Call for Proposals:

And Now for Something Completely Different: Critical Approaches to Monty Python

Editors: Kate Egan, Aberystwyth University, Wales

Jeffrey Andrew Weinstock, Central Michigan University USA

***Deadline for 250-word proposals: Oct. 20^th, 2016

Submissions to: [log in to unmask] and [log in to unmask]

Considering Monty Python's pioneering contributions to film and television comedy and to traditions of satire and subversion, Python scholarship in film and media studies to date is surprisingly scarce, despite some valuable and thought-provoking work on the television series (Landy 2005) and the Python films (Smith 2012) and mentions in works on cult media and British comedy. This collection aims to take a wider and more eclectic view, considering the whole Python phenomenon (television series, films, live shows, comedy albums and fan engagements with all of these) from a range of interdisciplinary, critical perspectives.

Topics may include (but are not limited to):

Python and Politics
Python and the British Satirical Tradition
Python on Stage (including early Python appearances at the Edinburgh Comedy Festival, Live at the Hollywood Bowl, Spamalot, and the recent Monty Python live events in London)
The Sketch Show tradition and Python
Python and the BBC
Python and Surrealism/The Absurd
Python and Horror/Violence
Python and the Gothic
Python and Race
Python and Class
Python and Intertextuality
Python and fandom
Python and paratexts
Python and Gender
Python and The Historical Film/Conceptions of History
Python and Sex/Nudity
Python and Reflexivity
Python as Cult (Television and/or Film)
Python and Music (particularly the songs)
Python and Language
Python in the US
The Films (And Now for Something Completely Different, Monty Python and the Holy Grail, Monty Python's The Life of Brian, Monty Python's The Meaning of Life)
Python and Religion/The Church
Python and the British Film Industry
Gilliam and Jones as Directors
Art Cinema and Python (e.g. the influence of Pasolini on The Holy Grail)
Python and Medieval Legends and Biblical Epics

6000-word essays due August 15^th, 2017

Proposals and inquiries to Kate Egan at [log in to unmask] and Jeffrey Weinstock at [log in to unmask]