MCS Hosts the Chicago Film Seminar, Wed. January 13th - "Why Film History?"

Please join the Chicago Film Seminar on Wednesday, January 13th, at 6:30pm, for an exciting roundtable discussion, titled “Why Film History?: Discipline, Institution, and the Archive in Spanish Cinema Studies.”

Roundtable participants, Professors Vicente Sánchez-Biosca and Steven Marsh, describe the event as follows:

This discussion seeks to address approaches to the cinema of Spain. While Film History as a sub-discipline of cinema and media studies is an important institutional component of almost all media and cinema studies departments, in Spain—uniquely—it is the dominant field in such departments. Indeed, Film History is so dominant that anyone – absolutely anyone – writing on film is considered to be a film historian. 

History has a particular resonance in Spain, one doubtlessly connected not only to the trauma but also to the telos of the country’s Civil War (about which Vicente Sánchez Biosca has written extensively). This discussion aims to interrogate historiography and historical discourse as they apply to film. It is envisaged that we will focus on questions of the national, on heritage, on trauma and event.   Likewise, we will address the overlap and possible aporia that emerges between history and memory, the way affect and nostalgia shape (or contradict) historical methodologies.

Vicente Sánchez-Biosca is Professor of Film Studies at the University of Valencia and has been a Visiting Professor at New York University, Princeton University, University of Paris III (Sorbonne Nouvelle), University of São Paulo, University of Montréal, among other schools. He was the editor of the journal Archivos de la Filmoteca from 1992 to 2012, and is the author of several books in film theory and history. Among them are Sombras de Weimar. Contribucíon a la historia del cine alemán 1918-1933 (Verdoux, 1990); Teoría del montaje cinematográfico (Filmoteca de la Generalitat Valenciana, 1991); NO-DO. El tiempo y la memoria (Cátedra/Filmoteca Española, 2006) and El pasado es el destino. Propaganda y cine del bando nacional en la guerra civil (both with R. Tranche, Cátedra, 2011); Cine y vanguardias artisticas. Conflictos, encuentros, fronteras (Paidós, 2004); Cine de historia, cine de memoria: La representacíon y sus límites  (Cátedra, 2006); Cine y Guerra civil española (Alianza, 2006). His current research is focused on the production and circulation of images of atrocity in twentieth and twenty-first century cinema, photography, illustrated press, and other media.

Steven Marsh is an associate professor of Spanish Film and Cultural Studies at the University of Illinois at Chicago. He is co-editor of Gender and Spanish Cinema (Berg 2004) and author of Popular Film Under Franco: Comedy and the Weakening of the State. He is one of the co-authors on the international collaborative project Cinema and the Mediation of Everyday Life: An Oral History of Filmgoing in 1940s and 1950s Spain. He recently edited a special issue of the Journal of Spanish Cultural Studies on Spanish film and spectrality. He is currently finalizing a new monograph provisionally titled Spanish Cinema, a Counter-History: Cosmopolitanism, Experimentation, Militancy. He is on the editorial board and one of the founding editors of the Journal of Hispanic Cinemas and he is a member of the editorial collective of the Journal of Spanish Cultural Studies.    

The Chicago Film Seminar is held at DePaul’s Loop Campus in the Daley Building at 14 E. Jackson Blvd., Room LL 102, using the State St. entrance located at 247 S. State.

For more information about Chicago Film Seminar events, please visit http://chicagofilmseminar.blogspot.com/ and https://www.facebook.com/chicagofilmseminar 

We hope to see you there!

Two Upcoming Public Talks by Prof. Paul Booth

Prof. Paul Booth will be giving two upcoming public talks at the Driehaus Museum as part of their "Mix and Mingle at the Movies Series."

The first is on Saturday February 27th at 7:30 for a screening of Buster Keaton's The General (1925), and the second is on Saturday April 16th as part of a screening of Robert Altman's Gosford Park (2001). Both events start at 7:30 pm.

Period-appropriate costumes are highly encouraged and there will be a costume contest with prizes awarded each evening.




