Critical Studies in Television online is a scholarly resource and critical forum for studying television, sponsored by the Department of Contemporary Arts, Manchester Metropolitan University.. It is our mission to enrich television studies by providing comprehensive access to information, as well as to disseminate knowledge and stimulate debate. CST Online
One-day symposium: ”Doctor Who: Visions From Behind the Sofa”, November 23rd 2011 – 10:00 – 17:00.
Confirmed Keynote Speakers:
Toby Hadoke – a moderator of Dr Who DVD commentaries for the original series releases.
Cameron McEwan – a high profile blogger known as ‘Blogtor Who’.
Chris Chapman – a documentary filmmaker who has made several documentaries for the original series DVD releases.
Mat Irvine – who did special effects work on the show, and built and operates K9.
The event is broken into four sections, with the aim of analysing, discussing and celebrating all things Who-related!
Each section begins with a keynote presentation, which then leads into a panel discussion. It is relatively informal and each section is followed by a short chance for Q&A.
Section 1: Mission to the Unknown: the rise of Doctor Who
This panel will look at how the show was created, its influence and precursors (H.G. Wells, Quatermass, other TV shows at the time (US/UK) and also the influence of British culture of 1963. From history lessons to ‘Dalekmania’, embracing ‘bug-eyed monsters’.
Section 2: From smacked bottoms to cosmic kisses: the Doctor’s women
This panel will investigate the role of the female companion and how it has changed over the years from screaming girls to “the most important woman in the universe”. This panel discussion will touch upon the changing portrayal of women on television, as well as women behind the camera.
Section 3: Edge of Destruction: the wilderness years
In this session we will look at how the fan community kept the show alive during the years when it was off-air. We will also talk about fan fiction as well as the way the show embraced different technologies to generate new content. The lost episodes and the work of the Doctor Who Restoration Team will also be discussed.
Section 4: The Greatest Show in the Galaxy: the regeneration of Doctor Who
In this final session we will look at how the show was revived and became a successful, new – yet still recognisable – format, and how it has grown to become one of the BBC’s flagship shows. We will also look to the future and ask: How many more Doctors can there be?
http://www.herts.ac.uk/events/Doctor-Who.cfm
Conference cfp: Acting Up: Gender and Television Comedy Symposium
Conference cfp: Global SF Cinema
Journal cfp: Special issue Journal of Popular Film and Television ‘Teaching Popular Film and Television: Critical Media Literacy and Narratives in (Teacher) Education’
Collection cfp: Not Another Teen Movie: Historical Essays on American Cinema and Youth
Edited Collection cfp: From Fraggle Rock to Farscape: Essays on Jim Henson
Conference cfp: Console-ing Passions
New Publication: Reading Little Britain
Edited Collection cfp: Film and TV Superheroes in the New Millennium
Call for Papers: The Big Screen vs. The Small Screen
A one-day conference exploring the competing cultures and contexts of cinema and television in a changing media environment.
Canterbury Christ Church University (Department of Media), UK February 16, 2011
Confirmed key speakers:
Professor Charlotte Brunsdon (University of Warwick)
Professor Mark Jancovich (University of East Anglia)
Dr. Karen Lury (University of Glasgow)
Distinguishing between big screen and small screen, cinema and television, Pauline Kael once wrote that cinema audiences “want the theatre screen to do what the television screen can’t do: overpower them” (1965). Nearly fifty years later, do such expectations and experiences hold true? Is cinema (from IMAX to “home cinema”) able to “overpower” us in a way that television cannot? Is it television (a “golden age”?), as opposed to cinema, that exists at the vanguard of experimentation? By what routes, and with what consequences, has recent television been adapted for cinema, and vice versa? In relation to new technology and related institutional shifts, how are cultures of production and consumption changing? Ultimately, how relevant are distinctions between “big screen” and “small screen” in an era of increasing convergence?
This international conference seeks to address these and other questions – we are seeking proposals for 20-minute presentations.
