Call for Papers: Contemporary Uses of Fairy Tales

By John Freeman on March 19, 2013

Melissa Leons – hunting fairies in
contemporary culture

Doctor Melissa Lenos, an Assistant Professor of English at Donnelly College in Kansas City, Kansas, is inviting submissions for an edited collection of essays on contemporary uses of fairy tales in popular culture.

Contemporary Uses of Fairy Tales, which offers the chance for commentary on comics such as Alan Moore’s Lost Girls and Bill Willingham’s Fables, will focus on recent reinterpretations and reboots of classical fairy tales, ways the contemporary texts address the original tales and narratological implications of the repetitions and adjustments of these stories.

In essays that explore the functions and consequences of fairy tale reboots, remakes and updates, authors will consider the ways fairy tale generic conventions have been revised over time, representations of race, gender, class and sexual identity, the roles of archetypes, mythic tropes and patterns and the emergence of self-referential and meta-tales within these texts.

Essays may also address fan culture influence on contemporary tales, opportunities for interactivity and the roles of stars in fairy tale reboots.

Text focus could include television series, feature-length films, comic books and graphic novels, games and animation.

Possible topics include but are not limited to:

Fables (Bill Willingham/Vertigo, 2002-present)

Lost Girls (Alan Moore/Top Shelf, 2006)

The Red Shoes (Kim Yong-gyun, 2005)

Hansel and Gretel (Yim Pil-Sung, 2007)

Sydney White (Joe Nussbaum, 2007)

Bluebeard (Catherine Breillat, 2009)

The Sleeping Beauty (Catherine Breillat, 2010)

Red Riding Hood (Catherine Hardwicke, 2011)

Hanna (Joe Wright, 2011)

Beastly (Daniel Barnz, 2011)

Once Upon a Time (ABC, 2011-present)

Grimm (NBC, 2011-present)

Snow White and the Huntsman (Rupert Sanders, 2012)

Mirror, Mirror (Tarsem Singh, 2012)

Hansel and Gretel (Anthony Ferrante, 2013)

Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters (Tommy Wirkola, 2013)

Jack the Giant Slayer (Bryan Singer, 2013)

Submit a two-page proposals by the deadline of June 19, 2013 to Dr. Melissa Lenos at melissalenosATgmail.com; questions may be addressed to the same. Please also include a short bio. If your proposal is selected, the final essay (5000-8000 words) will be due on December 1, 2013.

Melissa teaches film studies, composition, popular culture and whatever else her tiny department requires. Her research interests include narratology in Hollywood, mythic structures and archetypes. Visit her blog at: http://cargocollective.com/flyover/index

John Freeman

The founder of downthetubes, which he established in 1998. John works as a comics and magazine editor, writer, and on promotional work for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He is currently editor of Star Trek Explorer, published by Titan – his third tour of duty on the title originally titled Star Trek Magazine.

Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine, Babylon 5 Magazine, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics. He has also edited several comic collections, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”.

He’s the writer of “Pilgrim: Secrets and Lies” for B7 Comics; “Crucible”, a creator-owned project with 2000AD artist Smuzz; and “Death Duty” and “Skow Dogs” with Dave Hailwood.