultures in which 
they are ultimately located.

*Confirmed Speakers:*

Dr Stacey Abbott, Reader in Film Studies, Roehampton University.

Author of /Celluloid Vampires /(University of Texas Press, 2007), editor 
of /The Cult TV Book /(IB Tauris, 2010), co-author of /Falling in Love 
Again /(IB Tauris, 2009), and series editor of Investigating Cult TV for 
IB Tauris.

Dr Will Brooker, Reader and Director of Research, Kingston University.

Author of /Using the Force /(Continuum, 2002), /Hunting the Dark Knight 
/(IB Tauris, 2012) and editor of /The Blade Runner Experience 
/(Wallflower, 2005).

Dr Joanne Garde-Hansen, Principal Lecturer in Media and Director of the 
Research Centre of Media, Memory and Community, University of 
Gloucestershire.

Author of /Media and Memory/ (Edinburgh UP, 2011), co-editor of /Save 
As... Digital Memories /(Palgrave, 2009) and co-author of the 
forthcoming /Emotion Online: Theorising Affect on the Internet 
//(Palgrave)/.

Dr Kristyn Gorton, Senior Lecturer in Television Studies, University of 
York.

Author of /Media Audiences /(Edinburgh UP, 2009) and co-author of the 
forthcoming /Emotion Online: Theorising Affect on the Internet 
//(Palgrave)./

Dr Matt Hills, Reader in Media and Cultural Studies, Cardiff University.

Author of /Fan Cultures /(Routledge, 2002), /The Pleasures of Horror 
/(Continuum, 2005) and /Triumph of a Time Lord /(IB Tauris, 2010).

Prof. Mark Jancovich, Professor of Film and Television, University of 
East Anglia.

Author of /Rational Fears /(MUP, 1996) and /The Place of the Audience 
/(BFI, 2003) and co-editor of /Defining Cult Movies /(MUP, 2003), 
/Quality Popular Television /(BFI, 2003), and /Film and Comic Books 
/(Mississippi UP, 2007).

Prof. Roberta E. Pearson, Professor of Film and Television, University 
of Nottingham.

Author of /Eloquent Gestures/ (University of California Press, 1992), 
co-editor of /Cult Television /(University of Minnesota Press, 2004), 
/The Many Lives of Batman /(Routledge, 1991), and editor of /Reading 
Lost /(IB Tauris, 2009).

*Further details of how to register and attend the event will be 
published in the New Year.*

* *

*For information on the Centre for Cultural and Creative Research at the 
University of Portsmouth please visit our website at: 
http://www.port.ac.uk/research/cccr/*

*Symposium Coordinator:*

Dr Lincoln Geraghty

Director of the Centre for Cultural and Creative Research

School of Creative Arts, Film and Media

University of Portsmouth

St George’s Building

High Street

Portsmouth

PO1 2SY

Email: (Lincoln.Geraghty /at/ port.ac.uk) <mailto:(Lincoln.Geraghty /at/ port.ac.uk)>

Tel: 023 9284 5754



Dr Lincoln Geraghty
Reader in Popular Media Cultures
Director of the Centre for Cultural and Creative Research
School of Creative Arts, Film and Media
University of Portsmouth
Editor, Directory of World Cinema: American Hollywood, Intellect Books
http://www.worldcinemadirectory.org/
Profile:
http://www.port.ac.uk/departments/academic/scafm/staff/title,22309,en.html
Mail:
3.30 St George's Building, 141 High Street, Old Portsmouth, PO1 2HY, UK
Tel: +44 (0) 239 284 5754
Fax: +44 (0) 239 284 5372
E-mail: (Lincoln.Geraghty /at/ port.ac.uk) <mailto:(Lincoln.Geraghty /at/ port.ac.uk)>