[Discussion] CFP: The Work of Cinephilia in the Age of CGI Reproduction (8/7/05; SCMS, 3/2/06-3/5/06)
gpultar@cstgroup.org
gpultar@cstgroup.org
Sat, 30 Jul 2005 07:50:20 +0300
From: Jason Sperb <aquariusjackson@yahoo.com>
CFP--The Work of Cinephilia in the Age of CGI Reproduction
We are seeking submissions for a proposed panel on the importance of aesthetics
and/or pleasure in recent films utilizing Computer Generated Imagery (CGI). At
last year�s Society for Cinema and Media Studies (SCMS) Conference in
London, plenary speaker Thomas Elsaesser articulated the different generations
and waves of cinephilia in the brief history of film scholarship. These days,
can we begin to discover and explicate the pleasure of recent films, at a time
when film increasingly uses CGI (Computer Generated Imagery) and other highly
artificial means to engage the senses of its audiences? Such films use CGI not
only for special effects, but sometimes to create entire worlds and even
lifelike characters. Many recent successful films have relied heavily on the use
of blue screen and green screen effects to immerse its �live�
characters in completely simulated environments. In just the last couple of
years, movies as varied as Lord of the Rings, Sky Captain and the World! of
Tomorrow, Sin City, The Aviator, Star Wars and The Adventures of Shark Boy and
Lava Girl have all emphasized this artificiality to finely tuned effect. With
film and diegetic space increasingly digitized, further collapsed into
spectacle, is it possible to speak of pleasure or aesthetics in this new CGI
cinema? Is this latest technical emphasis heightening or dulling the affective
powers of film and media?
This proposed panel hopes to explore the intersection of cinephilia and the CGI
cinema, with particular attention to the question of how much an increasingly
digitized and artificial style can or cannot affect its audience. We welcome any
contributions which explore the role of cinephilia, pleasure and/or style and
aesthetics in films showcasing increasingly computer-generated imagery. This
panel especially encourages the work of newer scholars who are attempting to
consider the role of cinephilia in a new generation of film scholarship.
Papers on cinephilia and CGI could include (but are not limited to):
Specific filmmakers�Rodriguez, Lucas
Audience reception�critical, commercial
CGI animated features from Pixar or Dreamworks
The impact on low-budget, independent films
The potential of simulated people, animals, crowds, environments
The role of Performance Theory and the Simulation of Actors
The potential for cult or other types of collective�as opposed to
individual�receptions
The possibilities of humor, horror, tragedy and other emotional responses
The relation to popular books on culture, such as Virginia Postrel�s The
Substance of Style, Stuart Ewen�s All-Consuming Images, or Steve
Johnson�s Everything Bad Is Good for You: How Today's Popular Culture Is
Actually Making Us Smarter
We also welcome explicit theoretical approaches to CGI and cinephilia, such
as�
· Aura (Benjamin)
· Pleasure/Bliss (Barthes)
· defamiliarization (Shklovsky)
· Desire (Butler or Lacan)
· polyglossia/intertextuality (Bahktin)
· Remediation (Grusin, Bolter)
· Simulation (Baudrillard or Deleuze)
· Voyeurism, spectatorship (Mulvey, Studlar)
· Society of the Spectacle (Debord)
· Cinema of Attractions (Gunning)
· Affect (Massumi, Bennett)
· Historicity/Marxism (Lukacs, Jameson)
If interested, please provide one of the following co-chairs with a 50-100 word
proposal, contact information and brief bio by August 8th:
Scott Balcerzak (balcer@ufl.edu)
English, University of Florida
Jason Sperb (jsperb@indiana.edu)
Communication & Culture, Indiana University
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