Thursday, July 16, 2026

Coming Soon - Uprising

Due out in September:




Coming Soon - Werwulf

Due out this  winter:



CFP Between Screens: Video Games, Film, Television and Transmedia Exchange (8/7/2026)

Of potential interest:

Between Screens: Video Games, Film, Television and Transmedia Exchange


deadline for submissions:
August 7, 2026

full name / name of organization:
Dr Michael Samuel (University of Bristol) and Dr Richard Cole (University of Bristol)

contact email:
mike.samuel@bristol.ac.uk

source: https://call-for-papers.sas.upenn.edu/cfp/2026/06/25/between-screens-video-games-film-television-and-transmedia-exchange


Between Screens: Video Games, Film, Television and Transmedia Exchange

Edited by Dr Michael Samuel and Dr Richard Cole

Adaptation is a dialogic process, a creative exchange across content production and context rather than an attempt at fidelity. Recent trends in adaptation studies reflect this complexity. Videogames exist within a vast ecosystem of transmedia storytelling and experiences, yet scholarship on adaptation and video games remains limited.

This collection is a response to this gap. Our aim with Between Screens is to reframe the conversation about the relationship between videogames and other screen media, inviting approaches that emphasise the adaptive process and illuminate the formal, narratological, technological, industrial and cultural dimensions of transmedia adaptation. How do stories and characters, mechanics, aesthetics and meanings transform as they move between videogames and other media? How do adaptive practices acknowledge or resist these differences? What role do intellectual property, industrial consolidation and transmedia marketing play in shaping adaptive choices and audience experiences? What theoretical frameworks can help us move further beyond fidelity criticism? How can we better understand adaptation as a two-way process that reveals broader truths about media convergence, storytelling possibilities, and the evolving nature of entertainment industries? These are just a flavour of the questions this collection will address.

At this stage, we are prioritising submissions that address the following topics:

1. Histories of game adaptation — How have adaptation practices evolved from early arcade games and home console ports to contemporary transmedia franchises that start or end with games?
2. Narrative and mechanical translation — How do narrative structures, game mechanics, and interactive elements translate (or resist translation) across media?
3. Aesthetic and stylistic adaptation — What is the relationship between visual design, sound design, cinematic language, and ludic form?
4. Industrial and economic factors — How have studios, licensing agreements, and IP ownership shaped adaptive decisions?
5. Gender, representation, and adaptation — How does adaptation shape or reshape character representation, narrative arcs, and thematic content?
6. Transmedia franchises and worldbuilding — The role of adaptation in constructing interoperable fictional worlds across multiple platforms
7. Audiences and reception — How do fans, critics, and players interpret and engage with adapted works across media?

Please email a chapter abstract (300-500 words) and a brief author biography (100 words maximum) to Dr Michael Samuel (mike.samuel@bristol.ac.uk ) and Dr Richard Cole (Richard.Cole@bristol.ac.uk) by 7 August 2026. In your email, please indicate which topic/question from above that your proposed chapter will address. The book proposal is currently under consideration by Palgrave. We therefore anticipate that final chapters will be between 6,500 and 8000 words (including notes and references). All submissions must be original, previously unpublished work. Please use Harvard in-text referencing formatting for citations. Please include the subject line ‘Between Screens’ with your email.
If you have any further questions, please don’t hesitate to contact us (email both of us).

Editor Bios
Dr Michael Samuel is Senior Lecturer in Digital Film and TV Studies and co-director of the Bristol Digital Game Lab at the University of Bristol.
Dr Richard Cole is Senior Lecturer in Digital Futures and co-director of the Bristol Digital Game Lab at the University of Bristol.


Last updated June 25, 2026

Tuesday, January 6, 2026

Coming Soon - The Death of Robin Hood

Coming soon from A24, a new revisionist take on the Matter of the Greenwood.



