CFP The Mummy Edited Collection (12/15/2023)

Call for Chapters: The Mummy Edited Collection

Editors, Michele Brittany and Sean Woodard
Contact Email: mummybookproject@gmail.com

Abstract Deadline: December 15, 2023

Chapter Drafts Deadline: June 15, 2024

Essays sought for an edited collection focused on Universal Pictures’ The Mummy franchise.

While academic research has been focused on various releases of The Mummy (1932, 1959, 1999, and 2017), there has not been a singular scholarly text devoted to the film franchise.

We seek proposals for chapters that approach the subject matter with theoretical concepts that will appropriately meet the rigorous expectations of an academic work, but through a prose style that shall be accessible for both an academic audience and a general readership.

The purpose of this edited collection is to place The Mummy into a cultural and theoretical context, as well as critically analyze the franchise, its connections to other genre films, and its continued influence.

Topics may include, but are not limited to:

• Resurgent interest in Brendan Fraser/“Brenaissance”
• Stephen Sommers as an auteur
• Representation of Egypt in popular culture and early filmic representation
• Eastern mythology/culture/religion
• Exoticism of non-western cultures
• Post/De-colonialism
• Heroic representation
• Body horror
• Eco-horror/Ecocriticism
• Gender representation
• Toxic depictions in film
• Queer/LGBTQ+ representation
• Meme/GIF culture
• Psychoanalysis
• Generational nostalgia
• Element of music/film scoring
• Genre hybridity
• Film cycles/reboots/retcons (such as The Scorpion King, The Mummy animated series, Universal Classic Monsters, Hammer Studios, Dark Universe, etc.) and related adventure/archaeological-driven films (such as Ark of the Sun God, The Sphinx, The Librarian franchise, etc.)

Please send abstracts of 300 – 500 words with a working title and five (5) keywords, accompanied by a short third-person author bio (100 words max), to mummybookproject@gmail.com as a Word document. The collection is being considered by a leading academic press.

CFP Reception of Ancient Egypt in Science Fiction (2/28/21; Birmingham, Eng 7/9/21)

This seems of potential relevance. Not that the organizers suggest this might be converted to a virtual event.

Do Ancient Egyptians Dream of Electric Sheep? The Reception of Ancient Egypt in Science Fiction

https://call-for-papers.sas.upenn.edu/cfp/2020/12/21/do-ancient-egyptians-dream-of-electric-sheep-the-reception-of-ancient-egypt-in

deadline for submissions:
February 28, 2021


full name / name of organization:
Dr Leire Olabarria & Dr Eleanor Dobson (University of Birmingham)


contact email:
e.c.dobson@bham.ac.uk




University of Birmingham*

Date: 9 July 2021

Registration: estimated £10, £5 students/unwaged

In Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein (1818) – a milestone in the history of the science fiction genre – the eponymous scientist is horrified when the creature he has assembled from assorted body parts is successfully animated. ‘A mummy again endued with animation could not be so hideous as that wretch’, Frankenstein relates. This comparison – between a figure who represents the potential disastrous consequences of cutting-edge scientific enquiry and the bodies of the ancient Egyptian dead – is one that recurs later in the novel. Having dispatched his creator, the creature’s ‘vast hand’ is described as ‘in colour and apparent texture like that of a mummy’. Nearly two centuries later, Roland Emmerich’s Stargate (1994) also depicts ancient Egyptian bodies in settings infused with a futuristic aesthetic; alien entities acquire human forms in order to extend their lifespans, while sarcophagi are reimagined as regeneration chambers.

Science fiction has undeniably contributed to creating an image of ancient Egypt, and yet it is only starting to be addressed by Egyptological scholarship. Literature, theatre, film, television, comics, and video games all present images of Egypt that have had an enduring impact on perceptions of Egypt by the public. Nevertheless, and despite the involvement of experts in contributing to or shaping these cultural products – in Stargate’s case, in professional Egyptological consultation with regards to written and spoken Ancient Egyptian – the ways in which Egyptological scholarship informs science fiction in particular still remain to be explored. How might Egyptologists engage with this material beyond judging its historical authenticity? And to what extent can science fiction contribute to scholarly discussions of ancient Egypt?

The aim of this workshop is to explore the reception and reconstruction of Egypt in science fiction, fostering a dialogue among Egyptologists, cultural historians, literary scholars, and creative practitioners. The organisers are keen to receive abstracts from scholars coming from a variety of academic perspectives and diverse backgrounds, and who are interpreting science fiction in its broadest sense, including those informed by ancient Egyptian understandings of science.

The organisers seek proposals for 15-minute papers, which should be sent in the body of an email to Dr Leire Olabarria [L.Olabarria@bham.ac.uk] and Dr Eleanor Dobson [E.C.Dobson@bham.ac.uk] by 28 February 2021. Abstracts should be a maximum of 250 words and should be accompanied by a short biographical note.

• Topics might include but are not limited to:
• The origins and historical development of SF’s fascination with Egypt
• Archaeology and out-of-place artefacts
• Time and space travel
• Parallel universes or alternate histories
• Steampunk
• Afrofuturism
• Dystopia, apocalypse or post-apocalypse
• The ethics of ‘ahistorical’ representation

*While we hope to be able to welcome delegates to Birmingham in person in July, the workshop may need to take place online (with no registration fee) if circumstances do not allow face to face meetings. We will keep participants informed with the most up-to-date information as we have it.


Last updated December 23, 2020 

 

Thoughts on Hotel Transylvania

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Overall, this is a cute family-friendly film, though the final scene (an attempt to mimic the finale of Shrek II) is rather incongruous.

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