Proposals for THE MEDIEVAL IN MOTION: Neomedievalism in Film, Television, and Video Games (An Anthology of Critical & Pedagogical Analysis)
I am soliciting proposal for essays (or completed essays) concerning the representation of the medieval period in computer, video, and console gaming. While the anthology is organized around the idea of "neomedievalism" (defined below), contributors are encouraged to theorize the relationship of the medieval / medievalisms to gaming in all its permutations. Additionally, although it is not a widely-known fact, the video game industry outgrossed Hollywood last year in terms of domestic sales, and many students' first taste of the medieval period comes through the prism of video and console games. Thus, computer and console games are an important area for pedagogical reflection as well. Possibilities include:
* Analysis of specific games (Diablo, Morrowind, Dungeon Siege, EverQuest, Fable, Stronghold, Medieval Total War, Age of Kings, Civilization, Warcraft-World of Warcraft)
* Analysis of particular genres: First Person Shooters (FPS), Real-Time Strategy (RTS), Role-Playing Games (RPG), Massively-Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games (MMORPG), Turn-Based Strategy (TBS), Strategy, Stealth, Horror, Adventure, Action
* Analysis of different platforms: PC, PS2, Xbox, GameCube, N64
* Chronological and technological development of games (Warcraft or the Final Fantasy series)
* Online Guilds and Medieval(ish) Communities in MMORPGs
* Marginality and liminality in game world and level construction
* Old-school medievalism: text based games to Dungeons and Dragons
* Representations of gender, race, age, ethnicity,
* Representations of alternative species, aliens, and "otherness"
* Representations of medieval warfare, technology, religion, social structure, and culture
Section Editor for Video Games: Daniel T. Kline Department of English University of Alaska Anchorage 3211 Providence Drive Anchorage, Alaska 99508
Proposals Due: 10/01/2005 Final Essays Due: 01/15/2006
BOOK UNDER CONTRACT WITH: EDWIN MELLEN PRESS
Many portrayals of the Middle Ages (well done or not) in motion pictures, TV, and games have gone through three movements of narrative style: Modernist-Medievalism, Post-Modernist Medievalism, Neomedievalism. Historically, these movements of style can be seen to loosely correlate with three movements of the technical medium of motion pictures: film, television, and video games. While such an over-simplification is far from comprehensive, we have proposed to use it to serve as a structural base from which discussions and debates may orient: in either a reliance upon, an expansion of, a disagreement with, or a total deconstruction of this base. What can be said about medievalism in motion pictures, TV, and games that hasn't been said before? In what ways might medieval motion pictures and TV-from the passive/receptive experience of film to the interactive experience of video games-be used productively in the classroom?
Send drafts and/or proposals to:
General Editor: Carol L. Robinson Kent State University-Trumbull 4314 Mahoning Ave., N.W. Warren, Ohio 44483-1998 clrobins_at_kent.edu
* Section Ed.-Film: Pamela Clements, Sienna College (clements@siena.edu)
* Section Ed.-Television: Sarah E. Gordon, U of Southern Utah (sgordon@cc.usu.edu)
* Section Ed.-Video Gaming: Dan Kline, U of Alaska Anchorage (afdtk@uaa.alaska.edu)