Out Now - The Music of the How to Train Your Dragon Trilogy

Recent from McFarland

The Music of the How to Train Your Dragon Trilogy: A Guide to the Scores of John Powell

Erik Heine

Full details and ordering information at https://mcfarlandbooks.com/product/the-music-of-the-how-to-train-your-dragon-trilogy/


Format: softcover (7 x 10)

Pages: 208

Bibliographic Info: 101 photos, appendix, notes, bibliography, index

Copyright Date: 2024

pISBN: 978-1-4766-9367-5

eISBN: 978-1-4766-5232-0

Imprint: McFarland


About the Book

One of the many reasons why children and adults love the How to Train Your Dragon films is the music. John Powell composed the music for all three films, maintaining thematic consistency while writing new themes for each film. This book serves as a score guide for the How to Train Your Dragon trilogy. Every note has been examined to thoroughly discuss the music for Hiccup, Toothless and the other dragons, Vikings, and the enemies and friends that they encounter. It features interviews with the composer and nearly 100 musical excerpts.


Table of Contents

Acknowledgments viii


Foreword by Tim Greiving 1


Preface 3


Introduction 5


1. Musical Influences on the HTTYD Music 15


2. Pitch Collections 24


3. The Themes of the HTTYD Trilogy 30


4. How to Train Your Dragon Cue Analysis 58


5. How to Train Your Dragon 2 Cue Analysis 96


6. How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World Cue Analysis 134


7. Themes Across the Trilogy 174


Conclusion 185


Appendix 189


Chapter Notes 195


Bibliography 197


Index 199



About the Author(s)

Erik Heine is a professor of music theory at Oklahoma City University. He is the author of one book and several articles and book chapters concerning film music analysis.

Sunday, September 7, 2025

CFP (Re)Visiting the Reel/Un-Reel Middle Ages: Pathways to Furthering Research on Medievalisms on Screen (Roundtable) (Virtual) (9/15/2025; ICMS Kalamazoo/Online 5/14-16/2026)

(Re)Visiting the Reel/Un-Reel Middle Ages: Pathways to Furthering Research on Medievalisms on Screen (Roundtable) (Virtual)


61st International Congress on Medieval Studies, Western Michigan University (Kalamazoo, MI), Thursday, 14 May, through Saturday, 16 May, 2026

Co-sponsored by Association for the Advancement of Scholarship and Teaching of the Medieval in Popular Culture, International Arthurian Society-North American Branch, International Society for the Study of Medievalism


Co-organized by Michael A. Torregrossa, Bristol Community College; Scott Manning, Independent Scholar; and Siân Echard, University of British Columbia


Background 


For nearly forty years, through his scholarship and especially through the seven collections of essays on film he has edited, Kevin J. Harty has enriched our knowledge of medievalisms on screen. In particular, Harty has been at the forefront of bibliographic and filmographic research in the field through his pioneering approach to representations of the Arthurian legends on film and television, which led to the now seminal study, The Reel Middle Ages: American, Western and Eastern European, Middle Eastern and Asian Films About Medieval Europe.  


For this session, we’d like to (re)visit the material Harty covers in Reel Middle Ages. As examples of the “reel” Middle Ages, Harty surveys theatrical films and movies made for television that are set in the medieval past or that bring medieval figures forward to post-medieval eras. International in scope, his coverage is vast, and the details for each text are highly informative. For this work, scholars and enthusiasts of medievalisms on screen owe Harty a great debt. However, it’s not likely that any single scholar can match Harty’s endeavors. To further the field, we must combine efforts to continue and enlarge his work. 


To expand the concept of the “reel” Middle Ages and to provide a comparable update on recent films, we can add considerations of recent films, as well as material original to home video and streaming media. Building on the foundation that Harty provided also allows us to embrace a wider range of medievalist texts to explore television programming in general (such as series and one-offs), electronic games, and online media (such as motion comics, Internet videos, and memes). Additional examinations of the global Middle Ages on screen are welcome as well.


As a further augmentation of Harty’s treatment of authentic medieval elements in Reel Middle Ages, we might focus more attention on the equally diverse corpus of films inspired by the medieval past. Highlighting these examples of the “un-reel” Middle Ages allows us to enrich our understanding of the reception of the medieval on film through analyses of works that include medieval stories or themes reset into post-medieval times as well as fantasies set in medieval-like realms, whether parallel to our own or existing as distinct secondary worlds (to borrow from Tolkien). This work can also be enlarged to include the fuller range of screenic media, such as television programming, games, native online works, and streaming texts. Once again, examinations of international medievalisms on screen are welcome.