For more information, please see:

The General: http://www.driehausmuseum.org/programs/view/mix_mingle_at_the_movies_the_general

Gosford Park: http://www.driehausmuseum.org/programs/view/mix_mingle_at_the_movies_gosford_park

New Book from Prof. Blair Davis

Routledge recently published the anthology Rashomon Effects: Kurosawa, Rashomon and Their Legacies, co-edited by Blair Davis. The book examines the cultural and aesthetic impacts of Akira Kurosawa’s 1950 film Rashomon, as well as the director’s larger legacies to cinema, its global audiences and beyond. It demonstrates that these legacies are not only cinematic and artistic, but also cultural and cognitive. The book moves from an examination of one filmmaker and his immediate social context in Japan, and goes on to explore how an artist’s ideas might transcend their cultural origins to ultimately provide global influences.

Chapters include new work by Stephen Prince, Andrew Horvat, Janice Matsumura, Robert Anderson, Jan Walls, Jef Burnham and Nur Yalman. It also contains some of the last published work from the late Donald Richie, one of the foremost experts on Japanese cinema.

                                    

Davis and his co-editors, Robert Anderson and Jan Walls, describe how "the essays in this volume address issues beyond the realm of Rashomon within film studies, and centre around the Rashomon effect which itself has become a widely recognized English term referring to significantly different perspectives and interpretations of different eyewitnesses to the same dramatic event. The dual figures of ripples and circles comprise the organizing image and principle of this book. The ripples represent the creative energy caused by each new iteration of the Rashomon principle, namely that any event or process usually involves more than one take, and indeed at times multiple, inconsistent, and even conflicting takes. In this book, we describe the continuing and spreading results of an event or action as ripples. Like the ever-expanding ripples moving across water when an object is dropped into it, a ripple effect occurs when there is incremental movement outwards from an initial state. This image has also been applied in financial markets to describe the impact of an event and how it circulates through the players in the industry and its effect on stock price and stock coverage. While the movement of the ripples represents the continuing and vibrant influence of Rashomon effects into the twenty-first century, the circles represent specific events, such as the publication of a new script, a particular production, or a remake."

For more information, see:
https://www.routledge.com/products/9781138827097

Study Abroad: Spain - Cinema and the City

Study Abroad: SPAIN

  Cinema and the City

  Summer 2016 / June 14 – June 27

Application Deadline: February 1, 2016

Come for 13 days to Madrid and Barcelona!    

      

Talk to filmmakers and urban activists; learn of Spanish film, and use photos and write about your experiences!

This study abroad program will introduce students to Spanish culture as it is linked to film culture and urban life.

                                  

We will visit Madrid and Barcelona, since each city represents a different side of Spanish culture. Included are visits to Plaza Mayor, Plaza del Sol, Gran Via and other places featured in past and current films. In Barcelona, we will visit the Palau of Catalan Music and the buildings by Antonio Gaudi, identified by UNESCO as part of its World Heritage list. Our focus on cinema’s representation of cultural life will be complemented with an exploration of street-level culture. We will meet film scholars, filmmakers, representatives from media organizations, and local activists involved with a variety of urban communication projects (e.g., green urbanism, hyperlocal journalism, mass transportation expansion, housing, and cultural affairs).

Students will have the opportunity to enhance their learning experience by creating a visual portfolio that expresses, through a unique imagery, their impressions and explorations of Spanish culture. Students will also write a journal, which will help them discuss their experience abroad, as much as to create their own portfolio.  The program also includes a visit to an authentic flamenco show, to the Reina Sofia Museum, a graffiti tour, a visit to the filmotheques in both cities, and travel on the high-speed train from Madrid to Barcelona.

Courses and Credits
In the Spring Quarter, students register for MCS 350/523 - Topics in Global Cinema: Spanish Cinema and Urban Communication. This course explores: 1) Spanish culture and society through cinema, and 1) Representations of cities as social and symbolic spaces. By the end of the course, students will understand that Spanish cinema is linked to the country’s political, social and economic evolution and will have acquired a set of tools to navigate both cities in Spain. This course counts toward the International Communication minor. 4 credits.

