Fwd: CFP: Popular Film Criticism in Media Culture

[Aaron Gerow]

Since this relates to our discussion on new media and film criticism,  
I thought I'd forward this.

Begin forwarded message:
>
> From:    "Will Scheibel" <willscheibel at gmail.com>
>
> Society for Cinema & Media Studies Conference, March 17-21, 2010
> The Westin Bonaventure Hotel & Suites, Los Angeles, CA
>
> Deadline for submissions to this panel: August 9, 2009 11:59 PM CST
>
> Submissions sought for a panel that considers the relationship  
> between film
> reviewing and media culture. Papers addressing film criticism in  
> ways that
> relate to the overall conference theme (SCMS at 50: Archiving the
> Future/Mobilizing the Past) are particularly welcome.
>
> Cinema scholars such as Robert Kapsis, Barbara Klinger, and Charles  
> Maland
> have examined the role of reviews in discursively constructing popular
> genres and directorial reputations during the Classical Hollywood  
> era. Over
> the past three years, however, more than 55 professional film  
> critics have
> lost their jobs, a statistic reported by Sean P. Means of The Salt  
> Lake
> Tribune, who attributes this plight to buyouts, layoffs, reassignment,
> retirement, or the death of their print publications. Meanwhile,  
> online
> criticism continues to flourish, as evidenced by review aggregators  
> such as
> Rotten Tomatoes, movie websites such as IMDB, and blogs dedicated  
> to film
> analysis and evaluation. This panel aims to investigate not only  
> the status
> of the film critic in the contemporary mediascape, but also the  
> impact of
> print and Internet film reviewing on global cinema culture.
>
> Potential topics may include, but are not limited to the following:
>
> - Film reviews as historical evidence
> - The future of film criticism
> - Reviewing, academia, and cinephilia
> - Popular opinion, moviegoing, and the DVD market
> - Film criticism and film advertising
> - The cultural presence of the public intellectual
> - Canonicity, connoisseurship, and taste politics
> - Print media vs. new media
> - Coverage of international/independent films and film festivals
> - Genre definitions (e.g. David Edelstein’s coinage of “torture  
> porn”)
> - The cult of the director
>
> Send 300 word abstract and full academic CV (as separate e-mail  
> attachments)
> to: Will Scheibel (willscheibel at gmail.com). Submitters will be  
> notified as
> to the status of their proposal by August 15. Please visit the SCMS  
> website
> for more details about the 2010 conference: http://www.cmstudies.org/
>
> Will Scheibel
> Indiana University
> Department of Communication & Culture
> 800 East Third Street
> Bloomington, IN 47404