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September 06, 2004
Reading Stargate SG-1-Call for Papers
Reading Stargate SG-1 and Beyond: Stan Beeler and Lisa Dickson, eds.
We have secured a contract offer with a publisher and are now soliciting essays for a forthcoming collection focusing on Stargate SG-1 and its spin-off series, Atlantis.
Essay abstracts of 500 words should be forwarded by October 1 2004 to Stan Beeler (stan at unbc.ca) or Lisa Dickson (dicksonl at unbc.ca).
In 1997 the series Stargate SG-1 first aired on American Cable television, initially on Showcase and then in later seasons on the SciFi and Space channels. Through syndication, it has since ventured into broader European markets. Stargate SG-1 has blossomed into a series with a stable market value driven by fierce fan loyalty. Moreover, the series has an eighth season in production and what may be considered the holy grail of any television series, a spin-off (Atlantis) also premiering this summer.
Given the short and brutish lifespan of the average fantasy / Science Fiction series it would seem appropriate to take a critical look at Stargate SG-1 as it enters its eighth season and attempt to discover the source of its staying power. The show's military setting and its dramatization of the American military's relationship with external powers (both Earthly and extra-terrestrial), and its exploration of the ethics of technology, empire, and exploration make an investigation of this series at this point in history evocatively topical.
We are soliciting essays that will provide critical analyses of the program as both film/text and cultural phenomenon. Essays should be scholarly but should be accessible to a well-educated, well-informed lay readership. We envision the following general categories:
Textual/Film Studies, or Firepower and "Peaceful Explorers": close readings of particular, exemplary episodes, and contextualizing essays focusing on the broader strokes of recurring motifs, themes or cinematic elements and practices.
Internationalism, or Stargate SG-1 and "Foreign" policy: Like many programs in its genre, Stargate SG-1 is set in the USA and filmed in Canada. Also, the program addresses the issue of the American relationship to both Earthly and alien "Others." In addition to essays focusing on issues relating to cross-border production and marketing, this chapter may include articles exploring the mapping of the American point-of-view onto "alien" spaces, including the Canadian landscape, and the translation /modification /reflection of that point-of-view within both the mise-en-scene and in the series' international contexts, through, for example, non-English versions of DVDs, European marketing practices, and so on.
Cultural Studies: Stargate SG-1: What are the causes, effects and social contexts of this low key, yet persistent phenomenon? Essays may focus on such issues as fan culture (for instance, the "Save Daniel Jackson Campaign,"); convention culture; the ideology and politics of reception (who is watching and why?), and so on.
Poaching: Fan Productions: essays focusing on the phenomenon of Stargate SG-1 fan fiction, vids, and artwork may include: traditional textual studies; general discussions of such issues as the politics and legality of "poaching" intellectual property (to use Henry Jenkins' much-quoted term); investigations of the relationship between "canon" and "fanon," the use and
abuse of generic conventions, and so on.
Epilogue: The Future: As Stargate SG-1 moves into its eighth season and its spin-off, Atlantis, is set to premier in the USA and Europe, this is an opportune moment to evaluate the history of the Stargate SG-1 phenomenon and to speculate on its future. Essays in this chapter may focus on Atlantis exclusively, or conduct comparative discussions of the original series, its parent film, and its television offspring.
Posted by ChrissieMains at September 6, 2004 08:54 PM