Centre for Film, Media, Discourse and Culture, University of Wolverhampton
Talks and events, Semester 2 2020/21 (all online, all welcome)
→ In Conversation: Applying for academic positions in Film/Media Studies, in the UK and US
Friday 12th March 2021, 16:00-1700 (GMT). With Dr Fran Pheasant-Kelly, Dr Benjamin Halligan and Dr Christopher Weedman (Middle Tennessee State University)
Session for those doing PhDs in Film Studies / Film History / Media Studies. What are universities looking for from applicants in terms of making appointments to academic positions? What are expectations for US positions, as well as UK positions? What kind of things should you be doing, now, to prime your CV for the job market? 1 hour session (including Q&A). Contact [log in to unmask] for invite.
→ Ecotopias: A Symposium.
Wed 21st April, 16:00-1700 (GMT). With Dr Nicola Allen, Dr Stephen Jacobs, Dr Robert Geal, (University of Wolverhampton)
Ecotopia is the title of the novel published by Ernest Callenbach in 1975. The novel was written at a time when there was a growing anxiety about the damaging effects of human activity on the environment. Since its publication, the term ecotopia has been widely used for narratives which propose that sustainability is integral to utopian visions. In these three papers we discuss very different styles of ecotopian speculation, but which all indicate hope for more harmonious ways of living with nature. Papers are: “I only want to live in peace and plant potatoes and dream!”: Escape to Ecotopia with the Moomins; Apocalyptic Fears and Ecotopian Dreams in the Discourses of the Centre for Alternative Technology; From Cinematic Eco-apocalypses and Eco-dystopias to Ecotopias: Imaginary Resolutions to Real Anxieties.
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/ecotopias-tickets-141866754281
→ In Conversation: Archival Research for Film/Media Studies.
Friday 23 April 2021, 16:00-1700 (GMT). With Dr Fran Pheasant-Kelly, Dr Benjamin Halligan and Dr Rebecca Harrison (University of Glasgow)
Session for those doing PhDs in Film Studies / Film History / Media Studies. Engaging in archival research as part of your PhD – either by formally accessing archives, or informal work with archival materials (for example, press cuttings or television reports)? This session will cover aspects of archival work, in terms of effective ways of digging, what archival material can add to your research and thesis, and matters of access, permissions, ethics and the reproduction of archival materials. 1 hour session (including Q&A). Contact [log in to unmask] for invite.
→ In Conversation: Promoting Your Research, and Gaining Exposure
Friday 7 May 2021, 16:00-1700 (GMT). With Dr Fran Pheasant-Kelly, Dr Benjamin Halligan and Dr Kirsty Fairclough (School of Digital Arts, Manchester Metropolitan University)
Session for those doing PhDs in Film Studies / Film History / Media Studies. How do you go about promoting yourself and your research by positioning yourself as an upcoming expert? We’ll discuss this both in terms of academic routes (conferences, websites) but also, crucially, non-academic routes too (television news, documentaries, newspapers, local and national, and gaining contacts for this). 1 hour session (including Q&A). Contact [log in to unmask] for invite.
→ Network News and the Crisis of “Objectivity”: Lessons from Chicago 1968
Wednesday 12th May 2021, 17:00-18:00 (GMT). With Prof Heather Jean Hendershot, Professor of Film and Media (Massachusetts Institution of Technology)
In the age of Fox News, MSNBC, CNN, and Newsmax, it can be hard to grasp the idea of “neutral news.” Before the rise of cable news, though, the network news was widely considered to be “unbiased.” This perception was challenged by various American right-wing, anti-civil rights groups in the 1950s and into the 60s, but the challenge was regional and, to a large extent, on the fringe. It was not until 1968 that the challenge became fully nationalized and mainstreamed in the U.S. This change was powered initially by Mayor Richard J. Daley, and later by President Nixon and his Vice President, Spiro T. Agnew. The tipping point was the networks’ controversial coverage of the Chicago Democratic National Convention of 1968. Hendershot’s presentation examines how the networks covered that complicated four day event (remembered largely today for the brutality of Chicago police against protestors chanting “the whole world is watching!”), how a range of political players criticized that coverage and even produced counter-media, and how we can understand both the short- and long-term fallout of this mediated crisis.
Heather Hendershot is Professor of Film and Media at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). She is the author of several books on American television and conservative media, most recently Open to Debate: How William F. Buckley Put Liberal America on the Firing Line. Her book on network television coverage of the Chicago Democratic National Convention of 1968 is forthcoming from the University of Chicago Press.
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/network-news-and-the-crisis-of-objectivity-lessons-from-chicago-1968-tickets-139922773783
→ ‘This is a tale of friendship, and a story of togetherness’: The British Monarchy, Grenfell Tower, and Inequalities in The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, London
Wed 2 June, 16:00-1700 (GMT). With Dr Laura Clancy, Lecturer in Media (Lancaster University)
The fire at Grenfell Tower, a block of public housing flats in The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, London, in June 2017 has come to epitomise the growing divide between Britain’s rich and poor in the last decade. Yet, the proximity of Kensington Palace, home of many senior British royals, has been almost entirely ignored in scholarship and commentary on the Grenfell Tower atrocity. This is especially remarkable given the philanthropic ‘work’ the monarchy has engaged in in the fire’s aftermath. This paper explores Together: Our Community Cookbook, a cookbook released by the British monarchy as part of Meghan Markle’s royal charitable ‘duties’, to raise money for The Hubb Community Kitchen - a group of women displaced in the fire, who prepared meals for their families and other survivors in the aftermath. The cookbook repeatedly emphasises unity, collectivity and togetherness: the importance of a local community response in The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea to rehabilitate Grenfell survivors. This paper argues that in releasing the cookbook, the British monarchy itself is incorporated into this narrative of community and recovery, which fundamentally erases the inequalities in power and privilege between the monarchy and Grenfell survivors (and, indeed, those in similar socioeconomic positions).
Dr Laura Clancy is a Lecturer in Media at Lancaster University. Her forthcoming monograph, Running the Family Firm: How the Royal Family manages its image and our money, explores the cultural politics of the British monarchy and its role in (re)producing consent for global inequalities and class power. You can follow her on Twitter: @Laura__Clancy.
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-british-monarchy-grenfell-tower-and-inequalities-in-london-tickets-140997173341
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