Call for Papers: Virtual Space and Interactivity in Streaming Media within Transnational Contexts, 7th July 2023

Avenue Campus, University of Southampton, SO17 1BF

With the support of the Doctoral College and the Faculty of Arts and Humanities at the University of Southampton, we are pleased to invite proposals for the ECR-led conference ‘Virtual Space and Interactivity in Streaming Media within Transnational Contexts’.

The widespread proliferation and expansion of streaming media networks over the early decades of the 21st century have inarguably had an impact on the nature of international film markets, distribution models and spectatorship practices. A number of video-on-demand organisations including Netflix, BFI Player and Criterion have been commended for providing new opportunities for films from niche subgenres and under-represented communities to reach wide global audiences. The ease-of-access of streaming media circuits have also been said to facilitate cultural dialogue and exchange, as they open new channels for the circulation of cinematic texts past and present across international borders. Yet, this utopian viewpoint is complicated by the number of issues that the dominance of streaming media in the current cinematic landscape raises in practice. To what extent do services like Netflix represent a rupture from traditional business models and to what extent do they merely perpetuate existing systems? Are streaming services simply offering a way for cinematic texts to circulate across different cultures while still retaining their rich, culturally specific qualities, or are they placing pressure on film production companies to conform to pre-existing models in order to allow for easy consumption by a wide range of audiences across the globe? What impact has the massive expansion of Western streaming services had on more small-scale streaming platforms, particularly those targeted at a more niche regional audience? How have international streaming services responded to the censorship regulations of individual nation-states?

In this conference, we aim to provide a substantial contribution to these debates, enriching our collective understanding of streaming services and their impact on the transnational film industry. We invite submissions for panels and individual papers on any aspect of streaming media and transnationality. We would welcome, to give a few examples, proposals which apply close textual analysis of specific cinematic texts produced for streaming services, explore the landscape of Video-on-Demand through an industrial perspective, or use quantitative data analysis to examine global market patterns, amongst other approaches.

Suggested topics may include (but are not limited to):

• The relationship between the regional and the global in the production/distribution of cinematic texts through streaming services.
• Intersectional and transnational storytelling in streamable media content.
• Industrial prospects and marketing strategies of film and television genres on streaming media platforms.
• Global streaming media, cultural exchange, and comparative studies.
• The connection between the dominance of Western streaming media and economic/cultural imperialism.
• Decolonising the Western-dominated video channels and their alternatives.
• The role of streaming media in archiving international cinematic texts.
• The politics of producing subtitles/dubs for global media content.
• The ethics surrounding international algorithmic surveillance.
• The relationship between streaming media services and the censorship regimes of individual nation-states.
• Distribution of digital screen culture and subculture in global audio-visual streaming media.

Keynote speaker: Dr Matthew Freeman (Bath Spa University)

Prospective contributors are invited to submit a 300-word abstract along with a brief bio to streamingmediasoton2023@gmail.com.

Following the conference, contributors will be invited to develop and submit their papers for publication in the form of an edited book collection, pending peer review.

If you would like further information about the conference, feel free to send enquiries to Dr James Slaymaker (j.m.slaymaker@soton.ac.uk) or Dr Yushi Hou (yh11y15@southamptonalumni.ac.uk).

This event is open to professional academics, early career researchers, doctoral students, and independent scholars. Details of how to register will follow the publication of the conference programme.