(Re)Animating the Middle Ages: Adapting the Medieval in Animated Media (Panel) Co-organizers Michael A. Torregrossa, Karen Casey Casebier, and Carl B. Sell Sponsored by Association for the Advancement of Scholarship and Teaching of the Medieval in Popular Culture Call for Papers - Please Submit Proposals by 30 September 2024 56th Annual Convention of Northeast Modern Language Association (NeMLA) Philadelphia Marriott Downtown (Philadelphia, PA) On-site event: 6-9 March 2025 Rationale Our conception of the Middle Ages is usually formed by the versions of the medieval past we experienced as children, and, because they are considered suitable for young viewers, animated depictions of this world often represent our earliest exposure to the events, personages, and stories of this era. Consequently, the animated creations of the Walt Disney Company have played a huge part in shaping our collective image of the Middle Ages, but the corpus of medieval-themed animation is truly vast. It has been expanded greatly by the output of many other content producers across the globe through anime, cartoons, films, games, streaming videos, and theatrical shorts. (See our list of representative texts–at https://tinyurl.com/ReAnimatingtheMiddleAgesCFP–for examples.) Despite animation's important role in shaping how we perceive and receive the medieval past, the field of Medieval Animation Studies remains limited, especially compared to the fluorescence of Medieval Film Studies and Medieval Television Studies over the past four decades. In this panel, we seek in particular to build upon the pioneering work of medieval-animation scholar Michael N. Salda and provide additional insights into the ways medieval-themed animation has impacted our contemporary world. Presenters might explore anime, cartoons, films, games, shorts, and videos produced through traditional ink-and-paint, stop-motion, claymation, or computer-generated imagery. Selections should represent and/or engage with some aspect of the medieval, such as artifacts, characters, settings, themes, etc. These might be central to the narrative, tangential, or appearing solely as cameos. (For ideas and support, we have created a list of representative texts and a resource guide devoted to studies of medieval-themed animation. It can be accessed at https://tinyurl.com/ReAnimatingtheMiddleAgesCFP.) Submission Instructions In this panel, we seek in particular to build upon the pioneering work of medieval-animation scholar Michael N. Salda and provide additional insights into the ways medieval-themed animation has impacted our contemporary world. Presenters might explore anime, cartoons, films, games, shorts, and videos produced through traditional ink-and-paint, stop-motion, claymation, or computer-generated imagery. Selections should represent and/or engage with some aspect of the medieval, such as artifacts, characters, settings, themes, etc., presented as central to the narrative, tangential, or appearing solely as cameos. For ideas and support, please see our list of representative texts and resource guide devoted to studies of medieval-themed animation at https://tinyurl.com/ReAnimatingtheMiddleAgesCFP. All proposals must be submitted into the CFPList system at https://cfplist.com/nemla/Home/S/21105 by 30 September 2024. You will be prompted to create an account with NeMLA (if you do not already have one) and, then, to complete sections on Title, Abstract, and Media Needs. Notification on the status of your submission will be made by 16 October 2024. If accepted, NeMLA asks you to confirm your participation with the session chairs by accepting their invitations and by registering for the event. The deadline for Registration/Membership is 9 December 2024. Be advised of the following policies of the Convention: All participants must be members of NeMLA for the year of the conference. Participants may present on up to two sessions of different types (panels/seminars are considered of the same type). Submitters to the CFP site cannot upload the same abstract twice.(See the NeMLA Presenter Policies page, at https://www.nemla.org/convention/policies.html, for further details,) NeMLA offers limited funding for travel to graduate students and to contingent faculty, adjunct instructors, independent scholars, and two-year college faculty. Details can be found at the NeMLA Travel Awards page at https://www.nemla.org/awards/travel.html. Thank you for your interest in our session. Please address questions and/or concerns to the organizers at MedievalinPopularCulture@gmail.com. For more information on the Association for the Advancement of Scholarship and Teaching of the Medieval in Popular Culture, please visit our website at https://MedievalinPopularCulture.blogspot.com/.

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSceptXj_rFTPEvyJYr9Ny6JnYbb5CrnDbNEG3N8dYwOjQW9Nw/viewform?usp=sf_link Date: Wednesday 16th October 2024 Location: Hybrid! Online presence and in person attendance at the University of Surrey, Stag Hill Campus, UK Deadline: Friday 2nd August 2024 The Disney Princesses make $1.686bn internationally through the sale of films and merchandise. Globally adored, the brand has permeated into various cultural areas: films, merchandising, theme parks and marketing. The representation of gender in Disney Princess films such as Cinderella (1950), The Little Mermaid (1989), Mulan (1998), The Princess and the Frog (2009) and Frozen (2013) has come to the fore in recent years, giving consumers more exposure to gendered media, products, and advertisements. The Disney Princesses are a long-studied area in culture and media (Craven 2002; Davis 2006; Dundes 2001; Edwards 1999; England et al. 2011; Lester 2010; Mollet 2020; Muir 2022, 2023; Stover 2013), with scholars also starting to explore consumer and audience meaning making within the phenomenon (Bruce 2006; Fan 2019; Garofalo 2013; Tavin & Anderson 2003; Zsubori 2022). If you are researching the Disney Princesses in their wide range of facets, we want to hear from you. We invite abstract submissions including, but not limited to: Consumer meaning making in the Disney Princess Phenomenon across the globe Audience reception in the Disney Princess Phenomenon across the globe Disney Princesses & Globalisation Disney Princess Fandom Disney Princess Adaptation Disney Princess Animation Disney Princess Live Action Disney Princess Fashion Disney Princess Merchandise & Marketing Disney Princess Consumer Experiences Disney Princess Theatre Adaptations Disney Princess Culture This will be a hybrid symposium to ensure that scholars all over the world have the opportunity to attend either in person or online. The conference will be free to attend. If you have any questions, please email Dr Robyn Muir (r.muir@surrey.ac.uk) Please submit your abstract of 300 words by Friday 2nd August 2024.

