[Commlist] CfP: Love, Loss, and Trauma: The Horror of Mike Flanagan

Call for Papers:
Love, Loss, and Trauma: The Horror of Mike Flanagan
Editor: Karrȧ Shimabukuro

Mike Flanagan’s works, both extended series and movies, have provided 
fresh ideas in a genre that seems more concerned lately with rebooting, 
remaking, and rewriting, ideas and stories and characters that are 
familiar to audiences and solid bets for the box office. Flanagan’s 
works present new stories, even if connections can be made to classic 
horror, like the connections many made between Midnight Mass and Stephen 
King’s works. Somehow his series and movies manage to balance the homage 
with new storytelling. Many of Flanagan’s series like The Haunting of 
HIll House (2019), The Haunting of Bly Manor (2020), and The Fall of the 
House of Usher (pending) are very clear about their Gothic roots while 
also reminding audiences that what lies so often beneath the surface of 
horror is loss, grief, trauma, and love, ideas that the Gothic always 
understood.

For this collection I am looking for chapters that examine all of 
Flanagan’s works from Ghosts of Hamilton Street (2003), Oculus (2013), 
Gerald’s Game (2017), The Haunting of HIll House (2019), Doctor Sleep 
(2019), The Haunting of Bly Manor (2020), Midnight Mass (2021), to The 
Fall of the House of Usher (pending). Chapters that consider the Gothic 
in his works, or trace actors across series and movies, or how he uses 
classic horror tropes and expectations as red herrings, are all of interest.

Topics for contributions can address, but are not limited to:
Analysis of individual movies and series
Examination of how the actors Flanagan uses connect the universes of his 
work
How Flanagan’s works deal with love, trauma, and loss
The Gothic foundation of his works
The role of women
The role of addiction and recovery
The lack of diversity in his works, especially for the missed chance 
these representations had to address head on how race has always haunted 
the Gothic.

I will ensure that this edited collection does not just have solid 
representation but actively works to provide a space for scholars who 
have historically been marginalized.  Therefore I ask when you email 
your proposal of roughly 350 words that you include a detailed bio so I 
can ensure the collection has women, queer, and scholars of color as the 
majority. Submission date: 1 December 2022 to
Karrá Shimabukuro (khkshimabukuro /at/ gmail.com)

Anticipate first drafts (6,000-8,000 words) by 1 October 2023.


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