CFP: Book on Sci-Fi & Fantasy (Final Call)
The following cfp may a great opportunity for an ecocritical reading of one or more of the specific combinations of texts proposed below.
Reposted from H-NET List for Scholarly Studies and Uses of Media <H-FILM@h-net.msu.edu>
* From Text to Screen: Spinning Words into Film in the Science-Fiction and Fantasy Genres *
*Final Call*
The initial response to this Call for Papers for this project has been excellent, but the editors are still hopeful to see proposals on certain specific film/text combinations. Thus, this Final Call offers an overview of this now contracted project with some of the specific films/texts we hope to see proposals on. Please contact the editors at the email address at the end of this Call if you’ve any interest in contributing. Note: As a contracted volume the schedule is tight and we expect to finalize a manuscript in the summer of 2014.
*Original Description*: The translation of pre-existing works (plays, novels, short stories) to the big screen remains a problematic process fraught with difficulties of cultural translation and updates as well as differences in media forms and traditions. How do filmmakers take a work – especially one that existed in a different cultural and historical time – and translate it for contemporary audiences? Such films are seeing unprecedented success in American and world cinema. Having received initial interest from an academic publisher the editors seek chapter proposals on films and the pre-existing texts they are based upon for a work that asks questions about the two kinds of “translation” happening here: How do filmmakers produce a film based on a non-filmic text? And, at the same time, how do they update the cultural ideas in those pre-existing texts for a modern audience without losing the inherent ideas of the original work?
*Proposals:* Chapter proposals should provide a brief abstract (200-400 words) for a chapter of 5,500 to 7,000 words and detail the main thesis of the proposed chapter. Proposals should also include the name, discipline, and current affiliation (if any) of the author(s) with a separate, single page C.V. The editors are willing to consider proposals from graduate students and independent scholars. Proposals should be sent, as a Word and Word-compatible attachment to textualspawn@gmail.com by 1 March.Decisions on proposals will be made during March and initial drafts are expected in May with final drafts due by July or early August.
Many of the “obvious” topics (Tolkien, *Hunger Games*, *Harry Potter*, etc.) have already been filled. However, the editors are currently interested in proposals on the following works that have not yet been covered in proposals:
*War of the Worlds* (Wells/Haskin [1953]/Spielberg [2005]) – Specifically, post-9/11 aspects of Spielberg’s narrative.
*Oz* (Baum/Semon [1925]/Fleming [1939]/Raimi [2013, *Oz The Great and Powerful*]
*Ender’s Game* (Card/Hood) – Specifically, the queer aspects of the original novel and the heteronormalizing approach of the film.
*John Carter* (Burroughs/Stanton)
*Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter* (Graham-Smith/Bekmambetov)
The editors also welcome general queries and questions concerning possible proposals and the suitability of specific films/texts at textualspawn@gmail.com. We encourage possible contributors to contact the editors as soon as possible and thank you for your interest. Editors: Matthew Wilhelm Kapell & Ace G. Pilkington textualspawn@gmail.com