Submissions

For this roundtable session, we are seeking presentations that attempt to deepen and expand the range of Harty’s important work. We hope you can join this conversation related to the “reel” and “un-reel” Middle Ages.


Our intent for this co-sponsored session is to enrich the field of study on medievalisms on screen and to produce some contributions that can live on past this session (such as a special issue of a journal, a collection, a digital resource, or your own project you plan to share out). 


Proposals might offer an overview of a specific work of medievalism on screen or a series of related works, the sharing of a new bibliographic and/or filmographic resource devoted to some aspect of medievalism on screen, an update to previous bibliographic and/or filmographic resources devoted to some aspect of medievalism on screen, or other approaches to supporting the field through innovative technologies and/or tools.


For some earlier and ongoing efforts to update Harty’s bibliographic and filmographic work, please see the following resource guide: https://tinyurl.com/MedievalismsOnScreenKzoo26.  



Please post paper submissions into the Confex site using the direct link https://icms.confex.com/icms/2026/prelim.cgi/Session/7401.   

Do send any questions to the organizers at medievalinpopularculture@gmail.com.  Submissions are due no later than 15 September 2025.


Please be aware that those accepted to the panel must register for the conference in order to present. Past registration costs can be viewed at https://wmich.edu/medievalcongress/registration. The International Congress on Medieval Studies does offer limited funding as travel awards and subsidized registration costs; details are available at https://wmich.edu/medievalcongress/awards.   



For more information about the Association for the Advancement of Scholarship and Teaching of the Medieval in Popular Culture, do check out our websites Mass Mediævalisms: The Middle Ages of Popular Culture (https://medievalinpopularculture.blogspot.com/) and Medieval Studies on Screen (https://medievalstudiesonscreen.blogspot.com/) and consider signing up for our listserv, The Medieval Studies on Screen Discussion List, at https://groups.io/g/msam-dl


For more information about the International Arthurian Society/North American Branch, do check out our website at https://www.international-arthurian-society-nab.org/ and consider becoming a member of our organization.


For more information about the International Society for the Study of Medievalism, do check out our website at https://medievalisms.org/ and consider signing up for our listserv (details at https://medievalisms.org/issm-listserv/). 




Wednesday, August 27, 2025

CFP Anxiety of Arrival: Travel, Displacement, and Disillusionment in A24 Cinema (Panel) (Virtual) (9/30/2025; NeMLA)

The Anxiety of Arrival: Travel, Displacement, and Disillusionment in A24 Cinema (Panel)

Submit proposals to https://cfplist.com/nemla/Home/S/21793

Primary Area / Secondary Area
Cultural Studies and Media Studies

Modality
Virtual Only: All presentations will be delivered via Zoom regardless of whether the presenters are in-person.

Chair(s)
Erica Dymond (East Stroudsburg University)


Abstract

In A24’s diverse filmography, travel is rarely about leisure. Whether it’s a pilgrimage to a Swedish commune, a spring break turned descent into nihilism, or a desperate cross-country hustle for survival, movement across space often signals a deeper unraveling of self. This panel invites papers that examine the recurring theme of travel and destination in A24 films — both literal and psychological — and how journeys function as catalysts for crisis, transformation, or dissolution.

We welcome submissions that explore topics including (but not limited to):

  • The tourist as interloper: ethnographic violence in Midsommar, The Farewell, or A Prayer Before Dawn
  • Bodies out of place: the discomfort of gender, race, class, or cultural identity in transit (Zola, American Honey, The Green Knight)
  • Internal journeys via external landscapes: psychic displacement in Beau Is Afraid, The Lighthouse, Enemy
  • Travel as performance: aspirational identity and American mythos in Lady Bird, Spring Breakers, or The Bling Ring
  • Liminal space horror: encountering the uncanny “elsewhere” (Men, Under the Skin, The Hole in the Ground)

A24’s travel narratives reveal an undercurrent of anxiety about crossing borders — geographic, personal, or moral. This panel seeks to unpack the aesthetic, thematic, and philosophical stakes of these journeys. How do these films reflect contemporary anxieties around mobility, belonging, and spectacle? Where do we go when we leave home — and can we ever come back?

