Author Topic: CFP: MPCA/ACA - Humor & Horror/SF/Fantasy - Deadline: 08/29/2017  (Read 1862 times)

MicheleBrittany

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2017 MPCA/ACA: CFP: Humor *and* Horror/SF/Fantasy - St Louis - 2017.10.18-22

Deadline: August 29, 2017
Conference Dates: October 18-22, 2017
Location of Conference: St. Louise, Missouri, United States
Subject Fields: Film and Film History, Popular Culture Studies, Psychology, Sociology, Theatre & Performance History / Studies

ATTENTION, PLEASE!
Humor ... and ... Horror, Science Fiction, Fantasy Scholars:

In case you didn't know it, today is your lucky day!

You just got invited to submit to the Midwest Popular Culture Association / American Culture Association annual meetings being held in St. Louis, MO, at the beautiful Hyatt Regency St. Louis at the Arch, Wednesday-Sunday, 18-22 October 2017. More details about the conference, membership, travel matters, the hotel and its rates, and the city and the whole enchilada can be found at the MPCA/ACA website <http://www.mpcaaca.org/>. I'll wait while you go buy a lottery ticket.

I would like to try something a bit different this year and try to focus more on moments in media that are simultaneously comedic and “art-horror.” (A moment I call sLaughter [“SLOFF-ter.”]) Not simply genre-blenders like “horror-comedy,” or “cringe” or “comedy of cruelty” - though those are certainly relevant - but moments where it’s not funny unless it’s horrific and not horrific unless it’s funny. As far as I’m concerned, going too far may actually be considered a good starting point. (Patton Oswalt: A forty year old man and a ten year old boy are walking into the woods at night, and the little kid says, “Mister, I’m scared.” And the forty year old man says, “You’re scared? I gotta walk outta here alone!”)

Challenge accepted? Sweet. Start by reading Noël Carroll’s “Horror and Humor” in The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism, Vol. 57, No. 2, Aesthetics and Popular Culture (Spring, 1999), pp. 145-160 <http://www.jstor.org/stable/432309> (access JSTOR through your library or other institution). As if you hadn't already read that one, right? Meantime, just remember nothing good is off-limits; you don’t have to limit yourself to sLaughter if it’s just not your thing.

In any case, make us shiver in delight. Make us laugh. But for the love of the holy, make us think.

Told you it was your lucky day!

(Remember, it's all right here.... <https://msu.edu/user/jdowell/MPCA/MPCA-2017CFP-HumorHorror.pdf>)

Contact Info:
SUBMISSIONS GO HERE: http://submissions.mpcaaca.org (Seriously: that's the only way to submit your proposal/paper to the Midwest Popular Culture Association / Midwest American Culture Association!)

Contact Email: jdowell@msu.edu
URL: https://msu.edu/user/jdowell/MPCA/MPCA-2017CFP-HumorHorror.pdf
Michele Brittany
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