[Commlist] cfp: TV Supervillains Conference

CFP ‐ TV Supervillains Conference

We are pleased to announce the TV Supervillains Conference 2020 - 
Universidad de Sevilla (Spain)

*TV Supervillains. Comics Ecosystems on Television: The Cognitive Impact 
of Supervillains*

Universidad de Sevilla (Spain), February 12-14, 2020

*INTRODUCTION*

We invite you to participate in the TV Supervillains Conference. Comics 
Ecosystems on Television: The Cognitive Impact of Supervillains, which 
will take place in the School of Communication (Av. Americo Vespucio, 
s/n. 41092-Sevilla) on February 12 to 14, 2020.

“So we meet at last, eh? It was inevitable that we should clash!”, thus 
spoke the Ultra-Humanite when he first came face to face with Superman 
eighty years ago. Possibly the earliest comic-book supervillain, Ultra 
was almost the exact opposite of the Man of Steel mentally, physically 
and morally. From mythology and folklore to literature and mass media, 
supervillains in the form of monsters, mad scientists, criminal 
masterminds, enemy commanders, and evil doppelgangers predated 
comic-book superheroes; but, somehow, the appearance of the supervillain 
came to complete the classic formula of the superhero genre.

A quarter of a century before Hitchcock expressed his “unwritten law: 
the more successful the villain, the more successful the picture”, 
comic-book writer Abner Sundell had already remarked, “On the strength 
of good super-villains, comics have changed from mediocre sellers to 
smash hits”. Indeed, there was a sense of inevitability to the clash 
between superhero and supervillain, once, and again, and again –for 
recurrence is one of the defining characteristics of the supervillain: 
they cannot stay dead. Foregrounding the variation-and- repetition 
dynamics so dear to popular narratives, Umberto Eco wrote that 
Superman’s stories develop in an indefinitely prolonged series of plots 
without consumption.

And what better figure to become the target, raison d’être, and heatsink 
of superheroic efforts than the supervillain? They are larger than life; 
and they are larger than death, too. We love to hate them, and probably 
we should hate to love them; but most often they steal the show from 
their do-gooder nemeses. So much so that some of them have become the 
protagonists of their own narratives; while the borders between 
superheroes and supervillains blur and even vanish. Locked in a 
never-ending struggle, superheroes and supervillains have overrun the 
boundaries of comics narratives to flood over film and television.

With particular attention to aesthetics and cognitive value of 
television serial narratives, the TV Supervillains Conference is 
conceived as a forum for the celebration of and reflection on the rich 
history and current phenomenon of supervillainy, both as a specific 
superhero- genre convention and an influence on other generic realms.

The conference official languages are: Spanish and English.

Paper proposals, including author, affiliation, email, brief CV (no more 
than 150 words), paper title, and abstract (no more than 300 words; 
including essential references), should be submitted by December 9, 2019.

Submission of paper proposals and questions via email: (tvsupervillains /at/ us.es)

The organizing committee will communicate decisions about the acceptance 
of proposals by December 14, 2019.

*THEMATIC LINES*

Topics along which papers are to be organized in this conference 
include, but are not limited to:

- Archetypes and predecessors in myths, legends, folklore, fairy tales, 
Gothic novels, penny bloods, penny dreadfuls, story papers, dime novels, 
film serials, comic strips, radio shows, pulps…

- Supervillains in popular seriality: serial characters, iconic serial 
figures, stock characters, narratives of proliferation, commercial 
storytelling, recursivity, transtextuality, makeovers, media changes…

- Possible relationships between aesthetic construction of supervillains 
and cognitive aspects, e. g., how / whether aesthetic elements of their 
design can foster moral reflections; how / whether character 
construction of supervillains and / or their insertion in narrative 
ecosystems can promote critical assessment of social, political, and / 
or educational issues; how / whether aesthetical qualities of 
supervillains can encourage favorable appreciation of content and 
meaning in the stories where they appear.