In the Summer Quarter, students register for CMN 398/CMN 598 - Study Abroad Spain: Cinema and the City. This study abroad program to Spain is designed both to introduce students to Spanish culture and society as it is connected to film culture and to understand urban life and the rapid changes taking place in Spain. We will meet film scholars, filmmakers, representatives from media organizations, and local activists involved with a variety of urban communication projects (e.g., green urbanism, hyperlocal journalism, mass transportation expansion, housing, and cultural affairs). This course fulfills the Junior Year Experiential Learning (JYEL) liberal studies domain. It also counts toward the International Communication minor. 4 credits. NO LANGUAGE REQUIREMENTS

Living Arrangements

Students stay in comfortable, conveniently located hotels at the center of each city. Hotel accommodations are shared occupancy.

Costs

All students participating in study abroad will be charged both tuition and a program fee. Tuition is billed at the students’ regular DePaul tuition rate based on the number of credits enrolled. Program directors will talk about program fee at information sessions.

Contact Info

Programs directors:    Prof. Daniel Makagon dmakagon@depaul.edu and Prof. Luisela Alvaray lalvaray@depaul.edu

Study Abroad Office:  Erica Spilde espilde@depaul.edu  

Online application studyabroad.depaul.edu

MCS Hosts the Chicago Film Seminar, Thurs. Oct. 29th

The Media and Cinema Studies Program is again the proud host of the Chicago Film Seminar for 2015-16.
Please join us on Thursday, October 29th at 6:30 PM for Professor Scott Curtis (Northwestern University) as he gives a talk entitled "Experts and Their Images: Vision, Form, and the Historiography of Media Use." A response will be provided by Oliver Gaycken (University of Maryland).

The event is held held at the Loop Campus in the Daley Building at 14 E. Jackson Blvd., Room LL 102, using the State St. entrance located at 247 S. State. A reception will follow Prof. Curtis's talk.

For more information about the Chicago Film Seminar please visit their website:

http://chicagofilmseminar.blogspot.com/

Two public talks by Prof. Paul Booth

Prof. Paul Booth will be giving two public talks between Oct. 17th-18th. The first will be held at Valor Con, a gaming convention, entitled "Board Game Renaissance." The second will be held by the Comfort Society and is on "Time Travel in the Media."

For further details, please see the links below:


Oct 17, 5pm, Board Game Renaissance (www.valorcon.com)



Oct 18, 11am - Comfort Station talk on Time Travel in the Media (http://www.comfortstationlogansquare.org/events/2015/10/18/comfort-society-presents-paul-booth-on-time-travel-in-the-media)

New Publication by Prof. Blair Davis

MCS Professor Blair Davis has recently published a book chapter in the new anthology The Blacker the Ink: Constructions of Black Identity in Comics and Sequential Art, edited by Frances Gateward and John Jennings from Rutgers University Press:
http://rutgerspress.rutgers.edu/product/Blacker-the-Ink,5473.aspx

                                    

Davis's essay, entitled "Bare Chests, Silver Tiaras and Removable Afros: The Visual Design of Black Comic Book Superheroes," examines the ways in which several Marvel and DC African America superheroes were constructed in terms of their costumes in the 1970s, how these visual designs evolved over the decades that followed, and how they reveal hidden cultural meanings upon closer inspection. He analyzes the visual qualities of such black superheroes as Luke Cage, Black Lightning, Storm, Vixen and Cyborg, investigating "their seeming naturalness within comic book culture, and the resultant ideological implications that often go unstated." Unlike the iconic costumes of Batman, Superman and Spider-Man, "the costumes of many black superheroes tell us little about the characters – perhaps explaining why such costumes seem to get redesigned every decade or so," says Davis. "Given that white writers and artists created the majority of black superheroes, these characters, and their reception among audiences, can therefore be seen as touchstones for how white American society regards black identity (including such concerns as ethnicity, gender and sexuality, among others) in any given period. Since cultural beliefs typically change over time, so too does the visual design of these characters often evolve, with specific costumes, hairstyles, etc. becoming closely connected to specific eras in American history, along with their respective dominant discourses surrounding race and culture. As we move into the future, how then will both current and future characters reflect the cultural changes that are to come?" he asks.

