Screening the Victorians in the Twenty-First Century

2017 special issue of Neo-Victorian Studies

Despite frequent predictions of their disappearance, appropriations of the Victorian era never quite seem to leave our film, television and computer screens. Indeed, in popular prime-time viewing from Doctor Who (2005-) to Sherlock (2010-) and Penny Dreadful (2014-), and in cinematic blockbusters such as Sweeney Todd (2007), Sherlock Holmes (2009) and Crimson Peak (2015), the Victorians remain a particularly visible part of present-day culture. This special issue will explore recent popular screen Victoriana ‘for the masses’ and the politics of its production, distribution, audience reception and consumption. Contributions that engage with the breadth of screen media, from big-budget film and television series produced by the likes of the BBC and Showtime to online web-series created by small production companies and non-professionals are welcome. How has screen Victoriana developed since the millennium? How might we address questions of neo-Victorianism’s periodization via the film medium? In a time when transnational co-production is increasingly common, how important are national origins and audiences in shaping neo-Victorianism on screen? What ‘sells’ these myriad moving images of the nineteenth century? Wherein resides their distinctive appeal and what meanings, values, and affects do audiences invest therein? Possible topics could include but are by no means limited to:

-neo-Victorian representations of cinematic and screen technology
-producing, disseminating and marketing screen Victoriana
-audience investments in the nineteenth century on screen
-post-2000 adaptations of Victorian and/or neo-Victorian literature
-nineteenth-century celebrity cameos and biopics
-updated nineteenth-century characters, afterlives and mash-ups
-transnational Victorians
-LGBTQ cultures on screen
-the Victorians for child and young adult audiences
-the nineteenth century out of time/temporal transpositions

Please address inquiries and expressions of interest to the guest editors at c.louttit@let.ru.nl and erin.louttit@hotmail.com. Abstracts, along with a short biographical note, will be due by 15 March 2016 and should be sent via email to the guest editors, with a copy to neovictorianstudies@swansea.ac.uk. Successful proposals will be notified by 15 April 2016. Completed articles and/or creative pieces, along with a short biographical note, will be due by 15 October 2016 and should be sent via email to the guest editors, with a copy to neovictorianstudies@swansea.ac.uk. Please consult the NVS website (‘Submission Guidelines’) for further guidance.