Description
This panel explores how travel and destination in A24 films—whether across physical landscapes or inner terrain—serve as catalysts for crisis, transformation, and identity unraveling, revealing deep anxieties around movement, belonging, and the boundaries of the self.


© Developed for NEMLA by Ballast Academic Software Solutions, LLC. 2015. For support please contact support@nemla.org.

Saturday, May 10, 2025

CFP (Re)Animating the Middle Ages: Adapting the Medieval in Animated Media (In-Person) (7/24/2025; MAPACA Philadelphia 11/6-8/2025)

Call for Papers

(Re)Animating the Middle Ages: Adapting the Medieval in Animated Media (In-Person)


Mid-Atlantic Popular Culture Association's 2025 Annual Conference

Sonesta Hotel Philadelphia (1800 Market St, Philadelphia, PA 19103)

6-8 November 2025


The Association for the Advancement of Scholarship and Teaching of the Medieval in Popular Culture invites proposals for an in-person panel on the theme of "(Re)Animating the Middle Ages: Adapting the Medieval in Animated Media" for the Mid-Atlantic Popular Culture Association's 2025 Annual Conference, which will run from Thursday, 6 November, to Saturday, 8 November 2025.

Proposals might cover any aspects of the medieval in animated films, animated shorts, anime, computer-generated images, games, or television cartoons.

We are especially looking for presentations on medieval-themed anime and adaptations of Beowulf, the Robin Hood tradition, and the works of J. R. R. Tolkien but also welcome work on other texts and traditions.

A resource guide for the project is accessible at https://tinyurl.com/ReAnimatingTheMiddleAgesRG.


Please send a short biography and paper proposal (300 words or less) to the organizers at medievalinpopularculture@gmail.com by Thursday, 24 July 2025.


(Be advised that MAPACA will require accepted presenters to create an account in their conference system. There will also be a registration fee to participate in the event.)



For more information on the Association for the Advancement of Scholarship and Teaching of the Medieval in Popular Culture please visit https://medievalinpopularculture.blogspot.com/.

For more information on MAPACA please visit https://mapaca.net/.

Friday, May 9, 2025

CFP We Live Again! Disney's Gargoyles as an Evolving Transmedia Text (7/15/2025; NEPCA online 10/9-11/2025)

With apologies for cross-posting.

We Live Again! Disney's Gargoyles as an Evolving Transmedia Text

Co-sponsored by the Monsters & the Monstrous Area and Disney Studies Area

Call for Papers for 2025 Virtual Conference of the Northeast Popular Culture Association (NEPCA)

Thursday, 9 October, to Saturday, 11 October, 2025

Submissions are open until Tuesday, 15 July by 5 PM EDT


Conceived by creator Greg Weisman, Disney’s Gargoyles began as a television series in the 1990s and has been expanded over the decades through action figures, books, clothing, collectibles, comics, conventions, fan art, fanfiction, games, puzzles, and recurrent rumors of a live-action reboot. Although now over thirty years old, Gargoyles has remained incredibly popular since its initial debut, yet, while other aspects of Disney Studies are flourishing, scholars have mostly neglected the series. Therefore, we seek in this session to offer some critical attention to Gargoyles and its various adaptations and continuations. 

Proposals should display some knowledge of the history and scope of the series, its adaptation history, and its ongoing evolution. We encourage you to make use of the resource guide provided at https://tinyurl.com/WeLiveAgainRG in formulating your approach. 




To submit a proposal, please review the requirements and procedure from NEPCA’s main conference page at https://www.northeastpca.org/conference. Proposals should be approximately 250 words; an academic biographical statement (75 words or less) is also requested. Payment of registration and membership fees will be required to present. More details on exact costs will be forthcoming. 


Direct submissions to the Monsters & the Monstrous Area can be made at https://cfp.sched.com/speaker/sTP9T9X3cW/event. Address any questions or concerns to the area chair at popular.preternaturaliana@gmail.com


Further information on the Monsters & the Monstrous Area can be accessed on our blog Popular Preternaturaliana: Studying the Monstrous in Popular Culture at https://popularpreternaturaliana.blogspot.com/.  