Dr. Kelli Marshall's Seinfeld Course Featured in BBC Article

Dr. Kelli Marshall teaches a course on Seinfeld for the Media and Cinema Studies program, which was recently profiled in an article for the BBC:

http://www.bbc.com/culture/story/20150624-seinfeld-really-about-nothing


                      

From the article:

"Kelli Marshall... teaches an entire class on Seinfeld at DePaul University in Chicago, where she also teaches Intro to Film and classes on Quentin Tarantino and Spike Lee. Her Seinfeld class tends to fill up to its 30-student maximum very quickly and has an almost unheard-of retention rate.

Students leave the class with a clearer vision of ‘90s history – Marshall provides mini-lessons to help them understand the show’s references to, say, OJ Simpson lawyer Johnnie Cochran or the lawsuit against McDonald’s for serving too-hot coffee. And, of course, they gain a greater appreciation for Seinfeld and its enduring influence throughout American culture. “We read this article that was just a list of all these terms,” says Erin Uttich, a media and cinema studies major who took the class in 2015. “Like yada yada, or double dip, or re-gift. I was like, ‘Weren’t those just things?’ [Marshall] was like, ‘No, those were things because Seinfeld made them things.’”

And that’s exactly why professors like Marshall and Tobia keep teaching Seinfeld – and, for that matter, other major works of pop culture. These works, if they’re as influential and pervasive as Seinfeld, show us why we say the things we do, do the things we do, think the things we think, like the things we like."

MCS Alumni Chris Olson interviews Prof. Blair Davis for the 'Pop Culture Lens' Podcast

Chris Olson, who recently graduated with a Masters degree in Media and Cinema Studies from DePaul, sat down with Prof. Blair Davis for the latest episode of his podcast 'The Pop Culture Lens' to discuss the 1930s/40s radio serial "Captain Midnight," its cross-media extensions and the role of transmedia therein.

                                    



Chris, along with CarrieLynn Reinhard, created the podcast (which they see as offering "Fresh Perspectives on Past Media") in 2014. Other entries in the podcast series have focused on Planet of the Apes, Freaks, fan culture, The X-Files, Godzilla and Mad Max.

Catch the latest episode here:
http://popculturelenspodcast.tumblr.com/

MCS Profs DeAngelis & Kessler at Console-ing Passions in Dublin

MCS Professors Michael DeAngelis and Kelly Kessler both recently attended the Console-ing Passions conference in Dublin, Ireland.

Console-ing Passions is an international conference devoted to the study of televison, video, audio, new media and feminism, and "was founded in 1989 by a group of feminist media scholars and artists looking to create a space to present work and foster scholarship on issues of television, culture, and identity, with an emphasis on gender and sexuality." (http://www.console-ingpassions.org/about-cp/)


                                           

Michael DeAngelis presented a paper entitled “Gay Love Triangles, General
Hospital and the Contemporary American Daytime Serial” on a panel called 'Queer Identities and Contemporary Television.'

Kelly Kessler's paper, “Best Friends Forever, Playing House and America’s Continued Cultural Anxiety Over Televising Female Friends,” was presented in a panel called 'Girlfriendship.' She also participated in a workshop called 'Moving On Up While Keeping It Together: Mentoring Workshop for Tenure and Promotion,' giving a talk entitled “No Really, Gender and Media Studies is a Real Thing: Positioning Your Work for Tenure Committees outside of the Discipline.”

The conference was held at the Marker Hotel in the Dublin Docklands from June 18-20, 2015.

New MCS Faculty member Kelli Marshall!

The Media and Cinema Studies program is pleased to announce that Dr. Kelli Marshall has been hired as an Instructor of Documentary Studies. 

