CFP Romcom Actually: Conference

Romcom Actually
A Two-Day International Conference on Romantic Comedy in Film and Television
Leicester, UK, 2 - 3 March 2011.
 
Plenary speakers:
Peter Evans (Queen Mary, University of London) Tamar Jeffers McDonald (University of Kent)
 
 
Call for papers
 
Proposals are invited for papers on all aspects of romantic comedy, a key screen genre from the days of early sound cinema to present day chick flicks and TV series like Sex and the City. Simultaneously scrutinising the present state of the genre and delving into its illustrious past, this conference seeks to reveal why, in the words of Richard Curtis, ‘love actually is all around’ in film and television worldwide.
 
Please send a 200 word abstract for a 20 minute paper, and a brief biographical statement, to Ian Hunter (iqhunter@dmu.ac.uk) and Melanie Williams (Melanie.Williams@uea.ac.uk).
 
Deadline for proposals: 1 December 2010
 
Topics of interest may include but are not limited to:
• Historical development of the romcom and its cycles and sub-genres • National variations in romcom • Medium specificities of cinema and television romcom • Romcom auteurs, from Ernst Lubitsch and Woody Allen to Nancy Meyers and Nora Ephron • Critical reception • Fan cultures • Marketing the romcom • Questions of race, sexuality, age, gender and class. • Formal analysis of conventions and motifs such as the ‘meet cute’ • Stars and performance • Generic hybridity (e.g. zom-coms) • Intertextuality and remakes • Music • Romcoms in adaptation • Romcoms and chick-lit