CFP Exploring and Celebrating The Rocky Horror Picture Show in Popular Culture (8/31/2025; PopCRN 11/27-28/2025)

 

Exploring and Celebrating The Rocky Horror Picture Show in Popular Culture

deadline for submissions: 

August 31, 2025

full name / name of organization: 

PopCRN - The Popular Culture Research Network

contact email: 

popcrn@une.edu.au

source: https://call-for-papers.sas.upenn.edu/cfp/2025/05/19/exploring-and-celebrating-the-rocky-horror-picture-show-in-popular-culture

PopCRN is delighted to announce a conference dedicated to the cult phenomenon, The Rocky Horror Picture Show. This free, online event will be held on Thursday 27th and Friday 28th of November 2025.

Since its release in 1975, The Rocky Horror Picture Show has transcended its status as a film to become a cultural institution. What began as a box office failure evolved into the longest-running theatrical release in cinema history, with midnight screenings continuing worldwide for over five decades. The film's blend of horror, science fiction, comedy, and musical elements created a unique space for audiences to explore themes of sexuality, gender fluidity, and self-expression long before these conversations entered mainstream discourse. The Rocky Horror Picture Show's participatory nature has fostered communities of devoted fans who transform screenings into immersive theatrical experiences through costumes, props, callbacks, and shadow casts. This level of audience engagement represents a distinctive form of cultural production that challenges traditional boundaries between creators and consumers.

This call for papers seeks contributions on the impact and legacy of The Rocky Horror Picture Show in popular culture, from its theatrical origins to its ongoing influence in the 21st century.

Presenters will have an opportunity to publish their work in an edited volume to be released in 2026.

We welcome papers on any topic relating to Rocky Horror, but here are some suggestions to inspire you:

• "Give yourself over to absolute pleasure" – Rocky Horror and the politics of pleasure
• "I see you shiver with antici...pation" – audience participation and ritual
• "Don't dream it, be it" – Rocky Horror as queer liberation text
• "I'm just a sweet transvestite" – evolving language and representations of gender
• "Creatures of the night" – Rocky Horror's horror and science fiction elements
• "Let's do the Time Warp again" – nostalgia and temporal displacement
• "Dammit, Janet!" – character archetypes and their cultural significance
• "In another dimension" – Rocky Horror's international adaptations and reception
• "A mental mind-fuck can be nice" – psychological readings of Rocky Horror
• "I've seen blue skies through the tears" – Rocky Horror as emotional catharsis
• "Whatever happened to Saturday night?" – Rocky Horror and changing entertainment landscapes
• "I thought you were the candy man" – consumption and excess in Rocky Horror
• "Hot patootie, bless my soul" – music and performance in Rocky Horror
• "That's a rather tender subject" – Rocky Horror and sexual awakening
• "It's not easy having a good time" – Rocky Horror as countercultural statement
• "You're as hot as an ice cream" – food symbolism and consumption
• "Rose tints my world" – color theory and visual aesthetics
• "I'm a muscle fan" – body politics and physical ideals
• "Your lifestyle's too extreme" – Rocky Horror and moral panic
• "Science fiction double feature" – intertextuality and genre-blending
• "The darkness must go" – light and shadow as narrative devices
• "The sword of Damocles" – classical references and literary influences
• "From old science fiction" – Rocky Horror's place in sci-fi history
• "I've done a lot, God knows I've tried" – religious imagery and subversion

 

Please submit by your proposed abstract by 31st August 2025

• Submit here - https://tinyurl.com/2hyksxn8
• Register here - tinyurl.com/mrxeys35
• Queries to popcrn@une.edu.au

Stay up to date with PopCRN on our social pages & website

• www.popcrn.org
• X (ex-Twitter) - https://twitter.com/PopcultureUne
• Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100071540522655
• Bluesky - https://bsky.app/profile/popcrn.bsky.social
• LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/groups/14503409/

Last updated May 29, 2025

CFP UPDATE “A Day”: 2nd Annual Goth Music and Subculture Conference (7/11/2025; online 4/16/2025)

DEADLINE EXTENDED: “A Day”: 2nd Annual Goth Music and Subculture Conference

deadline for submissions: 

July 11, 2025

full name / name of organization: 