Dr. Marshall will teach several documentary-related courses for MCS, as well as courses focusing on social media and television studies. Dr. Marshall has been an adjunct with MCS for the past several years, teaching a wide range of film studies courses. She regularly contributes articles on teaching to The Chronicle of Higher Education. See her most recen piece about using Twitter in the classroom here: 

 https://chroniclevitae.com/news/1021-rethinking-twitter-in-the-classroom

Welcome Dr. Marshall!

Two new books by Prof. Paul Booth

Prof. Paul Booth has recently published two new books - Playing Fans: Negotiating Fandom and Media in the Digital Age (University of Iowa Press, 2015) and Game Play: Paratextuality in Contemporary Board Games (Bloomsbury Academic, 2015).

--------------------------

Playing Fans: 

Fans are everywhere: from Fifty Shades of Grey to Veronica Mars, from Comic-Con to sitcom, from niche to Geek Chic, fans are becoming the most visible and important audience of the twenty-first century. For years the media industries ignored fans and fan activities, but now they’re paying attention and a lot of money to develop a whole new wave of products intended to harness the power of fandom. What impact do such corporate media efforts have on fan practice and fan identities? And are the media industries actually responding to fans as fans want them to?

In Playing Fans, Paul Booth argues that the more attention entertainment businesses pay to fans, the more mainstream fans have become popularized. But such mainstreaming ignores important creative fan work and tries to channel fandom into activities lucrative for the companies. Offering a new approach to the longstanding debate about the balance between manipulation and subversion in popular culture, the author argues that we can understand the current moment best through the concepts of pastiche and parody. This sophisticated alternative to conceiving of fans as either dupes of the media industry or rebels against it takes the discussion of “transformative” and “affirmative” fandom in a productive new direction.

With nuanced analyses of the Doctor Who Experience in Cardiff, the representations of fans in TV shows like Community and films like Fanboys, SuperWhoLock fans’ use of gifs, and the similarities in discussions of slash fandom and pornographic parody films, this book reveals how fans borrow media techniques and media industries mimic fan activities. Just as the entertainment industry needs fans to succeed, so too do fans need—and desire—the media, and they represent their love through gif fics, crowdfunding, and digital cosplay. Everyone who wants to understand how consumers are making themselves at home in the brave new world being built by the contemporary media should read this book.

Reviews:

“Playing Fans is a thoughtful and important book which will provoke debate and which will, crucially, move analysis on in relation to ‘transformative’ fandom.”—Matt Hills, Aberystwyth University

“Playing Fans offers close analysis of several intriguing case studies that demonstrate how fans and producers meet in complex and conflict-ridden ways…. Booth’s focus on spaces and productions where professional and amateur creation meet and overlap makes an especially important intervention.”—Alexis Lothian, University of Maryland, College Park

------------------------

Game Play:

The 21st century has seen a board game renaissance. At a time when streaming television finds millions of viewers, video games garner billions of dollars, and social media grows ever more intense, little has been written about the rising popularity of board games. And yet board games are one of our fastest growing hobbies, with sales increasing every year. Today's board games are more than just your average rainy-day mainstay. Once associated solely with geek subcultures, complex and strategic board games are increasingly dominating the playful media environment.

The popularity of these complex board games mirrors the rise of more complex cult media products. In Game Play: Paratextuality in Contemporary Board Games, Paul Booth examines complex board games based on book, TV, and film franchises, including Doctor Who, The Walking Dead, Lord of the Rings, Star Trek, The Hunger Games and the worlds of H.P. Lovecraft. How does a game represent a cult world? How can narratives cross media platforms? By investigating the relationship between these media products and their board game versions, Booth illustrates the connections between cult media, gameplay, and narrative in a digital media environment.

