>
>
>*POP THEORY: CRITICISM'S RELATION TO TELEVISION AND POPULAR CULTURE*
>
>EDITED BY MICHAEL EBERLE-SINATRA AND DINO FELLUGA
>
>CONTRACTED FOR PUBLICATION BY WILFRID LAURIER UNIVERSITY PRESS
>
>This collection will examine the fraught relationship between =20
>critical theory and popular culture, examining not only the recent turn=20=
>of theory to mass entertainment (thanks to postmodernism, cultural=20
>criticism, and Lacanian criticism) but also those instances when=20
>popular entertainment addresses high theory (from the Matrix=92s=20
>conversation with Jean Baudrillard=92s Simulacra and Simulation to=20
>Buffy the Vampire Slayer=92s consistent implementation of Freudian and=20=
>Lacanian theory). In what ways, we will ask, do such crossings affect=20=
>assumptions between =93high=94 and =93low=94 culture or between the=20
>avant-garde and mass-market kitsch?
>
>Here is the challenge of this collection: we have been conditioned not=20=
>to think seriously about popular entertainment. Such fare is designed =20=
>to offer up easily consumable packages: direct narratives, transparent=20=
>cinematography, unchallenging scenarios. This fact has led earlier=20
>critics to dismiss pop culture altogether, sometimes attacking it for=20=
>its enervating effects on an unsuspecting and easily misled public=20
>(eg. Theodor Adorno, Max Horkheimer, Walter Benjamin, Jean=20
>Baudrillard, and Fredric Jameson). Of course, much of that criticism=20
>is correct in its assumptions. It is clear that most Hollywood fare,=20
>whether on television or the big screen, follows extremely rigid and=20
>unthreatening general parameters: 1) a reliance on highly conservative=20=
>principles of compositional unity, character motivation, sequential=20
>linearity, and narrative closure; 2) a transparent presentation of =20
>scenes that does not interrupt the mimesis of a story line or call=20
>attention to the technology of the medium; 3) an acceptance of=20
>masculine hierarchies and values (conservative gender roles, the=20
>objectification of women=92s bodies, the conferral of agency to the male=20
>gaze). However, it is also a fact that pop culture represents a=20
>fantastically varied field of study, one that, because of the=20
>financial rewards, has attracted all sorts of very smart writers and=20
>directors. The question we will explore in this collection is not only=20=
>how theory might help us to make sense of the conservative bulk of=20
>cinema and television but also how we might make sense of those=20
>moments in pop culture that resemble, or at least invoke, the=20
>avant-garde.
>
>A fuller description of the collection is available online at:
>
>http://www.mapageweb.umontreal.ca/eberlesm/projects/pop_theory.html
>
>Please send completed essays (5000-8000 words; prepared to the Chicago=20=
> Manual of Style) by 1 July 2004 to Michael Eberle-Sinatra or Dino =20
>Felluga. Potential contributors are encouraged to approach the editors=20=
>with an outline of their essays. The MS will be submitted to the press=20=
> for evaluation in September 2004, with an expected publication in=20=
>2005.
>_____________________________________
>Dr. Michael Eberle-Sinatra
>Director of Graduate Studies
>Departement d'etudes anglaises
>Universite de Montreal
>CP 6128, Station Centre-ville
>Montreal, Quebec H3C3J7 - Canada
>_____________________________________
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