[Commlist] CFP: 'Genre/Nostalgia: A Film and Television Studies Symposium'

*Genre/Nostalgia*

*A one-day film and television studies symposium*

*University of Hertfordshire, June 30th 2020*

*Keynote speaker: Dr Kate Egan, Northumbria University: ‘Nostalgia for 
British Comedy’s Past: Monty Python, the 1960s and 1970s, and Fan Memories’*

Film and TV genres and nostalgia have long been intertwined. 
Fundamentally, both are rooted in the practice of creatively recycling 
and adapting modes of the past; Steve Neale’s (1990) assertion that 
genres are processes of repetition and variation is also applicable to 
many films and programmes which reimagine historical events, past eras, 
earlier styles and classic works of literature. Period dramas regularly 
cite the codes and conventions of past genres as a means of triggering 
collective memories of an era, while for multiple other film and TV 
genres, the past is a key component: for instance, science fiction might 
depict the past as a function of time travel, while the Western is 
founded on its 19^th century American frontier setting, and gothic 
horror is often associated with Victorian England or based on fin de 
siècle literature.

Relationships between genre and nostalgia are regularly explored in 
isolated studies, while broader publications and events often focus on 
one or the other. However, the focus is rarely on the relationship and 
interaction between them. This may in part be due to lingering doubts on 
the value of exploring it. When, in 1991, Fredric Jameson identified 
what he called ‘the nostalgia film’, he cited genre texts like the 
neo-noir /Chinatown /(Roman Polanski, 1974) as evidence of ‘the waning 
of our historicity’ (1991: 21). In their repetition of previously 
mediated images, it was, to a large extent, the /genericity /of films 
like these which so concerned Jameson and led him to judge them as 
lacking in historically critical depth. This perspective has to some 
extent persisted in studies of period and historical dramas, where 
engagements with the past in popular genres like horror, comedy and 
science fiction are considered less ‘serious’ or historically 
significant. Meanwhile, Jameson’s reading of postmodern nostalgia as 
inherently regressive, despite being subsequently questioned (see, for 
instance, Hutcheon 2000; Dika 2003), has encouraged some studies to look 
sceptically on the presence of nostalgia, reading it as a more or less 
straightforward indicator of longing for a simplified, comforting past 
rather than as a complex phenomenon.

Yet, links between genre and nostalgia have only deepened in the 
increasingly media-saturated 21^st century. More genre films and 
programmes have opted for past settings, and more period dramas, in 
their style of historical adaptation, have rejected traditional notions 
of ‘authenticity’ in favour of self-reflexive genericity. As such, this 
one-day symposium, which we hope will lead to the development of an 
active research network, seeks to explore connections between film and 
television genres and nostalgia, memory and other manifestations of the 
past. The aim is to facilitate dialogue between these two rich and 
increasingly interconnected areas of study, and to connect scholars at 
all levels working in these areas.

Possible areas that may be explored include, but are not limited to:

  * Retro style in film and television genres such as comedy, horror,
    science fiction, the Western, noir, etc., and specific case studies
    of genre texts engaging with these styles;
  * Reappropriations of past genre tropes in period dramas or other
    generic forms;
  * Other forms of media, such as books, music videos and video games
    (e.g. /L.A. Noire/, 2011), which engage nostalgically with film and
    television genres;
  * Foregrounding ignored or marginalised histories (e.g. via new
    representations of gender/race/class/sexuality) in period genres
    (e.g. literary adaptations, Westerns);
  * Revisiting genre texts on new platforms (e.g. streaming services),
    and the role of nostalgia in ways of watching (e.g. binge watching,
    or interactive texts like /Black Mirror: Bandersnatch/, 2018);
  * Nostalgias for genre texts and the nostalgic practices of fans,
    audiences and/or fan-creators;
  * Recycle, remake, reboot: nostalgia’s role in genre seriality and
    multiplicities;
  * The role of nostalgia in the reappraisal, re-release and/or
    canonisation of genre texts;
  * Key genre filmmakers, showrunners, or other creatives engaging with
    nostalgia (e.g. Greta Gerwig, Ryan Murphy);
  * Genre stardom and nostalgia;
  * The role of nostalgia in genre development, stages, eras and/or cycles;
  * Genre narratives about nostalgia or memory (e.g. /Ready Player One/,
    2018; /13 Going on 30/, 2004; /Westworld/, 2016-);
  * Nostalgia in hybrid genres (e.g. /Ashes to Ashes/, 2009-2010; /Back
    to the Future/, 1985; /Ripper Street/2012-2016);
  * Rewriting or rethinking historical narratives via genre (e.g. /Once
    Upon A Time…in Hollywood/, 2019; /Jojo Rabbit/, 2019; /Chernobyl/,
    2019);
  * The past in the introduction of new generic styles and forms (e.g.
    steampunk, neo-noir);
  * Retro period ambiguity (e.g. /It Follows/, 2014; /The Guest/, 2014;
    /Sex Education/, 2019-).

We invite abstracts of c.200-250 words, along with a short biography, to 
be sent by March 31^st 2020 to the organisers: Dr Caitlin Shaw 
((c.shaw3 /at/ herts.ac.uk) <mailto:(c.shaw3 /at/ herts.ac.uk)>) and Dr Laura Mee 
((l.mee2 /at/ herts.ac.uk) <mailto:(l.mee2 /at/ herts.ac.uk)>). Acceptances will be 
advised as soon as possible in the same week. Costs are to be confirmed 
ASAP, but as we would like to connect researchers at all stages, we are 
aiming to keep registration fees nominal in order to avoid being 
prohibitive.


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