Reviews:

Having chosen a Cylon Leader character, Booth commandeers a fine act of infiltration, working licensed board games' way into the Galactica of media studies, showing exactly how and why it matters - both by itself and as an outgrowth of other media properties - as successfully as an unchecked centurion edging down the boarding party track on its way to certain victory. Highly recommended. (Jonathan Gray, Professor of Media and Cultural Studies, University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA, and author of Show Sold Separately: Promos, Spoilers, and Other Media Paratexts)

Licensed board games based on popular media franchises have long been considered bereft of creative output, if they were considered at all. Paul Booth challenges that assumption by delving deeply and respectfully into that world, arguing for more nuanced considerations of board games as paratextual adaptations of their respective universes. Bringing together studies of fandom, media universes and games, Game Play offers a sustained and rewarding examination of contemporary licensed board games. (Mia Consalvo, Professor and Canada Research Chair in Game Studies and Design, Concordia University, Canada)

Paul Booth's Game Play: Paratextuality in Contemporary Board Games is a ground-breaking piece of work. Demonstrating a keen eye for detail, critical analysis and genuine affection for the art of play Booth has produced a much-needed book that shines light on an often overlooked area of popular culture. With chapters on major franchise board games like Star Trek and The Lord of the Rings and those based on acclaimed weird fiction writer H.P. Lovecraft Game Play offers us new ways of understanding the joys and social practices of board game culture. Fans and scholars alike will want to read this - and then go break out the dice! (Lincoln Geraghty, Reader in Popular Media Cultures, University of Portsmouth, UK)

MCS Graduate Program - Alumni Update

Many of our recent alumni from the MCS Graduate program have provided us with career updates. Our grad students go on to a wide range of careers, PhD programs and other scholarly paths. Many of our alumni have gone to teach at various post-secondary institutions, while others are now working for such companies as Apple, Nielsen TV Ratings and Critical Mass.

See the latest list of our alumni here:

http://www.mcsdepaul.com/alumni.html

Prof. Blair Davis Interviewed for The DePaulia

Prof. Blair Davis was interviewed for the latest issue of The DePaulia, for a story on how books are adapted into films and television shows. The article, entitled "Books, Camera, Action: Success of Film Adaptations of Books," examines such recent film adaptations of The Hunger Games, Fifty Shades of Gray and Game of Thrones. Davis reminds us, however, that Hollywood's desire to bring popular novels to the screen has longstanding historical roots. “Media producers have long-preferred to make films and TV shows out of what are called pre-sold properties,” he says. “Because the material exists in another form already, audiences are familiar with the basic premise and characters, and will presumably want to follow them over to a new medium.” Davis regularly teaches courses in adaptation for the Media and Cinema Studies program.
 
                       
                         

http://depauliaonline.com/focus/2015/04/12/books-camera-action-success-of-film-adaptations-of-books/ 

MCS at SCMS!

The 2015 Society for Cinema and Media Studies conference was held from March 25-29 in Montreal, and many of DePaul's MCS faculty were there presenting their research

Luisela Alvaray co-chaired a panel entitled "Constructing Otherness, Deconstructing Patriarchy and Eurocentrism," presenting her paper “Women, Immigrants, and Natives: Re-centering Otherness in Icíar Bollaín’s Films.”

Paul Booth participated in a workshop entitled "The “F” Word: Fan Studies In and Beyond the Academy" and also presented his paper “Playing The Hunger Games and Fan Paratextual Participation” as part of the panel "Playing Fans: Games and Fandom in Media Studies."

Blair Davis chaired a panel entitled "Watchmen and Media Studies," presenting his paper "Watchmen and Canonization."

Michael DeAngelis presented a paper entitled "Fassbinder's Apartment Plot" as part of a panel on "The Apartment Complex: Apartment Plots in Global Context"

For more on SCMS and next year's conference in Atlanta, see: http://www.cmstudies.org/default.asp?

New article by Prof. Kelly Kessler

Prof. Kelly Kessler has published a new article entitled "Finding the Face-to-Face When You Have No Face: Fostering Student-Student and Student-Professor Engagement in the Online Media Classroom."



She chronicles her work teaching online at DePaul, as well a some of the innovative approaches she has used in her online courses.


