We are going to change directions a bit at Filmwell for a few cycles. Consider this an experiment that requires your participation, should you be interested.

Typical posting on films, TV, and other media that capture our attention will continue. But we are going to try something different when it comes to the longer format filmwriting that was once far more frequent at this site. Filmwell will begin hosting periodic symposia on specific topics loosely spanning film studies and contemporary theological conversation.  These collaborations will begin with a call for papers and deadlines for submission of abstracts. Following the acceptance of abstracts that best fit the stated theme, the following things will happen:

  • A brief period of peer review.
  • The collected essays will be posted as a series.
  • When the series has concluded, the essays will be collected and made available as e-books.

There a few reasons for this shift in programming, some of which simply have to do with the evolving nature of online publication. But as we are now in about decade 4 of the the “theology and film conversation,”* I think it is a fair question to ask: What has the theology and film conversation contributed to our understanding or appreciation of religious discourse, media production, and culture?

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The Filmwell Original Series wants to address this question by asking it in specific ways.

So to begin, here is a call for papers.

  • Proposals are due to filmwelleditor@gmail.com by 11/15/2014.
  • Final essays of 3000 words (minimum) are due 2/15/2015.
  • We will be accepting ~ 8 essays per cycle.

The topic at hand:

Form and Moral Imagination in American Cinema.

Essays will select a specific film by a US director that engages with the formation of moral and social knowledge (e.g. The Best Years of Our Lives, Twin Peaks), the subversion of moral assumptions and codes (e.g. The Searchers), or the exposure of flaws in American moral norms of specific historical eras (e.g. The Immigrant, Apocalypse Now, etc…). Each essay will focus specifically on how the film’s moral themes are established by the formal, technical, and creative process of filmmaking. The essay can touch on the director’s other work as necessary. These essays are specifically interested in how creative uses of cinema as an artistic medium have become part of the development of America’s moral imagination.

 

 

 

*That is, if we accept the monographs of Wall and Hurley in the early 70’s as progenitors of the profusion of more recent work in this area.