Noah Gallego, California State Polytechnic University, Pomona

contact email: 

noahrgallego@gmail.com

source: https://call-for-papers.sas.upenn.edu/cfp/2025/02/01/deadline-extended-%E2%80%9Ca-day%E2%80%9D-2nd-annual-goth-music-and-subculture-conference

“A Day”: 2nd Annual Goth Music and Subculture Conference

 

NEW Deadline: July 11, 2025 

Conference Date: August 16, 2025 

Format: Online (via Zoom, Pacific)

Abstract: 150 words + 100 word biographical statement + Time Zone

Submit to: Noah Gallego, California State Polytechnic University @ noahrgallego@gmail.com 

Contact: Noah Gallego @noahrgallego@gmail.com

 

The Goth Music and Subculture Conference is coming back from the grave for another round of critical discussion! Due to the success of the inaugural conference last August, this sophomore installment will continue to critically engage the music and other artifacts from the goth music genre and subculture. 

Last year we commemorated the 45th anniversary of the release of the definitive goth single, “Bela Lugosi’s Dead” by the ur-goth band, Bauhaus, as well as the 68th death-day of the Count himself. This year, in 2025, we will commemorate two anniversaries: the 40th anniversary of the release of seminal Dutch darkwave Clan of Xymox’s self-titled debut album (1985) as well as the release of the Northern English goth industrial group The Sisters of Mercy’s debut album, First and Last and Always (1985). 

1985 was a pivotal year in the goth subculture as both of these bands opened new doors to goth music production, with Xymox and the Sisters becoming pioneers in the darkwave and industrial subgenres, respectively. While the primary topics of inquiry for this conference are COX and TSOM, interested parties are welcome to explore other bands and discographies; they are especially encouraged to explore non-canonical as well as contemporary acts. 

Below is a list that is illustrative but certainly not exhaustive of topics that prospective candidates are encouraged to explore:

 

Criticism: 

• Gender, sexuality, queerness
• Disability 
• Monstrosity and Abjection
• Class 
• Race
• Postcolonialism, Decoloniality, (Neo-)Orientalism
• Religion, spirituality, the occult, theology 
• Ecocriticism 
• Nonhuman/Transhuman/Posthuman (Animals, cyborgs, A.I.)
• Feminism 
• Trauma and psychoanalysis 
• Rhetoric  
• Memory, hauntology, and the archive

 

Intersections:

• Goth and literary influences 
• Goth and popular culture (film, television, comics, video games, etc.)
• Goth and/as performance (theatre, drag)
• Goth and Internet culture 
• Goth and fashion 
• Goth and festival culture (concerts, goth nites, graves, dance)
• Goth and musicology
• Goth outside of the West 

 

Please send abstracts of150 words to Noah Gallego @ noahrgallego@gmail.com, along with a short biographical statement (100 words) and time zone in order to best approximate presentation times for speakers. B.N. If certain obligations require you to be slated at a specific time that day, please also include those suggested times in your submission so you may be placed appropriately.

There are no pre-formed panels, but if you would like to submit a proposal for a special topics session, please do! A minimum of 2 papers would be required. Otherwise, you will be placed in a panel at the discretion of the organizer on the basis of theme and cohesion. 

Candidates may expect a notification of acceptance, acceptance with revision, or rejection up to a week following the deadline. Presenters should aim to create papers/presentations of approximately 10-15 minutes in length.

The conference will be held on the 69th death-day of The Count on August 16, 2025. The symposium will be free and held online over Zoom. The estimated time slot is 9:00 am - 5:00 pm Pacific. 

*NOTE ABOUT PUBLISHING PAPERS: There are currently no plans to publish the accepted papers. However, depending on the success of the symposium, I am certainly open to the possibility of (co-)editing a collection or special issue based on the papers presented. If you would like to collaborate on this project, please let me know!

**NOTE ABOUT AUDIO: Because Zoom can sometimes compromise the efficacy of audio, we recommend to refrain from including live play from your presentations. We understand this may sound counterintuitive for a conference primarily about music but because we are working in a virtual environment where things are certain to go awry, we want to preemptively minimize any technical difficulties that may arise. You are welcome to include links to playlists of the tracks or artist(s) you will be discussing, however! We apologize for the inconvenience, but we appreciate your understanding. 