The article was published as part of the Cinema Journal Teaching Dossier:

http://www.teachingmedia.org/finding-the-face-to-face-when-you-have-no-face-fostering-student-student-and-student-professor-engagement-in-the-online-media-classroom/

"Personalization, variety, interactivity, and agency can help create a vibrant learning and teaching space, and hopefully one that doesn’t encourage your students to binge watch Breaking Bad while listening to the lectures," says Prof. Kessler.

Chicago Film Seminar, Tues. March 3rd - Richard Dyer

The Media and Cinema Studies Program is proud to host the Chicago Film Seminar at our Loop campus. Please join us this Tuesday March 3rd at 6:30 pm for a talk by Prof. Richard Dyer of King's College, London entitled "'Anything and More, for the Family: Serialization and the Set Piece in the Italian giallo film."

Daley Building, 14 E. Jackson Blvd., Room LL102

MCS Presents: The Slender Man Who Loved Me - Horror, Folklore and Online Fandom

The Media and Cinema Studies program and the Digital Communication and Media Arts program present "The Slender Man Who Loved Me - Horror, Folklore and Online Fandom," a talk by Dr. Shira Chess. "The Slender Man takes on important cultural meanings in the age of the internet - meanings often neglected when the crime version of the story went reported in the media." Dr. Chess, Assistant Professor at the University of Georgia and the author of Folklore, Horror Stories and the Slender Man, will discuss the origins of the Slender Man and the impact of fandom on the original myth.



Monday March 9th, 2015
6:00 - 7:00 pm,
DePaul University, Loop Campus
Daley Building, 14 E.Jackson Blvd.
Room 1220

A Celebration of Supernatural

The third annual MCS Pop Culture Symposium will be held on May 9th!

A CELEBRATION OF SUPERNATURAL
09 MAY 2015
DEPAUL UNIVERSITY - LOOP CAMPUS
#SPNDEPAUL

The third annual MCS Pop Culture Symposium will be held on May 9th!

A CELEBRATION OF SUPERNATURAL
09 MAY 2015
DEPAUL UNIVERSITY - LOOP CAMPUS
#SPNDEPAUL

Join us at DePaul University on May 09 to celebrate the tenth anniversary of Supernatural! Through smart discussion with guest speakers, screenings of key works, and fan creativity, experience the amazing Winchester brothers and their Impala in all its glory.

Special Guests to be announced!

This celebration is free of charge, so carry on my wayward son...

Keep up to date by registering on our Facebook page!

Contact us at depaulspnconference@gmail.com

CALL FOR PAPERS/TOPICS!
Now accepting submissions and ideas for the third annual Pop Culture Colloquium at DePaul University in Chicago!

The Media and Cinema Studies program, along with the College of Digital Media, the English Department, and American Studies, at DePaul University is hosting a one-day celebratory colloquium in honor the tenth anniversary of the television series Supernatural on Saturday, May 09, from 9am-6pm. This event will feature roundtable discussions from scholars and fans of Supernatural, speaking about the cultural impact of the show, as well as analyzing aspects of the episodes. The even will also feature special guests, screenings, screenwriting workshops, and (perhaps) a sing-a-long or two…

The audience for this event is both graduate and undergraduate students, both fans and scholars, and the focus should be on informed and enlightening discussion rather than formal academic papers. Speakers will have 5 minutes or so to present and then will engage in a discussion about the show. “A Celebration of Supernatural” will take place on DePaul’s Loop campus.

If you’re interested in speaking on a round table, please send a 200 word abstract of your topic and a CV or resume to Paul Booth (pbooth@depaul.edu) by Mar 01. For more information, please sign up for updates on Facebook (search “A Celebration of Supernatural”) and click here to register on Eventbrite. We hope that you will be able to join in the discussion and celebration!

JOIN US AT THIS FAN/SCHOLAR EVENT!

Special panels include:

Why fans matter!
Horror in the show!
What do the monsters mean?
Understanding the conversation between the producers and fans!
Exploring fanworks!
Learning about how Supernatural has helped people!
And many more!