Further information on the Northeast Popular Culture Association (NEPCA) can be accessed from our new website at https://www.northeastpca.org/




Wednesday, April 30, 2025

CFP (Re)Animating the Middle Ages: Adapting the Medieval in Animated Media (Virtual) (5/25/2025; MAPACA online 7/20/2025)

 Call for Papers

(Re)Animating the Middle Ages: Adapting the Medieval in Animated Media (Virtual)

 
Mid-Atlantic Popular Culture Association's 2025 Virtual Symposium

Sunday, 20 July 2025


The Association for the Advancement of Scholarship and Teaching of the Medieval in Popular Culture invites proposals for another panel on the theme of "(Re)Animating the Middle Ages: Adapting the Medieval in Animated Media" for the Mid-Atlantic Popular Culture Association's 2025 Virtual Symposium, which will run on Sunday, 20 July 2025. 


Proposals might cover any aspects of the medieval in animated films, animated shorts, anime, computer-generated images, games, or television cartoons. 


We are especially looking for presentations on medieval-themed anime and adaptations of Beowulf, the Robin Hood tradition, and the works of J. R. R. Tolkien. 


A resource guide for the project is accessible at https://tinyurl.com/ReAnimatingTheMiddleAgesRG.


Please send a short biography and paper proposal (300 words or less) to the organizers at medievalinpopularculture@gmail.com by 5/25/2025. 


(Be advised that MAPACA will require accepted presenters to create an account in their conference system. There will also be a registration fee to participate in the event.) 



For more information on the Association for the Advancement of Scholarship and Teaching of the Medieval in Popular Culture please visit https://medievalinpopularculture.blogspot.com/.  


For more information on MAPACA please visit https://mapaca.net/.




Sunday, February 9, 2025

Sponsored Sessions on Animation (and More) for NeMLA 2025

Cross-posted from the Mass Mediævalisms blog:

We are organizing the following sessions for the 56th Annual Convention of the Northeast Modern Language Association to be held in Philadelphia, 6-9 March. The full schedule is available online and registration is required to attend. 


Thursday, Mar 6 - Track 4 (02:15-04:15 PM)

4.12 Saving the Day for Medieval Studies: Using Comics for Teaching the Middle Ages (Roundtable)
Chair: Michael Torregrossa, Bristol Community College
Chair: Karen Casebier, University of Tennessee-Chattanooga
Location: 402 (Media Equipped)
Pedagogy & Professional & Cultural Studies and Media Studies

"The Medieval Comics Project: Ongoing Efforts to Expand the Field of Medieval Comics Scholarship" Michael Torregrossa, Bristol Community College

"From Borders to Panels: Integrating Comic Books into Medieval Studies Pedagogy" Rachael Warmington, Seton Hall University

"Reshaping Literary Canon: Graphic Novels as the Future of Classics" Derek Castle, University of New Hampshire

"Marvel 1602 and its Connection to the Scientific Enlightenment" Madison Cothern, University of Memphis



Sunday, Mar 9 - Track 22 (08:15-10:15 AM)


22.20 (Re)Animating the Middle Ages: Adapting the Medieval in Animated Media (Seminar)
Chair: Michael Torregrossa, Bristol Community College
Chair: Karen Casebier, University of Tennessee-Chattanooga
Location: 410 (Media Equipped)
Cultural Studies and Media Studies & Interdisciplinary Humanities

"Animating Marie de France : Emile Mercier’s Bisclavret (2011)" Karen Casebier, University of Tennessee-Chattanooga

"The Black Knight: Women “Passing” as Knights in Children’s Entertainment" Megan Arnott, Lakehead University

"Cartoon Saloon's Wild Women: Monstrous Genders in Irish Animated Medievalism" Colin Wheeler, Kennesaw State University

"A Modern Look at Late Medieval Religion and Literacy in Obsidian Entertainment’s Pentiment" Olivia Mathers, Lehigh University

"Heresy and Crusades: How Modern Fascists Appropriated the Medieval Aesthetics of Warhammer 40k" William Weiss, Independent Scholar