Postfeminism and the Future(s) of Feminist Film and Media Studies

Call for Papers

Postfeminism and the Future(s) of Feminist Film and Media Studies
40th Anniversary Convention, Northeast Modern Language Association
(NeMLA)
Feb. 26-March 1, 2009
Hyatt Regency-Boston, Massachusetts


Session Description Information:


Postfeminism (approximately 1981-present) is increasingly visible as
a theoretical platform. Recent scholarship has been devoted to
the influence of postfeminism upon popular culture, film and media
studies, such as Yvonne Tasker and Diane Negra’s Interrogating
Postfeminism (2007). In a recent issue of Cinema Journal (vol. 44, no. 2,

winter 2005), Tasker and Negra ask, “how do we address and make sense
of
a postfeminist media culture that repeatedly and loudly insists
that feminism is no longer relevant because it has somehow succeeded?
Second, how might our scholarship be updated so as to retain the
strength and political commitment associated with earlier traditions of 
feminist writing and filmmaking?” (Tasker and Negra, “In Focus:
Postfeminism and Contemporary Media Studies,” p. 108)
This panel, in the Women’s Studies and Film sections of the 2009
NeMLA convention, seeks to address these as well as other questions
raised
by the advent of postfeminism for film and media studies.
Does postfeminism
ring the death knell of feminist film and media theory, especially since
according to Tasker and Negra, “we find ourselves at a moment
when?conventional feminist critiques are in real danger of irrelevance”

(109)? Does postfeminist film and media undo, deny and/or further
feminist
film and media theory? This panel welcomes papers about all aspects of
postfeminism in film and media studies (including cinema, television,
visual art, gaming, blogging, popular culture studies, new media, etc.)
as
well as literature. We are especially interested in papers that engage
the
feminist/postfeminist debate and attempt to bridge that divide.


Possible topics include but are not limited to:
-performances of gender and/or race in recent postfeminist film
(i.e. “The
Hot Chick”; “White Chicks”)
-postfeminist directors, writers, artists, bloggers, etc.
-postfeminist representations of “career” women
-postfeminist “retreatism” (to cite Tasker and Negra’s term, p. 109)

in film, literature, television (i.e. “Knocked Up”; “13 Going on
30”)-postfeminism and “slacker” culture
-postfeminist portrayals of female adolescents/young adults (i.e.
“Mean Girls”; “Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen”; “Juno”;
“The
Virgin Suicides”; “Uptown Girls”; “Gossip Girl”; “Veronica
Mars”)
-postfeminism and pop culture
-postfeminism and “third wave” feminism
-postfeminism and cultural studies
- postfeminist costume/historical drama
-postfeminism and reality television (i.e. “The Real Housewives of
Orange County”; “The Real Housewives of New York City”; “The
Millionaire Matchmaker”; “America’s Next Top Model”;
“America’s Next Prom
Queen”; “The Simple Life”; “Bridezillas”; “The Hills”;
“The Bachelorette”)
-postfeminism and spectatorship studies (i.e. the “guilty” and/or
“girly” pleasures produced by postfeminist film, television, etc.)
-postfeminist horror, sci-fi, and thrillers
-postfeminist representations of female police officers/lawyers,
particularly on television (i.e. “The Closer”; “Saving Grace”;
“Damages”; “Ally McBeal”)
-postfeminist blogs/blogging
-postfeminist literature (i.e. fiction; self-help; advice)


Please send 250-500 word abstracts (with a brief CV) by September
15, 2008,
to Marcelline Block, mblock@princeton.edu.

Please include with your abstract:

Name and Affiliation
Brief (1 page) CV
Email Address
Postal Address
Telephone number
A/V requirements (if any; $10 media fee)


The complete call for papers for the 2009 convention will be posted
in June: www.nemla.org
Interested participants may submit abstracts to more than one
NeMLA panel;
however, panelists can only present one paper. Convention participants
may
present a paper at a panel or seminar and also present at a creative
session or participate in a roundtable.

Marcelline Block
Princeton University
Department of French and Italian
305 East Pyne Hall
Princeton, NJ 08540
mblock@princeton.edu