*/_Call for Papers~ Watching Teen TV: Text and Culture_/*

Editors: Sharon Marie Ross and Louisa Stein

/Watching Teen TV/ explores the phenomenon of "teen TV" in the United
States, examining the meanings and manifestations of this category from
a variety of perspectives (academic, cultural and social, industrial,
and historical). What is "Teen TV" and how has it contributed to
understandings of being a teen in the United States?

"Teen TV" is an intriguing concept to explore today, particularly given
the sustained and apparently always growing importance of the teen
market to advertisers relying on television to reach that market. The
questions that arise when considering Teen TV are many, yet few books
have examined this aspect of television in the U.S. from a comprehensive
perspective. Further, programs aimed at teens and/or featuring teen
characters exist in a rapidly changing cultural and industrial
environment. Today, entire networks are a part of this picture, as well
as forms of media that extend beyond television proper (the Internet,
cell phones, movies, music, magazines…); "classic" shows featuring
visions of teenagers from the past are part of current teen lexicon—and
current teen characters resonate with viewers in their thirties and
forties.

These are but a few of the themes and topics Watching Teen TV seeks to
examine. In this anthology, the editors welcome a range of articles that
pose as many questions as they seek to answer, with the hopes of
beginning a rich discussion about Teen TV—whatever that might be.

We invite contributions that authors think would fit into the scope of
this book. We propose the following three sections (with suggested
themes and topics) as a means of helping prospective contributors as
they develop abstracts, but we encourage authors to submit abstracts
that they feel fit the purpose of the anthology overall:

SECTION 1: CONTEXTS~ Industry, Production, Society/Culture, History

    * construction of/conception of teen TV audience
    * variations in address: multigenerational market, family market,
      specific teen market, specific adult market, "adult" content
      directed at teen market
    * teen audience in relation to children's audience/children's TV
    * pre-teen audience, tweens
    * network identity investment in teen audience--WB, UPN, Nick, The N
    * connections between the dynamics of teen TV and other media (e.g.,
      Harry Potter phenomenon, video games, teen web culture, etc.)
    * relationship between Teen TV and teen film re: production,
      content, reception, history
    * teen TV changing in shifting multimedia context (cable, cell
      phones, Internet, DVD, etc)
    * Teen TV and music culture—MTV, TRL, also featured music in
      programs like /Buffy/, /The OC/, /Smallville/, etc.
    * crossover trends (film with TV, magazines featuring TV stars,
      singers on TV…)
    * changes in advertising--integrated advertising vs. commercial
      spots, commercial discourse among fans
    * redefinition of "quality" teen TV; relationship between Teen TV,
      "Cult" TV, and "Quality" TV
    * teens and cultural production, girl culture and cultural production
    * girl culture/boy culture as market
    * U.S. shows marketed globally, non-U.S. shows marketed in the States
    * marketing to teen audience through new media technologies

SECTION 2: RECEPTION & FANDOM

    * teen TV audience activism/campaigns, attempted communication with
      networks
    * producers interacting with fans, addressing fans in text and metatext
    * fan communities
    * fan art, fiction, reviews and analyses
    * queer reading and slash
    * fan political readings and political critiques
    * reception of U.S. teen TV abroad
    * reception of non-U.S. programming in the States
    * Teen TV fan communities within context of broader online fandom
      communities
    * star reception, star followings
    * fan use of new media technologies and interface

SECTION THREE: FORMAL ANALYSES~ Representation, Ideology, Narrative
Structure, Genre

    * seriality versus episodic teen TV
    * genre combination and revision in teen TV, incorporation of
      disparate genres (such as fantasy, noir, etc.)
    * specific genres such as animation and reality
    * formal play and innovation in programs (such as /Twin Peaks/ and
      /Veronica Mars/)
    * representation of teens in "quality" cable programming (such as
      /The Sopranos/, /Queer as Folk/, /Six Feet Under/)
    * representations of gender, sexuality, race, class,
    * representations of politics (e.g., /The Daily Show, Live 8/)
    * representations of friendship and other social bondings
      (parents/missing parents, siblings, peers, mentors)
    * representations of institutions (such as family, church and
      religion, work, school, sports, youth subcultures)
    * representations of developmental "issues" (such as adolescence and
      teen bodies, adolescence as wider cultural theme, sexuality, sex,
      education, femininity, feminism, masculinity, queerness)
    * representations of culture proper (youth popular culture—music,
      TV, film; mass culture, technology and the Internet)

Please send a 350-400 word abstract with an abbreviated CV to:

Sharon Ross sross_at_colum.edu AND Louisa Stein les229_at_nyu.edu

by November 1st , 2005. We plan on responding to all proposals by
mid-December and asking for drafts of a 20-25 page article (including
endnotes) by April 1st , 2006. Please feel free to contact either
Sharon or Louisa by email if you have any questions.

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Received on Fri Sep 30 2005 - 12:31:10 EDT