Edited Collection on The Pirates of the Caribbean

After nearly 50 years as one of the most popular rides at Disneyland,
with duplicated attractions at EuroDisney, DisneyWorld, and Tokyo
Disney, Pirates of the Caribbean has reentered our popular imagination
in the form of two phenomenally successful blockbuster films, with a
third (expected to be just as successful) due out next summer. Each
of the film versions has secured box office totals nearing 400 million
dollars in the US, further, Dead Man's Chest has just reached the $1
billion mark in box office revenue, making it the third film in
history to reach this landmark; this figure indicates the enormity of
the franchise's popularity with fans. In fact, after the first film's
opening, the amusement park ride became one of the most sought after
rides in the park's history. Pirates of the Caribbean can be
considered to be, perhaps, one of the most unusual and innovative
examples of remediation and adaptation to date: taking an amusement
park ride and constructing a narrative out of a very non-narrative
based source.

One of the most compelling issues, drawing attention in the popular
media, around Pirates is the question: how Pirates of the Caribbean
works along lines of gender? Sexuality? Race? Pirates has not only
become a pop culture phenomenon, but it appears to take issue with a
variety of social concerns – racism, sexism, war, the historical
accuracy of colonial Europe – all set within an fantastic and
otherworldly universe, which only serves to draw our attention to the
issues being presented. (Or is it the other way around?) However, on
the other hand, one could suggest that Pirates is a problematic text –
not fully aware of the manner in which it troubling these ideas.
Thus, I cannot help but raise the question: is Pirates of the
Caribbean a problematic text, or a problematizing text?

How do we read Pirates of the Caribbean critically? Academically?
Popularly? This collection will seek to answer these questions (and
perhaps those posed above) by examining the text(s) of Pirates in all
its various forms: the ride, the films, the novel adaptations,
children's' books, action figures and so on. I anticipate papers that
broach Pirates from a number of critical perspectives, textual
viewpoints, and cultural views (amongst other avenue of approach).
Graduate students are encouraged to submit.

Topic include (but are not limited to):

-Advertising and marketing
-Audiences (difference in audience reaction according to age)
- Pirate Culture
- The Pirate Code
- Gender
- Cross-dressing
- Drag
- Make-up (Depp's eye liner, Davy Jone's appearance, Keira Knightley's
make up – an attempt to over feminize her {comparison to Depp's
feminization})
- Johnny Depp celebrity status because of Pirates
- Performativity
- History of piracy
- Colonial history as depicted in the film
- Mediation and remediation
- Sexuality
- Sex as an act or an illusion
- Masculinity
- Race
- Racism
- The use of the amusement part attraction in the film
- Homoeroticism in Pirate culture and in the film
- The culture of pirates as it is depicted in the film, and is it
depicted in a truthful manner
- Violence
- Class
- Marxist reading of the text
- Jamaican culture in the film
- Voodoo and religion
- The fantastic
- Ghosts
- Food
- Humor
- The Disney Corporation and its role in creating Pirates (both the
film and the ride)

I currently have a publisher in mind, who I will approach in the
coming months; however, I believe that the immediacy of this topic and
its current relevancy in popular media and fan communities, there
should be immense interest in the project. Please send proposals of
500 words in Microsoft Word format (.doc) to Matthew Rohweder
mrohweder_at_gmail,com by January 5, 2006. Please include your name,
academic institution, and contact information in the abstract. Please
also attach your CV. As well, please include your abstract in the
body of your email submission.

Matthew Rohweder is currently a graduate student at Simon Fraser University.

Please send all enquiries to Matthew Rohweder mrohweder_at_gmail.com

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Received on Fri Oct 06 2006 - 15:58:18 EDT