HomeWars in series
Wars in series
Guerres en séries
International and pluridisciplinary conference on the treatment of war TV series
Colloque international et pluridisciplinaire sur le traitement des guerres dans les séries télévisées
Published on Monday, June 10, 2013
Abstract
The year 2014 will mark a hundred years since the outbreak of the First World War and seventy years since D-Day in Normandy. On this occasion, the Centre d'Histoire des Sociétés, des Sciences et des Conflits (CHSSC) at the University of Picardie-Jules Verne (Amiens, France) will hold an international and pluridisciplinary symposium to explore the way TV series represent war.
Announcement
Argument
The year 2014 will mark a hundred years since the outbreak of the First World War and seventy years since D-Day in Normandy. On this occasion, the Centre d'Histoire des Sociétés, des Sciences et des Conflits (CHSSC) at the University of Picardie-Jules Verne (Amiens, France) will hold an international and pluridisciplinary symposium to explore the way TV series represent war.
Whether the combat itself, the everyday life of civilians, or the difficult emergence from wartime, the representation of war has been a focal point for many television series and miniseries since the 1950s, dealing with the violence and heroism of the battlefield as well as the suspense of of different characters’ survival. Among the most well-known series, many come to mind like Combat, M*A*S*H, Dad's Army, Hogan's Heroes, Baa Baa Black Sheep, or more recently Band of Brothers, Generation Kill, Un Village Français, Hatufim and its American counterpart Homeland, Downton Abbey and Parade's End, not to mention science fiction and fantasy series like Battlestar Galactica, Star Trek and its numerous spin-offs, or Game of Thrones.
Thelmes
While the issue of how violence is represented will naturally be at the core of our analysis, it will be equally vital to question the specific narrative techniques in these types of series:
- How is it possible to maintain suspense when the outcome is already known (as is the case for historical series)
- How do war series glorify combatants and/or denounce the absurdity of war or of a specific conflict?
- How do these series treat the diplomatic, strategic, economic, social and cultural stakes of war?
- How do they represent ongoing conflicts?
- What discourse, what images are deemed acceptable by / for a certain audience at a specific time and in a specific broadcasting context?
- How is the "war on terror" represented without identified enemies?
- Unlike cinema, TV series are inscribed in the domestic sphere and in repetition, generally broadcasted on smaller screens, and for a less captive audience. Budgets are smaller and production time shorter. Does all this mean that they represent war differently from movies? How, on the contrary, does the long duration of TV series allow to represent the intricacies and consequences of conflict?
Although the representation of the two World Wars will undoubtedly be the focus of a great many papers, we welcome analyses of all wars, real or imaginary, whatever the time period and the country or countries concerned. TV series of any country may be taken as an object of study, in papers delivered either in French or in English. Finally, we also invite the study of the implicit or explicit echoes of current or past wars in TV series even when the focus of the series is not on war itself.
Submission guidelines
Please send a 300-word abstract and a 100-word biographical note (in English or in French)
to marjolaine.boutet@gmail.com
by October 30, 2013.
The result of the selection will be communicated in December 2013.
Scientific committee
- Marjolaine Boutet (MCF, UPJV)
- Manon Pignot (MCF, UPJV)
- Sylvaine Bataille (MCF, U. de Rouen)
- Sarah Hatchuel (PR, U. du Havre)
- Monica Michlin (MCF, U. Paris Sorbonne)
- Ariane Hudelet (MCF, U. Paris Diderot)
- Donna Andréolle (PR, U. du Havre)
- Shannon Wells-Lassagne (U. de Bretagne-Sud)
- Barbara Villez (PR, U. Paris 8)
The conference is supported by GUEST-Normandie (Groupe Universitaires d'Etudes sur les Séries Télévisées basé en Normandie).
Subjects
- Representation (Main category)
- Society > Sociology
- Mind and language > Representation > Cultural history
- Mind and language > Representation > Visual studies
- Mind and language > Information > History and sociology of the media
- Society > History
- Society > Sociology > Sociology of culture
- Society > Political studies > Wars, conflicts, violence
Places
- Université de Picardie - Logis du Roy
Amiens, France (80)
Date(s)
- Wednesday, October 30, 2013
Keywords
- guerre, séries télévisées, colloque pluridisciplinaire, sociologie des médias
Contact(s)
- Marjolaine Boutet
courriel : marjolaine [dot] boutet [at] gmail [dot] com
Information source
- Marjolaine Boutet
courriel : marjolaine [dot] boutet [at] gmail [dot] com
License
This announcement is licensed under the terms of Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal.
To cite this announcement
« Wars in series », Call for papers, Calenda, Published on Monday, June 10, 2013, https://doi.org/10.58079/nts