Last updated May 22, 2025

CFP A Warning to the Curious: Ghostly, Supernatural and Weird Tales Conference (4/10/2025; Online 8/23-24/2025)

 

Online Conference: A Warning to the Curious: Ghostly, Supernatural and Weird Tales

deadline for submissions: 

April 10, 2025

full name / name of organization: 

Romancing the Gothic

contact email: 

awarningtothecuriousconference@gmail.com

source: https://call-for-papers.sas.upenn.edu/cfp/2025/01/06/online-conference-a-warning-to-the-curious-ghostly-supernatural-and-weird-tales.

CFP for A Warning to The Curious: Ghostly, Supernatural and Weird Tales

 

An ONLINE conference on 23rd and 24th August 2025 marking the 100th anniversary of MR James A Warning to the Curious and Other Ghost Stories

SUBMISSION DEADLINE: 10th April 2025

The conference is fully online and is open to scholars and experts from around the world.

In 1925, M R James published his final collection of ghostly tales: A Warning to the Curious and Other Ghost Stories. Often thought of as a writer of ‘ghost stories’, James’ works span a range of supernatural manifestations and generically sit on the cusp of the ghostly and weird. James’ name has become almost synonymous with the ghostly tale and many of his works have been adapted. This conference seeks to explore not only James’ work but also its legacy and it aims to put James’ work within the wider context of ghostly, supernatural and weird writing on both a national and international level. We therefore welcome papers on writers and artists from any historical period and any country.

The year’s conference seeks to mark the anniversary of James’ collection with a conference exploring three key themes:

1)      MR James’ work, its reception, adaptation and legacy

2)      Short form terror – weird fiction, ghost stories, and other short forms traditions (including oral and digital modes)

3)      20th-century supernatural writing

 

We welcome papers focusing on ghostly and supernatural traditions globally as well as papers on the British tradition of which MR James formed such a key part. We do not wish to impose rigid definitions of the weird, ghostly, or ‘ghost story’ and welcome a wide range of approaches. While the conference predominantly focuses on written forms, we also encourage papers that look at oral and non-traditional modes of story production and non-narrative forms e.g. art and music.

Romancing the Gothic seeks to encourage innovative conversations across barriers, bringing together scholarship and research from different countries, traditions, sub-fields and perspectives.

We welcome scholars, researchers and experts from all stages of their career and from every background

What are we looking for?

We welcome:

• 20 minute papers
• 10 minute lightning talks
• Panels (3-4 papers of 20 minutes with or without a suggested panel chair)
• Workshops (cooking, writing, art, music, craft, drama, dance) related to the key themes of the conference

Potential Topics

We welcome papers on a range of topics. The below are suggested areas but we welcome papers from outside these themes.

• The production and dissemination of MR James’ work
• MR James’ short fiction
• Intersections between James’ academic work and his fiction
• Adaptations of James’ work
• Horror and the antiquarian
• Intersections of the archaeological and horror
• James’ legacy
• Fictional representations of MR James
• The Victorian or Edwardian ghost story (focus on any specific author or text welcomed)
• Early Weird Fiction
• Ghost belief in the late 19th and early 20th centuries
• 20th century developments in the ghost story
• Adaptations of 19th and early 20th century ghost tales
• The ghost story as form
• Oral traditions of ghost-telling
• Christmas story-telling and adaptation traditions

 

An abstract of 150-250 words should be sent to awarningtothecuriousconference@gmail.com before 10th April 2025. If you have not written an abstract before, I will be running workshops on abstract writing. Please enquire at the email above. Your abstract should function as a short summary of your paper and demonstrate your expertise in the area. You can also include a short biography (<100 words) but all submissions will be judged solely on the abstract and a biography is not required at this stage.

Accessibility Notes

We want to work with all contributors to make sure that the conference is fully accessible for them. We work entirely online. Subtitles are auto-generated during the conference. Information is provided with alt-text where required and accessibility training is offered to all speakers. For the conference itself, clear information on the timetable, running of the event and what to expect is provided ahead of time. We have a clear code of conduct which is used to maintain a welcoming atmosphere and a comfortable space for all participants. We are explicitly queer friendly and aim to be an inclusive conference for all. If you have any questions, queries or requests at this stage or at a later stage, please do not hesitate to contact me at awarningtothecuriousconference@gmail.com

 

categories

film and television

online conferences

popular culture

twentieth century and beyond

victorian

Last updated January 10, 2025