[ecrea] CFP: All About Oscar, or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Academy Awards - special issue of Networking Knowledge

CALL FOR PAPERS:

All About Oscar, or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Academy 
Awards

A special themed issue of Networking Knowledge: Journal of the MeCCSA-PGN

Deadline for abstracts: 8th January 2014



The 85th Academy Awards, held on Sunday 24th February 2013, was watched 
by 40 million Americans and hundreds of millions more in over 200 
countries worldwide. It is the biggest media event of the year, blasted 
by some as nothing more than self-indulgent nonsense, praised by others 
as an important cultural tradition, and defined by the New York Times as 
‘spectacularly trivial, paradoxically important, endlessly fascinating, 
and often vexing’. This special issue of Networking Knowledge aims to 
challenge the often negative representation of the Academy Awards, 
seeking articles that question and debate its global cultural 
significance. Articles of particular interest in this issue include, but 
are not necessarily restricted to:

* A textual analysis of the Academy Awards ceremony and/or 
Oscar-nominated and Oscar-winning films, especially concentrating on the 
textual construction of concepts like ‘Oscar-worthiness’ and ‘Oscar bait’
* Studies of patterns and trends, particularly those that challenge 
prevailing assumptions with regards to the types of films, studios, and 
individuals that win Oscars. Where are the anomalies? Why are they there?
* Issues of celebrity, fame, and star power and their relation to 
Hollywood’s awards
* Notions of quality and ways in which this may or may not be 
represented by the Academy, its members, or its films
* The history of the Oscars
* The politics behind campaigning for and winning an Academy Award
* Genre and the Oscars
* The relationship between Oscar and Indiewood
* The production, promotion, and reception of the Oscars telecast and 
nominated films
* The business of the Academy and its impact on the global film industry.


The Academy Awards, though often neglected, offers a valuable centre 
point for interdisciplinary research, and this issue seeks a broad range 
of submissions that enable the collaboration of many fields across film, 
television, media, and cultural studies.


Networking Knowledge is the journal of MeCCSA's Postgraduate Network. We 
invite articles by postgraduate and early career researchers, which are 
5,000 to 6,000 words long. Please send abstracts of up to 300 words 
along with a 50-word biography by January 8th 2014 to Liam Heffernan 
((email.heffernan /at/ gmail.com)) and Sam Ward ((aaxsjw /at/ nottingham.ac.uk)). 
Articles will be due on 01st May 2014. Please contact the editors for 
any further information.


Liam Heffernan, Guest Editor
Independent Scholar

Sam Ward, Journal Editor
University of Nottingham


Sam Ward

PhD Candidate
Department of Culture, Film and Media
School of Cultures, Languages and Area Studies
University of Nottingham

Journal Editor
Networking Knowledge: Journal of the MeCCSA Postgraduate Network




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