{"id":1525,"date":"2016-02-24T10:02:06","date_gmt":"2016-02-24T10:02:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/melodramaresearchgroup\/?p=1525"},"modified":"2016-03-08T18:30:08","modified_gmt":"2016-03-08T18:30:08","slug":"call-for-papers-gothic-feminisms-symposium-at-the-university-of-kent-thursday-26th-friday-28th-of-may","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/melodramaresearchgroup\/2016\/02\/24\/call-for-papers-gothic-feminisms-symposium-at-the-university-of-kent-thursday-26th-friday-28th-of-may\/","title":{"rendered":"Call For Papers: Gothic Feminism Symposium at the University of Kent, Thursday 26th-Friday 27th of May"},"content":{"rendered":"

Exciting News! Melodrama Research Group members Frances and Tamar\u00a0are organising a\u00a0symposium entitled: Gothic Feminism: The Representation of the Gothic\u00a0Heroine in Cinema.\u00a0This builds on our Gothic focus over the last 6 months and seems especially apt given our most recent screening of The Stepford\u00a0Wives<\/em> (1975). The symposium\u00a0will take place at the University of Kent Canterbury campus\u00a0from Thursday 26th to Friday 27th of May. Our confirmed keynote is Catherine Spooner of Lancaster University: http:\/\/www.lancaster.ac.uk\/english-and-creative-writing\/about-us\/people\/catherine-spooner <\/a><\/p>\n

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\"Gothic<\/a><\/p>\n

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Gothic Feminism: <\/strong><\/p>\n

The Representation of the Gothic Heroine in Cinema<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n

University of Kent<\/p>\n

Thursday 26th<\/sup> \u2013 Friday 27th<\/sup> May 2016<\/p>\n

Confirmed Keynote: Catherine Spooner, Lancaster University<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n

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CALL FOR PAPERS<\/strong><\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n

Since its literary beginnings, the Gothic has featured distinctive female characters who engage with, and are often central to, the uncanny narratives characteristic of the genre. The eponymous \u2018Gothic heroine\u2019 conjures up images of the imperilled young and inexperienced woman, cautiously exploring the old dark house or castle where she is physically confined by force \u2013 imprisoned by the tale\u2019s tyrant \u2013 or metaphorically trapped by societal expectations of marriage and domesticity. The Gothic heroine is habitually motivated by an investigative spirit and usually explores her surroundings in a quest to uncover a sinister secret which will, for example, reveal her love interest\u2019s past or provide explanation for her supposedly supernatural encounters.<\/p>\n

The importance of the Gothic\u2019s women protagonists is not limited to these narrative functions but extends to considerations of the genre itself; the Gothic can be defined<\/em> by its portrayal of the heroine. Ellen Moers\u2019 work on female literary traditions is a key text in this respect, identifying the \u2018Female Gothic\u2019 as a distinctive mode within the genre. The \u2018Female Gothic\u2019 highlights the prevalence of female writers exploring the Gothic mode and the implied woman reader engaging with the heroine\u2019s exploits. Moers writes that \u2018Female Gothic\u2019 texts \u2013 such as those by Ann Radcliffe \u2013 convey a specific form of \u2018heroinism\u2019 which evokes the idea of a \u2018literary feminism\u2019.<\/p>\n

Moers\u2019 work demonstrates how the Gothic and the Gothic heroine intersect with feminist criticism because, as Helen Hanson notes, \u2018the female gothic bears a political charge\u2019 (Hanson, 2007, 63). This \u2018political charge\u2019 is equally applicable to the Gothic film and its representation of the heroine. In cinema, the Gothic enjoyed particular attention with the 1940s cycle of melodrama and noir<\/em> films which emphasised the Gothic traits of the old dark house, mystery and domestic threat, with the Gothic heroine\u2019s exploits central throughout. Films such as Rebecca<\/em> (1940), Gaslight<\/em> (1940\/1944) and Secret Beyond the Door<\/em> (1947) are exemplary of this trend. Several writers have explored the political and feminist ramifications of these films which have been seen as Gothic or, as Mary Ann Doane writes, \u2018paranoid woman\u2019s films\u2019 (Doane, 1987). The reception and interpretation of these films is inextricably linked to societal contexts in which these films were made, as Diane Waldman notes how the war and immediate post-war period offer distinct visions \u2013 and varying degrees of validation \u2013 of the heroine\u2019s feminine perspective.<\/p>\n

This symposium seeks to re-engage with these theories and reflect specifically upon the depiction of the Gothic heroine in film. Since the release of Rebecca<\/em> over 75 years ago, has our evaluation of the Gothic heroine necessarily changed? How does the Gothic heroine relate to its literary predecessors? Can one speak of a cinematic Gothic heroine, distinct and separate from the original Gothic literature? Victoria Nelson notes that, in film history, \u2018[in] a relatively short span of time, the perennial swooning damsel in distress had turned into a millennial female jock\u2019 (Nelson, 2013, 136). How have the Gothic heroines of the screen evolved and is it possible to trace this specific lineage in contemporary representations? Whether the Gothic heroine be a \u2018damsel\u2019 or a \u2018jock\u2019, this inevitably raises the question of interpretation: how should the Gothic heroine be evaluated and can such a representation be thought of as \u2018feminist\u2019?<\/p>\n

This symposium will engage with these questions of representation, interpretation and feminist enquiry in relation to the Gothic heroine throughout film history including present day incarnations, with films such as Crimson Peak<\/em> (2015) directly re-engaging with the Gothic genre. This event seeks to wrestle with the difficulties posed by the Gothic as a mode which emphasises terror, the uncanny and suspense, alongside representations of women protagonists who given agency as investigators motivating narrative development but are subjected to horror for the story\u2019s pleasure. These difficulties are not new to the Gothic genre. As Fred Botting notes: \u2018Women\u2019s gothic, it seems, straddles contradiction and challenge, persecution and pleasure\u2019 (Botting, 2008, 153). Similarly, David Punter and Glennis Byron write that \u2018[whether] female Gothic should be seen as radical or conservative has been an issue of particular concern\u2019 (Punter and Bryon, 2004, 280). This symposium will illuminate the concerns, contradictions and challenged posed by the Gothic heroine on-screen through reference to specific case studies which re-engage with older examples of the Gothic and\/or explore contemporary films, reflecting upon the renewed academic and commercial interest in the genre of recent years.<\/p>\n

Topics can include but are not limited to:<\/p>\n