- Sympathy for the (d)evil, emotional contagion, aesthetic construction, 
character engagement (recognition, alignment, attachment, access, 
allegiance), bad protagonists…

- Byronic heroes, anti-heroes, fallen heroes, redeemed villains, 
misunderstood villains, dark doppelgangers, vigilante killers

- Supervillains, fan practices and participatory cultures

- Propaganda, ideology and supervillains: supervillainization of the 
enemy; Yellow Perils and other ethnic villains; Nazisploitation; evil 
species, empires and civilizations (Skrulls, Daleks, Borgs, Romulans, 
Klingons…)

- Gender, sexuality and supervillainy: gender roles, empowerment, 
cross-dressing, gender shifts, eroticism, porn, sexual violence

- Kinds of evil: mischief, subversion, retaliation, cruelty, sadism, 
atrocity, horrendous evil…

- Origins of evil, nature vs. nurture, secret origins of the 
supervillains, psychological and sociological readings

- Serial killers and other (super) human monsters, slasher psycho-killers;

- Supernatural monsters as supervillains

- Adapted and original supervillains in television fiction

- Arch-foes, rogue galleries and corrupted superheroes in specific tv 
shows and fictional universes: Smallville, Gotham, the Buffyverse, 
Heroes, Marvel’s Netflix universe, the Arrowverse, Agents of 
S.H.I.E.L.D., Legion, Krypton, The Tick, The Gifted, Black Lightning, 
Titans, Doom Patrol, Runaways, Jumper, The Boys, El vecino, Watchmen…

- Supervillains in animated tv shows: WackyRaces, Superfriends, 
DangerMouse, Inspector Gadget, GI Joe, Transformers, Masters of the 
Universe, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, The Simpsons, The Powerpuff 
Girls, Teen Titans Go!, Family Guy, Rick & Morty…

- Supervillains in anime and tokusatsu

- Super-villainous features in non-superhero tv shows: The Sopranos, 
Breaking Bad, TheShield, 24, GameofThrones, HouseofCards, Hawaii5-0, 
Community, Mindhunter…

*REGISTRATION*

Attendee with paper presentation (early birds; Dec. 15-31, 2019): 80€ 
Attendee with paper presentation (Jan. 1-15, 2020): 120€

Attendee without paper presentation (early birds; Dec. 15-31, 2019): 15€ 
Attendee without paper presentation (Jan. 1-15, 2020): 30€

*CONFERENCE TIMELINE*

November 30, 2019: last day for paper proposals

December 14, 2019: last day for notes of acceptance December 15, 2019: 
early-bird registration opens December 31, 2019: last day of early-bird 
registration January 1, 2020: regular registration opens

January 15, 2020: last day of regular registration February 12-14, 2020: 
TV Supervillains Conference

*CONTACT*

Find information on the conference progress, proposal submissions, 
registration, etc. in the event website:

supervillainstv.com

Additional information regarding related social and academic activities 
will be updated periodically.

*ORGANIZED BY*

Research project Interacciones entre valores cognitivos y propiedades 
estéticas en la serialidad contemporánea (RTI2018-096596-B-I00), funded 
by Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades (Spanish Government).

Group EIKON. Equipo de Investigación de la Imagen y la Cultura Visual en 
el Ámbito de la Comunicación (HUM 1013).

Departamento de Comunicación Audiovisual y Publicidad (Universidad de 
Sevilla). Facultad de Comunicación (Universidad de Sevilla).



---------------
The COMMLIST
---------------
This mailing list is a free service offered by Nico Carpentier. Please use it responsibly and wisely.
--
To subscribe or unsubscribe, please visit http://commlist.org/
--
Before sending a posting request, please always read the guidelines at http://commlist.org/
--
To contact the mailing list manager:
Email: (nico.carpentier /at/ vub.ac.be)
URL: http://nicocarpentier.net
---------------