CFP: special edition of THE PROJECTOR on new approaches to food and film

Hello all,

The following is a CFP sent out by my colleague Cynthia Baron, the editor of THE PROJECTOR, an electronic journal of film, media, and cultural studies. She is in the process of putting together a special issue on food in film and media studies. The things that interest Cynthia (and myself) about food studies (food harvesting and gathering techniques, the future of food and farming, sustainability, etc.) are also of interest to folks in ecomedia studies. So, we kindly encourage pieces about food and media with an ecomedia emphasis.

Please see the CFP below for more information. If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact Cynthia (her email is below) or me (msbernard@gmail.com). Thanks!

The Projector: An Electronic Journal on Film, Media, and Culture is seeking research essays for an issue on food, film, and media/consumer culture.

While there are a collection of food films that have acquired canonical status, e.g., Babette’s Feast, Tampopo, Big Night, foodways play an integral role in scores of films and media-related consumer practices that have not been considered in the ongoing research. The journal is looking for essays that analyze and contextualize representations that are not covered extensively in volumes such as Reel Food, ed. Anne Bower, Food, Film, and Culture, by James Keller, or Food in the Movies, by Steve Zimmerman and Ken Weiss. It is interested in research that examines food (and film) practices that surround and run parallel to the consumption of contemporary media.

The journal is looking for articles that: analyze the foodways components that film and media do and do not represent; examine representations of food and water resources in fiction and/or documentary form; shed light on product placement and/or co-promotion by blockbuster cinema and fast food franchises. We are interested film, media, and cultural studies that examine foodways and representations of food and drink in light of: cultural context, genre conventions, auteurs’ preoccupations, and/or questions of race, gender, sexuality, and so on.

The journal is looking for material that illustrates ways that representations of food and food behaviors convey meaning in individual scenes, even when cooking, eating, and drinking are not significant throughout a film. We are also interested in research and analysis that explores foodways in films such as cannibal films, vampire films, and other genres or subgenres that problematize the food product.

Essays should be sent electronically to Cynthia Baron at cbaron@bgsu.edu by December 31, 2012.Please use MS Word and MLA citation. Send the essay as an attachment. Author and affiliation information must appear only in the email. Essays should be about 20-25 pages.

In advance of submitting an essay, please take a look at current and recent issues, submission policies, and so on: http://www.bgsu.edu/departments/theatrefilm/projector/page30082.html

If there are questions after visiting the journal, inquiries can be sent to Cynthia Baron cbaron@bgsu.edu