2019 was a watershed moment for queer horror visibility, particularly in cinema: from Shudder’s announcement of their upcoming queer horror documentary to Rue Morgue ’s first-ever ‘Queer Fear’ special issue, and from the world’s largest study about horror-loving queers to the rapid proliferation of queer horror podcasts. With this increased focus and attention on the relationship between queerness and horror, we propose an edited collection focused on queer/queered horror that not only recasts a critical eye on the cinematic past, but also explores theoretical perspectives on and new queer readings of horror films of the post-millennial present.
Screening Queer Horror welcomes work from both emerging scholars who cast an analytic, theoretical, and historically engaged ‘queer lens’ on horror films, horror shorts, horror television, and horror video games. Transdisciplinary in scope, this collection welcomes papers from varied theoretical, historical, critical, and/or methodological approaches. We especially encourage submissions from queer women, POC, and/or Trans* scholars. Those working within materialist parameters, including the feminist tradition, are particularly welcome.
Themes and topics may include (but are not limited to):
- New analytical perspectives on historical queer/queered subtext in horror
- The politics of queer representation
- Queer horror in its historical moment
- The interface of queer identity discourse
- The actualities of life in the neoliberal period, from the 1970s to the present
- Global perspectives of identity and representation in queer horror
- Queer/queered bodies in horror
- Queer monstrosity and the “Other”
- The 21st-century international renaissance of horror television
- Queer horror directors, screenwriters, producers and actors
- Queer horror fandom
- Horror film festivals and conventions
Submission Guidelines: Potential contributors should submit a 300-word abstract for a proposed paper and a short bio by June 1, 2020 editors: l.blake@mmu.ac.uk & heather.petrocelli@stu.mmu.ac.uk .
Images, if used, should be free from copyright issues (i.e. permissions should be obtained from the copyright holders and/or sourced from the public domain/creative commons).
Deadlines: Abstract submission: 1 June 2020 (with abstract acceptance notification within the month) Chapter submission (of between 5000 and 7000 words): 1 December 2020.