[Commlist] CFP : Sanditon as post-heritage drama: Journal of Film, Fashion & Consumption

*/Sanditon/**as post-heritage drama ***

The principal editor of the /Journal of Film, Fashion & Consumption/, 
Pamela Church Gibson, has commented upon ‘the seemingly insatiable 
demand for period dramas in […] post-heritage form’. It matches other 
recent comments on the rampant demand for screen productions in the 
romance genre. I am therefore very pleased to announce a special issue 
of /Film, Fashion & Consumption/ dedicated to Andrew Davies’ TV 
adaptation of Jane Austen’s manuscript fragment /Sanditon/ (2019-2023).

I suggest that contemporary, serialized post-heritage forms of period 
drama in particular adopt an alternative critical perspective on history 
that can be unpicked through a post-modern theoretical framework. Will 
Stanford Abbiss’ study of the already iconic TV-series /The Crown 
/(Netflix 2016-) indicates five central guiding elements for a 
post-modern film analysis: interrogation, subversion, subjectivity, 
self-consciousness, and ambiguity (Abbiss 2020). When applied, these 
elements help us pinpoint how the literary components of such period 
dramas can be adapted to reflect contemporary culture, primarily by 
‘letting the critiques of narrative dominate over the visual pleasures 
of [traditional] heritage’ (Abbiss 2020, 827). I have demonstrated how 
such a post-modern framework can be applied to /Sanditon /when I 
recently wrote about the costumes of one of its principal characters, 
Edith Denham (Ulfsdotter 2022).

Given the rich array of aspects that Andrew Davies’ adaptation proposes, 
scholarly topics of particular interest for our special issue on 
/Sanditon/ would be:

. screenplay; both Andrew Davies’ story line and individual episodes

. conditions of production

. comparative studies of /Sanditon/ and other screen productions of 
Austen’s novels

. iterations of contemporary discussions such as the Western history of 
slavery, feminism, and law in /Sanditon/

. critical reception

. fandom perspectives

. publicity material, such as trailers, behind the scenes imagery

. generic shifts/treatments informing for example the relation between 
nostalgia and cultural heritage in /Sanditon/

. /Sanditon/ in relation to Will Abbiss’ suggested theoretical framework

. costuming including hair and make-up

. mise-en-scène

. acting style

. editing

. locale in reference to images of heritage

. actor selection

. soundscape.

Send an article proposal of 300 words including a reference list of five 
key titles and five key words, together with a short bio to 
(Boel.ulfsdotter /at/ gu.se) <mailto:(Boel.ulfsdotter /at/ gu.se)> before October 
2023. If accepted, your complete article of 6.000-8.000 words, including 
copy-cleared images, should be submitted by January 2024.

Acceptance notes will be sent out by December 2023.

This special issue of /Journal of Film, Fashion & Consumption /will be 
published in 2025.


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