Walt Disney was drawn to animals. He regarded his childhood years when his family lived on a farm in Marceline, Missouri, as among the happiest and most formative of his early life. In his animated and live-action films, animals played important roles as central and supporting characters. Disney also oversaw the production of nature documentaries, and when planning his theme park, Disneyland, he ensured that animal images and narratives took center stage. Since Disney’s death in 1966, the Walt Disney Company has continued to capitalize on the human-animal bond in the stories that it tells and the experiences that it provides. As Mickey Mouse, Disney’s most famous animal character, nears his 100th birthday, it is a fitting time to revisit animals in Disney culture; the parts they play; the impact they have on art, commerce, and society; and the controversies they raise in the complicated saga of human-animal relationships. For this edited volume, we seek submissions from various perspectives, especially those showing the intersection of Disney studies and animal studies and relationships among film, television, online media, audiences, and popular culture. Relevant interviews, filmographies, videographies, and bibliographies are also encouraged. 

We invite proposals for original, insightful, accessible chapters—combining rigorous scholarship with new insights and jargon-free prose—to address any number of topics, including but not limited to the following: 

--Re-evaluations of original animated and live-action animal films and characters 

--Human-animal relationships in Disney films 

--Disney animals in adaptations and related works 

--Disney animals in cinematic art and history 

--Mice, ducks, birds, dogs, cats, lions, tigers, fish, or other particular creatures in Disney culture 

--Disney’s nature documentaries 

--Real and fictional animals in Disney’s theme parks 

--Marketing tie-ins with animals 

--Race, gender (feminine, masculine, queer), and the animal body 

--Animals as reflections of socioeconomic/class/racial tensions 

--The depiction of hunting and violence against and by animals 

--Real-world impact on perceptions of animals 

--Disney animal sequels and spin-offs 

--Critical reception tied to animal issues 

--The legacy of Disney animals, including National Geographic 

--Disney’s relationship to animals in nature and the environment 

--Other topics

Proposals of approximately 500 words are due on August 1, 2024. 

Final papers are due on June 30, 2025. 

They should be 15-25, double-spaced pages and follow the current MLA Style Manual with in-text citations. Notes and works cited should appear at the end. Inquiries and proposals may be sent to any of the editors: Dr. Kathy Merlock Jackson, Prof. of Media and Communication, Virginia Wesleyan University kmjackson@vwu.edu Dr. Kathy Shepherd Stolley, Prof. of Sociology, Virginia Wesleyan University kstolley@vwu.edu Dr. Mark I. West, Prof. of English, University of North Carolina at Charlotte miwest@charlotte.edu

Playing with Magic: Understanding Disney Games Call for Chapter Proposals Edited by Priscilla Hobbs and Jennessa Hester Play is an essential part of the Disney experience, nurtured through the Mouse's many experiential offerings. Much scholarly research has focused on the playful aspects of Disney media, inclusive of theme parks (Hobbs 2015) and toys (Auster and Mansbach 2012; Wohlwend 2012), and how they serve an important role in human growth and identity development as well as social and mental wellness at all ages. Less attention, however, has been given to Disney games, here referring to the wide array of options from classic board and card games to video games. Disney has experimented with different kinds of games over the course of its merchandising history (Madej and Lee 2020; McGowan 2018; Summers 2021), with some franchises garnering beloved and nostalgic affiliations spawning their own devoted fandoms and communities (Bowman and McLean 2022; Dusenberry 2013). These games give the Disney fan a space to play alongside, or sometimes as, their favorite Disney characters, many of whom otherwise never interact or have the opportunity to cross their respective franchises (Fleury 2015). To overlook this aspect of Disney play is to overlook the power of such games to shape players’ relationship with the Mouse on a formal, psychological, and cultural level. 

This peer-reviewed volume seeks to overcome that gap by engaging in critical analysis of the many aspects of the Disney game experience—such as game development and design, game mechanic, narrative and character manipulation, player response and reception, and corporate brand integration—that shape such titles’ impact on the Mouse itself, its fans, and the world at large. To this end, we are interested in chapters that take historical, formal, cultural, technological, and/or theoretical approaches to Disney games. Subjects of focus could include, among others: specific video games and franchises, such as: Castle of Illusion Epic Mickey Disney Magical World Disney Dreamlight Valley Disney Infinity Disney Speedstorm Kingdom Hearts Virtual Magic Kingdom Toontown Online movie, television, and theme park tie-in games Pixar games Disney Princess games Disney Afternoon games Disney Channel and Zoog games Flash games MMOs mobile games tabletop, board, and card games theme park games and interactive experiences games included in Disney comic books, magazines, and other publications DVD-based games fan games. 

We welcome proposals for chapters of 5,000-6,000 words, inclusive of citations, from researchers of all levels and from any humanistic discipline. We are seeking shorter chapters in order to curate a diverse and comprehensive collection of research that can provide a broad foundation for further studies on this topic, as well as be more easily adopted for use in classrooms. 

For consideration, please submit initial abstracts of 250-300 words, along with a brief author bio, by April 8, 2024 using the following form: https://forms.gle/FGiMV5ZQpfL9g6uq6 

If you have any questions or would like feedback on potential chapter ideas, do not hesitate to reach out to the editors at p.hobbs-penn@snhu.edu and jennessa.hester@ttu.edu. 

Expected Timeline 

Abstracts Due: April 8, 2024 

Authors Notified: May 1, 2024 

Chapters Due: September 2024