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[Commlist] Action Heroines CFP
Wed Dec 01 08:03:53 GMT 2021
we have had several requests for an extension to our CFP date so please
see the revised deadline of 17th December
Call for Papers
Bournemouth University in collaboration with Wolverhampton University
presents:
Action Heroines in the Twenty-First Century: Sisters in Arms
Thursday June 9th - Friday June 10th 2022 at Talbot Campus, Bournemouth
University
Hosted by the Narrative, Culture and Community Research Centre
Keynotes: Professor Yvonne Tasker, Leeds University, and Professor Chris
Holmlund, University of Tennessee, Knoxville
It is 30 years since Thelma and Louise hit our screens, grossing a cool
$45mil at the US box office and carving out a special place in movie
history. A deliberately feminist project for screenwriter Callie
Khouri, it was hailed and derided in more or less equal measure by
critics for its portrayal of two ordinary Arkansas women turned
gun-toting outlaws. The film busted the Hollywood myth that a
female-led action movie could not be a critical and commercial success.
It also broke the mould by presenting us with not one but two action
heroines, this being perhaps the most revolutionary thing about it. As a
result, many anticipated an upsurge in female action heroines, but this
was not to be. The genre continued to be almost exclusively dominated by
men, and where a female action hero did appear (Geena Davis being one
significant action star, Angelina Jolie of course another), they were
almost always positioned as a single woman surrounded by a cast of men,
as though to reinforce their exceptionality and their distance from
ordinary women and from socially acceptable constructions of femininity.
In the new millennium, however, we have seen an increasing number of
women star in and lead action films emanating from Hollywood and beyond.
And perhaps more interestingly we have seen the emergence of films that
feature more than one female action figure, effectively removing that
stultifying burden of representation otherwise shouldered by the lone
‘woman’.
We invite submissions addressing action films featuring multiple women,
including buddy films, ensemble films, films featuring female
protagonists and antagonists, female mentors and mentees and any other
variations on the theme of ‘sisters in arms’. We encourage proposals
that address films from all national and international cinema traditions
and from a range of action-led genres from Westerns to heist movies, and
from martial arts to science fiction. Papers that address action
heroines on TV will also be welcome.
Please send a 300-word abstract along with a 100-word bio by December
17th 2021 to: Christa van Raalte, Bournemouth University
(cvanraalte /at/ bournemouth.ac.uk) and Fran Pheasant-Kelly, University of
Wolverhampton at (f.e.pheasant-kelly /at/ wlv.ac.uk). A final listing of
accepted presentations will be released on January 31st 2022. Please
note that Edinburgh University Press have already expressed an interest
in publishing an edited collection arising from the conference and will
be in attendance.
Delegate fees are £50 (£30 for students/concessions) to include lunch,
refreshments, and evening wine reception. We are planning to hold the
conference dinner on Thursday 9th June and will send out details of this
later.
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