Special Events include:

Special keynote speaker!
Costume contest!
Workshops!
And more!

SPEAKERS INCLUDE:

Lynn Zubernis &
Katherine Larsen
Authors of Fan Phenomena: Supernatural and Fangasm!



Mark Oshiro
Hugo-nominated creator/writer of the Mark Reads and Mark Watches series!



Leah Wilson
Editor-in-chief of BenBella Books' Smart Pop series!



Maureen Ryan
The Huffington Post TV critic, former television critic for the Chicago Tribune, board member of the Peabody Awards!



More guest announcements coming soon...

MCS Event: "Historicizing Porn Studies: From Urban Crisis to VHS, 1970-Present."

The Media and Cinema Studies program is co-sponsoring a talk by Dr. Whitney Strub entitled "Historicizing Porn Studies: From Urban Crisis to VHS, 1970-Present."

Dr. Strub is Associate Professor and Director of the Women's and Gender Studies Department at Rutgers Newark, and is the author of Perversion for Profit: The Politics of Pornography and Rise of the New Right (2011).

Her lecture takes place on Tues. February 24th, 2015 from 3:00 - 4:00 pm, DePaul University - McGowan South, Room 107.

This event is co-sponsored by History and Women and Gender Studies.

Study Abroad with MCS in Rome!

Professor Michael DeAngelis is teaching his annual MCS Study Abroad course in Rome this summer!

Rome Film Studies Program
Summer: June 22 – July 30, 2015
Application Deadline: February 1, 2015

Program Overview:
Spend your summer in Rome in this exciting and popular program, now in its 5th year!  Study how Italian culture and identity are portrayed through films from such classics as Bicycle Thieves and Roman Holiday to contemporary works like La Grande Bellezza, last year’s winner of the Academy Award for Best Foreign Film.  Visits to Roman film sets, locations, and studios illuminate how cinema uses setting to shape our experience of a city, a nation, and its culture.  Workshops and discussions with acclaimed film industry representatives provide an insider perspective on the Italian filmmaking process.  The program includes a survival Italian course, a trip to Bologna for a major film festival, a weekend excursion to Florence and Tuscany, and a day at a beach on the Mediterranean Sea.  

Courses and Credits:
Students enroll in two Media & Cinema Studies courses for a total of 8 credit hours.

Spaces of Cinema in Rome (MCS 251/DC 395, Prof. Michael DeAngelis) integrates film screenings and site visits to investigate how cinema shapes our perception of historical and cultural space.  The sites include the Coliseum, the Pantheon, the Baths of Caracalla, and several Roman neighborhoods.

Contemporary Italian Culture through Film (MCS 252, Prof. Carolina Ciampaglia) focuses upon contemporary filmmakers who use cinema to comment upon national issues such as organized crime, immigration and emigration, transformations of family structure, and the social problems facing younger generations.  The course features presentations by famous film directors, screenwriters, editors, actors, and actresses, along with guest lectures by cultural historians.

The courses fulfill Liberal Studies requirements in Junior Year Experiential Learning, Arts & Literature, and Self, Society and the Modern World.  They also count towards the new International Communication minor offered by the College of Communication.

Students elect final projects in film/video production, screenwriting, photojournalism, media analysis, or cultural studies.  All projects are tailored to students’ individual interests.

Living Arrangements:
Students are housed in comfortable apartments in a vibrant historical neighborhood in the city center.  All apartments have kitchens, televisions, and free wireless internet.

Program Costs:
Costs include a program fee of approximately $3,800 covers accommodation, several group dinners, the weekend excursions, the beach excursion, public transportation in Rome, and study abroad insurance.  Students must plan their budgets to cover tuition expenses for eight credit hours, round-trip airfare, course texts, other meals, passport fees, and personal expenses.

For more detailed information, please contact the program director:
Michael DeAngelis, Associate Professor, Media & Cinema Studies, College of Communication (mdeangel@depaul.edu) (312-362-7703)

The online application is now available at http://studyabroad.depaul.edu.