CFP: Anthology on Absurdism in Contemporary Film

CFP: Anthology on Absurdism in Contemporary Film

The realization that life is absurd cannot be an end, but only a beginning. This is a truth nearly all great minds have taken as their starting point. It is not this discovery that is interesting, but the consequences and rules of action drawn from it.

— Albert Camus

Announcing a call for papers for an anthology on Absurdism. This collection of critical essays will examine landmark films that display absurdism as a central concept. Focus will be placed on more current examples since the turn of the 20th century. An introduction will contextualize Absurdist films in the history of the theater of the absurd and absurdist literature (i.e. Camus, Albee, Beckett, Stoppard). Chapters will delve deep into aspects of absurdism, with dark humor, surrealism, and the weird as sub-themes, in contemporary cinema. Interdisciplinary approaches are encouraged (political, economic, literature, etc).

The anthology is under consideration as a book project with McFarland Press, depending on outcomes of this CFP.

Topics could include not are not limited to:

Classic absurdism recast in contemporary contexts (i.e. Catch-22, The Double)

Surrealism and the weird in contemporary humor

New forms and transformations of absurdism on film

Absurdism and existentialism in contemporary cinema

Absurdism in Asian cinema

Rick and Morty

Schizopolis (Soderbergh)

Remakes and reimaginings of Alice in Wonderland

Wet Hot American Summer (series)

Nonsense and dark humor in the films of Terry Gilliam

The films of Charlie Kaufman

The films of the Coen Brothers

The films of David Lynch

The films of Yorgos Lanthimos

The Absurdism of parody: afterlives of Airplane, Scary Movie, etc.

For consideration, submit a 250-300 word abstract and bio to robertsi@vcu.edu. Materials due by October 1, 2020.